Leidner: "I feel like people are seeing only a small portion of what I can become"

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Leidner: "I feel like people are seeing only a small portion of what I can become"

per Marcus:

"I think I can start the rest of the year," Leidner said Tuesday. "But it's the coaches' decision. Whatever happens, happens. I'm still going to be supportive and play my role."

"I feel like people are seeing only a small portion of what I can become," Leidner said. "That week against Michigan, I was working hard in practice, staying after and just working on throws. Luckily, we were able to go out there against a tough defense like Michigan and get receivers open, make some throws at times."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_24276137/gophers-football-qb-mitch-leidner-ini-spotlight-now

Go Gophers!!
 


I really like what Leidner has shown so far but I also remember Nelson & Shortell having a good first couple games so ill reserve judgement until a few more games....
 

There have been lots of QB injuries - you really need two. But Leidner stirs things up, makes things happen, and seems to have a good arm.
 

I can't wait to see what he can do after a year or two with 8-10 games under his belt. He just seems to have a confidence that all the QB's in the last year have not had. I think he can really be great with more experience.
 


I'm with the thailleagle. I'd like to see a few more games. He did have some nice moments last Saturday. If he completes that pass to Jones it's a completely different ball game. The key to beating NW is making them go the length of the field. If Mitch can take care of the ball we'll have a chance to win.
 

I agree with the eagle as well. That said, there's something about Leidner that makes me think he's got "it."

Someone refresh my memory and correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Lakeville team QBed by Leidner win (or at least finish in the top 2 or 3) the national 7-on-7 tourney before his senior year in high school? He seems to be able to make all the throws and when his read/reaction time gets a bit better, he'll make some big throws. Too bad he saw Jones a bit late last Saturday or that's a long TD pass.

We need both Nelson and Leidner given this offense and I hope no one thinks I'm down on Nelson. He's got a lot of great qualities as well and it's not like Leidner laps the field in the QB competition with him.
 

We need both Nelson and Leidner given this offense and I hope no one thinks I'm down on Nelson. He's got a lot of great qualities as well and it's not like Leidner laps the field in the QB competition with him.[/QUOTE]

50 is correct. no clear leader here.
 

wait!what? said:
We need both Nelson and Leidner given this offense and I hope no one thinks I'm down on Nelson. He's got a lot of great qualities as well and it's not like Leidner laps the field in the QB competition with him.
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50 is correct. no clear leader here.[/QUOTE]

I think Leidner is the leader at this time. I don't doubt Nelson's ability to catch up though.
 



I love the confidence from Mitch, unfortunately, he needs to prove it on the field against a B1G Ten team and help the offense put up more than 13 points. I just want either Nelson or Leidner seperate themselves as the clear cut starting QB. I know we will need them both, but for consistency for the offense, I would really like a clear cut front runner.

At this point, Leidner hasn't done enough to prove he should be the clear cut starter. And, Nelson hasn't played to the potential most of us expect from him. So, it is still a toss up for me. Hopefully these details get ironed out in the next few weeks, going forward.
 

I think Mitch is a freshman quarterback. Based on what we've seen so far, I think he's a very promising freshman quarterback. His passing was much better against Michigan than against SJS. Nelson was highly rated and recruited, so he's going to be given the same enhanced opportunity to be the guy that Christian Ponder has been given as a first round draft pick. But if Nelson really wants to be the starter long term, he's got some serious competition. I see Leidner as being ahead right now.
 

I think Nelson has a better upside. He desperately needs confidence.

Guess we'll see.

We'll need two anyway.
 

Studwell55 said:
I think Nelson has a better upside. He desperately needs confidence.

Guess we'll see.

We'll need two anyway.
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And a more accurate and much stronger arm. Hopefully a good QB coach can teach the former and that the later comes with time. Looking at College Football today they'll probably need more than two guys too.
 



Studwell55 said:
I think Nelson has a better upside. He desperately needs confidence.

Guess we'll see.

We'll need two anyway.
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Iceland12 said:
And a more accurate and much stronger arm. Hopefully a good QB coach can teach the former and that the later comes with time. Looking at College Football today they'll probably need more than two guys too.
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+2. I agree with both of these posts.
 

I think back to the old adage, "when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none." My belief is that Kill has to pick either Nelson or Mitch and go with him. Can't have your starting QB always looking over his shoulder after a bad throw wondering if he's going to get pulled...that doesn't build confidence for whoever the starting QB is.
 

GopherDieHardDyingHard said:
I think back to the old adage, "when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none." My belief is that Kill has to pick either Nelson or Mitch and go with him. Can't have your starting QB always looking over his shoulder after a bad throw wondering if he's going to get pulled...that doesn't build confidence for whoever the starting QB is.
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I think he did this with Nelson.
 

mnsports1 said:
I think he did this with Nelson.
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No he certainly didn't. He may have sacrificed the Iowa game going back to him and NOT pulling him when we was playing hurt and very badly.

Unless you mean that's WHY he did this. Then yes, +1 :)
 

Iceland12 said:
No he certainly didn't. He may have sacrificed the Iowa game going back to him and NOT pulling him when we was playing hurt and very badly.

Unless you mean that's WHY he did this. Then yes, +1 :)
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correct.
 

The thing Leidner does best right now is run the ball. If he runs too often and too well, he won't be able to walk back to the huddle one of these runs. Give him some options to pitch, pass or run and a trailing running back to pitch to once in a while the way NU does. You can't run "run/read" if you are too banged up to run...and that is what will happen to a qb who runs too well too often. If you can't pass the ball too well...pitch the ball once in a while and stretch the defense that way.
 

e.bigelow said:
+2. I agree with both of these posts.
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I agree with these posts, but it's a little difficult to compare the Mitch performance (Michigan) with the Phil performance (Iowa). The main difference, imo, is the running game. We simply do not have enough weapons to drop back and pass the ball when the opponent knows we are going to pass. We ran decent in the Michigan game and we had some open receivers. In the Iowa game, we ran ZERO and Phil was in an impossible spot.

I'm not making excuses for Phil, he played poorly against Iowa. However, I'm not sure how much better Mitch would have played. It was a tough spot, being a second year player with absolutely no run game and no receivers (because of injuries, we were forced to use less of Maxx in the passing game too).
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I agree with these posts, but it's a little difficult to compare the Mitch performance (Michigan) with the Phil performance (Iowa). The main difference, imo, is the running game. We simply do not have enough weapons to drop back and pass the ball when the opponent knows we are going to pass. We ran decent in the Michigan game and we had some open receivers. In the Iowa game, we ran ZERO and Phil was in an impossible spot.

I'm not making excuses for Phil, he played poorly against Iowa. However, I'm not sure how much better Mitch would have played. It was a tough spot, being a second year player with absolutely no run game and no receivers (because of injuries, we were forced to use less of Maxx in the passing game too).
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I'd agree. I fear that had Mitch been trying to run the ball 20 times against iowa it is entirely possible he might have taken entirely too many hits to have been very effective against Michigan. They were two entirely different teams (Michigan and iowa) and we had some different situations going on ourselves. (As you stated.)

iowa physically dominated us, just as they had done the season before. Michigan pretty much did what they had done the year before in terms of wearing us down in the 3rd and 4th quarters. (Once again, that is in part due to physical dominance in the line play. IF your offensive line doesn't punish the defense enough in the first two quarters, the third and fourth quarters will be very difficult regardless of what the half-time score is.

My Golden Gophers need to run into a team that is less physical than my Gophers are on the offensive line and in the front seven on the defensive side of the ball. In order to stand a chance passing, regardless of the qb, our offensive line needs to make it's presence felt, the running game needs to be close to "keep the chains moving by itself..." and the qb needs "run enough" to make the read/run offense effective. It IS a physical game and my Golden Gophers need to be physical enough to make their presence felt.

Then, and only then will our quarterbacks really become effective enough to start winning conference games. Our receivers will look a lot better too when the physical aspect of our game shows up.
 

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