George Thole: Kill optimistic about Minnesota's football future

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highwayman said:
Epke and Johnson could surprise. I loved the video of Epke's comeback victory last week in the Tug O' War competition. Him getting fired up got me fired up.
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I always love our Golden Gophers...but I am starting to fall in love with these players in particular. What an awesome group of young men...that film of the 4th quarter competition was just freaking awesome. This is not the Golden Gopher team of the last 40 years...these guys are hungry, they are working, they are talented and they are committed. I think we are going to see a rise in our team over the next five years...and for the first time in my lifetime, I can honestly say that I feel like we have a chance to really compete. Admin is getting on board, the players are going to class and most are walking the line and the coaches top to bottom are skilled and capable. We have top facilities and a commitment to win at every level...time for us fans to come out this spring and show our support and get to the games next year...we will be rewarded!
 

GopherinPhilly said:
I always love our Golden Gophers...but I am starting to fall in love with these players in particular. What an awesome group of young men...that film of the 4th quarter competition was just freaking awesome. This is not the Golden Gopher team of the last 40 years...these guys are hungry, they are working, they are talented and they are committed. I think we are going to see a rise in our team over the next five years...and for the first time in my lifetime, I can honestly say that I feel like we have a chance to really compete. Admin is getting on board, the players are going to class and most are walking the line and the coaches top to bottom are skilled and capable. We have top facilities and a commitment to win at every level...time for us fans to come out this spring and show our support and get to the games next year...we will be rewarded!
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The rational part of me (as well as my wife) says that this has all been said before. Still, I can't help but think that you are right. I genuinely believe in what Kill is doing.

At the end of the day, I have just resigned myself to the understanding that I will always have hope. I'd rather go down swinging than be one of the pieces of garbage saying "I told you so" when the team fails.
 





Everything I read and hear about this Nelson kid has me VERY optimistic about the Goph's making a sizable jump very soon. I'm uncertain how quickly he can get up to speed moving from Mankato West to the Big Ten, but his upside seems to be pretty high and if Marqueis move back over to receiver it would be tough to defend all those athletes on the field.
 

floridagopher said:
Everything I read and hear about this Nelson kid has me VERY optimistic about the Goph's making a sizable jump very soon. I'm uncertain how quickly he can get up to speed moving from Mankato West to the Big Ten, but his upside seems to be pretty high and if Marqueis move back over to receiver it would be tough to defend all those athletes on the field.
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Marqueis Gray is not moving back to WR. Please don't start this discussion again.
 



Marqueis will finish his senior year as starting QB. Nelson will probably redshirt and take over the team in 2013.
 

mntwinsfreak89 said:
Marqueis will finish his senior year as starting QB. Nelson will probably redshirt and take over the team in 2013.
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As it should be. Though if Max pushes Nelson and vice versa, all parties involved will be better off.
 

mntwinsfreak89 said:
Marqueis will finish his senior year as starting QB. Nelson will probably redshirt and take over the team in 2013.
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I see no reason to think that Shortell won't give Nelson a great competition for the starting job in 2013.
 




Gotta love George Thole. One of the great Minnesota high school football coaching legends.
 

I'm just as excited about Nelson's potential as anyone but I don't think it's even close to a certainty that he takes over at QB in 2013.
 

nc2mn said:
+1
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No argument there, I just feel that Shortell will kind of be lost in the long run aspect of things. With such a highly rated QB like Nelson, I expect he will be given the 4 year starter label like Weber.
 

floridagopher said:
Everything I read and hear about this Nelson kid has me VERY optimistic about the Goph's making a sizable jump very soon. I'm uncertain how quickly he can get up to speed moving from Mankato West to the Big Ten, but his upside seems to be pretty high and if Marqueis move back over to receiver it would be tough to defend all those athletes on the field.
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If Nelson proves to be an equal to Gray, it only makes sense to put Gray at WR where he will end up if he goes to the NFL, I think Gray would appreciate it. And I agree, with all the capable WR we currently have, adding Gray to the mix makes this a very dangerous offensive unit. Gray completed 50% of his passes last year and I don't see that improving much if at all. The combination of Nelson at QB and Gray at WR will average more points per game than if Gray is QB - hands down. We're getting the axe back!
 

MNGopher3409 said:
If Nelson proves to be an equal to Gray, it only makes sense to put Gray at WR where he will end up if he goes to the NFL, I think Gray would appreciate it. And I agree, with all the capable WR we currently have, adding Gray to the mix makes this a very dangerous offensive unit. Gray completed 50% of his passes last year and I don't see that improving much if at all. The combination of Nelson at QB and Gray at WR will average more points per game than if Gray is QB - hands down. We're getting the axe back!
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If Nelson comes in and beats out Gray who was actually a higher rated recruit and showed a lot of improvement last year, we are in trouble.
 

MNGopher3409 said:
If Nelson proves to be an equal to Gray, it only makes sense to put Gray at WR where he will end up if he goes to the NFL, I think Gray would appreciate it. And I agree, with all the capable WR we currently have, adding Gray to the mix makes this a very dangerous offensive unit. Gray completed 50% of his passes last year and I don't see that improving much if at all. The combination of Nelson at QB and Gray at WR will average more points per game than if Gray is QB - hands down. We're getting the axe back!
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Again, Gray will NOT be a wide receiver this year. No reason to change his position once again and lose any sort of progress he has made over the past year and a half.
 

MNGopher3409 said:
If Nelson proves to be an equal to Gray, it only makes sense to put Gray at WR where he will end up if he goes to the NFL, I think Gray would appreciate it. And I agree, with all the capable WR we currently have, adding Gray to the mix makes this a very dangerous offensive unit. Gray completed 50% of his passes last year and I don't see that improving much if at all. The combination of Nelson at QB and Gray at WR will average more points per game than if Gray is QB - hands down. We're getting the axe back!
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You don't think he will improve much this year, getting his second year in the same system and position for the FIRST time? And don't forget, his receivers last year had more than a few bad drops. Without those drops, Marqueis probably would have had a close to respectable completion percentage.
 

Gray excels at the WR position, he does not excel at the QB position and everyone acknowledges that. Why would you not put a player where he does the best? All will learn that when Nelson gets pressured into running he still sees the field and Kill says he's one of the fasted guys on the team, this ability is what will make Nelson one of the best B1G QB's MN has had in a long time. When Gray was pressured he takes off and that is that, I can not recall ONE throw he made when pressured. He also looks his receivers down, I hope someone noticed this. The OL and WR core is very young and if Nelson can come in and play now, he will have several years with them, a HUGE plus. MN WILL have one of the potent offenses in B1G in the very near future. Gray's a receiver, he can also back up Nelson if need be. This puts the best team on the field and Kill likes to operate that way. Don't have a heart attack when this news comes out, just tell ya!
 

All 3 of our wins last year were about Gray making plays. He's going to be the QB this year, deal with it. Nelson will not be at Gray's level of playmaking ability.
 

Yes Zambam, all 3 wins. Pitiful. If that's all the wins you are satisfied with, then you are right, Gray is the man.
 

So you must be in the camp that players do not improve from year to year?
 

zambam said:
So you must be in the camp that players do not improve from year to year?
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So you think the NFL has this all wrong? In the case of Gray, he may increase his stock if he does get to play WR.

Look what Decker meant to the Gophers and I'm sure he was athletic enough to play QB also, I'm sure glad we had Weber to get it to him. How often do you get NFL WR's on the Gophers? When do you think MN is going to get another 6'-4" 240 lb WR that has NFL possibilities? Gray at WR makes all the sense for the Gophers. Throw in his direction and let him make the play. Then throw it to Freuchte, McDonald, Harbison...... the decoys. Now were talking sir!
 

If you honestly think that Gray will not start and take every meaningful snap at QB this year (barring injury), you may as well stand out on the street corner holding a giant neon sign that reads "I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL".
 

MNGopher3409 said:
Gray excels at the WR position, he does not excel at the QB position and everyone acknowledges that. Why would you not put a player where he does the best? All will learn that when Nelson gets pressured into running he still sees the field and Kill says he's one of the fasted guys on the team, this ability is what will make Nelson one of the best B1G QB's MN has had in a long time. When Gray was pressured he takes off and that is that, I can not recall ONE throw he made when pressured. He also looks his receivers down, I hope someone noticed this. The OL and WR core is very young and if Nelson can come in and play now, he will have several years with them, a HUGE plus. MN WILL have one of the potent offenses in B1G in the very near future. Gray's a receiver, he can also back up Nelson if need be. This puts the best team on the field and Kill likes to operate that way. Don't have a heart attack when this news comes out, just tell ya!
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nm
 

MNGopher3409 said:
So you think the NFL has this all wrong? In the case of Gray, he may increase his stock if he does get to play WR.

Look what Decker meant to the Gophers and I'm sure he was athletic enough to play QB also, I'm sure glad we had Weber to get it to him. How often do you get NFL WR's on the Gophers? When do you think MN is going to get another 6'-4" 240 lb WR that has NFL possibilities? Gray at WR makes all the sense for the Gophers. Throw in his direction and let him make the play. Then throw it to Freuchte, McDonald, Harbison...... the decoys. Now were talking sir!
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It makes absolutely no sense for the Gophers to move Gray to WR. If we had a viable alternative, it could be a worthwhile debate, but as of right now, we have a SO who took a few snaps and was OK last year, a RS-FR, and a couple true freshmen. Out of all of the teams in the Big 10, it would make about the LEAST amount of sense for us to move our QB to a different position.

As far as the NFL, nope, I think those guys have it right. Gray will not be an NFL QB. However, that really has nothing to do with who would give us our best chance to win next year. That is obviously Gray.

As far as Gray not improving . . . I really can't believe you watched much last year if you don't think he is capable of improving. He improved a ton last year. He was much better in the last six games of the year (against WI, Nebraska, Michigan St., and Iowa) than he was in the first half of the year (against the likes of Miami-OH, New Mexico St., North Dakota State).

In the second half of the season, against much tougher competition, he was more accurate, threw for more TDs and less interceptions, ran for 5 TDs (compared to 1) and for about 40 more yards a game. He was considerably better in the second half of the season because he improved! I don't understand how anyone would think more improvement isn;t likely.
 

A winter conditioning video sparks this debate again. Last season I was on board with moving Gray back to WR and going with another option because it made sense from a future standpoint given that the season looked like a lost cause.

Moving ahead to 2012, Gray is and should be our starting QB. The only way that would change is if Shortell were to come in and light it up during spring and fall camp to the point where the coaches felt like they just had to get him on the field. That seems very unlikely but it could happen. As for all this talk about Nelson I actually hope the kid flops some here during spring ball so that all the delusional posters who have turned this kid into the second coming of Tim Tebow will back off and realize he is a true freshman who is going to need to adjust from the level of MN high school football to D1 college football. That is a massive leap. I hope he turns out to be a great QB for us but the likely hood of him being ready to be that guy as a true freshman is slim to none.
 

MNGopher3409 said:
So you think the NFL has this all wrong? In the case of Gray, he may increase his stock if he does get to play WR.

Look what Decker meant to the Gophers and I'm sure he was athletic enough to play QB also, I'm sure glad we had Weber to get it to him. How often do you get NFL WR's on the Gophers? When do you think MN is going to get another 6'-4" 240 lb WR that has NFL possibilities? Gray at WR makes all the sense for the Gophers. Throw in his direction and let him make the play. Then throw it to Freuchte, McDonald, Harbison...... the decoys. Now were talking sir!
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Just because he projects as a WR in the NFL does not mean he should be moved there now. Do you think guys like Cribbs or Randel El should have been moved to WR in college?

When do you think MN is going to get another 6-4, 240 pound QB who has a chance to rush for 1,200+ yards? Would you rather your best player touch the ball 60 times a year or every single play the entire year?

Unless another QB comes in and is significantly better than him, there's no way he gets moved.
 

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