Is Athan Kaliakmanis ready? | Gopherhole

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Bob_Loblaw said:
He played his senior year, he was Illinois Gatorade player of the year his senior season.

I hope they don't split touches between Kramer and him. The last thing a young QB needs is to also be looking over his shoulder.
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Quite the feat considering Illinois did not have a prep season in 2020.
 


Athan is probably ready. Not sure the O-line is ready to protect him or the receivers are ready to get open for him. He'd be ready in the sense that he could be a replacement level QB. Not in the sense that he can carry a team despite the flaws we've exhibited over the last 2 weeks.
 

stemar said:
Quite the feat considering Illinois did not have a prep season in 2020.
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Yeah, it is quite the feat to be named Gatorade Player of the Year. But it has absolutely NOTHING to do with a season being cancelled. Illinois didn't cancel it's season, they moved it to the spring of 2021 which was his senior year.

Here is a breakdown of their season.

Schedule - Antioch Sequoits (Antioch, IL) Varsity Football 20-21

View the 20-21 Antioch varsity football team schedule.
www.maxpreps.com www.maxpreps.com

Here are his senior highlights:

Here is an article and picture of them winning a game in the spring of 2021:
football.dailyherald.com

Antioch runs away with North Chicago

Minnesota-bound Athan Kaliakmanis has raised his ability at quarterback to another level. His role leading Antioch shows his growth and efficiency from all of his work effort over the last four years...
football.dailyherald.com football.dailyherald.com

So yep, quite the amazing feat.
 


Dakota2 said:
Write it for Wright right now. Then take it to the bank.
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I’d love to see Hoskins line up wide and run a go route, if he is ready. Speed. Maybe a bubble screen or our tunnel screen. If he catches the ball, he might make a tackler or two miss.

And I wouldn’t mind seeing Quentin Redding line up a WR and run some motion/jet sweep action. He supposedly can run through tackles. He’s a hardnosed player.
 
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RememberMurray said:
When your chance comes, you have to step up. You must perform.

When Annexstad got hurt, Morgan stepped in and did so well that Zach never got the starting job back.

If Athan is as good as we think he is, he will play well when he gets his chance.
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Annexstad started as a true freshman. You got to match your skill with confidence. If Athan believes he can do it, and the Gophers give him some support, he’ll do fine. He has the talent; what’s going on in his mind will be key. Don’t know if we win, but I think he’ll do fine for a first start, and get a baptism of fire, before we hit a few supposedly easier games.
 

It will be interesting, physically he will be fine, mentally we will see. He has not played in a game for 3 years and I think he broke his collar bone his Junior year, so almost 4 years. Unlike JJ from Michigan who had the opportunity to be slowly groomed in a superior offense. Athan, will be thrown to the wolves. Good luck.
 

mnsportsgeek said:
Athan is probably ready. Not sure the O-line is ready to protect him or the receivers are ready to get open for him. He'd be ready in the sense that he could be a replacement level QB. Not in the sense that he can carry a team despite the flaws we've exhibited over the last 2 weeks.
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Things would probably be moving really fast for Athan in comparison to Morgan which could makes things tough. That said, a more mobile QB adds an offensive threat this team doesn't currently have. A mobile QB can do some real damage against defensive fronts that are overly aggressive.
 



Tommyboy said:
It will be interesting, physically he will be fine, mentally we will see. He has not played in a game for 3 years and I think he broke his collar bone his Junior year, so almost 4 years. Unlike JJ from Michigan who had the opportunity to be slowly groomed in a superior offense. Athan, will be thrown to the wolves. Good luck.
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1.5 years.

He played in his senior season (spring of 2021) and has played in a number of games this year.
 

I agree with this article. If it's Athan I hope for great things, however if it's Athan and things don't look good it won't deter me one bit from believing he can be a great quarterback. I'm in the camp of I'd rather have Tanner for this game than Athan. Either way, just hoping for a great performance from the Gophers!
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
I agree with this article. If it's Athan I hope for great things, however if it's Athan and things don't look good it won't deter me one bit from believing he can be a great quarterback. I'm in the camp of I'd rather have Tanner for this game than Athan. Either way, just hoping for a great performance from the Gophers!
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Yeah, if Athan doesn't light it up this week, that isn't a sign of bad things to come.

My biggest concern with Athan is that we'll go too conservative which puts a ton of pressure on the QB. If you're only throwing when you have to (third downs), it makes it difficult. I hope we run our offense and let him sling it.
 





Bob_Loblaw said:
He played his senior year, he was Illinois Gatorade player of the year his senior season.

I hope they don't split touches between Kramer and him. The last thing a young QB needs is to also be looking over his shoulder.
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Article and his Gophersports bio says his senior season was cancelled due to Covid.
 

I hope he gets a chance. Talent plus experience is a good formula.

I may be wrong but it appears that he uses his arm strength versus fully stepping in using full body. Thus the ball appeared to hang a bit on his long throws. Anyone else notice that?
 

PMWinSTP said:
Article and his Gophersports bio says his senior season was cancelled due to Covid.
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It was initially cancelled but it was postponed. They played in the spring of 2021 and he played.
 

Well if he’s ready let’s ride him! We’ll see Saturday night!
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Well if he’s ready let’s ride him! We’ll see Saturday night!
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What happens if we win (pretty unlikely IMO), and he doesn't turn the ball over and looks like a competent QB (fingers crossed)?

Does he start the next game, or does Fleck go back to Morgan?

I hope we're having this discussion next week!

EDIT: This question is for the scenario Morgan is deemed healthy to play their next game.
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
It was initially cancelled but it was postponed. They played in the spring of 2021 and he played.
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Weird that I can't find any stats. Also weird that his Gopher Sports bio was not corrected. Was it considered an actual season?
 

I just hope all of the interceptions he throws this week are all 40 yards downfield so it's like a punt anyway.
 

He's not ready, but that's not a knock on him.

Almost no one is ready to start their first game on the road in the Big Ten.

I fully expected the Gophers to lose this game before the season began, so there's nothing to lose.

Go out there young man, and enjoy yourself.
 

STPGopher said:
I feel your pain. I am still hopeful that things click this week. Perhaps being close to home will inspire MBS.
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The distance from Springfield, Ohio to State College isn't any different than going to Champaign. How did that work for him?
 

If Athan plays this game, our defense has to come to play.

We can't give up two long drives to start the game and be down10-0 or more. It will then be a feeding frenzy. We need the defense to pull their head out of their asses for this game.
 




Dakota2 said:
The above meaning he missed two plays because of injury and not counting a few plays he missed due to Seth Green or Kramer playing wildcat.
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If I am not mistaken, Tanner lined up at receiver when they were in the wildcat.
 



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