Gophers Spring Game report and analysis thread

Donate To GopherHole
Dave Lee needs binocs or an optometrist. I guess he thinks Streveler is black. All in all an aggie vision like production.

I thought obviously berkeley had some nice plays and extra gear, cobb has great vision, Streveler looked good overall running and passing, Wozniak made a great play in traffic. I'm a donnell kirkwood fan, great physicality.

On defense ndondo-lay looks like he's ready to emerge. Ekpe looks huge. Hinojosa made some nice plays.

Leidner looked off-target with his throws and was continually off-balance, staring down the rush. Freuchte didn't play well. He's been shaky ever since his concussion a few years back. Did jones make a catch?

I don't know how much we can really take away from these scrimmages. Fun to see them play though.
 

At the end of the day if the OL can't improve pass blocking, we will see baby steps this year. Defense played well with all the guys that sat out.
 

I thought that Duke Anyanwu looked good, making some nice adjustments, while still catching the ball and Robert Ndondo-Lay looked disruptive on defense. Overall the wide receivers look better but still have a ways to go I'm still waiting for someone to step forward and be a true number 1 receiver. The running game looks to be efficient.
 


Looks like we have a decent stable of running backs and more coming! Nice to see some good depth all around even though there were many players out healing/recovering. Crowd was about the same as last year on the Minnesota side, but maybe less on the opposition side?
 



Berkley's run and Wozniak's 2 catches were all i really got out of it. Much less of a game then last year, only an hour and twenty minutes and worse weather.
 

It was disappointing to see such a weak performance on offense. Leidner did not look improved at all. Streveler pretty much matched him.

The interception by Myrick was sweet. Did anyone else see the DB's actually practicing a drill in warm ups where they went up to go for the interception? It was awesome! Maybe we'll see Eric Murray turn around for the ball this season. The defense looks really solid.

The running game is gonna be solid. We all know that. The passing attack looks to be about on par with last year which is disappointing. Here's hoping we see improvements come August.
 




jaymil said:
That was Leidner actually. Hard to tell who the QB's are since they're all wearing green jerseys with no numbers.
Click to expand...

And they are literally the exact same body. I really couldn't tell at all who was in the game without a number on them. It was really frustrating for me at least.
 

A few thoughts on the game:

1. Even for Jerry Kill, a very vanilla spring game. No separate teams, they didn't keep score, just an offense vs. defense scrimmage with the most basic plays in the book.
2. Basically the entire starting defense didn't play. The only starter I saw get any action was Scott Ekpe.
3. Even with the starting D out, they still vastly outplayed the offense. Berkley's 32 yd TD run was the offensive play of the scrimmage. Outside of that, R. Williams had a nice run up the middle for about 25-30 yards, and KJ Maye had a nice catch. Not a lot outside of those plays that I remember.
4. The D-line was predominantly Robert Ndondo-Lay, Hinojosa, Perry, and Legania. LB's were Rallis at MLB, and Laster and Dixon at OLB. DBs were McGhee, Levine, Myrick, Cavonte Johnson, Ayinde (sp?). It's a spring game so it's hard to draw a lot of conclusions, but I thought this group of DBs pretty much blanketed the starting WRs.
5. Be concerned about the passing game.
6. The kicking game looked solid. Harte and Juennemann converted on a few field goals, Santoso missed one but it was from 50+ yards out.
 

Jon Christenson walking around without a noticeable limp. Good news.
Very basic offense. Passing game still needs a lot of work.
Edwards fumbled and dropped an easy catch. Much faster than the other backs.
Annoying music played nonstop.
Beer and food in the lot was good.
 

jaymil said:
BTN caught the end of Kill's postgame speech. "Stay out of Dinkytown tonight. If anyone gets arrested, you're done."
Click to expand...

There is absolutely no parking in Dinkytown tonight. It took me 30 minutes to finally fine one. The police put a red no parking sock on all the metered parking. We noticed portable police video cameras on street intersections. News crews are out early also.

The waiter at the restaurant said there will be 300 policemen in and around Dinkytown.

I am most excited about the running back play & the defense today. That Edwards kid is going to be something special before his career is over.
 



Agree with what others have said. Passing game was blah. If there's a deeper, more talented group of TEs in the country, I'd like to see it. If you wanted to go down onto the field, they directed you to 125 so you came out the tunnel. Cool experience for the kids. Saw Gopher BB player Charles Buggs in the crowd. Rashede was down on the field after, wearing an NFLPA jumpsuit. Tommy Olson's a real likable kid.
 

Pass blocking was terrible. I bet if they could hit the QB there would have been 8-10 sacks. I think the QBs will be fine if they don't get killed. Our D has some real depth and should be great. Considering who played on D was backups mostly the OL play has to be a real concern.
 

Indi1006 said:
Pass blocking was terrible. I bet if they could hit the QB there would have been 8-10 sacks. I think the QBs will be fine if they don't get killed. Our D has some real depth and should be great. Considering who played on D was backups mostly the OL play has to be a real concern.
Click to expand...

The most shocking part is that our OL is supposed to be one of the better units. Hopefully today was just a bad day.
 

Indi1006 said:
Considering who played on D was backups mostly the OL play has to be a real concern.
Click to expand...

The O-line and offense really struggled after Christenson and Bak went down last year, and it didn't look promising today. Everyone blamed the offensive struggles the end of last year on the QB play and losing Engel, but these guys are a lot more valuable than most realize.
 

One thing for certain. We need help at the WR position. Really disappointed with Mitch today.
 

STrib: Spring game: Gophers' offense still struggling to get into end zone

After playing 13 consecutive quarters without an offensive touchdown late last season, the Gophers would have loved to turn Saturday’s annual spring game into a scoring frenzy.

Instead, it was more of the same.

Coach Jerry Kill rested the first-team defense because of injury concerns, yet the offense still managed just one touchdown and four field goals in 13 drives before an announced crowd of 4,752 at TCF Bank Stadium.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed because I like scoring touchdowns, and we’ve got to get that ball across [the goal line],” quarterback Mitch Leidner said.

“But at the same time, we learned a lot and we’re going to get better watching the film.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/255048271.html

Go Gophers!!
 

per Sid:

Regarding the quarterbacks, Kill not only agrees that they have improved, but he believes that with the combination of starter Mitch Leidner, redshirt freshman Chris Streveler and true freshman Dimonic Roden-McKinzy, the Gophers have put the quarterback corps in the best situation since this present staff took over.

However Limegrover, while agreeing with Kill about the improvement at the quarterback position, said: “We have to be able to throw the ball better. That’s not just quarterback, that’s not just wide receivers, all of that has a lot to do with protection and making the right calls at the right time. We’re all in it together and we’re making that a priority, and I think the kids are really responding well to that.”

Leidner completed seven of 14 passes for 74 yards with an interception Saturday. Streveler was 4-for-5 for 44 yards, and Roden-McKinzy was 5-for-6 for 46 yards.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/255046791.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Caught the broadcast on BTN2go, I thought the broadcast got better as it went on after starting off terribly.
Of our players, I was quite impressed with
Defense: Jordan Hinojosa, he looks the size and often was the first guy off the snap, very quick, athletic, strong motor, just needs better angles, which will come with repetition.
Offense: Duke Anyanwu, finally healthy, has great size and athleticsm, might compete with Maxx for receptions.
 

afurry91 said:
And they are literally the exact same body. I really couldn't tell at all who was in the game without a number on them. It was really frustrating for me at least.
Click to expand...
They do not have the same body. Leidner is significantly more solid than the other two. Streveler and Rhoda are the same size, but if you watch them at the line of scrimmage, Streveler takes the snap with kind of a hunched back while Rhoda's is straight.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Sid:

Regarding the quarterbacks, Kill not only agrees that they have improved, but he believes that with the combination of starter Mitch Leidner, redshirt freshman Chris Streveler and true freshman Dimonic Roden-McKinzy, the Gophers have put the quarterback corps in the best situation since this present staff took over.

However Limegrover, while agreeing with Kill about the improvement at the quarterback position, said: “We have to be able to throw the ball better. That’s not just quarterback, that’s not just wide receivers, all of that has a lot to do with protection and making the right calls at the right time. We’re all in it together and we’re making that a priority, and I think the kids are really responding well to that.”

Leidner completed seven of 14 passes for 74 yards with an interception Saturday. Streveler was 4-for-5 for 44 yards, and Roden-McKinzy was 5-for-6 for 46 yards.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/255046791.html

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

So, perhaps the same thing was happening during that 13 quarter stretch last season when my Gophers didn't score a TD. Perhaps Limegrover and his fellow Coaches just need some more time to develop a cohesive and effective offensive line. And, a cohesive and effective offensive line HAS to be able to run block AND pass protect. This 2014 season will be their fourth season. How much longer do they need to put together the offensive line? Quarterbacks NEVER thrive when there are problems with the offensive line. In the mean while: the quarterbacks catch most of the heat for the coaches who are in charge of putting together the offensive line from the "fans" on the message boards. And as the quarterbacks are dissed in the media and by the fans: the coaches somehow get richly rewarded with praise and with much more pay.

It is high time for the Coaches to put together a cohesive and effective offensive line that has the ability to block for the run...and the pass. In Conference play it becomes too hard to win football games without being able to run the ball AND pass the ball. That will be especially true in order to beat the stinking badgers in 2014. Get to work Coach Limegrover. You have to power...you call the plays...you got a nice pay day! Now get the job done with the offensive line!
 

I agree with most of what has been said. The crowd was not good compared to other BIG spring games. I noticed Nebraska let their qb's get hit. Having our qb's in numberless jerseys was a mistake. The public address announcer was annoying and made numerous mistakes (doesn't he have a spotter). And he's rattling on endlessly with ads. Come on Woody. Class the joint up a bit.
Roderick Williams looks a lot better to me this year. Offensive line WAS porous and the defensive line had everyone out. Not a good omen. Can't wait to hear Dave Lee tomorrow night. McKinzy played with great poise and looked good to me.
 

corcoran1 said:
They do not have the same body. Leidner is significantly more solid than the other two. Streveler and Rhoda are the same size, but if you watch them at the line of scrimmage, Streveler takes the snap with kind of a hunched back while Rhoda's is straight.
Click to expand...

Liedner walks and runs with a bit of a goofy jar jar binks thing going on. Streveler is built like a linebacker and swaggers like mark wahlberg. He has a distinctive fast twitch way of moving. Connor Rhoda isn't one of those two and isn't black. Maybe I've watched too many hudl videos but yeah, they look nothing alike to me.
 

A couple of observations:

Just before Edwards scored, he had a run of 6-8 or something pedestrian, but I told my two boys to watch the replay; he came to almost a complete stop, and was back at top speed in about 1 step. It was something I haven't seen from a Gopher RB in I don't know how long.

Jephete Matilus lined up at right end a few times, and on consecutive plays absolutely abused Ben Lauer. Interesting to see the staff move him around. Cool speed rush option.

Late in the "game" I thought Fruechte was wide open, and a pretty good throw was delivered, but Marcus Jones showed really impressive closing speed and broke the pass up.
 

I don't think we should draw too many conclusions on the offensive line at this point. They did a decent job in pass protection last year and we'll probably have everyone back except Olson. Probably an anomaly.

Leidner had a rough day with some wounded ducks, but sounds like there were some communication problems. They have all summer to work on timing. I'm not worried. One of the true freshman receivers might help out as well. Missed Maxx today. He needs to get well.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Liedner walks and runs with a bit of a goofy jar jar binks thing going on. Streveler is built like a linebacker and swaggers like mark wahlberg. He has a distinctive fast twitch way of moving. Connor Rhoda isn't one of those two and isn't black. Maybe I've watched too many hudl videos but yeah, they look nothing alike to me.
Click to expand...

On a scale of 1 to 5, how high would you rank the important category of "goofy jar jar binks"? :confused:
 


Pompous Elitist said:
I don't think we should draw too many conclusions on the offensive line at this point. They did a decent job in pass protection last year and we'll probably have everyone back except Olson. Probably an anomaly.

Leidner had a rough day with some wounded ducks, but sounds like there were some communication problems. They have all summer to work on timing. I'm not worried. One of the true freshman receivers might help out as well. Missed Maxx today. He needs to get well.
Click to expand...
No, our pass blocking was porous last year too.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom