Fall Scrimmage

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Stan The Caddy

Stan The Caddy

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I think the scrimmage today deserves its own thread. Mods, feel free to move if you wish.

I was there until about 11:15, so probably the 1st half of the scrimmage. Here are a couple of quick observations.

1. Beal looked great. No knee brace and made a couple of good plays.
2. There are a ton of WR's on this team, it will be interesting to see how the playing time breaks down and if some guys redshirt. You have Crawford-Tufts, Green, Moulton, Jones, Fruechte, McDonald, Harbison, Barker, Engel and more. I was concerned over the winter, but I think there is quality depth at the position.
3. KMG was not on the roster, nor did I spot him on the sidelines. Anybody have any info on that?
4. Campion passes the eye test, let's hope he stays healty.
5. Kirkwood and Cobb ran with the 1st team offense.
6. Shortell looked a bit shakey.

Any other thoughts from those who were there? Any questions from those who were not?
 

Stan The Caddy said:
I think the scrimmage today deserves its own thread. Mods, feel free to move if you wish.

I was there until about 11:15, so probably the 1st half of the scrimmage. Here are a couple of quick observations.

1. Beal looked great. No knee brace and made a couple of good plays.
2. There are a ton of WR's on this team, it will be interesting to see how the playing time breaks down and if some guys redshirt. You have Crawford-Tufts, Green, Moulton, Jones, Fruechte, McDonald, Harbison, Barker, Engel and more. I was concerned over the winter, but I think there is quality depth at the position.
3. KMG was not on the roster, nor did I spot him on the sidelines. Anybody have any info on that?
4. Campion passes the eye test, let's hope he stays healty.
5. Kirkwood and Cobb ran with the 1st team offense.
6. Shortell looked a bit shakey.

Any other thoughts from those who were there? Any questions from those who were not?
Click to expand...

KGM had an injury and was replaced by Cameron Wilson for camp, IIRC.
 

OK. Thanks. FYI, Wilson was in shorts and not dressed to participate today.
 

My recollections:

1st team O:

QB Gray
HB Gillum (guys seemed to rotate in in this order: Cobb, Kirkland, Wright)
WR Green
WR Jones (for all WR, guys who seemed to rotate in the most: Moulton, McDonald, Fruechte, Barker, Harbison)
TE Rabe
TE Goodger
LT E. Olson
LG T. Olson
C Mottla
RG Epping
RT Campion

1st team D:

DE Perry
DE Amaefula
DT Hageman
DT Botticelli
OLB Manuel/Reeves/Hill all rotated in and took a lot of snaps
MLB Grant/Beal
CB Stoudermire
CB Boddy (somewhat surprising)
FS Wells
SS Vereen

2nd team O:

QB Shortell, occasionally Nelson
HB Wright seemed to be in the most with these guys
WR Harbison (seemed to be in almost every play with the 2nd team)
WR Fruechte (ditto - also McDonald came in a lot with the 2nd team)
TE - didn't notice; KGM is out and I know Alipate didn't set foot on the field while I was there
LT Lenkiewicz
LG Bjorklund
C Christenson
RG Bak
RT Bush

2nd team D:

DE Wilhite/Cockran
DE Alex Keith/Gavin Bronson (walk-on RFr from Apple Valley)
DT R. Johnson
DT Jacques
OLB Edwards
OLB Cooper
MLB Beal, when he wasn't in with the 1st team
CB Carter
CB Shabazz
Safeties - I know C. Thompson was in there basically every play, didn't notice who else was back there

KR - Stoudermire, Jones, Maye in that order

General observations:

- Gray will be All-Big Ten, at least 2nd team, possibly 1st team. He is an absolute monster and the difference in both his appearance and play is night-and-day from last year. I would guess that he's pushing 260 (his build reminded me of Daunte in his prime with the Vikes) and still runs like a deer. Athletes of his caliber don't come to Minnesota very often, and the biggest shame is that he will only have 2 years to start at QB. The backup QBs threw several picks and generally made poor decisions, but I honestly can't recall one bad throw or decision that Gray made. He looked extremely sharp.

- Beal looked very good and will at minimum be a solid contributor given continued health, a possible starter if they entrust him with it.

- Neither Rallis nor Gjere saw the field at all while I was there - I'm assuming injury concerns in both cases.

- Cooper was playing but ran exclusively with the 2nd team all day. I didn't see him take one snap with the 1st - very strange.

- The OL and DL mentioned played exclusively as groups - unless something changes over the next couple of weeks, I'm assuming what you see above will be your starting OL and DL. They rotated a ton of guys in (and frequently) at RB, WR, and LB, but the OL, DL, and secondary seemed to be the players mentioned above almost every play.

- Amaefula looked good and seemed to be in the backfield a fair amount. Keith looked big for a true freshman DE and may work his way into the rotation this year. I don't recall seeing Garin on the field at all.

That's all I can remember for now. I'll post more if I remember and I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
 

DPO-

Gillum was not out on the field with the 1st team the entire first drive. Cooper was on the field with the 1st D, just not the first series, which I found was odd. And yes, Gray looked much more poised.
 


Yay for new threads!! I hate the combined threads and find them very difficult to keep track of.

I personally think they are of benefit only for very specialized long term events like the Minnesota Twins season. Too much gets buried in them.

dpodoll: You appear to be missing a first team LB. Thanks for the recap to all. A monster year out of Grey would be fantastic.
 

Winnipegopher said:
Yay for new threads!! I hate the combined threads and find them very difficult to keep track of.

I personally think they are of benefit only for very specialized long term events like the Minnesota Twins season. Too much gets buried in them.

dpodoll: You appear to be missing a first team LB. Thanks for the recap to all. A monster year out of Grey would be fantastic.
Click to expand...


A monster year from the OL, an effective running game and better and deeper WR play will set the table for Gray. He needs more help than he had last year to reach a possbile monster year staus.
 

Boddy at 1st team CB over Carter and Shabazz - Hmmmmmmm

I don't see Leidner listed above? Did he take a snap?
 

I was there for pretty much the entire scrimmage. I'll echo the sentiments that DPO made on Gray, seems to be much more zip and decisiveness on his ball this year and looked great. I also thought Cobb looked good as well as Gillum. The 1st team offense moved the ball really well against the first team defense.

Beal seemed to be really active and charismatic on the field, I guess he's just pumped to be out there after so many injuries and set-backs. Shortell did seem a bit shaky.

We have a lot of WR options this year and it will be interesting to see how the PT shakes out. It seemed that they were rotating guys in all the time, not sure if this is just to get reps for everyone or if it's to keep guys fresh and they will do this during games as well.

One of the punters had a massive punt in the scrimmage (I think it was Mortell). I don't think Orseske got any punts in at all which I don't know how to read into that.

Overall I was impressed with the team. I'm really pumped for the first game to get here to see how it all shakes out.
 



I don't get the Keanon Cooper thing at all.

I remember when Kill was hired how a few Northern Illinois fans mildly criticized him for constantly messing with the depth chart, often benching guys who had started for numerous seasons in favor of a pet project he was working on. We saw a little of that last year, but it was totally justifiable considering how crappy almost everyone played. I'd be pretty shocked if Cooper isn't starting this year.

Also, thanks for the write-ups. Very helpful for those of us that didn't make it.
 

Just based on watching this scrimmage, I think McDonald does not redshirt and plays a ton this year. He looks the part and could even add a few pounds to that frame. Made a nice catch on a back-shoulder throw to the visitor sidelines on a long 3rd down play. That play and the Gary go route to AJ Barker were the highlights of the first half of the scrimmage for the offense.

For the defense it was Beal in a back-to-back stuffs at the line of scrimmage, then the D forcing back-to-back fumbles by Shortell and Wright.

Watching Cobb, I could not help but think what a waste of a year it was for him last year. Basically only played significant time in the Michigan game and did not redshirt.
 

Are there going to be any more open scrimmages or practices this year?
 

Gopherprof said:
I don't get the Keanon Cooper thing at all.

I remember when Kill was hired how a few Northern Illinois fans mildly criticized him for constantly messing with the depth chart, often benching guys who had started for numerous seasons in favor of a pet project he was working on. We saw a little of that last year, but it was totally justifiable considering how crappy almost everyone played. I'd be pretty shocked if Cooper isn't starting this year.

Also, thanks for the write-ups. Very helpful for those of us that didn't make it.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't read to much into the Cooper thing at all. It looked as though Kill was trying different things and was more so looking at depth (if guys could play w/ the 1st team) but I could be wrong.

Beal was impressive to me and had quite a few thuds out there.

Andre McDonald looked really good too, that corner route was crisp for the TD.

Jamel Harbison was intriguing they gave him an end around and seemed to play a lot.

K.J Maye has some wiggle to him boys he might be a coup!

Both Leidner and Nelson threw a few ducks out there.
 




Hammer Time said:
I don't think Orseske got any punts in at all which I don't know how to read into that.
Click to expand...

He had two. One that was around 40ish and another that was a 5 yard shank. Eldred didn't look too terribly impressive either, had a couple decent kicks but another couple that were short kicks out of bounds. Mortell was by far the most impressive of the punters, booting a couple real long ones.
 


It's a Pig Man! said:
He had two. One that was around 40ish and another that was a 5 yard shank. Eldred didn't look too terribly impressive either, had a couple decent kicks but another couple that were short kicks out of bounds. Mortell was by far the most impressive of the punters, booting a couple real long ones.
Click to expand...

I did leave around 11:45 but I know for sure that all the other punters got a chance before Orseske got in there.
 

Hammer Time said:
I did leave around 11:45 but I know for sure that all the other punters got a chance before Orseske got in there.
Click to expand...

yep, Mortell and Eldred each got at least 3 kicks each before Orseske came in. Kind of surprising but not hard to imagine why after that shank.
 

Eldred showed a big lefty leg but was not very consistent, unlike Mortell. It was interesting how the team positively reacted to a few boomers from Mortell and didn't really react to any of the other punts. The team clearly senses the need for a punting game.

Gray looks like a much better passer this year. He uncorked far fewer ducks this year and is throwing a nice ball on all ranges of passes.

I loved the way the defense, especially Beal, Cooper, and one safety (not sure who?) really got after it and laid some aggressive hits. They were fired up and it was good to see.

It is hard to get a feel for how good the team will be from an intrasquad scrimmage but I am excited to see some of the younger players have some spark, especially Maye, Fruechte, Cedric Thompson, Damarius Travis, and Stephen Montgomery.
 

Mortell had the best punts. Excited about #83 Goodger (sp?) Cobb looked nice as well.
 

Just a few additional observations - Moultan's hands seem to be much better this fall. KJ Mayes is very fast and he has quick moves. Peter Mortell’s kicks were often long and high. Christian Eldred looked at times like he wasn't quite yet comfortable with those oddly shaped American footballs. McDonald learned what can happen to a wide receiver when he tries to become a blocker – ouch! Again as reported by others, Beal looks like he has a lot of pent up football inside of him.

I also really enjoyed Coach Kill's talk to the players at the end. Not surprising he said they had accomplished a lot but they had long way to go before UNLV. He then went on and talked about that football is a mental game and that they need to become mentally tougher. He pointed out that the amount of time a player is actually playing is quite small. Therefore when they are playing they really need to focus and give it their all.
 

I heard the Nelson threw two touch downs today. Any thoughts on how he and/or McDonald or any other Freshmen looked?
 

floridagopher said:
I heard the Nelson threw two touch downs today. Any thoughts on how he and/or McDonald or any other Freshmen looked?
Click to expand...

Nelson looked good at times, hitting Fruechte perfectly in stride for a 70 yard touchdown and also hitting McDonald right in the numbers in the corner of the endzone. McDonald and Harbison both saw a lot of action and looked good. K.J. Maye also had a number of nice, shifty runs. All-in-all I would say the freshman played well today.
 


Thanks!! Very excited to see Kills' recruited guys start to integrate into the team! Counting down to the season!
 

Ok guys, this thread is now 25 posts strong and I have not read any comments on Hegeman's play today. How did he look, I feel it is critical for our defense for him to have a big year, and I think others would agree. Any input on his play today would be appreciated.
 

It's a Pig Man! said:
He had two. One that was around 40ish and another that was a 5 yard shank. Eldred didn't look too terribly impressive either, had a couple decent kicks but another couple that were short kicks out of bounds. Mortell was by far the most impressive of the punters, booting a couple real long ones.
Click to expand...

That was Schwerman.

Here's the official scrimmage video. "Twinkletoes" Goodger at 1:40 mark. Nelson's bomb to Fruechte, other TD to McDonald:

 


It's a Pig Man! said:
Are you sure? I certainly could have gotten crossed up but Schwerman is a kicker not a punter no?
Click to expand...

He kicks off and punts. Was the backup punter last year. Never attempted a FG or XP:

2011 • JUNIOR SEASON:
Earned second varsity letter • played in two games with two punts for 47 yards• named Academic All-Big Ten.

Game-by-Game: One punt for 25 yards at Purdue (10/8) • one punt for 22 yards at Northwestern (11/19).

2010 • SOPHOMORE SEASON:
Earned first varsity letter • appeared as a punter, making one punt for 31 yards in his first career appearance • sent two kickoffs a total of 113 yards against Wisconsin (10/9) • booted three kickoffs for 178 yards against Purdue (10/16) • had three kickoffs for 167 yards against Penn State (10/23) • sent three kickoffs for 172 yards against Ohio State (10/30). • had two kickoffs for 93 total yards against Illinois (11/13) • sent three kickoffs for 141 yards against Iowa (11/27).
 

Fair enough and I certainly could be wrong but I still remember the number on that punt being 41 and and I know at least one other person from the Athletic Communications team thought it was Orseske. In fact Nate Sandell tweeted about Orseske "flubbing" some punts so I think that was what he was referencing as well. Like I said I could easily be wrong but if my memory serves me right (very big if) it was Orseske.

edit: it was Orseske according to the Daily Gopher as well : " Dan Orseske shanked a punt that netted about 6 or 7 yards and I don't think he punted again."
 

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