Jeff Wills

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Thanks for your post Mr. Wills. I wish him the best.
 

Thanks Mr Wills.

I just re-read most of my recent posts. I thankfully noticed that I have not name-called, but have been critical of Weber's performance in 2 posts, which I regret. I'm old enough not know that I should not let my emotions get the best of me. For years I have made a efforts to continue learning and to become a more mature person. Sometimes I regress. I have to remember these Gophers are kids & are busting butt every play. Go Gophers!
 

Mr. Wills:
Thanks to your son for choosing the University of Minnesota and representing it so well. I am proud of our school and hope that he has an experience that he will cherish for a life time.
 

denguegopher said:
Thanks Mr Wills.

I just re-read most of my recent posts. I thankfully noticed that I have not name-called, but have been critical of Weber's performance in 2 posts, which I regret. I'm old enough not know that I should not let my emotions get the best of me. For years I have made a efforts to continue learning and to become a more mature person. Sometimes I regress. I have to remember these Gophers are kids & are busting butt every play. Go Gophers!
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Good...retraction.

We all love college football....we all just want the Gophers to win.

No one wants that more than the players themselves.
 

I really try not to get on the JUCO transfers to much...that is a huge jump to make from a JUCO program to D-1. It takes some time to adjust. Jeff has gotten alot better just as this season has gone along. I'm excited to see what his progression will look like next year, after he's gotta a full season and off-season of the program under his belt. Thank you for your post Mr. Wills. We are very happy to have your son at our university
 


Thanks, Mr. Wills and the other relatives of players, for one of the most positive threads in a long time. Hopefully, it will clean up one of the more aggravating things about this forum. It's apparently made at least a couple of posters to reevaluate their reactions, and they're to be commended for it. With well over 2,000 views on this thread, I think your message that these are young men with feelings who are trying their best will reach some other people.

It's also great to see the number of replies in support of the players, feelings about Brewster not withstanding. In the frustration and ripping after losses, it sometimes feels like if you're positive about anything you're in the extreme minority when that's not the case.
 


I avoided this thread because i thought it was another one ripping one of our Gophers. I thought I'd jump in and defend him a bit. Nice to see it's not needed. Great post, great thread. It gives me hope, I've been thinking for the last two weeks it's time to give the GH up, that it was being over run by people with nothing better to do but be nasty to these kids and the program. Maybe there is hope.

I have thought Wills was doing pretty well after his slow start. In fact I was in a discussion about how well he had been doing when he got beat inside. so I'm probably responsible for that mishap, I obviously jinxed him. I think he's going to be great.
 

As someone who has recently ripped Wills, I apologize. I should just refrain from posting within 24 hrs of a loss. I know these are kids and they try their best I just get extremely frustrated with the sloppy play of the Gophers as of late.
 



Thank you Wills family.

Thank you Mr. Wills for the great post. It provides a depth into our beloved sports and University that is quite rare and very touching. It's tough enough to have a bad day, it's another for others to say negative things. Teammates and family members are supposed to support you, pump you up, try to get you to play better. I consider fans the 12th player and thus we need to be supportive when it's needed the most, not the other way around.

Jeff hang in there, if you can stay focused, you're going to do great and improve a lot. People are mostly upset because know how talented you are and how good you can be, but everybody has tough times and challenging moments. This is probably one of those moments for you and I wish you the best of luck in making steady improvement the rest of the season because there's a lot of football left, and over the off-season into next year. I've got your back and will be cheering until I'm hoarse in section 243.

1221 - are you a gopher fan? You've made roughly 27 posts. I read through them and I can't tell if there's any that are even remotely positive. Are you a Wisconsin fan? Are you an Iowa fan? If you're going to whine, at least have constructive criticism. As Mr. Wills and others have shown, fan comments do make a difference. Because you're not on the field, there's essentially no value to your negative posts. Have you played sports? When your teammates were down did you mock them and tell them they suck? Or did you try to help them and build them up. I would think a fan would have at least have one positive post in their first 25 posts.

I'm disappointed by our losses this year, I married a badger and it kills me to lose to them. But I recognize that it's more important to be positive when things aren't going well, and I've grown tired the last few weeks of trying to keep this board positive and point out some of the incredibly stupid posts people make. I believe we're making steady steps towards improving. Mason only had two winning Big 10 seasons in his last six years, and that was giving him four years before those to build things up. If this team stays focused they can win the next three games and they have the potential to beat Iowa. I'm going to cheer and support them no matter what happens, like any good parent. Like a good parent I'll be disappointed when things don't go well but I'll cherish the good times. I've had the most fun this season that I've had since I purchased season tickets in 1993, and there's still some fun to be had. Thank you to all you players out there, and your families.
 

I wouldn't worry about what a few of us rubes say on a message board if I were Jeff

Were the want-a-be's, never were's and know it all's. Yes I'm included in that bunch of the vocal minority that say's too much and doesn't think about what I write sometimes when talking about Gophers football and critiquing players. I will admit to being too critical and negative at times, especially after games in the hopes that this program achieves higher success and wins more games. Some times intent, is not to tear down, but it does happen, and what you write isn't what ends up showing through in the words you type as wanting better for the team. I have had tickets since the coach Wacker years, 1991 and tire of the coaching changes, talk about "goofers" from non- fans and media, and start, stops, restarts and bad luck crazy losses for the Gophers football. A post by a parent like this does make you realize that players, parents and coaches do read what is said on this board and they take the criticism to heart, that what we say seems like we don't care and only want to rip them. We are supposed to be the fans, the one's that believe the most, and cheer for the Gophers. Jeff has scoreboard, he plays for the Gophers and is a Division one athlete, a privledge that few achieve, at the highest level of collegiate competition. That same redeeming thing could be said for Adam Weber that takes bleep on this board. Few achieve this level of play, I respect that he chose the U and, respect him even more for caring enough about the Gophers, to want to build something, to play through injury, sticking with it, through the struggles of a season even when the whole offensive line has been catching hell all season. I personally apologize for calling him a bust in the red-shirts post on Saturday. Coaches are still fair game but players don't need our gruff, or negative crap after a bad stretch. He is a first year player coming from a JUCO, working with a new guy on the right side and doing all of the things that come with college life and the pressure of class, practice and little time left to do anything else. Believe it or not when watching OSU I did say running behind the right side of the line behind the two big guys Carufel and Wills was the way to go this week, because they could stand up to the OSU DE's and have success there. I'm not taking back anything said about missed blocks, but acknowledge that Mr. Wills is a good run blocker that has helped cave the line and created holes the backs have missed other times this season.

"What's this stuff about waiting until 2010 or what will happen with Jeff and Matt next year in having tremendous success?" They are the two largest guys and have plenty of time to win the rest of the games this year. Why not go to a good bowl game some where a lot warmer than here, and achieve whatever they set there minds to this year. This team can still reallistically go 8-4. The talent is there. I believe 8-4 is realistic because we match up physically well with the rest of the teams on the schedule. I for one am hoping for a 100+ rushing yards this week with two rushing touchdowns keyed by the right side of the Gophers line. MSU has Greg Jones(to bad he had to de-commit to the Gophs) to deal with, that guy has more lateral quickness than any other linebacker the Gophers will see this season. Need to keep him sealed up and design plays that get him caught up in traffic inside all game. Control Jones and you control the MSU D he is the cog that makes that whole thing go. Who wouldn't want to hang a loss on Iowa if they are contending for a NC game spot. Good luck Jeff, may you get that Rose Bowl from another J, Go Gophers
 


Mr. Wills, thank you for the excellent post and perspective. Most of what I would share in response is well covered in many of the responses here.

Most of us that are 40 something and beyond, (maybe even 30+) can very much understand and appreciate these are kids working very hard and doing there best and that it takes more then a few games for the players to put it all together. Unfortunately, patience is something that gets worked into people as they are growing older (hopefully anyway).

I to think 2010 + is being more realistic concerning the Gopher fortunes. Hopefully their coaching staff will manage to stay together and they can continue to develop. I will say I have noticed some gelling and improvement in the OL play so this definitely gives credence to your belief toward next year.
 



There are boards like this for every college FB team and all have their jerks. How would you like to have been OSU's Pryor before last week. That board was brutal. Lets try to keep this board a step above the rest.
 

Mr. Wills

Mr. Wills - Thank you for your excellent post.
 

Dead on

Well said Mr. Wills!!
 

Div I college football is big time football and big time business. Yet it is played by 18-21 year old boys. Big time big business gets big time criticism and all of this is OK with me. What isn't OK is when the criticism gets personal. It doesn't matter if it's Willis being "fat", Bush 43 being "stupid" or Obama being a "fascist". There are some reasons to criticize Willis play and some things to disagree with about Bush & Obama, but the personal things don't add value to the discussion.

As to Willis, I re-watched last Saturday's game and I came away with a much better feeling about our young Mr. Willis and I see real improvement from the early season game against Cal. This is a young man who has supposedly lost 50 or 60 lbs and gotten intense pro level coaching and training for the first time in his life. If the progress I saw comparing the films from the two games the Gophers in general and Willis specifically are in for some good things in the future of their offensive line play.

Dad Willis, thanks very much for the heartfelt post. I for one truly appreciated it.
 

I just don't get this thread. Everyone keeps talking about the fact that someone may have posted something negative about some player at some point in time. WHOOPS! I better apologize for every non-positive thought I have ever had. Sorry, not going to do it.

Let's not get too out of hand here. This is still a forum to discuss the football team. That includes players, coaches, band, announcers, etc.

I was in the band. I read many posts that were critical of things we did. Where are all of the apologies to me? Basically reading this thread I have come to the conclusion that the football players are more important than the band since everyone seems to be apologzing to Mr. Wills. Wait a second, I might be offended again. I need more apologies........

Oh wait, I remember. It doesn't bother me if someone has an opinion on how the band should be better. As long as there wasn't any name calling - cool, it's your opinion. If you've ever called Jeff Wills an inappropriate name, then you should apologize. If you simply wanted him to improve so your favorite team is better, you should not need to apologize for anything.

What about all the negative posts about marketing, cheerleading, etc? Those people probably don't care either. Guess what. Neither do the players - IF YOU DO IT WITH RESPECT.

If you want to critisize a player, coach. band member, cheerleader, announcer, marketing professional, whoever, you should be able to do it respectfully. No name calling, no profane language. Respectfully.

You think Adam Weber is satisfied with his play? He would be the first one to admit no. He's done it in the media. I would bet Jeff Wills thinks he can improve too. If not, please correct me.

The point is - let's not go overboard here people. We can still second-guess, critisize, wish that so-and-so would have done something differently. Why didn't Weber throw that pass out of bounds? Why did that safety not roll over the top on the cover 2 defense? Do it with respect. No name calling, no profanity. Critizism should be accepted. It is part of life. It is part of anyone's career. It is part of Division I college football.
 

josh087 said:
I was in the band. I read many posts that were critical of things we did. Where are all of the apologies to me? Basically reading this thread I have come to the conclusion that the football players are more important than the band since everyone seems to be apologzing to Mr. Wills. Wait a second, I might be offended again. I need more apologies........
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Oh, Lord, please tell me he's not serious.
 

josh087 said:
I just don't get this thread. Everyone keeps talking about the fact that someone may have posted something negative about some player at some point in time. WHOOPS! I better apologize for every non-positive thought I have ever had. Sorry, not going to do it.

Let's not get too out of hand here. This is still a forum to discuss the football team. That includes players, coaches, band, announcers, etc.

I was in the band. I read many posts that were critical of things we did. Where are all of the apologies to me? Basically reading this thread I have come to the conclusion that the football players are more important than the band since everyone seems to be apologzing to Mr. Wills. Wait a second, I might be offended again. I need more apologies........

Oh wait, I remember. It doesn't bother me if someone has an opinion on how the band should be better. As long as there wasn't any name calling - cool, it's your opinion. If you've ever called Jeff Wills an inappropriate name, then you should apologize. If you simply wanted him to improve so your favorite team is better, you should not need to apologize for anything.

What about all the negative posts about marketing, cheerleading, etc? Those people probably don't care either. Guess what. Neither do the players - IF YOU DO IT WITH RESPECT.

If you want to critisize a player, coach. band member, cheerleader, announcer, marketing professional, whoever, you should be able to do it respectfully. No name calling, no profane language. Respectfully.

You think Adam Weber is satisfied with his play? He would be the first one to admit no. He's done it in the media. I would bet Jeff Wills thinks he can improve too. If not, please correct me.

The point is - let's not go overboard here people. We can still second-guess, critisize, wish that so-and-so would have done something differently. Why didn't Weber throw that pass out of bounds? Why did that safety not roll over the top on the cover 2 defense? Do it with respect. No name calling, no profanity. Critizism should be accepted. It is part of life. It is part of anyone's career. It is part of Division I college football.
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I really doubt anyone called you out personally, called you fat, said you suck, etc...Are you seriously comparing being in the band and playing college football? This was a really good thread and hopefully will make some people think before they post. While I understand some of what you are saying, your traumatic experiece playing with the U of M band is really not an applicable comparision...
 

No, I was not serious about the apologies. That was the whole point of the take. One shouldn't have to apologize because he/she said "that halftime show sucked." Or "what in the world was the director thinking about?"

People post those comments because they want the halftimes to be enjoyable, for the band to be good. Just like when we post about how the DEs needs to get pressure or that our CBs need to make more plays on the ball. Even comments about specific players. We want the team to be better. We want to see improvements on the field.
 

Josh.
Think group hug. That's what this is and greatly needed for GH. I appreciate Mr. Wills honest comments and perspective. But we see what we see on the field and that's what most fans react to. Most do not take the time nor have the ability to evaluate the overall situation nor have any inside info. They just react. Its much easier.

We need improvement across the board and that will take more time than some want to admit. Mr. Wills has reminded us about that as well.
 

Bayfield,

Totally agree - a vocal minority have taken some personal comments against players and others too far - and they can and should be addressed.

It just seemed like we were slipping to the point of regretting any critiques.

I think an even bigger problem than writing towards players is that so many of the threads turn into personal attacks between posters. I admit I have used poor language toward others as well. While this will not stop me from disagreeing with points of view from time to time - sometimes even passionately - I will make an effort to choose words more carefully.
 

His name is W I L L S not W I L L I S

What you talkin' about, Wills?
 

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