JUCO LB Cody Poock a Gopher!!!!!

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http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/60151/highlights/33273385

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Liking this signing more and more. I thought Christian Russell was impressive, but Poock has some pretty crafty athleticism and you can watch him make reads and close quickly. he even had some nice moves at the RB position, which makes the 2 INT TDs he had in JUCO make more sense.
Plus Poock has 3 years to play. Hopefully he can add some more strength and keep his flexibility.
 

diehard said:
Just to beat a dead horse. Poock's natural position is Will. That is where he will play. We have quality depth at Mike. There are no questions about Wilson and Lynn is going to be a stud. May they all stay healthy. There is plenty of quality competition. Our LBs are a strong unit. They have to be to stop the B1G run game.
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I'm not convinced the LBs will be better next year. MLB will be better with Wilson and Lynn returning, but Aaron Hill was really good this year and made some clutch plays for us. Does Campbell slides over to SAM and Rallis back him up? Campbell became a passing down specialist in B1G play, he's going to really need to improve against the run in the next months to feel comfortable with him as the full-time starter. As for WIL, Manuel had a solid season, and I'm not convinced that a combination of Poock and tbd redshirt freshman will be better than him just yet.

IMO this is where losing Russell to Ole Miss hurts. With him, we would have been as good or better at every LB position next year. Without him, the OLB positions might not measure up.
 

John Galt said:
I'm not convinced the LBs will be better next year. MLB will be better with Wilson and Lynn returning, but Aaron Hill was really good this year and made some clutch plays for us. Does Campbell slides over to SAM and Rallis back him up? Campbell became a passing down specialist in B1G play, he's going to really need to improve against the run in the next months to feel comfortable with him as the full-time starter. As for WIL, Manuel had a solid season, and I'm not convinced that a combination of Poock and tbd redshirt freshman will be better than him just yet.

IMO this is where losing Russell to Ole Miss hurts. With him, we would have been as good or better at every LB position next year. Without him, the OLB positions might not measure up.
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Hill had a penchant for the big play and I'm thankful for that as it helped us win a couple of games. I'm not thankful for having to watch him play the run the past couple of years he was not good. Manual was solid and did some nice things. I think it's almost impossible as long as our LBers stay healthy that we don't have upgraded play from them next year. Frankly, we can say that our overall play next year at about almost every position on the field should be better next year than this; that's refreshing.
 

Indi1006 said:
Hill had a penchant for the big play and I'm thankful for that as it helped us win a couple of games. I'm not thankful for having to watch him play the run the past couple of years he was not good. Manual was solid and did some nice things. I think it's almost impossible as long as our LBers stay healthy that we don't have upgraded play from them next year. Frankly, we can say that our overall play next year at about almost every position on the field should be better next year than this; that's refreshing.
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Other than Damien Wilson, who do we have that will be a better run stopper than Hill? All we have is hope that Campbell improves and a few of the young guys step up since nothing has been proven on the field. OLB and DT are two question marks for next year. Every other group is almost guaranteed to be significantly better.
 

At the start of this year was anyone saying that Manual would be tough to replace? Someone will need to step up, but I have a hard time thinking that the LB play will be worse than this year.
 


Clark W. Griswold said:
At the start of this year was anyone saying that Manual would be tough to replace? Someone will need to step up, but I have a hard time thinking that the LB play will be worse than this year.
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That's different because Manuel and Hill were seniors. Seniors often step.

Redshirt freshmen? Not as much.

I'm not saying that 1-2 guys can't emerge, just that on paper we don't look as good.
 

I agree that on paper the position is thin especially with the youth of the position, and I guess I should have said that I don't see a significant drop off for next year. At this point I am comfortable with a Poock/Rallis/Campbell/Laster combination.
 

Is anyone else enrolling early? He's the only guy to sign his LOI. You'd figure Dimonic is since he has already graduated but nothing has been announced.
 

Early enrollees from high school can't be talked about until they sign their scholarship paperwork. The Semester starts 21 January so I would expect here about any HS early enrollees about that time.
 



nsmike said:
Early enrollees from high school can't be talked about until they sign their scholarship paperwork. The Semester starts 21 January so I would expect here about any HS early enrollees about that time.
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Many schools have already announced graduating HS seniors that have signed their LOI's and have enrolled for Spring Semester. So.....yeah.
 

First, the date for HS letters of intent is in February 5, the proper term is grant in aid. In the past, the U has waited until recruits actually register for class, before having them sign the paper work. Other schools aren't bound by what the U does, they can send out the grant in aid paperwork have it signed and returned, then they can talk.
 


Gopherprof said:
Is anyone else enrolling early? He's the only guy to sign his LOI. You'd figure Dimonic is since he has already graduated but nothing has been announced.
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The U might not have announced anything, but McKinzy has said he will be enrolling in January.
 



John Galt said:
That's different because Manuel and Hill were seniors. Seniors often step.

Redshirt freshmen? Not as much.

I'm not saying that 1-2 guys can't emerge, just that on paper we don't look as good.
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Manuel had by far his best season, but I feel comfortable with Campbell taking his snaps. He struggled against the run, but I thought some of that was also a result of Wilson not being in the game (Campbell played a lot in nickel with Hill).

Hill is a tough guy to replace. He was mostly good this year, but I still thought he struggled with the run. It's hard to replace is penchant for big plays and his experience. Like you said, we will also be replacing him with Poock, Laster, Rallis, Lynn (maybe he slides over and Poock plays MLB), or Wipson. It's really tough to count on a FR or SO stepping up.
 

John Galt said:
I'm not convinced the LBs will be better next year. MLB will be better with Wilson and Lynn returning, but Aaron Hill was really good this year and made some clutch plays for us. Does Campbell slides over to SAM and Rallis back him up? Campbell became a passing down specialist in B1G play, he's going to really need to improve against the run in the next months to feel comfortable with him as the full-time starter. As for WIL, Manuel had a solid season, and I'm not convinced that a combination of Poock and tbd redshirt freshman will be better than him just yet.

IMO this is where losing Russell to Ole Miss hurts. With him, we would have been as good or better at every LB position next year. Without him, the OLB positions might not measure up.
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Exactly.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Manuel had by far his best season, but I feel comfortable with Campbell taking his snaps. He struggled against the run, but I thought some of that was also a result of Wilson not being in the game (Campbell played a lot in nickel with Hill).

Hill is a tough guy to replace. He was mostly good this year, but I still thought he struggled with the run. It's hard to replace is penchant for big plays and his experience. Like you said, we will also be replacing him with Poock, Laster, Rallis, Lynn (maybe he slides over and Poock plays MLB), or Wipson. It's really tough to count on a FR or SO stepping up.
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Not directed at you necessarily Bob, but I wanted to chime in here.

Since I want to be optimistic, I'll call losing Manuel and gaining a more experienced Campbell a wash. I know they're likely at different positions, but as a net talent swap, let's call it a draw.

That leaves losing Hill, a SR Captain with several years of experience who was arguably our Defensive MVP and we're replacing him with a bunch of players who're completely inexperienced. I don't see how this group is better?
 

Campbell is a guy that the coaches have said could end up playing on sundays. I think it is reasonable to assume he can improve to the point that he close to what Hill was. He will have a full offseason for the first time. There is a reason the coaches were getting him on the field this year. I think Hill is a hell of a player, but I never saw him as irreplaceable. Wilson should continue to improve. That leaves the weak-side, where someone needs to step up. There may be some growing pains with this group, but I don't think that we are destined for year of bad LB play. The coaches knew what was going to happen after this season, I will assume that they have planned accordingly.
 

Clark W. Griswold said:
Campbell is a guy that the coaches have said could end up playing on sundays. I think it is reasonable to assume he can improve to the point that he close to what Hill was. He will have a full offseason for the first time. There is a reason the coaches were getting him on the field this year. I think Hill is a hell of a player, but I never saw him as irreplaceable. Wilson should continue to improve. That leaves the weak-side, where someone needs to step up. There may be some growing pains with this group, but I don't think that we are destined for year of bad LB play. The coaches knew what was going to happen after this season, I will assume that they have planned accordingly.
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Campbell is a super talented project. He was a situational player last year because he was really, really bad against the run. Hill was the Team Captain, had several years of experience & was arguably our Defensive MVP. I don't think it's reasonable at all to assume Campbell can come close to replacing that. If Campbell never makes a big play, but progresses to the point he's not a liability against the run that'd be a big step up for him.

The coaches did know what was going to happen this year which is precisely why they went after Christian Russell so hard and when that failed they went after the Juco from Gulf Coast before cooling on him and settling on Poock. The first two were immediate starters, like Wilson was this year. Poock is a "compete for the job" kind of guy who could surprise.
 

Manuel and Hill both had really good years in my opinion. The Gophers may not have won against NW without Manuel's big play and may not have won against IU without Hill's play. They both bring a lot of experience and they are also full grown or almost so. Campbell is still so thin and in my opinion he is really needs to add some weight to be strong enough against the beefy B1G teams. I would not be surprised to see Lynn getting some play on the outside next year (as long as Wilson stays healthy).
 

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