GopherSports: Who is Your Mount Rushmore of Gopher QBs?

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Here is my list:

Sandy Stephens
Rickey Foggie
Paul Giel
Tanner Morgan

I picked Morgan if only because last year was one of the greatest in decades and my belief he'll continue to be very good for us. If not him, I would have chosen between Cupito and Weber, though both are a significant step back from Morgan last year.


Go Gophers!!
 


BleedGopher said:
Here is my list:

Sandy Stephens
Rickey Foggie
Paul Giel
Tanner Morgan

I picked Morgan if only because last year was one of the greatest in decades and my belief he'll continue to be very good for us. If not him, I would have chosen between Cupito and Weber, though both are a significant step back from Morgan last year.


Go Gophers!!
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Hohensee wasn't bad either. A few people outside of Minnesota have even heard of him.
 

Tanner Morgan
Sandy Stephens
Weber
Rickie Foggie

Paul Giel was so bad as an Athletic Director he will never make the cut! He is mostly to blame for the entire athletic department falling into the depths of the B1G! Reigning over the Athletic Department from 1971-1989 we saw our teams and facilities degrade into a pit of despair only PJ Fleck and his attitude could possibly pull us out of! As Charles Barkley would say his career as an AD was TERR-I-BULL!!!!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Here is my list:

Sandy Stephens
Rickey Foggie
Paul Giel
Tanner Morgan

I picked Morgan if only because last year was one of the greatest in decades and my belief he'll continue to be very good for us. If not him, I would have chosen between Cupito and Weber, though both are a significant step back from Morgan last year.


Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
These are my picks as well. I love Tony Dungy but he has not business being anywhere close to this list. But I wouldn't be surprised if he gets voted into the top 4 just because of name recognition.
 


Stephens
Foggie
Giel
Dungy, simply because of the icon he's become since his days at the U. Likely our most famous football player since Eller or Bell. If on-field performance is the only qualifier, give me Morgan instead. In a year or two he could push ahead of them all anyways.
 



WinLoseOrTy said:
Morgan shattered the single season record book last year. He deserves to be in the Top 4 even if he never plays another down.
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Morgan needs a similar 2021 to cement his place among the top 4 all-time at the U. You do have to be a little careful basing a players qualifications on stats because the game has changed a lot over the years. Especially at the QB position where the passing game has really exploded, and the number of games played each year has to be taken into account as well.

2020 alone might be enough for Morgan to qualify for Mt. Rushmore given that we don't have a stellar track record for QBs at the U of M but he probably needs one more great season to lock his name in as the greatest QB in the history of Minnesota football.
 



Tough one, but I would go with:
1) Weber - based on numbers; although I would have liked him to have led us to a couple of big comeback wins, which I don't remember him doing.
2) Stephens - a big time winner
3) Foggie - gotta love the guy
4) Morgan (Tanner), although Bob Morgan was pretty good too. So many times this past season I found myself saying, "I've been waiting for this guy since Foggie left."
*A favorite but not Mount Rushmore worthy) Cockerham - 9th in total offense; I cannot forget that comeback win he led us to vs. Mich St coming in relief of Andy Persby. Reminded me of the old Twin, Randy Bush, did not play all the time but when he was in there good things usually happened.
 


Stephens
Morgan
Foggie

Giel never made All Big 10 qb or All American as a QB so I consider him a RB but if that's where you want him put him up there.
 




I'm not sure I'd put them there, but I'm surprised no one here has mentioned Cupito or Abdul-Khaliq. They are worthy or at least very close to being worthy of the Mt. Rushmore.
 

Word said:
I'm not sure I'd put them there, but I'm surprised no one here has mentioned Cupito or Abdul-Khaliq. They are worthy or at least very close to being worthy of the Mt. Rushmore.
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Matt had the correct answer.
 

Word said:
I'm not sure I'd put them there, but I'm surprised no one here has mentioned Cupito or Abdul-Khaliq. They are worthy or at least very close to being worthy of the Mt. Rushmore.
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I had Khaliq.
 


Do not forget about Babe LeVoir. First Gopher player ever drafted in the NFL. He played QB and other positions.

Vernal 'Babe' LeVoir Football, 1933-36 HOF Class of 1994
At the University of Minnesota, he played halfback and quarterback under Coach Bernie Bierman, in the undefeated glory years of 1933, 1934 and 1935, on teams that compiled a combined 20-1-4 record, won three Big Ten titles and captured two national championships.

LeVoir was named to the 1935 All-Big Ten first team after quarterbacking the Gophers to an 8-0 record and a national championship that year. The team MVP played in the 1936 College All-Star Game, and was drafted that year by the NFL’s Brooklyn Dodgers.

LeVoir vs Weber, or Cupito? Let me think about that for a minute. :unsure:
 

Don't forget Vic Viramontes, he deserves honorable mention.

I'm surprised no one has brought up Mitch.
 

More than any other position in football, any qb evaluation has evolved into something much different over the years. In the Bierman era and single wing, the quarterback hardly ever touched the ball - the halfback (such as Bruce Smith) threw most of the passes. Similar in the Giel era, but I would say he was a rb first and foremost. Despite being a big Dungy fan, his actual on-field performance does not rise above a lot of similar players. So...

On the basis of overall skills, leadership and team success - Stephens and Foggie top my list, you could count on them to win tough games for you. (And remember that Stephens played db as well!) Other two not as obvious to me, but would come from this list:
- Don't know much about LeVoir
- One could argue for Weber (3rd all-time in career passing yards in the big ten), but that stat is greatly helped by starting 4 years on a team with a pass happy offense and little defense (meaning that he had to pass all the time to keep up)
- Khaliq was exciting to watch (but he always reminds me of that dang Michigan game)
- Probably too early for Morgan.
- Although not having the greatest arm, Cupito was a good solid starter for three years in a very run-oriented offense.
- Hohensee may have had the best arm of any of them, but played only two years with some very marginal - to - poor Joe Salem teams (but he did beat Ohio State for the final Gopher victory in Memorial Stadium).
 

How many Gopher records did Morgan break last year?

I'm no statistician, but it was a lot! I say put his shiny dome up there!

Tanner Morgan
Sandy Stephens
Rickie Foggie
Weber - talk me out of it!
 

I've posted this before, but just added Morgan and Sandy Stephens to the list today. Here are the all-time Gopher QB stats. I sorted it by completion % on this run. Lots of ways you can look at this though - but I think data can help dispel some misconceptions.
Capture.JPG
 
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Otis said:
Tanner Morgan
Sandy Stephens
Weber
Rickie Foggie

Paul Giel was so bad as an Athletic Director he will never make the cut! He is mostly to blame for the entire athletic department falling into the depths of the B1G! Reigning over the Athletic Department from 1971-1989 we saw our teams and facilities degrade into a pit of despair only PJ Fleck and his attitude could possibly pull us out of! As Charles Barkley would say his career as an AD was TERR-I-BULL!!!!!
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Giel was a great ambassador though. He actually spoke at the athletic banquet at my high school which had a graduating class of about 100 and was an hour south of the Twin Cities. Obviously a much different era.
 

Word said:
I've posted this before, but just added Morgan and Sandy Stephens to the list today. Here are the all-time Gopher QB stats. I sorted it by completion % on this run. Lots of ways you can look at this though - but I think data can help dispel some misconceptions.
View attachment 7864
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If I only had those stats to go by, it would be Morgan, Abdul-Khaliq, Cupito, Foggie. Some people clearly have sentimental favorites, who belong nowhere near Mount Rushmore, but that’s fine.
 
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No Gil Fash love? Started one game and won it in 1973. I knew a couple of players on the 1973 team years after they graduated through some business connections. They always talked about that game. Fash was 2-10 with 3 INTs and 1 TD, but Illinois fumbled 6 (count'em 6) times. That team ended 7-4 (6-2) in the Big Ten. Tony Dungy and John Lawing were the regular QBs, but both were injured for the Illinois game. Dungy ran Stoll's Veer offense fairly well, but he was a terrible passer.

Dr. Bobby Morgan was Stoll's first QB. He had backed up Craig Curry under Warmath, but was the starter when Stoll took over and ran the Veer really well.
 

PitinoFan said:
If I only had those stats to go by, it would be Morgan, Abdul-Khaliq, Cupito, Foggie. Some people clearly have sentiments favorites, who belong nowhere near Mount Rushmore, but that’s fine.
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I think I'd swap Weber with Cupito or Abdul-Khaliq, but I'm not sure which one.
 

Word said:
I think I'd swap Weber with Cupito or Abdul-Khaliq, but I'm not sure which one.
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I thought about that, but he played on some bad football teams, and needed to throw a lot from behind. I suppose the same can be said about Drew Brees to a lesser extent. Purdue’s defense stunk.
 


Dungy's a great person and had a successful career in the NFL as a player and coach, but IMHO, based on his PLAY AT MINNESOTA, he's not close to a top 4 all-time QB. As an honest and straightforward commentator, I think he'd agree.
 

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