La Velle Neal: P.J. Fleck should thank Tanner Morgan ... then switch to Athan Kaliakmanis as Gophers QB

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PMWinSTP said:
Getting his shot is not really the point. I absolutely think starting the last five games this year would have him much, much better prepared going into next season. No question in my mind. Again, not a knock on Morgan, he's been wonderful.
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What is the point, then?
 

PMWinSTP said:
Do you think Morgan will make the difference in the remaining games?
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Yes! An unqualified yes. Tanner is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football history. He's seen it all and he knows the offensive players' strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. Let's also not forget that's he's been one of the most successful starters in this program's history.
 


PMWinSTP said:
To get him considerable game experience. Like I said, I'm not sold that Morgan is the difference between winning or losing these last four games.
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That's the point? Is that the point of this season, from now on... to get next year's QB experience? I can't believe that's what really you mean, is it?
 


cjbfbp said:
Yes! An unqualified yes. Tanner is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football history. He's seen it all and he knows the offensive players' strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. Let's also not forget that's he's been one of the most successful starters in this program's history.
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Tanner was lucky to play with veteran groups in 2019 (depth, talent and experience at WR, RB) and 2021 (nasty defense, nasty offensive line)

Don't get it confused - Tanner was a MAC QB before PJ took the job here. The B1G is a competitive place these days, and when you have MAC level guys playing key roles, you will eventually feel it.

The fact that Morgan freezes up and can't do anything in the pocket if a protection breaks down is a bad thing.

Tanner played his role during the rebuilding years. We will always be grateful for the kid. But fans like you need to stop pretending he's irreplaceable
 

TheNorthernAmir said:
Tanner was lucky to play with veteran groups in 2019 (depth, talent and experience at WR, RB) and 2021 (nasty defense, nasty offensive line)

Don't get it confused - Tanner was a MAC QB before PJ took the job here. The B1G is a competitive place these days, and when you have MAC level guys playing key roles, you will eventually feel it.

The fact that Morgan freezes up and can't do anything in the pocket if a protection breaks down is a bad thing.

Tanner played his role during the rebuilding years. We will always be grateful for the kid. But fans like you need to stop pretending he's irreplaceable
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Good grief.
 

RememberMurray said:
That's the point? Is that the point of this season, from now on... to get next year's QB experience? I can't believe that's what really you mean, is it?
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Read my whole posts. I'm on the fence on whether playing Morgan or Athan will make any difference on whether Gophs win or lose the rest of these games. Given that, the experience he'd gain would be invaluable.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Read my whole posts. I'm on the fence on whether playing Morgan or Athan will make any difference on whether Gophs win or lose the rest of these games. Given that, the experience he'd gain would be invaluable.
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I guess I'm more concerned with team goals for this season.

This conversation has to end now. Whew.
 



PMWinSTP said:
Getting his shot is not really the point. I absolutely think starting the last five games this year would have him much, much better prepared going into next season. No question in my mind. Again, not a knock on Morgan, he's been wonderful.
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The Gophers aren't winning next year. It makes no difference how much experience he gets. They aren't going to be able to replace their QB, Center, and Mo in the same year against that schedule and be successful. It won't happen. And that's without considering personnel loses on defense.

Let others enjoy having a good QB while it lasts. Athan may well not pan out. Dude has completed 40% of his passes on the year. He's not Tom Brady.

Next year is the rebuild. This year is about winning.
 
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TheNorthernAmir said:
Tanner was lucky to play with veteran groups in 2019 (depth, talent and experience at WR, RB) and 2021 (nasty defense, nasty offensive line)

Don't get it confused - Tanner was a MAC QB before PJ took the job here. The B1G is a competitive place these days, and when you have MAC level guys playing key roles, you will eventually feel it.

The fact that Morgan freezes up and can't do anything in the pocket if a protection breaks down is a bad thing.

Tanner played his role during the rebuilding years. We will always be grateful for the kid. But fans like you need to stop pretending he's irreplaceable
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He's close to a 70% passer at a school that hasn't had a good QB in nearly 10 years. We may not see another QB as good as him again. If Athan is even comes close to Tanner's success at Minnesota, I will be ecstatic.
 

hello-world said:
The Gophers aren't winning next year. It makes no difference how much experience he gets. They aren't going to be able to replace their QB, Center, and Mo in the same year against that schedule and be successful. It won't happen. And that's without considering personnel loses on defense.

Let others enjoy having a good QB while it lasts. Athan may well not pan out. Dude has completed 40% of his passes on the year. He's not Tom Brady.

Next year is the rebuild. This year is about winning.
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Wait what? Next year is all ready down the tubes?
 




PMWinSTP said:
Read my whole posts. I'm on the fence on whether playing Morgan or Athan will make any difference on whether Gophs win or lose the rest of these games. Given that, the experience he'd gain would be invaluable.
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IMO, a healthy Tanner will play the rest of the season.
 

hello-world said:
He's close to a 70% passer at a school that hasn't had a good QB in nearly 10 years. We may not see another QB as good as him again. If Athan is even comes close to Tanner's success at Minnesota, I will be ecstatic.
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Tanners career stars.

Career[9]484531−146371,02762.09,2369.06332151.6210240.18

GPGSRecordCompAttPctYardsAvgTDIntRateAttYardsAvgTD
SeasonGamesPassingRushing
2017Redshirt Redshirt
2018964−28915258.61,4019.296147.641511.21
2019131311−221031866.03,25310.2307178.761-57-0.91
2020773−410618357.91,3747.575128.225-35-1.40
202113139−414925059.62,0448.2109134.359-9-0.22
2022664−28312466.91,1649.475156.424743.14
 

TheNorthernAmir said:
Tanner played his role during the rebuilding years. We will always be grateful for the kid. But fans like you need to stop pretending he's irreplaceable
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First of all, fuck you. I don't need to do shit because you say so. Don't talk to me like I'm one of your bros because I'm not.

So, he's not as good of a QB when he doesn't have elite receivers. Well, duh. He's still #5 in the conference in passing efficiency which is likely better for the rest of the year than we would have if we replaced him with a redshirt freshman.
 

hello-world said:
The Gophers aren't winning next year. It makes no difference how much experience he gets. They aren't going to be able to replace their QB, Center, and Mo in the same year against that schedule and be successful. It won't happen. And that's without considering personnel loses on defense.

Let others enjoy having a good QB while it lasts. Athan may well not pan out. Dude has completed 40% of his passes on the year. He's not Tom Brady.

Next year is the rebuild. This year is about winning.
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I agree with your last sentence and I agree with your sentiments about Tanner being the starter for the rest of the year but don't be too pessimistic about next year (a little pessimism certainly is warranted). Next year is unlikely to have the potential of this year but Fleck could pick up some valuable players in the portal and some of the younger players could step in more seamlessly than we imagine right now. We'll probably need to be a bit different offensively without Mo but maybe they'll pull it off well enough under the circumstances.
 


cjbfbp said:
First of all, fuck you. I don't need to do shit because you say so. Don't talk to me like I'm one of your bros because I'm not.

So, he's not as good of a QB when he doesn't have elite receivers. Well, duh. He's still #5 in the conference in passing efficiency which is likely better for the rest of the year than we would have if we replaced him with a redshirt freshman.
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If it has no change in the outcomes of the remaining games whether he or Athan plays the rest of the way, how important is his passing efficiency?
 

PMWinSTP said:
If it has no change in the outcomes of the remaining games whether he or Athan plays the rest of the way, how important is his passing efficiency?
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Obviously, I think his presence at the QB spot is more promising for the outcomes of the remaining games this season. I thought I made that clear (read the bolded part again). He may not be as good as he was with Tyler Johnson, Bateman, and CrAB but I still believe he is a better choice than anyone else on the roster for the remainder of the season. I'd like to see the team win at least 8 games in the regular season and I trust him more than anyone else when it comes to handling the position.

I spent a little time reading a Rutgers football board this afternoon. Their fans were a lot more impressed with Tanner Morgan than a large percentage of people on this board.
 

cjbfbp said:
Obviously, I think his presence at the QB spot is more promising for the outcomes of the remaining games this season. I thought I made that clear (read the bolded part again). He may not be as good as he was with Tyler Johnson, Bateman, and CrAB but I still believe he is a better choice than anyone else on the roster for the remainder of the season. I'd like to see the team win at least 8 games in the regular season and I trust him more than anyone else when it comes to handling the position.

I spent a little time reading a Rutgers football board this afternoon. Their fans were a lot more impressed with Tanner Morgan than a large percentage of people on this board.
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OK, so we are clear, you feel Morgan playing will be the differencemaker in Gophs ability to win in the next four games? Serious question. His last three starts are arguably his bottom three in overall performance and production this season.
 

PMWinSTP said:
OK, so we are clear, you feel Morgan playing will be the differencemaker in Gophs ability to win in the next four games? Serious question. His last three starts are arguably his bottom three in overall performance and production this season.
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The Illinois game was awful in the passing department but Athan was no better. Tanner was not that bad against Purdue although he threw 3 interceptions. Tanner's accuracy against Rutgers was quite good although his yardage per pass was meager. I blame that more on the scheming and the receivers not getting much separation in that game but Tanner threaded those pretty well with defenders on the receivers. He also had no turnovers.

But, these recent games are not that relevant in the grand scheme of things. We were manhandled by Illinois and Penn State. Athan had a below average game against Penn State which I guess can be elevated in perception because of the difficult circumstances. That doesn't mean he's the Answer for the rest of the season.

Tanner hasn't completely lost it because of a couple of rough games. Now, I've expressed how I feel. I'm not going to change my mind and you're not going to change your mind so that's enough of this conversation.
 

Not saying he's lost it, just pointing out those game performances. As you pointed out you could look at Purdue as not a bad performance (but not good either) and the Gophs lost that game.
 

hello-world said:
Because if winning the west is the only goal the Gophers have then they might as well pack it up after this year. Every W, every point scored, and every good defensive performance help recruiting, ticket sales, and national perception.

No point in playing the young guy until they have to. Athan comes in a throws a stupid pick and the Gophers don't have their first B1G shutout since 2004. Receivers might not have been getting open last week, but Athan couldn't place a ball to save his life. They can work on that in practice.

As it is, the Gophers just blanked a B1G team in front of a bunch of recruits.

Moreover, the people calling for Fleck to play Athan, like the moron that wrote this article, are the same people that would be calling for Fleck to be fired if they missed a bowl game this year because they decided to break in a Freshman QB a year before they had to.

Next year is going to be ugly. This year is about winning as many games as they can so when you start calling for Flecks head next year, I can point at three straight 8-win seasons (minus the COVID year).
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Lets say you started AK from day one..........give me any possible scenario where we are worse than 5-3

You can't!
 

RememberMurray said:
I guess I'm more concerned with team goals for this season.

This conversation has to end now. Whew.
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Only Rutgers and Iowa have lower ranked passing offenses in the B1G. Gophs at #105, Iowa at #120, Rutgers at #121...out of 131.
 
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RememberMurray said:
I guess I'm more concerned with team goals for this season.

This conversation has to end now. Whew.
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Regarding Athan, he got no playing time (as usual) in a blowout win over Rutgers. If the Gophers are running away with the game, why not pull Mo and Tanner to give them a rest & avoid injuries, while giving Athan and others some valuable reps?
 


kg21 said:
Lets say you started AK from day one..........give me any possible scenario where we are worse than 5-3

You can't!
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Well, he's a 40% passer. I doubt you'll find one of those on any team with a winning record. As of right now, he's less accurate than Mitch Leidner (by a lot). He couldn't throw open a receiver at PSU and the offense fell apart. Imagine that would have happened 7 other times if he would have been on the field for 7 other games.
 

Play Morgan. Winning is most important within the season. Next year can wait. Athan has put some stuff on tape and they can take the whole off-season to prepare the offence around Athan/Kramer/Knuth. All seem to be pretty mobile which should allow for some different looks on offense.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Only Rutgers and Iowa have lower ranked passing offenses in the B1G. Gophs at #105, Iowa at #120, Rutgers at #121...out of 131.
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Well, duh, we pass less than the substantial majority of teams. The team is ranked much higher (by ESPN) in passer rating (#65 - middle of the pack in FBS).
 

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