Ky Thomas enters portal

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The F?? Why?

While disappointed as Ky was a very good young player this season, if there is one thing I am confident about, it’s that we can find another RB of similar or better quality.
 
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I'm bummed about this. I was waiting patiently knowing that it'd take him a couple of years to get meaningful game reps. Then POW, he's needed probably too soon but he performs great anyways. Now, away he goes. Good luck to him, but I sure wish he'd reconsider staying.
 


cncmin said:
The F?? Why?

While disappointed as Ky was a very good young player this season, if there is one thing I am confident about, it’s that we can find another RB of similar or better quality.
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Same feeling here. He’s a nice rb, but barring another bad run of injuries I think we’ll be fine at RB.
 

btowngopher said:
Same feeling here. He’s a nice rb, but barring another bad run of injuries I think we’ll be fine at RB.
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It is what it is and something people are just going to have to get used to. Sucks to lose a productive player but he isn't the first and he 100% won't be the last to leave by way of the portal.

Fortunately we seem pretty deep at the RB position so this loss shouldn't hurt us a ton on the field next year.
 

howeda7 said:
And it's not like our O-line will suddenly be awful. We'll still be one of the top rushing teams in power 5, IMO.
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What offensive line? They're all leaving. Next year's offensive line will likely be awful. It's one thing to replace a guard or a tackle on an otherwise experienced line. It's another thing to replace all five of your guys up front.
 

PJ Fleck tried to keep all the lunker RB fish caught in the boat, but one jumped out loose.
 
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hello-world said:
What offensive line? They're all leaving. Next year's offensive line will likely be awful. It's one thing to replace a guard or a tackle on an otherwise experienced line. It's another thing to replace all five of your guys up front.
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Bayfieldgopher said:
I am not pleased that Thomas is looking elsewhere. IMO, he was Mox2 and a perfect back for PJ's offense.

A lot can happen between Dec 1 and Sept 1. Based on his 2021 performance, getting better in the off season, and the uncertainty of the returning injured players, I felt he was in a position to claim the #1 RB spot and earn 15-20 carries per game.

If everyone is healthy going into 2022, there could be a lot of comp for PT and a 2-3 of unhappy RB's on the sideline. Maybe he didn't want to be a part of that scenerio! Who knows, maybe he felt he wouldn't get a fair shake.

KSU was the first place I thought of when he announced. But Vaughn, a 5-6, 170# RB, had a very good year and will be a JR.
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Can PJ Fleck reel him back into the boat?
 




howeda7 said:
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You can never have enough OLs. Injuries can change things in a hurry.

The key is keeping everyone happy.

Curtis Dunlop got beat out. He would have started IMHO. Does anyone know why he quit the team and decided to transfer?
 

hungan1 said:
You can never have enough OLs. Injuries can change things in a hurry.

The key is keeping everyone happy.

Curtis Dunlop got beat out. He would have started IMHO. Does anyone know why he quit the team and decided to transfer?
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Dunlap got called out by his teammates at a players only meeting and entered the portal a couple days afterword.
 


Didn’t Curtis Dunlop get beaten badly in a couple of games?
 
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SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Has anyone extrapolated Kys stats as a full time starter last season?
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Based on Mo's workload in 2020 (which was a crazy amount for a college RB, at 28.7 carries a game), Thomas' stats would extrapolate out over 13 games to: 373 carries, 1,866 yards, 13 TD. At a slightly more reasonable 25 carries/game, it would be 1,625 yards/11 TD.

In total, the Gophers RB (not including Morgan or Kramer) totaled 2,461 yards in 2021. In 2019 under KC, the RB's had a total of 2,304 yards, which would leave on average 576 yards for each of the 4 backs (Mo, Potts, Bucky, Thomas, and giving zero yards to Williams, LeCaptain, Jelen, and the freshmen).
 

hello-world said:
What offensive line? They're all leaving. Next year's offensive line will likely be awful. It's one thing to replace a guard or a tackle on an otherwise experienced line. It's another thing to replace all five of your guys up front.
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Huh? Well first of all, not all five. JMS is back at center.

Axel Ruschmeyer and Nate Boe are possibly likely (barring another high level transfer) starters at guards, and have played a bunch of football for us. They'll be pushed by Shaw and Cooper, too. STrib today was saying Lewis as a Guard, so not sure if he made that move.

Carroll now, Guedet, and a trio of redshirt sophmores (third year guys in 2022), as well as possibly redshirt freshmen (in 2022) will compete for the tackle spots.


They won't be 100% as good as the 2021 line, of course, but I don't think it at all unreasonable that they could be something like 85-90% as good?
 
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Did a key word search on Twitter and KSU fans are losing their minds of the alleged complaint filed against KSU.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Huh? Well first of all, not all five. JMS is back at center.

Axel Ruschmeyer and Nate Boe are possibly likely (barring another high level transfer) starters at guards, and have played a bunch of football for us. They'll be pushed by Shaw and Cooper, too. STrib today was saying Lewis as a Guard, so not sure if he made that move.

Carroll now, Guedet, and a trio of redshirt sophmores (third year guys in 2022), as well as possibly redshirt freshmen (in 2022) will compete for the tackle spots.


They won't be 100% as good as the 2021 line, of course, but I don't think it at all reasonable that they could be something like 85-90% as good?
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They just might be even better at pass protection. I have no way of judging the current group, just saying it wasn't necessarily a strength of the departing seniors.

Might take a while to gel, but hopefully it can be worked out over spring ball, training camp and non-conference slate. Feels like the building blocks are there.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Still a question mark for me…. hopeful, but a question mark.
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a question mark for sure....but will be far from awful like one poster said.

i feel way better about the line over all with JMS back....centers have a lot of duties and having him back will certainly help the guys around him.
Rauschmeyer played a lot of football for us and im not too worried about him at the guard position.
Tackle i am a bit worried. But glad we were able to add carrol. Caroll, Ersery, & Guadet will be a good battle in camp to see which two come out on top
 


FanSinceTheFifties said:
He was a super RB in HS and had a couple of carries and a catch at UM.
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He was a super running back in HS and also a super LB. He came to the Gophers as a LB, not a RB. That’s where he played (plus STs) until we got down to two scholarship RBs. Then LeCaptain switched from LB to RB at coaches’ request. Rossi has said he wants LeCaptain back at LB next year; but LeCaptain looked pretty good as a RB on third down plays who can run, protect and catch a pass. Position flexibility is a great thing.
 

Gophs24 said:
a question mark for sure....but will be far from awful like one poster said.

i feel way better about the line over all with JMS back....centers have a lot of duties and having him back will certainly help the guys around him.
Rauschmeyer played a lot of football for us and im not too worried about him at the guard position.
Tackle i am a bit worried. But glad we were able to add carrol. Caroll, Ersery, & Guadet will be a good battle in camp to see which two come out on top
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Ersery, Gaudet and Carroll could be a rotation at tackle early on. Or maybe Carroll moved inside?
 

Gophers_4life said:
They won't be 100% as good as the 2021 line, of course, but I don't think it at all reasonable that they could be something like 85-90% as good?
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Minnesota is going from the most experienced offensive line in the B1G to the least. I doubt that it's going to go smoothly.
 

beavergopher said:
Dunlap got called out by his teammates at a players only meeting and entered the portal a couple days afterword.
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Nobody likes receiving honest criticism. It has happened to me several times throughout my career, but, in each case, there was truth to what was being said. Most of the time the messenger is not doing it out of malice. They are observing a blind spot and care enough to let you know about it. I get being mad and maybe embarassed, but a person really has two choices. Treat it as an opportunity to improve and learn and grow from it, or, sulk and take your toys and go home.
 

hello-world said:
Minnesota is going from the most experienced offensive line in the B1G to the least. I doubt that it's going to go smoothly.
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At least you would think the back up unit has all been working together. They may lack starts, but they've all been around for a while now, they have all played a significant amount of real game snaps have they not? It's not like we are rolling out 5 freshmen to step in.
 

hello-world said:
Minnesota is going from the most experienced offensive line in the B1G to the least. I doubt that it's going to go smoothly.
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It is just so out of character for you to be pessimistic about anything....

There will be new faces along the O-line next year and it may well take them some time to gel. But the new faces are not young inexperienced guys. They are guys who have been in college for a while, growing and developing. If we were turning to a bunch of Freshman that would be really concerning, but that is not the case. Crazy thought, maybe give them a chance to show what they can do before making the assumption that it is going to be a disaster.

Players graduate and move on all the time. Good programs have the next guys ready to go for when that time comes. If the OL coach has been doing his job (and there is no reason to believe he hasn't) than he will have the next wave of lineman ready to go for next year.
 

DarthGopher said:
Nobody likes receiving honest criticism. It has happened to me several times throughout my career, but, in each case, there was truth to what was being said. Most of the time the messenger is not doing it out of malice. They are observing a blind spot and care enough to let you know about it. I get being mad and maybe embarassed, but a person really has two choices. Treat it as an opportunity to improve and learn and grow from it, or, sulk and take your toys and go home.
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Makes me curious about why he hasn't signed on anywhere yet. He's been in the portal for months now.
 

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