On today’s Sports Huddle head coach Tracy Claeys responded to queries by Sid Hartman and Mike Max.
1) Mike Max opened the Tracy Claeys segment congratulating the Gophers on the win against Maryland:
“Thanks . . . great win on the road . . . defensively we continue to do a good job . . . Conor (Rhoda) did a good job – no major mistakes,” replied Claeys.
2) Mike mentioned the elusiveness of Maryland’s quarterback:
Claeys said defensively they tried to keep the Terrapin quarterback from getting outside. Claeys sounded pleased with the containment that Gopher defense put forth against the athletic quarterback.
3) Sid opined the Gophers didn’t hurt themselves offensively with mistakes that had been a problem in earlier games, especially against Penn State and Iowa:
“We still had problems with motion penalties . . . need to play better on third downs,” Claey said.
Overall, he thought the offensive line played much better, except for the motion penalties. He was also pleased with the Gophers special teams – not giving up any big punt or kick returns. He also cited Ryan Santoso’s punting as a positive.
4) Sid asked Claeys to comment on first-year freshman defensive back Antoine Winfield:
“He’s had some of the best coaching since he started playing football (Claeys also referenced Winfield’s father) . . . works extremely hard . . . overall, a great player,” Claeys answered.
5) Sid asked about Shannon Brooks’ pass-catching touchdown:
The screen pass from Conor Rhoda seconds before the first-half intermission was very important, “that drive was big – 14 to 0 lead,” Claeys said.
He sounded somewhat disappointed that the Gophers had to settle for a field goal on their drive to start the second-half “didn’t get it done.”
6) Mike Max asked about the game day atmosphere at Maryland (first time they’ve played the Terrapins, since Maryland joined the Big 10):
Claeys was happy for the support by the Gopher fans that made the trip out east, which was a scheduled alumni trip: “Great trip . . . great crowd . . . great experience . . . great trip, overall,” said Claeys. He also said the visiting Gophers fans had good seats in the stadium’s lower level near the team’s tunnel to their locker room.
7) Sid asked for an assessment of running back Rodney Smith, and before Claeys could answer Sid’s question, Max said Smith has a great “burst:
“He really has (burst) . . . Rodney can do a lot of things,” Claeys answered. He also quickly added that Shannon Brooks can do a lot of things as well. He said in addition to being very good runners, they’re also good receivers.
8) Sid asked Claeys to comment on the team’s quarterbacks:
“They’re young . . . Conor has had a lot of snaps (he referenced the reps he had in spring ball),” Claeys said. He added he plans to redshirt quarterbacks Seth Green, Demry Croft, and Mark Williams.
9) Sid opined he thought yesterday’s game was the best one thus far for the offensive line:
Sounding pleased, “We knocked people off the line . . . did a decent job protecting Conor,” Claeys answered. However, as he answered earlier, they need to clean up the miscues of motion penalties.
10) Sid asked if they were recruiting any quarterbacks:
“We’ll (always) try to find a quarterback in every class,” Claeys replied.
The downside in recruiting quarterbacks, according to Claeys, is the constant turnover. If you have too many quarterbacks and little playing time players leave.
11) Sid, once again, asked about Seth Green:
“Seth Green is doing really good . . . has tremendous knowledge of the game,” Claeys replied. He quickly reiterated that Seth Green is being redshirted.
12) The question of Mitch Leidner’s playing status was raised:
‘(Mitch) didn’t make the trip . . . will meet with the doctors at two o’clock,” Claeys said.
13) Sid wanted to know if they were any injuries in yesterday’s game:
“Not that I’m aware of . . . couple minor things,” Claeys said.
Last week Claeys said he doesn’t like to talk about injuries until he’s had a chance to talk to the team doctors; however, in answering Sid’s query, it sounded as though there were some bumps and bruises but nothing out of the ordinary but he would wait for the medical reports.
Go Gophers!!
1) Mike Max opened the Tracy Claeys segment congratulating the Gophers on the win against Maryland:
“Thanks . . . great win on the road . . . defensively we continue to do a good job . . . Conor (Rhoda) did a good job – no major mistakes,” replied Claeys.
2) Mike mentioned the elusiveness of Maryland’s quarterback:
Claeys said defensively they tried to keep the Terrapin quarterback from getting outside. Claeys sounded pleased with the containment that Gopher defense put forth against the athletic quarterback.
3) Sid opined the Gophers didn’t hurt themselves offensively with mistakes that had been a problem in earlier games, especially against Penn State and Iowa:
“We still had problems with motion penalties . . . need to play better on third downs,” Claey said.
Overall, he thought the offensive line played much better, except for the motion penalties. He was also pleased with the Gophers special teams – not giving up any big punt or kick returns. He also cited Ryan Santoso’s punting as a positive.
4) Sid asked Claeys to comment on first-year freshman defensive back Antoine Winfield:
“He’s had some of the best coaching since he started playing football (Claeys also referenced Winfield’s father) . . . works extremely hard . . . overall, a great player,” Claeys answered.
5) Sid asked about Shannon Brooks’ pass-catching touchdown:
The screen pass from Conor Rhoda seconds before the first-half intermission was very important, “that drive was big – 14 to 0 lead,” Claeys said.
He sounded somewhat disappointed that the Gophers had to settle for a field goal on their drive to start the second-half “didn’t get it done.”
6) Mike Max asked about the game day atmosphere at Maryland (first time they’ve played the Terrapins, since Maryland joined the Big 10):
Claeys was happy for the support by the Gopher fans that made the trip out east, which was a scheduled alumni trip: “Great trip . . . great crowd . . . great experience . . . great trip, overall,” said Claeys. He also said the visiting Gophers fans had good seats in the stadium’s lower level near the team’s tunnel to their locker room.
7) Sid asked for an assessment of running back Rodney Smith, and before Claeys could answer Sid’s question, Max said Smith has a great “burst:
“He really has (burst) . . . Rodney can do a lot of things,” Claeys answered. He also quickly added that Shannon Brooks can do a lot of things as well. He said in addition to being very good runners, they’re also good receivers.
8) Sid asked Claeys to comment on the team’s quarterbacks:
“They’re young . . . Conor has had a lot of snaps (he referenced the reps he had in spring ball),” Claeys said. He added he plans to redshirt quarterbacks Seth Green, Demry Croft, and Mark Williams.
9) Sid opined he thought yesterday’s game was the best one thus far for the offensive line:
Sounding pleased, “We knocked people off the line . . . did a decent job protecting Conor,” Claeys answered. However, as he answered earlier, they need to clean up the miscues of motion penalties.
10) Sid asked if they were recruiting any quarterbacks:
“We’ll (always) try to find a quarterback in every class,” Claeys replied.
The downside in recruiting quarterbacks, according to Claeys, is the constant turnover. If you have too many quarterbacks and little playing time players leave.
11) Sid, once again, asked about Seth Green:
“Seth Green is doing really good . . . has tremendous knowledge of the game,” Claeys replied. He quickly reiterated that Seth Green is being redshirted.
12) The question of Mitch Leidner’s playing status was raised:
‘(Mitch) didn’t make the trip . . . will meet with the doctors at two o’clock,” Claeys said.
13) Sid wanted to know if they were any injuries in yesterday’s game:
“Not that I’m aware of . . . couple minor things,” Claeys said.
Last week Claeys said he doesn’t like to talk about injuries until he’s had a chance to talk to the team doctors; however, in answering Sid’s query, it sounded as though there were some bumps and bruises but nothing out of the ordinary but he would wait for the medical reports.
Go Gophers!!
