Gophers are making sure Darius Taylor 'has a really healthy 2024'

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BleedGopher

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Per Tony:

"In the offseason, Darius spent a lot of time getting to know his body working with our sports science team, our nutritionist, our dieticians, our strength staff, our trainers to make sure he really has a really healthy 2024 and do everything he possibly can," Fleck said at Big Ten Media Days.

www.si.com

Gophers are making sure Darius Taylor 'has a really healthy 2024'

Gophers star running back Darius Taylor broke out last season as a true freshman until injuries caught up to him.
www.si.com www.si.com

Go Gophers!!
 




ChromeDomeGopher said:
Love it or hate it that’s not how Fleck rolls. Ride the bell cow until he gives out. Great for stats if he can stay healthy!
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Maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment but it seems PJ seems to be owning last years issues and making change.

He's talking a lot about improving special teams, getting better returns and brought in a new ST coordinator. He's also talking a lot about injuries, so hoping he's continued to evolve.
 


pharmacygopher said:
Maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment but it seems PJ seems to be owning last years issues and making change.

He's talking a lot about improving special teams, getting better returns and brought in a new ST coordinator. He's also talking a lot about injuries, so hoping he's continued to evolve.
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Agree. And the battery of experienced RBs brought in as transfers means spread the load and keep Darius from 4th Q exhaustion.
 







HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving said:
Training staff making sure players are conditioned? I am shocked what will they think of next?
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I get this is sarcasm but Tayor and even Justin Jefferson have talked about how they didn't do all the things necessary to take care of their bodies.

The staff can't force optimal habits. When you're the best athlete on the field you don't have to do those things. Darius learned in the B1G, you need to do proper nutrition, rest, extra time in the tub, etc.
 

Good to hear, but if Fleck still insists on running him 30 times a game, none of this will matter
 

With their style of play (assuming the defense is any good this year) most games are going to be really close and every possession matters even more. He’s going to have the best overall guy out there (except maybe for special situations) unless somebody else has similar talent. Is there? If not the best thing MN can do to keep Darius healthy is build a lead and hopefully let him rest more, avoid the temptation to chase records.
 



fmlizard said:
If they can keep Darius from getting injured why not do those things with every player?
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I assume that this is a sarcastic comment. In case its not: it's a really rough game with many high impact collisions. People are going to get hurt under those circumstances. IMHO the staff can make a difference with muscle pull injuries by proper warm-up and paying attention to stretching and flexibility. Once contact drills, and especially games begin, all bets are off.
 


denguegopher said:
I assume that this is a sarcastic comment. In case its not: it's a really rough game with many high impact collisions. People are going to get hurt under those circumstances. IMHO the staff can make a difference with muscle pull injuries by proper warm-up and paying attention to stretching and flexibility. Once contact drills, and especially games begin, all bets are off.
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It mostly is sarcastic, yes. Though there's a grain of seriousness in putting the same effort into all the players and not just one (maybe they are). I agree with you that the notion of the training staff preventing injuries is specious and they mostly impact endurance, strength, and speed.
 

The only thing I don't understand about this off-season emphasis on getting to know his body is it implies that he wasn't doing all of these things right last year and in turn that was the cause of the injuries.

I believe injuries are somewhat a chance circumstance, but maybe I'm wrong.
 

Dano564 said:
The only thing I don't understand about this off-season emphasis on getting to know his body is it implies that he wasn't doing all of these things right last year and in turn that was the cause of the injuries.

I believe injuries are somewhat a chance circumstance, but maybe I'm wrong.
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Sometimes you learn things as you get older.
 

fmlizard said:
It mostly is sarcastic, yes. Though there's a grain of seriousness in putting the same effort into all the players and not just one (maybe they are). I agree with you that the notion of the training staff preventing injuries is specious and they mostly impact endurance, strength, and speed.
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Fair enough. Go Gophers!
 

Pompous Elitist said:
With their style of play (assuming the defense is any good this year) most games are going to be really close and every possession matters even more.
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I'm more worried about the defense than the offense in the upcoming season. They added (not to mention replaced) skill players to improve the offense but the defense was almost as much of a problem last season.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
I'm more worried about the defense than the offense in the upcoming season. They added (not to mention replaced) skill players to improve the offense but the defense was almost as much of a problem last season.
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I don't agree. The Gophers have a very solid Dline, linebackers and DBs. It will be interesting to see how the new D coach plays his cards.
 


Pompous Elitist said:
Play and practice on grass

Insert beating dead horse emoji
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It's gotta be well maintained grass though. I've seen far more injuries personally from people playing sports on grass that was poorly maintained (rock hard ground from lack of water, uneven playing surface, large divots in the ground, etc) than I have from people playing on turf.
 

Great, I hope PJ doesn't run him 45 times per game after we throw 3 incomplete passes in a row
 

Dano564 said:
The only thing I don't understand about this off-season emphasis on getting to know his body is it implies that he wasn't doing all of these things right last year and in turn that was the cause of the injuries.

I believe injuries are somewhat a chance circumstance, but maybe I'm wrong.
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Yeah I don't think him not doing everything "right" to take care of his body was the only cause, and sometimes you are just unlucky even if you do everything "right". All of these things probably have some positive effect, reducing the chance of an injury from pulling/straining a muscle, but you can never eliminate that chance. You may have a 1% chance of straining a muscle lifting a heavy box, but you lift a box enough times eventually you might get unlucky and strain a muscle. Same with playing a sport.

Possibly last year these things were available to him, and he didn't take advantage of them, and this year the coaching staff is encouraging him to do more of this? Or maybe this is just the coaching staff telegraphing that they are doing everything in their power to keep him healthy and reduce the chances of a "preventable" injury, in case anyone thinks otherwise?

EDIT: After reading the article, it talks about Darius doing this stuff in the off-season, and since he was a true freshman last year, perhaps he just didn't have access to this stuff in the off season until he enrolled? Was he an early enrollee, or did he not get to campus until Fall practice started prior to the season?
 



Will be interesting to see if last year was a fluke or if the kid just can’t stay healthy. Talent means nothing if it’s on the sidelines. It will be a lot of fun watching him if he can take the field all year what I still don’t know is if he can take it 80 yards I don’t know that he has that final gear. Last year, we must have had the fewest explosive long plays in the country.
 

to quote Ryan Burns on Fleck - "I hear what you say, but I trust what you do."

we've seen it for 7 years. a guy fumbles and we don't see him again for 2 weeks. a WR drops a pass and spends the rest of the game on the bench. and when a RB gets in a groove, Fleck keeps giving him the ball over and over and over again.

we'll see what happens against North Carolina.

in a perfect world, the carries get distributed like this:
Taylor 22
Major 8
Bangura 5 + 3 receptions
Mangham 5
J. Nubin 5

if Taylor has 30+ carries in the opener, the odds of him making it through the season in one piece go WAY down.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
to quote Ryan Burns on Fleck - "I hear what you say, but I trust what you do."

we've seen it for 7 years. a guy fumbles and we don't see him again for 2 weeks. a WR drops a pass and spends the rest of the game on the bench. and when a RB gets in a groove, Fleck keeps giving him the ball over and over and over again.

we'll see what happens against North Carolina.

in a perfect world, the carries get distributed like this:
Taylor 22
Major 8
Bangura 5 + 3 receptions
Mangham 5
J. Nubin 5

if Taylor has 30+ carries in the opener, the odds of him making it through the season in one piece go WAY down.
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Yep, statistically it’s hard for a RB to make it through a season without missing time or losing a step while injured. I forget the stats but at least in the NFL the numbers are pretty stark. Hopefully the RB platoon is strong top to bottom…

So I guess the question you gotta ask yourself is, do ya feel lucky punk?
 

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