Gophers 2016 Spring Game Recap, Reactions and Analysis Thread

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Was lucky enough to sit in front of a couple geniuses who taught me a lot about the game.

Like that Leidner was now wearing #17 and looked different than last year, and couldn't understand why he wasn't playing like a SR.

The last good QB we had was named "Hennessy" and he was the starter right after Dungy.

"Oh my goodness. They have a lineman who is 6'9" and over 315 lbs."

James "Johnson" really had a good year last year at RB.

I almost moved seats just to get away from them.

Really good crowd showed up.

Oops...Almost forgot. They also liked the QB wearing #15...you know...Ryan Conner.
 


Over half the passes thrown today have been dropped. QB's looked ok put in good spot but lots of drops. James Johnnason look really good.
 


Well, we know Lingen, Still, and Carter can catch, and Wolitarsky is semi-reliable with some notorious drops. Does Holland have the yips, or just not have it?

I'm intrigued by Streveler at WR.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Well, we know Lingen, Still, and Carter can catch, and Wolitarsky is semi-reliable with some notorious drops. Does Holland have the yips, or just not have it?

I'm intrigued by Streveler at WR.
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From what I saw Holland caught the only pass that looked difficult.

Anyone think Rhoda is closer to earning a scholly after this? Thought he looked pretty good. Or was it the D more than anything?
 





It looks like we have three very serviceable backs in SB, RS, and JJ by the sound of it.

How did the OL looked? Did the defense miss a hard beat with the loss of a few guys over last year?

Is it looking like Green needs to ripen, and most likely will red shirt with both Croft and Rhoda now looking better and better. Rhoda benefited from Perra deciding to transfer.

How did Winston DeLattiboudere looked, did he play?

Which WRs look good?
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Well, we know Lingen, Still, and Carter can catch, and Wolitarsky is semi-reliable with some notorious drops. Does Holland have the yips, or just not have it?

I'm intrigued by Streveler at WR.
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I went today wanting to see something from our WRs. I watched them on almost every play. While I agree with some of what you said, my current thoughts are as follows:

- Lingen, Still - no worries. Agree.

- Carter - a complete unknown. He has been here a while and we always hear good things, but in no way do we know if he can catch and/or be visible on the field during a game - or a Spring Game to be frank.

- Woli - same old same old. Semi-reliable is kind, IMO. He dropped another today. So sick of seeing him underachieve. He does nothing for me. If he is our #2 option by mid-year, we have issues. I guarantee the coaches feel the same.

- MHjr - I saw his bad hands last year and have heard they remain, BUT, I am praying he figures it out. He made a tough catch today. He has the size, speed, talent, willingness to block, etc. that could make him a legit #2 behind RS88. Please Melvin, we need you. Have the Summer of your life!

- Hunter Register. Thought he looked good today before getting banged up. Don't know why he stopped on that Long Pass from DC11 - he had his man beat and it would have been a long gain. Promising.

- Brian Smith - looked good. Had a bad drop. I don't him see making a big/consistent impact tho.

- Chris Streveler - Had a drop and a pretty decent catch. I don't see him making a big/consistent impact.

My view: Still is #1. Woli will be in the mix all year, but the more we rely on him the worse off we will be at this position. MHjr and Hunter Register or a true Freshman really needs to step in to a void here if we are going to actually have a balanced attack this year IMO. Oh, and if ML7 gets hurt, none of it matters.
 

Kudos to Coach for the format. Probably the best spring game in years. There was real hitting going on and the competition was strong.

Only thing missing was kickoffs and punts. Coach Kill did not do KOs but did have some punting. Not complaining.
 

I thought that Adam Mayer looked like he might be servicable.
 



I thought Carter looked excellent in his limited time last season. Several very tough catches in traffic, dynamic in YAC. I don't remember any bad drops.

Yes, limited sample size but IMO he will get a bunch of playing time and will be a targeted plenty.

I was high on Holland Jr coming in but he's underperformed when the lights are on and that's really all that matters. I also hope he gets it figured out, and he has plenty of time to do so. Woli looks like Cris Carter by comparison, in regards to Handling the ball. It could be as simple as how grade school coaches rep "watch it into your hands".

The cold weather probably didnt help today.
 

nsmike said:
I thought that Adam Mayer looked like he might be servicable.
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We also have the JUCO coming in. Every year we seem to worry about WR, and every year at least one guy steps up. Not worried. Far more worried about QB2 at this point.
 

GOOD:
1) RB's. No surprise here. Vision, strength, athleticism all great. JJ was impressive. Looks like a clone of Brooks.
2) Merrick Jackson was hugely disruptive at times, both in the run as pass games. That was encouraging. Looked to get gassed easily.
3) Pirsig & Calhoun absolutely dominated the right side of the line. Gold team was getting big yards on the ground.
4) Some of the young defensive players made a big impact. Waters was all over at LB. Cashman had a sack. BUford made a fantastic tackle near the goal. Ayinde made a nice play to tip a pass that was picked.
5) Emmitt Carpenter. 3/3 on FG's, including a 41 yarder. We have a backup kicker! Wonder if he can catch?

BAD:
1) QB play was lackluster, to say the least. Poor decision making, hesitancy, and a couple really poor throws. Green and Croft could get it done with their legs if forced into action, but yikes...
2) Turnovers. Mentioned the poor decision making by QB's, but there were also at least 2 fumbles. It's spring, so some sloppiness is expected...but basic ball security would be nice.
3) Run defense was shaky, IMO. JJ was ripping off yards in chunks, and Brooks was being Brooks. I saw a couple series where Richardson and Ekpe were in at the same time and controlling things fairly well, so that's encouraging. Guess this is one of those Spring game dilemmas: was the O-line (and RB's) doing that well, or was the DL bad?

UGLY:
1) WR's. Holy cow. You definitely needed both hands to count the drops. One was in the endzone and another about 25 yards downfield on a skinny post. Even guys who are expected to contribute were dropping balls. It was seriously a clown show out there. I guess one positive is that guys were at least open enough to drop the ball, but jeez...
 

Anyone see the low throw to Woz in the end zone on 3rd down? If you're going to throw it to the 6-10 TE, please throw it higher than his knees.

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Spoofin said:
- Carter - a complete unknown. He has been here a while and we always hear good things, but in no way do we know if he can catch and/or be visible on the field during a game - or a Spring Game to be frank.
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He caught over 20 passes last year?
 

Section2 said:
He caught over 20 passes last year?
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He did. More than I had remembered. Still not sure he can be the answer, IMO. I would love to be wrong. I like EC9.
 

I was at the game to see the drop show. Fingers crossed that Phillip Howard or Tyler Johnson will be a surprise like Still was last year. Both have to make the switch from QB to WR but they are talented kids.
 

oldauggie said:
I was at the game to see the drop show. Fingers crossed that Phillip Howard or Tyler Johnson will be a surprise like Still was last year. Both have to make the switch from QB to WR but they are talented kids.
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Based on his all star game performance, I would expect Tyler to be our best bet as an early contributor. I think we have enough WRs right now though. A lot of those drops were from walk ons who aren't going to see the field. Our TEs and backs are going to catch a lot of passes for us as well.
 

jonnyganas said:
Anyone see the low throw to Woz in the end zone on 3rd down? If you're going to throw it to the 6-10 TE, please throw it higher than his knees.

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I would give Rhoda a pass on that one. He was throwing on the run and Woz was coming to the ball in the corner of the end zone. High degree of difficulty on the throw and catch with defenders converging.
 

JJ looked great for a true freshman; imagine what he'd do at NDSU - four year All-American there, but may make it here one year, too. Now we have three excellent young running backs. JJ does remind me of Toby Gerhart when he was at Stanford.
 

This needs to be maroon vs. white next year. Those gold jerseys are useless when you're trying to figure out who a lot of players are.

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Re: the format. I liked having more of a "game" feel - but I would have preferred a more conventional setup - 1st team Off vs. 2nd team Def and vice-versa.

With a new OC and changes in the offense, they really need to build cohesion, especially along the O-line. Instead, they split up the starters, so each offense had a mix of starters and backups playing together. Given that, I was pleasantly surprised that the Gold team ran as well as it did.

Same could be said for the D-Line. Hard to evaluate when the 1st-stringers are not playing as a unit.

I know it was a spring game, and a vanilla offense, but for me:
pluses - Johannesson, depth at LB, depth at DB, Def forcing turnovers
negatives - QB play, WR's drop-itis, only 1 offensive TD.
 

Stetler looked bigger to me. He was a little undersized as a DT. Streveler looks like a rock. I honestly think he should be a gunner on punts. He's fearless. Johannsessen eas impressive. He ran hard and with purpose. Femi Cole seemed tenative by comparison.

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Breakin' The Plane said:
Stetler looked bigger to me. He was a little undersized as a DT. Streveler looks like a rock. I honestly think he should be a gunner on punts. He's fearless. Johannsessen eas impressive. He ran hard and with purpose. Femi Cole seemed tenative by comparison.

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I agree on this - with Femi-Cole his first run was great - hitting and running through tacklers. After that first fumble, eh....
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
JJ looked great for a true freshman;
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He redshirted last year. There wouldn't have been talk about him transferring if he was a true freshmen. He looks like a solid 3rd back. Femi-Cole looked smaller than his pictures, but that's not surprising. He looks like he'll be buried for a while on the depth chart unless guys start getting hurt.

After what I saw yesterday, I can't see any reason you wouldn't redshirt Seth Green. He's not going to play. I'd take Rhoda as a the 2nd stringer and see if I could redshirt Croft as well.
 

Injuries?

I noted Gaelin Elmore being carted off at the end of the 1st half with what appeared to be a leg injury, knee? And Hunter Register early on in the 2nd with what appeared to be a more substantial ankle injury.

Anyone in the know on this?
 

Adekunle Ayinde also had a nice game in the secondary, and a couple of big hits...
It seems he just continues to improve.
 

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