How would you rate Drake Lindsey in his first season as starting QB?

How would you rate Drake Lindsey in his first season as starting QB?

  • A

    Votes: 15 8.2%

  • B

    Votes: 127 69.4%

  • C

    Votes: 39 21.3%

  • D

    Votes: 2 1.1%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    183
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Full Speed Ahead said:
  • Max was better at going through his progressions, many times hitting the third or even fourth receiver in the play. Drake would often pick his target too early, throwing into coverage vs seeing the wide open player (often a downfield route). That's all part of gaining experience. (As a comparison, AK picked who he was throwing to before the ball was snapped - no progression during the play at all. If the receiver was covered, he just threw it harder).
  • Max has a much quicker release. Drake will need to develop that if he wants to get to the NFL
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OK, so your eye test/gut feel, not stats based
 



Solid B. Needs to become more mobile. Work on the legs. Also needs to see the field a tad better. Not always seeing wide open receivers. But he made a LOT of clutch throws. Won some games for us. Well above average for a RS FR, and I suspect next year iwill be better.
 
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B+ to A- considering the subpar supporting cast. Big arm when he wants it to be, soft when he doesn’t. Makes great decisions on balance, with a few obvious exceptions. This guy could be stellar.

By comparison Max’s freshman season at UNH paled in comparison (knowing nothing of his team).

We’re lucky to have him. Now he needs some help.
 

Whytetale said:
And we know how Bo Nix's freshman season ended. Hint, it wasn't with a victory. HeHe.
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In all fairness ... I don't think it was Bo's fault.

Gophers were playing a weird setup where they gave the Aubrun WR's LOTS of space at the line and .... for whatever reason Gus would NOT let Bo throw short passes. The one series they did they git a TD, and then they quit. 🤷‍♀️

Bo did a lot better after he transferred.
 

GopherGrit said:
OK, so your eye test/gut feel, not stats based
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I feel like the eye test as far as Brosmer's decision making vs Drake ... this year is pretty apparent if you're watching. I don't expect Drake to be better, and he's not, he very much sees the field sometimes and WAY DOES NOT and misses open guys / makes the more difficult pass.
 

People still label Adam Weber one of the best of all time for 72 touchdowns and 51 touchdowns

If Lindsey does this 4 times he will have 72 touchdowns and 36 interceptions
And if the team goes 9-4 next year Lindsey ties him in wins after just two years



Hard for me to go worse than B due to this
 




I still don't know how I truly feel about Harbaugh's play calling and scheme to grade Drake properly. Or, I need to wait until I see an o-line that enjoys pushing people
 

He's a freshman pocket passer on this particular team.

If you can't juggle those variables in your tiny minds and conclude "A"... then no one can help you.

Sit tight. The best is yet to come!
 




A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I feel like the eye test as far as Brosmer's decision making vs Drake ... this year is pretty apparent if you're watching. I don't expect Drake to be better, and he's not, he very much sees the field sometimes and WAY DOES NOT and misses open guys / makes the more difficult pass.
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Other side of the coin: Drake can make some throws that Max might not have. Both TDs to Smith in the bowl game were tremendous throws. Perfect timing and placement in tight spaces. If next year's OL gives Drake a little more time (which drop back passers need to attain maximum value) I think he will start hitting downfield guys more often. And if that can happen, we will suddenly have more explosive plays and all the good offensive results that flow from that.
 

Solid B. He’s got a lot he needs to improve on, and I personally don’t think he played as well as some were saying (calling him a star QB that receivers are gonna want to transfer here to play for blah blah blah).

But credit where it’s due, the kid looked like the most competent QB we’ve had here since.. current Vikings .500 record QB Max Brosmer.

Drake also did it behind an absolutely terrible OL with no running game.

If they can get that offensive line locked down (in house or transfers), and find a WR/TE (or both) who can actually get open down field.. well then this kid is gonna be cooking with fire.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
The left tackle had great stats and was a freshman All-American. Better than Ersery at the same stage of development. Not worried about left tackle ... or left guard.
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I think Roy looks like a future first-rounder.

So, yeah, I'm not worried about left tackle or left guard -- at all. ...We just need to get Brett Carroll plugged into the right side, and see what other big-time OL transfer we can attract for one year.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
The left tackle had great stats and was a freshman All-American. Better than Ersery at the same stage of development. Not worried about left tackle ... or left guard.
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I think the answer might be in house. Some combo of Roy, Johnson, Beers, Carroll, Nelson and Tafi (although I expect Tafi to transfer).
 

I thought the lack of push in the run game, especially short yardage was as poor as it could be. I would think you need 3 new starters, unless there is vast improvement in the current group.
 

Some comparative stats: Tanner (2019) vs. Athan vs. Brosmer vs. Drake. Tanner in 2019 is the "gold standard" because he had 2 NFL receivers, a 3rd receiver almost as good before injury, three solid RBs and a very good OL. The RPO passing scheme worked great in 2019 because of the tremendous group of RBs we had. Kept defenses honest.

Tanner (2019): 210 completions on 318 attempts for 66.0%; 3253 yards, 250.2 yards/game, 15.5 yards/catch; 30TDs, 7 INTs, 178.7 QB rating. Tanner's yards per catch was 1st in the B1G. His 250.2 yards per game and 30TDs were both second in the league, behind only Justin Fields. We threw the ball downfield a lot, connected a lot and had YAC. {Yet we didn't beat Iowa!}

Athan (2023): 156/294 for 53.1%; 1838 yards, 153.2/game, 11.8/catch; 14TDs, 9INTs, 115.2 QQ rating. As Tanner in 2019 was the zenith, Athan in 2023 was the bottom. Passing game was still downfield, but frustrating and often ineffective. First year of Harbaugh's offense after Ciarocca's RPO. Athan might have gotten caught in the "wash" between very different OCs. He was better in 2022 than in 2023. Running game was OK in 2023, thank God.

Max (2024): 268/403 for 66.5%; 2828 yards, 217.5/game, 10.6/catch; 18TDs, 6INTs 137.2 QB ranking. Gophs threw the ball a lot more (even more than Tanner in 2019), but downfield game was de-emphasized. A lot more dink and dunk--which worked, but didn't produce a high level of passing TDs. Team still had a semblance of a running game to set up the pass. These were Max's stats in his fifth year of starting in college football.

Drake (2025): 246/389 for 63.2%; 2382 yards, 183.2/game, 9.7/catch; 18TDs, 6INTs, 126.9 QB rating. This was Drake's first year of starting in college football. Stats say that we are still leaning toward the dink and dunk passing game, which played to Max's strengths but not necessarily to Drake's. Eye test: it seems as though when Drake is at his best, he is playing a downfield game. Drake's stats for a RS FR QB are pretty good. And he did this with a porous right side OL, and what might have been the poorest running game in modern Gopher's history (I'll have to check): dead last, 18th in the B1G, at just over 100 yards per game.

The Gophers will bring a very good, experienced D into 2026. And PJ has hired the Stanford DC as DE coach (and shadow DC?). I expect to be good on the defensive side. So ... If we find a half-decent run game (just middle of the pack in the B1G, please!), shore up the right side of the OL (giving Drake a little more time to survey the field), and see development in our WRs (I honestly think we will), this should allow Drake to play to his (not Max's) strengths--downfield, and 2026 could be a very interesting year.
 
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Tech Machine said:
I thought the lack of push in the run game, especially short yardage was as poor as it could be. I would think you need 3 new starters, unless there is vast improvement in the current group.
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With all the talk about us running a pro style offense which I kind of think it’s BS. It would be nice if we would line up under center morr and pound the ball. Our run schemes are subpar.
 

Gopherchase said:
With all the talk about us running a pro style offense which I kind of think it’s BS. It would be nice if we would line up under center morr and pound the ball. Our run schemes are subpar.
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What don’t you like about the run scheme? (Other than it doesn’t work)
 


Some guy said:
What don’t you like about the run scheme? (Other than it doesn’t work)
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A lot of times we hand the ball off out of the shotgun with the running back almost having his feet stationary and he has to then get going and can be a sitting duck. Ya line up under center and hand the ball off the running back has more momentum and a better chance to pick his hole at speed. Back when we were running RPO I got it. I don’t get it as much now. If OL struggles to hold their blocks it exacerbates the issue because out of shotgun they have to hold blocks longer.
 



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