Former Golden Gophers head football coach Glen Mason was a guest on the Sports Huddle Sunday morning before the weekly Tracy Claeys segment. He gave his impressions of Saturday’s scrimmage and the 2016 Gopher football team at the conclusion of spring drills.
1) Sid asked Glen about coaching again, before he asked any questions about 2016 team:
“I wish I was coaching someplace,” Mason replied. He added, “Another coaching job, not going to happen . . . (I’ve been) out of coaching for 10 years.” He acknowledged he would like to be on the field behind the offense like Tracy Claeys was in Saturday's scrimmage.
2) Mason’s assessment of the Gophers are as follows:
“I’m impressed with the Gophers right now . . . Claeys thinks they’re close to winning a Big 10 Championship.”
Mason is impressed with the Gophers running backs. He said Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith reminds him of the Gopher duo Marion Barber II and Laurence Maroney.
He’s also impressed with the Gopher defense, especially the secondary. He had reservations because of the graduations of Murray and Calhoun; however, he said the corners look good! Defensive backs cited by Mason were Jalen Myrick, KiAnte Hardin and Ray Buford – “impressed with them.”
3) Sid asked Glen for his impressions of running back James Johannesson:
“Big Kid, like how he runs,” Mason replied. He said competition make players better. As an example, he said James Johnannesson wants to be where Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks are currently at, apparently he brings that attitude and goal to the practice field.
4) Dave Mona asked about the new offensive coordinator and the Gopher offense:
“Spring games are all the same, not going to give any insights,” Mason answered. He said yesterday’s scrimmage was kept simple for that reason - “plain vanilla.”
5) Sid wanted to know what players Mason liked after watching the final scrimmage:
In addition to the players cited earlier, Mason said he likes Nate Wozniak at tight end. As to the team’s backup quarterbacks, Mason said, “Hard to tell right now . . . somewhat surprised to see Seth Green on third team behind Demry Croft and Conor Rhoda.” He also said the trio looked good passing the ball in practices; however, they struggled in the game-like scrimmage: “Hard to judge yesterday . . . didn’t like the interceptions . . . have to protect the ball!” Additionally, he said there were too many dropped balls by the receivers.
6) Dave Mona asked about the defensive line getting to the quarterbacks:
Mason sounded positive when speaking about the two fronts, “Should be good (defensive line) . . . went against an improved offensive line, yesterday.”
7) Dave Mona asked Mason who he thought would be this year’s conference favorite to win the Big 10:
The first team he mentioned was his alma mater, “The Ohio State University.” He quickly added, however, that the Buckeyes lost a lot of talent, including underclassmen who are hoping to catch on in the NFL.
Mason was less certain about the Wolverines. He said Jim Harbaugh has been working hard to get Michigan back to the top of the conference and he’ll be successful; however, he doesn’t see the Wolverines winning the conference title because they haven’t shown that they can beat their main rivals, Ohio State and Michigan State, at this time. He added Michigan was fortunate to defeat Minnesota last October after being outplayed the entire game.
According to Glen Mason, Michigan State should be the favorite despite having to find a replacement for Connor Cook. He likes the team’s talent and toughness.
Mason was quite positive about the Gophers in his remarks. His two biggest concerns, however, expressed during his segment of the Sports Huddle, were the dropped balls by the receivers and the maturation of the backup quarterbacks - playing under fire. He likes Mitch Leidner’s leadership and toughness. Having an experienced quarterback coming back is an advantage for the Gophers. According to Mason, many of the conference teams will have new quarterbacks this season.
He was somewhat surprised with the talent in the secondary (liked what he saw), likes the running game – Shannon Brooks, Rodney Smith and the play of James Johannesson in the scrimmage - and an improving offensive line. He credited some of the offensive line improvement to the juco transfers Garrison Wright and Vincent Calhoun.
Go Gophers!!
1) Sid asked Glen about coaching again, before he asked any questions about 2016 team:
“I wish I was coaching someplace,” Mason replied. He added, “Another coaching job, not going to happen . . . (I’ve been) out of coaching for 10 years.” He acknowledged he would like to be on the field behind the offense like Tracy Claeys was in Saturday's scrimmage.
2) Mason’s assessment of the Gophers are as follows:
“I’m impressed with the Gophers right now . . . Claeys thinks they’re close to winning a Big 10 Championship.”
Mason is impressed with the Gophers running backs. He said Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith reminds him of the Gopher duo Marion Barber II and Laurence Maroney.
He’s also impressed with the Gopher defense, especially the secondary. He had reservations because of the graduations of Murray and Calhoun; however, he said the corners look good! Defensive backs cited by Mason were Jalen Myrick, KiAnte Hardin and Ray Buford – “impressed with them.”
3) Sid asked Glen for his impressions of running back James Johannesson:
“Big Kid, like how he runs,” Mason replied. He said competition make players better. As an example, he said James Johnannesson wants to be where Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks are currently at, apparently he brings that attitude and goal to the practice field.
4) Dave Mona asked about the new offensive coordinator and the Gopher offense:
“Spring games are all the same, not going to give any insights,” Mason answered. He said yesterday’s scrimmage was kept simple for that reason - “plain vanilla.”
5) Sid wanted to know what players Mason liked after watching the final scrimmage:
In addition to the players cited earlier, Mason said he likes Nate Wozniak at tight end. As to the team’s backup quarterbacks, Mason said, “Hard to tell right now . . . somewhat surprised to see Seth Green on third team behind Demry Croft and Conor Rhoda.” He also said the trio looked good passing the ball in practices; however, they struggled in the game-like scrimmage: “Hard to judge yesterday . . . didn’t like the interceptions . . . have to protect the ball!” Additionally, he said there were too many dropped balls by the receivers.
6) Dave Mona asked about the defensive line getting to the quarterbacks:
Mason sounded positive when speaking about the two fronts, “Should be good (defensive line) . . . went against an improved offensive line, yesterday.”
7) Dave Mona asked Mason who he thought would be this year’s conference favorite to win the Big 10:
The first team he mentioned was his alma mater, “The Ohio State University.” He quickly added, however, that the Buckeyes lost a lot of talent, including underclassmen who are hoping to catch on in the NFL.
Mason was less certain about the Wolverines. He said Jim Harbaugh has been working hard to get Michigan back to the top of the conference and he’ll be successful; however, he doesn’t see the Wolverines winning the conference title because they haven’t shown that they can beat their main rivals, Ohio State and Michigan State, at this time. He added Michigan was fortunate to defeat Minnesota last October after being outplayed the entire game.
According to Glen Mason, Michigan State should be the favorite despite having to find a replacement for Connor Cook. He likes the team’s talent and toughness.
Mason was quite positive about the Gophers in his remarks. His two biggest concerns, however, expressed during his segment of the Sports Huddle, were the dropped balls by the receivers and the maturation of the backup quarterbacks - playing under fire. He likes Mitch Leidner’s leadership and toughness. Having an experienced quarterback coming back is an advantage for the Gophers. According to Mason, many of the conference teams will have new quarterbacks this season.
He was somewhat surprised with the talent in the secondary (liked what he saw), likes the running game – Shannon Brooks, Rodney Smith and the play of James Johannesson in the scrimmage - and an improving offensive line. He credited some of the offensive line improvement to the juco transfers Garrison Wright and Vincent Calhoun.
Go Gophers!!
