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WHB Brewer

WHB Brewer

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Did a simple search on this board, and found some good humor.

Imagine the time around one year ago. The ship was taking on water fast. The GH camp was divided among the "Webber is not the problem" to the "play Gray" folks. Many simply wanted to see Gray (or Allipate) play more, even if it were just in garbage time. It continued after Brew was gone, people pleaded with Horton to play Gray more to help this years team.

Now we are 1 game into the season with Gray finally as the QB, and we have a large contingent pleading for the backup QB. We have all these folks saying we need to move Gray back to WR and play the entire season with a true freshman at QB, backed up by a RS freshman and an overweight sophomore. truly amazing



Anyone else interested in taking a trip down memory lane, here is the link to search

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/search.php?searchid=43564

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Type: Posts; Keyword(s): gray; Date is Before 03-08-2011; Forum: 6 National Titles Football Forum and child forums; At Least 10 replies
 


The story doesn't say he would start against NM State, but that he might "play." I hope he gets major playing time in tune-up games, unlike Brewster's refusal to use Gray in '09 and '10. If Gray had played in the South Dakota State and Illinois games in '09, he would have moved the team. It's like pulling a baseball pitcher - you do it when you have to. Shortell lit a fire under the Gophers and moved the team, but that doesn't mean he should start from now on. Having two good QBs is good news for us. Gray will have his big days, I'm sure.
 

WHB Brewer said:
Did a simple search on this board, and found some good humor.

Imagine the time around one year ago. The ship was taking on water fast. The GH camp was divided among the "Webber is not the problem" to the "play Gray" folks. Many simply wanted to see Gray (or Allipate) play more, even if it were just in garbage time. It continued after Brew was gone, people pleaded with Horton to play Gray more to help this years team.

Now we are 1 game into the season with Gray finally as the QB, and we have a large contingent pleading for the backup QB. We have all these folks saying we need to move Gray back to WR and play the entire season with a true freshman at QB, backed up by a RS freshman and an overweight sophomore. truly amazing



Anyone else interested in taking a trip down memory lane, here is the link to search

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/search.php?searchid=43564

If the link doesn't work, here are the search terms...

Search:
Type: Posts; Keyword(s): gray; Date is Before 03-08-2011; Forum: 6 National Titles Football Forum and child forums; At Least 10 replies
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I think part of the reason people got frustrated last year was that even when Weber wasn't playing well, they never gave Gray a chance. I remember seeing the quote, "Insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results," or something to that effect posted frequently. They may not have thought Gray would have been this super amazing quarterback, but he was something different, he wasn't Weber, and just trying something new was exciting, gave people hope, and he did give a good performance against Iowa last year (from what I saw of it, unfortunately, the game that turned out to be the best one of the season, I missed).

TL;DR Gray had promise, and he was something other than Weber, and so we got excited about him.

Now Shortell plays as a true freshman, on the road, against a ranked team and performs admirably. Not to mention Gray didn't exactly blow anyone away with his performance yesterday. Obviously it was a small sample size and not enough to pass judgement that starting Shortell is clearly better for the team than starting Gray, as well as the fact that their stats were nearly identical for the game yesterday, with Gray performing slightly better. Add to that the leadership that Gray has provided the team with, how hard he has worked to do the absolute best that he can, and how long he has waited to finally play quarterback for the Golden Gophers, and it's clear that Gray deserves the starting spot.

However, Shortell did show promise during the short time he was out there, as others have said, he looked more comfortable in the pocket than Gray and is more of a natural quarterback, which I can't really attest to because I don't know football well enough to be able to determine those things by watching them, but yeah. Also, playing Shortell and moving Gray to WR adds depth at receiver, possibly then becoming our second best receiver after McKnight; Gray can't throw to Gray, but Shortell can, which adds to his appeal as being the starting quarterback.

All that said, I do believe the job is still Gray's, and rightfully so. But I think we can all agree that Shortell's solid performance yesterday was definitely a good thing.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
Well you better let Kill in on the joke because based on the referenced pioneer press article, he is seriously considering starting Shortell. I guess you know more than the head coach so we should disregard what Kill has to say.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_18823778?nclick_check=1
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Wrong. You should read the article.

Let's see how next week pans out. Gray will likely put up some nice numbers and the debate will begin anew.

One thing we do know, Gray won't be playing WR, no matter what.
 


The Gophers better have two good QB at the ready at any given time. It will be a long B1G season if Q or Shortell goes down due to injury. Knowing how Kill prepares his team, he will have both QBs ready to play like they interchangeable parts.

Besides, we really will have a dual threat if both QBs play in the same game. One more thing for the opponents to prepare for Kill's unorthodox offensive scheme. Does anyone have a name for his coaching philosophy?

I'd say with the current QBs in the stable and with Leidner & Nelson in 2012, the Gophers are set at this position for a few years.
 

hungan1 said:
The Gophers better have two good QB at the ready at any given time. It will be a long B1G season if Q or Shortell goes down due to injury. Knowing how Kill prepares his team, he will have both QBs ready to play like they interchangeable parts.

Besides, we really will have a dual threat if both QBs play in the same game. One more thing for the opponents to prepare for Kill's unorthodox offensive scheme. Does anyone have a name for his coaching philosophy?

I'd say with the current QBs in the stable and with Leidner & Nelson in 2012, the Gophers are set at this position for a few years.
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100% agree with hungan.... They will need 2 QBs to get through the season. Kill has played 2 qbs when at NIU. Heck, the supposed best QB in the B10 (D.Robinson) needed numerous breaks due to injury last season. Though Shortell did a nice job when forced into duty, it still goes to the fact that the coaches prepared and had him ready in the event an injury occurred so they could make the best of a "worst case scenario" (i.e. starting QB goes down in 1st game).

My main point is that I believe much of the coaching staff's basic strategy going into the season is based on having a running QB at the helm. Gray fits that mold and earned the job. I doubt they would change their entire focus after the first game based on a 1 quarter performance. In addition, they invested the entire spring and fall practices to getting Gray ready to play QUARTERBACK. We can't simply move him back to WR in a new system and expect him to perform. This is not fantasy football folks. Let's give Gray the next 3 games to demonstrate his ability or short-comings. If he is not able to steer the ship and keep it afloat, then we make the case to make a change. That is why folks clammored for Gray to play. The season was already lost.

We can also focus on another positive from what we learned on Saturday...... the coaches have an opportunity to possibly use Shortell as a change-of-pace, or at least have more confidence in their backup QB situation than one week ago in case Gray goes down again.
 

Right on WHB Brewer

WHB Brewer said:
We can also focus on another positive from what we learned on Saturday...... the coaches have an opportunity to possibly use Shortell as a change-of-pace, or at least have more confidence in their backup QB situation than one week ago in case Gray goes down again.
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That is exactly why Coach Kill and his staff are always talking about depth. Of course they want to be able to handle the inevitable injuries that come but they also want to play fast and keep our opponents off balance by mixing it up. Then, by playing a lot of players and being in better condition, they hope to be the stronger team when the fourth quarter arrives.

Kill's focus is on winning games and he is going to use all his resources wisely to accomplish this goal. Unfortunately, not all the GopherHolers are used to or understand Kill’s approach. They immediately want to turn the quarterback position into a controversy instead letting time take its course. Given time, Kill will determine what is best for the team and these players. That is because Kill is constantly focused on getting better each day and he will be always looking at ways to accomplish this. I personally find this pretty dam exciting and I am very interesting to see how he goes about it.
 

Killjoy said:
That is exactly why Coach Kill and his staff are always talking about depth. Of course they want to be able to handle the inevitable injuries that come but they also want to play fast and keep our opponents off balance by mixing it up. Then, by playing a lot of players and being in better condition, they hope to be the stronger team when the fourth quarter arrives.

Kill's focus is on winning games and he is going to use all his resources wisely to accomplish this goal. Unfortunately, not all the GopherHolers are used to or understand Kill’s approach. They immediately want to turn the quarterback position into a controversy instead letting time take its course. Given time, Kill will determine what is best for the team and these players. That is because Kill is constantly focused on getting better each day and he will be always looking at ways to accomplish this. I personally find this pretty dam exciting and I am very interesting to see how he goes about it.
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Ditto.
 



No way Gray is out at this point. If he has a couple of bad outlines then maybe we'll see something different. He is simply too athletic to replace at this point, and we'll see some awesome play out of him next time out. Way to stir the pot LaDavius!
 

It is nice to see that at the very least, Shortell will be much better prepared to take over as qb two years from now than Gray is now - assuming that Nelson or Leidner or someone else doesn't supplant him.
 

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