I’m just not seeing where these ranking experts are coming from. I see a pretty talented Gopher team for next year. There is not a lot of depth at some positions, but there is considerable depth at several key spots!
Let’s review:
QB: this is a little thin and I guess untested at the B1G level but Brosmer should be good for 4 or 5 more successful passing plays per game than the Greek rifle. That alone on lasts years team gives us 3 or 4 more wins. Wittke has some experience so I would say this is an upgraded position.
RB: DT is arguably the best RB in the conference when healthy. Add in the nice collection of transfers that have come in and are full grown men and this position looks better than last year. When a 200 yard rusher in a single game is arguably the fifth string back, you’re in pretty good shape. Upgrade!
WR: This is where things go a little haywire. But, we weren’t that strong last year! Jackson is good and the incoming transfers of Williams and Driver are athletic upgrades over what we lost. Add in a healthy Brockington and we should be at least 4 deep. That should be an improvement over last year. Plus, it’s not like we have been a passing team ever under Fleck. Passing is just to keep the Defense honest at Minnesota. Improved.
Offensive Line: These guys are solid. Ersery could be a first round draft choice next year. Carrol will likely be drafted. Johnson should be solid at center and we got the manster transfer from UTEP. Add in the talented freshman from last year and these guys should be above average in the B1G and massive. Is this group an upgrade? It could be, and last years group was solid. Certainly at least as good as last year.
TE: I hesitate to even grade this. Fleck uses TEs as a 6th offensive lineman. And just to be straightforward, how could this be any worse than last year? Let’s hope the QB finds one of these guys in his progressions and that guy can reliably catch the ball. Upgrade/downgrade? Who knows?
DL: Striggow, Eastern, Joyner, Howard, Kissayi. Ok, Kissayi is a stretch. But this position looks pretty deep thanks to our DL coach. We should be able to rotate these guys and keep them fresh with little fall off in performance. This might be the best DL Fleck has had! Upgrade.
LB: what a difference a healthy Cody Linenberg would have made last year. Well, he’s healthy now. The young guys like Baranowski got thrown to the Wolves and showed massive improvement as the season progressed. This should be an improved unit even though we have no impact transfers. I’ll grade this as a wash.
DBs: Robinson and McMillan had better be pretty good as this is the spot I find the hardest to be positive about. Wiley need to cut down his penalties and who is going to replace Nubin? Perich is probably the guy, but for all his gifts he is just a freshman and did not early enroll to get that Spring Ball experience. The returning safeties are not well known to me so this feels like a downgrade. But, an improved pass rush can make DBs look very good! So maybe, this won’t be too bad of a group.
Overall Defense: We lost our best coordinator. Will the new guy improve the defense? Odds are against him, but PJ will help keep the status Quo on the D plan and that should help.
Kicking game: Punter and Kicker are solid!
So, I see more reasons to be positive than negative. The schedule is the schedule. We play in the B1G. It could be easier, but if you take out USC and Michigan, you’d probably get OSU and Oregon. So, why aren’t people just happy we are avoiding the likely top 2 teams and playing UCLA instead of Washington? We play Iowa and Wisconsin every year.
I think this team will surprise and make most pundits look bad. With a little luck and a healthy team we could get to 9 wins!
Certainly not the 14th or lower B1G team IMO.
Go Gophers!!
. People who follow CFB understand this. 
