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

[Bob_Loblaw]

I get the record comparison. But augustana has a terrible roster. Tough to judge by W/L

ML is 3-1 as a starter. How much credit does he get for the 3 wins though.



I can tell you this.
There is a reason ML was the preseason player to watch and the D1 recruit going into his senior year....because he excelled as a junior and sophomore. Lakeville north kid didn't blow up till he was a senior...hence no offers. North kid won the conference and the metro player of the year.


Similar to a lot of kids. MN high school football is filled with late bloomers. Late bloomers often have mediocre junior seasons and great senior seasons...but by that time much of the recruiting process has already run it's course. Don't know who is better. ML was not better their senior years, but has a much better frame to build on. I honestly thought ML was going to end up a TE or DE.
Look at South Dakota state running back zenner. He had about 500 yards his junior year, got no offers. He had 1500 yards his senior year...too late to get big offers...goes FCS...nearly 6000 yards later...maybe he is better than a lot of big ten backs.


Minnesota struggles because of the late bloomer aspect of playing in MN (I blame the cold weather for lots of late bloomers as well as the fact MN has a lot of quality people who have brains and work ethic). It is hard to know who is going to be good. Meanwhile NDSU, northern Iowa, South Dakota state, St. Cloud state, Winona, and Duluth all are very good for their level because they profit from these late bloomers.

I think this is a little bit of hindsight being 20/20. Arguably, Zenner could have played quite a bit at the U. I think he probably could have. However, there are guys who put up big numbers in MN High School football every year who are not BCS level athletes. Every now and then there will be a miss or two and it's hard when you look back at those guys knowing that we could have had them. However, way more times than not, those players probably aren't Big 10 caliber.

 

[WHB Brewer]

I think the real question is this: what is Leidner's ceiling? Is this as good as he's ever going to be? Can he get better, and if so, how much better? and how long will it take for him to reach his full potential?

I can't answer any of those questions. He may be one of those guys who looks good in practice but struggles in games. I will agree that, given the current state of the Gopher offense, the QB has to be able to run the ball. I don't know if it's the injuries, or he's being coached to play it safe, but Leidner just does not look like the same runner this season. I still wouldn't mind seeing Streveler get a couple of series a game, just to give the defense a different look, and see what happens.

This..... I don't understand why Streveler doesn't get a couple of chances beyond the SJSU game...... apparently JK and staff feel that ML7 is the best (and only) option at this point. Need to have some vision for the future. Better to find out now if Streveler can play.

 

[bemidjigopher]

I would say Streveler, Dimonic and Demroy Croft are more likely to jump Mitch than the walk on from Roseville. Dimonic is a redshirt, and we didn't exactly try to throw with Strevrler. Perra will never be the starting qgarterbavk at Minnesota

 

[STPGopher]

STOP! STOP! STOP!
I can not handle another case of romancing a past player who just wasn't good. STP before you look even dumber!

You rang?

 

[Some guy]

I think this is a little bit of hindsight being 20/20. Arguably, Zenner could have played quite a bit at the U. I think he probably could have. However, there are guys who put up big numbers in MN High School football every year who are not BCS level athletes. Every now and then there will be a miss or two and it's hard when you look back at those guys knowing that we could have had them. However, way more times than not, those players probably aren't Big 10 caliber.

I'm not talking about numbers. I am talking about players.
By the time zenner was a senior he was a 200 pound back who ran a 40 time in the high 4.5s

If he could have done that as a junior he would have offers all over the big ten.


If you had watched games of shady Solomon and zach zenner in high school 100/100 observers would say zenner was the better player....Solomon had a better junior year though....so he was the big ten player.


Also, never said the gophers should have offered him. His junior year didn't merit an offer and the class was already full by the time he merited an offer. Just making an observation.