Judd Zulgad: Gophers making strides but QB position remains a big issue

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Leidner had a bad game and so did the pass protection. But the real difference was 489 yards against and 9-13 on 3rd downs by the defense.
 

GophersInIowa said:
My bet is it is a combination of a lot of things:
- QB and the receivers not always understanding/recognizing what coverage the defense is in.
- Making the proper reads/passing progression
- Running crisp routes
- Accuracy of the QB
- Play calling and design
- Lack of speed to get open especially without Jones and Wolitarsky
- QB not making a lot of audibles/adjustments at the line. Not sure if Leidner just struggles at this or if the coaches just don't allow him to audible but it doesn't appear like he changes much very often.
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This makes most sense to me.
 

I agree that there is blame to go around; Leidner, WR corp, coaching staff, Tim Brewster, Mother Nature etc etc. The thing that gets everyone (myself included) so wrapped up in how the passing game is coming along is that it is the one thing that is keeping us from getting to the next level. With our running game we don't need an elite passing game. We just need a slightly above average one. If we had that, our team would be among the elite in the B1G. So what needs to improve? Do we need better talent on the field (yes), do we need our coaching staff to become less predictable on offense (probably). I do believe that Leidner is the best we have right now and gives us the best opportunity to win in the present. It needs to be a focus of recruiting, scheme, coaching etc and with Kill at the helm I am sure we are in good hands. The difference in the fans perception might just come down to if we are hungry or starving?
 

Our dominant running game and lack of passing game probably deters better wr recruits from committing here. You earn you rep so to say.
 

march madness said:
Our dominant running game and lack of passing game probably deters better wr recruits from committing here. You earn you rep so to say.
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It probably chases away some of the better passing QB's as well. Look at Nelson, transferred to Rutgers because he wasn't happy with the role of the QB in the offense. Leidner is the style of QB that Kill's scheme calls for, it would just be nice if it were a better version of him. I am sure our recruiting efforts are tougher for those skill position players because of this. I can only imagine the leg up other teams have in recruiting top WR's and QB's when they point out how we don't pass or how we don't have receivers to throw to or don't have a qb to throw them the ball. Which is why we need to get rid of this one-dimensional stigma asap. Either that or Kill is going to have to find some diamonds in the rough.
 


march madness said:
Our dominant running game and lack of passing game probably deters better wr recruits from committing here. You earn you rep so to say.
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All 4 WR's from last year's class had at least one other Power 5 offer besides ours. Almonzo Brown, our 1 WR commit for 2015 so far, has multiple Power 5 offers. I don't think we need to be too worried about WR recruiting.
 

jaymil said:
All 4 WR's from last year's class had at least one other Power 5 offer besides ours. Almonzo Brown, our 1 WR commit for 2015 so far, has multiple Power 5 offers. I don't think we need to be too worried about WR recruiting.
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Desmond Gant had no other offers.
 

jaymil said:
All 4 WR's from last year's class had at least one other Power 5 offer besides ours. Almonzo Brown, our 1 WR commit for 2015 so far, has multiple Power 5 offers. I don't think we need to be too worried about WR recruiting.
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+1
 




jaymil said:
All 4 WR's from last year's class had at least one other Power 5 offer besides ours. Almonzo Brown, our 1 WR commit for 2015 so far, has multiple Power 5 offers. I don't think we need to be too worried about WR recruiting.
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We offered to a lot of WR's last year. Power 5 offers doesn't accurately tell the story for a recruit. (I supposed neither do Star ratings for that matter). We can and will compete with MOST power 5 schools for recruits. We can get top talent, it will just be tougher IMHO.
 

march madness said:
Our dominant running game and lack of passing game probably deters better wr recruits from committing here. You earn you rep so to say.
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I'm guessing they start getting some better dual threat QB recruits into the program though.
 

I will venture to say that each year we will see improvements over the previous year in all facets of the game including the QB & passing game.

The important thing is that we have a good system in place that will only get better.
 

mkAz said:
I'm guessing they start getting some better dual threat QB recruits into the program though.
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I would think our offense would be great for a dual threat QB. Even enticing for a highly recruited one to be able to be the #1 guy early unlike at a lot of schools.
 



bottlebass said:
I would think our offense would be great for a dual threat QB. Even enticing for a highly recruited one to be able to be the #1 guy early unlike at a lot of schools.
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CS5 and DRM are both dual threat QBs. I'm not ready to give up on either. Croft is a nice DT QB recruit as well. We do need one of these guys to pan out tho.
 

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