FSN's Tyler Mason: Wouldn't be surprised if QB position is open competition in spring

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BleedGopher

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per Mason's Q&A:

Q: How can you not have a QB on this team? Mitch Leidner is better but you cannot run 60 times every game. Until Kill can get a legit college QB who can throw consistent passes the Gophers will keep being a 2nd tier team. How do the Gophers address the QB situation moving forward? -- Chris, New Ulm, Minn.

A: There's no question that the passing game has been a glaring issue with this team, and not just this season. The quarterbacks in Kill's system -- from MarQueis Gray (who wasn't his recruit) to Philip Nelson to Mitch Leidner to Chris Streveler -- are all very similar in style. They're big-bodied quarterbacks who like to run but don't always have the most accurate arm. At this point in the season, Leidner ranks 10th in the Big Ten in passing yards per game (155.3). Nationally, Leidner's completion percentage of 51.1 percent ranks 116th out of 126 Division 1 quarterbacks. Still, I don't see anything changing for Minnesota at the quarterback position the rest of the year. The Gophers have made it clear that this is Leidner's job, and they've stood by him despite his inconsistencies.

I wouldn't be surprised if the quarterback job is an open competition next spring and fall if Leidner continues to struggle. One name to keep an eye on: Jacques Perra. He's a true freshman walk-on from Roseville, Minn., who has ascended to the No. 3 quarterback spot on Minnesota's depth chart. The hope is to redshirt Perra, so I wouldn't expect to see him play at all this season. But as arguably the most accurate passer on the Gophers roster -- he was a 61 percent passer as a prep senior -- Perra could challenge for the starting job next year.

http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/tyler-mason-s-oct-29-gophers-mailbag-102914

Go Gophers!!
 



Curseislifted33 said:
I am so sick of all this BS
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If you are in a major conference, and your quarterback is 116th out of 126 in FBS completion percentage, I don't think its unreasonable to suggest that the coaches would at least look at the other options in spring camp. Its not like Mason said Perra should start coming out of the bye week or Leidner will never be good or anything of that nature.
 

Oh goody....more Perra talk.

On a side note though I would hope there would be an open competition for the QB position after the season. Mitch has not done anything to say he should be the undisputed starter going into next year and if someone can beat him out then so be it.
 


BleedGopher said:
per Mason's Q&A:

Q: How can you not have a QB on this team? Mitch Leidner is better but you cannot run 60 times every game. Until Kill can get a legit college QB who can throw consistent passes the Gophers will keep being a 2nd tier team. How do the Gophers address the QB situation moving forward? -- Chris, New Ulm, Minn.

A: There's no question that the passing game has been a glaring issue with this team, and not just this season. The quarterbacks in Kill's system -- from MarQueis Gray (who wasn't his recruit) to Philip Nelson to Mitch Leidner to Chris Streveler -- are all very similar in style. They're big-bodied quarterbacks who like to run but don't always have the most accurate arm. At this point in the season, Leidner ranks 10th in the Big Ten in passing yards per game (155.3). Nationally, Leidner's completion percentage of 51.1 percent ranks 116th out of 126 Division 1 quarterbacks. Still, I don't see anything changing for Minnesota at the quarterback position the rest of the year. The Gophers have made it clear that this is Leidner's job, and they've stood by him despite his inconsistencies.

I wouldn't be surprised if the quarterback job is an open competition next spring and fall if Leidner continues to struggle. One name to keep an eye on: Jacques Perra. He's a true freshman walk-on from Roseville, Minn., who has ascended to the No. 3 quarterback spot on Minnesota's depth chart. The hope is to redshirt Perra, so I wouldn't expect to see him play at all this season. But as arguably the most accurate passer on the Gophers roster -- he was a 61 percent passer as a prep senior -- Perra could challenge for the starting job next year.

http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/tyler-mason-s-oct-29-gophers-mailbag-102914

Go Gophers!!
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Open competition next year? Wow, thanks Captain Obvious.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
If you are in a major conference, and your quarterback is 116th out of 126 in FBS completion percentage, I don't think its unreasonable to suggest that the coaches would at least look at the other options in spring camp. Its not like Mason said Perra should start coming out of the bye week or Leidner will never be good or anything of that nature.
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So he is maybe bottom 25% of all QB's in year two but could improve each year for the next two, but instead of progressing with one quarterback lets restart with a new one AGAIN and be probably bottom 25% in the nation year one AGAIN. If Leidner is healthy he should be the quarterback for the next two years, there are no Johnny Football type QB recruits coming our way that would be head and shoulders above Mitch. Even if Perra is 10% better than Mitch (and I'm not conceding that) 10% better with 2 years less actual game experience isn't a good trade.
 


LakerFan said:
So he is maybe bottom 25% of all QB's in year two but could improve each year for the next two, but instead of progressing with one quarterback lets restart with a new one AGAIN and be probably bottom 25% in the nation year one AGAIN. If Leidner is healthy he should be the quarterback for the next two years, there are no Johnny Football type QB recruits coming our way that would be head and shoulders above Mitch. Even if Perra is 10% better than Mitch (and I'm not conceding that) 10% better with 2 years less actual game experience isn't a good trade.
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Neither Mason nor I said we should restart with a new quarterback. I am not suggesting that Perra is better than Mitch, simply that it would behoove the coaches to evaluate which quarterback gives them the best chance to win in an open competition (and that evaluation should certainly include Mitch's game experience). That is what I want every coach to do with every position in the offseason.
 



If we had an average quarterback we would be 7-1 right now. If we had an elite quarterback we might be 8-0. We had 4 costly turnovers against TCU. That is how important the quarterback position is. Preparing for the Gophers is very easy for the opposing team. I still think the staff should try and recruit a JC quarterback. I think Croft is a "project" that will take at least two years in developing. If you had a Mike Hohense type right now under center this would be on tough team too beat.
 

GoldenRodents said:
We are one Cobb fumble away from being 7-1
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And your point is? We are where we are in large part based on who we have played and the fact that for the most part the defense and special teams have played very solid all year. Just because we are winning games doesn't mean that there is not room for improvement from the QB position or that you stick with a guy that isn't getting it done if there is one behind him who is a better fit.

Also he is not advocating for a switch now he is saying it should be open in the off season.
 

GoldenRodents said:
We are one Cobb fumble away from being 7-1
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If we ignore the play that cost us the game (if Cobb doesn't fumble, we have to punt on 4th and long anyway, and what's to say Illinois doesn't put together a winning TD drive of their own?), then we are 7-1. However, you could flip your logic around and say that we are one career long field goal away from being 5-3 with losses to Purdue and Illinois.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Neither Mason nor I said we should restart with a new quarterback. I am not suggesting that Perra is better than Mitch, simply that it would behoove the coaches to evaluate which quarterback gives them the best chance to win in an open competition (and that evaluation should certainly include Mitch's game experience). That is what I want every coach to do with every position in the offseason.
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Do you think they aren't doing this every day in practice?
 



Leidner might be the quarterback for the next two years. But it should not be because he has experience. If it happens, it needs to be because he is the best quarterback in the program. If someone is better in practice than Leidner, then they should start in the pre-season. Of the available people in the program, right now the only candidate to do that is Perra. Leidner is clearly better than the others. It may or may not be just as clear come spring in the competition versus Perra. But to leap Leidner, Perra needs to be clearly better in practice. Wildcard: Is Croft coming in January or not until the summer? I don't hear anything about a JC quarterback but if there was one and Perra or Croft are not projected to be starters within the next two years...we could use the competition. My point: performance at the position has to get better. Freshman to sophomore doesn't project Leidner being all conference as a junior.
Evidently, Cobb is the only running back presently on the team capable of gaining yardage as he's the only one doing so. Therefore it would seem the quarterback position will be even more important going forward on this team.
 


Mitch is pitching at .500 and can't really run the zone read or much else. This is the fourth year of the program and we shouldn't be 120th in the nation in passing, out of 125 teams.
 

We just have to get to a point where we are starting Juniors at the QB position. I can guarantee you that Perra will be a better option when he's a Junior than Mitch. Let's have that discussion when Perra is a junior if he should start or not.

Keep executing and don't turn the damn ball over.
 

Kuato Lives! said:
Do you think they aren't doing this every day in practice?
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I certainly hope they do. There is a difference between offseason and in-season practice in that respect though. In the season, it is tougher (especially at the QB position) to make changes because you also need to factor in that you have been shaping the playbook to certain personnel and their strengths and weaknesses, whereas in the offseason you can start with a cleaner slate and say "we are going with a different guy at QB, so the playbook and what we try to do is going to be a little different this year". Either way, I wasn't criticizing the coaches for anything in this thread, I was just responding to comments where I inferred that the posters thought there was something wrong with Tyler Mason proposing that their should be open competition in camp. I just don't see how anyone can take issue with what Tyler Mason said.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
If we had an average quarterback we would be 7-1 right now. If we had an elite quarterback we might be 8-0. We had 4 costly turnovers against TCU. That is how important the quarterback position is. Preparing for the Gophers is very easy for the opposing team. I still think the staff should try and recruit a JC quarterback. I think Croft is a "project" that will take at least two years in developing. If you had a Mike Hohense type right now under center this would be on tough team too beat.
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Maybe, but when have we had an elite quarterback? Also if we had average receivers we might also be 7-1.

Of course it needs to be an open competition but we have put a lot of time into Mitch, I am hopeful he is the best and we don't spend next year starting anew. Freshman qbs tend to have trouble.

Hopefully no QB transfers this year. We need 3-4 viable bodies at qb.
 


the next QB is always the savior. We've gone through the same arguments with Weber and Gray, with Gray and Shortell, with Gray and Nelson, with Nelson and Leidner, and now with Leidner and Parra. When the starting QB has a poor game, people come on here and proclaim that the backup QB is guaranteed to be better than the starter. Now, people are anointing Parra as the savior.

Look - I've never seen Parra play. he might be really good. But, he's never taken a snap in a college game. he's never faced a college defense. If anyone thinks that a walk-on is going to take over at QB and immediately lead the team to glory, I think they're dreaming. If this guy is that good, why did he walk on at the U? Weren't other D1 schools clamoring to sign the guy if he's that good?

And finally - does anyone here believe that the coaches would deliberately play an inferior QB? If the coaches thought Parra gave them the best chance to win, he would be starting. He's not starting. draw your own conclusions.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
the next QB is always the savior. We've gone through the same arguments with Weber and Gray, with Gray and Shortell, with Gray and Nelson, with Nelson and Leidner, and now with Leidner and Parra. When the starting QB has a poor game, people come on here and proclaim that the backup QB is guaranteed to be better than the starter. Now, people are anointing Parra as the savior.

Look - I've never seen Parra play. he might be really good. But, he's never taken a snap in a college game. he's never faced a college defense. If anyone thinks that a walk-on is going to take over at QB and immediately lead the team to glory, I think they're dreaming. If this guy is that good, why did he walk on at the U? Weren't other D1 schools clamoring to sign the guy if he's that good?

And finally - does anyone here believe that the coaches would deliberately play an inferior QB? If the coaches thought Parra gave them the best chance to win, he would be starting. He's not starting. draw your own conclusions.
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Agree with most of this, but the point of the OP is that the competition will be open. As it should.

And no, there won't be a JUCO QB.
 

Follow up question not printed in article....

Q: What makes you think we should keep an eye on a true freshman, walk-on QB who hasn't played a snap yet?

Mason: I haven't seen him play at all, but I saw a beautiful still photo of him passing in a practice.
 

This staff, like every staff in America, will play the best players. It's really that simple. People want to believe that Perra or Streveler are better because it gives them hope. Yet the cold, hard truth is that Mitch is the best we've got right now...
 

beavergopher said:
The scatter arm passing? I agree.
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yep. Leidner cannot be counted on to throw the ball. you can't deny that he knows his plays and never appears to make a mistake on handing the ball off regardless of the set. The kid's an M Man -studies, plays and works out. show up, cheer and buy gear.
 

Competition is good, especially internally. As the program evolves, we've witnessed greater contributions from the latest classes. But, the thing about ML7 that seems to get overlooked is the eye test. There's a large group who put too much emphasis on where he ranks nationally. He's missing passes, making some bad decisions, and statistically not impressive. But, it looks to me like he has been making progress all season, is gaining in confidence, and has demonstrated the ability to make some very good deep throws. Because of where we came from, we weren't able to land that 5-star guy, so we have to find QBs with desirable attributes and develop them. I'm excited to see where Mitch is at this time next year.
 

If the coaching staff didn't give Nelson the assurance he would be the full time starter after last year, I sure as hell hope they don't give it to Leidner. Of course it will be an open competition, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Leidner gets surpassed in the spring/fall or at some point early on next year. Barring dramatic improvement.
 

So, does anyone miss Max Shortell as much as I do?

And don't start with, he doesn't fit into this offensive system
as Leidner does? This offense is run or play action pass, hardly call
for any Leidner runs anymore and he slides or runs out of bounds the
moment he thinks he might be hit, yeah..... Max could do that.

Just think, Max to Maxx....all day long.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I can guarantee you that Perra will be a better option when he's a Junior than Mitch.
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I can guarantee that as well. Leidner will be out of eligibility at that point, so he wouldn't be a very good option at all.
 

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