Gophs open up about Gray: Point Proven.

[Khaliq]

Perhaps they didn't redshirt Gray because they thought he would be contributing more themselves, but he isn't quite as ready as they had initially hoped.

Then that was a mis-assessment of assets on their part. It's not a huge blunder, but it's still an error in judgment. I think it's okay to call this a mistake, which it clearly was. That doesn't mean it's program crippling or anything.

Last point, it is not all that alarming to have a freshman QB not ready to start and not 100% locked into the playbook. That's why you see so few freshman QBs starting.

Not ready to start of the gates? Fine. Not even ready to take on a series eight games into the season? That's unsettling.

 

[jovs]

The whole "he's one play away from being in the game" argument is bogus. If he was intended to be used 1-5 plays per game, they should not have burned his redshirt. Period. He could have been prepared as the backup, and been dressed on the sidelines, but only enter if needed in the event of a Weber injury.

The only reason I can think of for wasting his redshirt season is that they think: a. he will leave for the NFL as soon as he is able, so the redshirt season is moot; or b. the guys behind him are better and he will not be starting by the time he is a junior or senior anyway.

If the coaching staff thinks neither of these things are true (which I don't, and I don't think they do either), they simply made a colossal mistake by wasting his redshirt.

I wonder if playing him wasn't done to keep him involved and interested, if not then what a mistake playing him. He might be a candidate to redshirt next year if that is possible. I compare what is happening to Pryor this year.

If I am not mistaken Michael Robinson played tailback at Penn State before becoming the quarterback. I am wondering why they don't try that, afraid of an injury maybe.

I also wonder if the Availability of Alipate next year won't make it easier to redshirt him next year.

 

[Maroon]

I think the most critical aspect of this whole thing is that the centerpiece recruit of Brewster's entire tenure so far is apparently unable to play halfway through a season despite spending time with the team last spring and all of fall camp. And for all those talking about how well Brewster's first recruiting class ranked, remember that it was Gray, who had a very high ranking at the time, who really inflated that ranking all by himself. To have one guy in there ranked that high really boosts the entire class ranking. And if that guy turns out to be a bust, what does that say about how that class realistically ranks?

Before Kool-Aid and the Gang (TM) jump all over me for being anti-Gopher and Mr. Negative and all that, I'm not saying I think Gray is going to be a bust. Obviously we don't know yet. But this can't be seen as a good sign. These rumblings have been going on behind the scenes for a while, and now they are at least in part being acknowledged in public.

 

[Schnoodler]

I'm not sure Gray has the build for a tailback, maybe a reciever.

 

[magpie]

The intentions here are grand, but one injury from leading the offense means he NEEDS to see late game action. He should've against Purdue, and he better against SDSU.

You can only be in drivers ed for so long, eventually you need to grab the wheel and get the experience yourself.

 

[Maroon]

Cornerstone? I think at this point that Alipate has just as much of a chance to be our future cornerstone on offense as Gray does. Honestly.

I can't see Alipate ever starting a college game. Not at the D-I level. No way.

 

[STPGopher]

Huh?

If he still hasn't mastered the playbook on the eve of the team's eighth game of the year that's a pretty huge concern for the future.

I'm not sure I follow. He probably knows the plays. The question is can he process all of the scenarios/ reads at game speed and still execute at game speed? That takes time. Easing him in isn't all bad. Perhaps his role will be expanded vs SDSU.

We have to remember that Gray is a "true freshman" that was out of football for over a year. Then we have to consider that Gray lost his Decker (Mr. Smith) to transfer. It may take a little longer than some of us hoped, but I think he will do many great things while here at Minnesota.

BTW Vince Young didn't really start to shine till his junior year.

 

[mesothelioma]

The whole "he's one play away from being in the game" argument is bogus. If he was intended to be used 1-5 plays per game, they should not have burned his redshirt. Period. He could have been prepared as the backup, and been dressed on the sidelines, but only enter if needed in the event of a Weber injury.

The only reason I can think of for wasting his redshirt season is that they think: a. he will leave for the NFL as soon as he is able, so the redshirt season is moot; or b. the guys behind him are better and he will not be starting by the time he is a junior or senior anyway.

If the coaching staff thinks neither of these things are true (which I don't, and I don't think they do either), they simply made a colossal mistake by wasting his redshirt.

There is another possibility. The coaching staff thought he was the most accomplished backup, thought he would come along faster, and tried to get him into games. However, following his fumble in the Air Force game and presumed poor performance in practice, they are continuing to hold him out from game action. Meanwhile, they are continuing to go with the 3-year starter to manage the game, warts and all. An unfortunate consequence of this is that they might end up burning his possible red-shirt.

Now I am sure everyone (possibly excluding Wisky fans) would love to have MarQueis come up to speed, but unfortunately we just have to wait.

On a related note, does anyone recall how many snaps a player has to be in on to qualify for a red-shirt. I have seen that number bandied about, but I don't recall it right now. Any chance that if he stays out of games for the rest of the year, he might qualify for a red-shirt?

 

[RedPoo]

I can't see Alipate ever starting a college game. Not at the D-I level. No way.

Based on what, exactly?

 

[Maroon]

Based on what, exactly?

I saw the guy in person for several of his high school games and was never impressed. Couldn't believe he went to the U.

 

[STPGopher]

I think the most critical aspect of this whole thing is that the centerpiece recruit of Brewster's entire tenure so far is apparently unable to play halfway through a season despite spending time with the team last spring and all of fall camp. And for all those talking about how well Brewster's first recruiting class ranked, remember that it was Gray, who had a very high ranking at the time, who really inflated that ranking all by himself. To have one guy in there ranked that high really boosts the entire class ranking. And if that guy turns out to be a bust, what does that say about how that class realistically ranks?

Before Kool-Aid and the Gang (TM) jump all over me for being anti-Gopher and Mr. Negative and all that, I'm not saying I think Gray is going to be a bust. Obviously we don't know yet. But this can't be seen as a good sign. These rumblings have been going on behind the scenes for a while, and now they are at least in part being acknowledged in public.

Gray, who had a very high ranking at the time, who really inflated that ranking all by himself.

Not to nitpick, but I believe that Edwards, Cooper and Reeves also impacted that ranking.

Another thought. I think the initial hope that Gray could come in and dominate was based on us being a spread oriented team. Gray ran (quite well) the spread in HS. The new offense may take a while.

But this can't be seen as a good sign - IMO This falls into the neither category. Some things just have to play themselves out. Let's just hope that this situation plays itself out later rather than sooner.

 

[RedPoo]

I saw the guy in person for several of his high school games and was never impressed. Couldn't believe he went to the U.

Ahh...in that case, I'm going to stick with the opinions of the professional scouting services that considered him one of the top 20 quarterbacks in his class. No offense.

 

[Maroon]

Ahh...in that case, I'm going to stick with the opinions of the professional scouting services that considered him one of the top 20 quarterbacks in his class. No offense.

Feel free to bump this in four years.

 

[jovs]

Two things that might have lead them to not redshirt Gray.

1.) He was out of football for a year and red shirting him would have meant he was away from any competion for two years.

2.) They didn't have a ready backup.

 

[MBAGuy]

I guess my reading of this article is different than most everyone else's.

My take was that they didn't want to expose Gray to too much pressure early in his career and risk damaging his confidence and future viability as a play maker. It's not that he has no grasp of the offense; rather, his level of understanding is such that making the appropriate decisions and reads might not come as naturally to him as they will after a year in the offense. Thus, rather than sending him out to make mistakes and negatively affect his future potential, they're protecting him for this year, getting him involved where it makes sense and letting him naturally develop.

Certainly, the reading you all are giving the article makes sense: "he clearly doesn't get it or else he'd have found himself playing more of a role in the offense, and the article supports that line of thinking." Is it possible, though, that Brew is taking a longer-term approach to Gray and some of the other young talent (Hageman, etc.) and not getting them on the field until they're absolutely ready to play? Or do you all think the leash Maturi has him on is too short for that approach?

 

[GophersInIowa]

I think the coaches came into the season thinking they would have more opportunities to use him. But the offense hasn't performed like they had hoped and every game has been close. He's not ready to take over at QB all together but I think we will see him run a series here and there, especially against SDSU.

 

[Maroon]

I think it would be dangerous for Brewster to assume he can afford to take a long-term approach here. And even if that was his thinking, why all the bluster about Gray being so involved this year if they had no intention of doing that? Doesn't make sense.

 

[tikited]

I guess my reading of this article is different than most everyone else's.

My take was that they didn't want to expose Gray to too much pressure early in his career and risk damaging his confidence and future viability as a play maker. It's not that he has no grasp of the offense; rather, his level of understanding is such that making the appropriate decisions and reads might not come as naturally to him as they will after a year in the offense. Thus, rather than sending him out to make mistakes and negatively affect his future potential, they're protecting him for this year, getting him involved where it makes sense and letting him naturally develop.

Certainly, the reading you all are giving the article makes sense: "he clearly doesn't get it or else he'd have found himself playing more of a role in the offense, and the article supports that line of thinking." Is it possible, though, that Brew is taking a longer-term approach to Gray and some of the other young talent (Hageman, etc.) and not getting them on the field until they're absolutely ready to play? Or do you all think the leash Maturi has him on is too short for that approach?

Bingo!!! We have a winner.

 

[MBAGuy]

I think it would be dangerous for Brewster to assume he can afford to take a long-term approach here. And even if that was his thinking, why all the bluster about Gray being so involved this year if they had no intention of doing that? Doesn't make sense.

So your take is that his leash is too short to risk not getting the most athletic of his guys on the field right away? That's a fair position; I'm just looking to clarify.

 

[Maroon]

So your take is that his leash is too short to risk not getting the most athletic of his guys on the field right away? That's a fair position; I'm just looking to clarify.

I'm saying I think if Gray is as good as we've heard he is, I think he should be playing - rather than being protected from potential bad moments as some have suggested. Not starting, of course, but just playing. Start getting him used to the speed of the game and seeing what you have in the guy.

 

[RedPoo]

I think the coaches came into the season thinking they would have more opportunities to use him. But the offense hasn't performed like they had hoped and every game has been close. He's not ready to take over at QB all together but I think we will see him run a series here and there, especially against SDSU.

This is pretty much exactly what I assume is going on. I'd guess (from the fact that they've chosen not to redshirt, and because I think I remember Brewster saying as much) that they had planned on using Gray more. There could be multiple reasons, such as Gray not progressing as fast as they'd hoped, game situations maybe not allowing it, etc, that he hasn't seen as much time as they'd like.
I'd still be surprised if he doesn't have at least a handful of pass attempts by the end of the season. I'd like to have seen more by now, obviously, but the situation is what it is.

 

[BleedGopher]

There are a few things that are really being overlooked in the Gray/RS conversation:

1. There is a good chance that when Brew recruited him, he promised Gray that he would NOT redshirt. A lot of big time recruits are promised this and if Brew went back on his word that would be pretty bad.

2. There is a decent chance that Gray himself CHOSE not to be redshirted. It's hard to RS a kid if he and his family are against it for one reason or another. Obviously Brew doesn't have to play him but if a family wants to not redshirt bad enough for one reason or another, it's hard on a staff to go against that...especially with a high profile recruit like Gray.

All that being said, I will be disappointed if we blew his RS year for 3 yards up the middle a game.

Go Gophers!!

 

[denguegopher]

"Every single word in the offense has a signal," Fisch said. "On some plays you'll need six, seven, eight signals."

If this is true I think that our offense is too freaking complicated. Line up and play football.

 

[Maroon]

"Every single word in the offense has a signal," Fisch said. "On some plays you'll need six, seven, eight signals."

If this is true I think that our offense is too freaking complicated. Line up and play football.

+1

 

[MBAGuy]

"Every single word in the offense has a signal," Fisch said. "On some plays you'll need six, seven, eight signals."

If this is true I think that our offense is too freaking complicated. Line up and play football.

+2

 

[chi-town gopher]

I'm not sure if we can determine whether or not Gray is ready to play based on a profile for a newspaper article. What is he supposed to say? "I'm way better than Adam Weber and I should be the starter, the coaches don't know what they are doing!" Come on people, this kid is just playing the role of a good teammate. Even if he comes out and says something like, "I know that I'm ready to step in at any time," the Weber/Gray controversy doesn't go away.

The kid was a high school star and a highly rated recruit, I seriously doubt he thinks he isn't ready or capable enough to play. Good athletes always think they can get in there and play. I will say that this article has me feeling good about the hold Brew has on this team. Even though I think Gray should be given a chance, all of the players have bought into Brew's plan, and I hope this bodes well for the future.

 

[Maroon]

The point, Chi-town, is that the newspaper article is echoing some of the whispers from behind the scenes about Gray. That's why it's being given credence here.

 

[chi-town gopher]

The point, Chi-town, is that the newspaper article is echoing some of the whispers from behind the scenes about Gray. That's why it's being given credence here.

My point, Maroon, is that the article is not anything different from what Brew has said all year. The article says nothing about Gray fumbling or not being able to understand the offense, it just says that playing QB is a big transition. Brew has said that from day one.

 

[bankonit]

I don't think it is a concern at all in his talent or development. It is hard to know everything your freshman year and Brew and Fisch know that Gray at QB is the the best shot they have at competing with the big boys and they do not want to throw him to the wolves and get eaten alive by the media and fans like Pryor is getting in Ohio. He will either start next year as a Sophomore or be ready for 2 stellar seasons as a upperclassman

 

[Ron Johnson Super Fan]

Two things that might have lead them to not redshirt Gray.

1.) He was out of football for a year and redshirting him would have meant he was away from any competion for two years.

2.) They didn't have a ready backup.

I think that everyone agrees that if Weber went down that Gray would be the best option. However, is letting him run the ball a couple of times a game really that much different than not playing him at all?

I think that the argument that Brewster & Fisch thought that he would be further along and ready for more snaps at this point in the year holds the most water. I don't see them blowing a year of eligibility on Gray had they known how little they would be using him. It is also plausible that Brewster promised him that he wouldn't have to redshirt.