Marcus: Find Nelson a go-to WR and he'll be a much better passer

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Ole said:
Nelson was off on Sat. He wasn't clicking, he wasn't in a rhythm, part of that was playcalling which has been beaten to death, part was rust IMO.
Here's the deal though, he wasn't on at all, but he did hit a bunch of guys in the hands and they either didn't make a nice adjustment for a tough catch, or they flat out dropped balls.
I rewatched the final few drives last night, nelson was 11/16 for 100 1 TD 1 INT, then he started pressing.

I expect him to be more accurate as the season goes on, I expect Wolitarsky to take over the role Barker had last year, and I think Engel is better with another guy as a threat.
Next spring, regardless of where this season goes we'll have every player on offense back minus Engel. That's unheard of.
Think about that, 1 senior walk on is the only contributor from either the RS Sr or Sr's.
It's gonna get better this season and next.
Limegrover and Nelson will have at least 1 gem game this year IMO, mark it down.
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I am with you. I am expecting that this team's passing is going to improve throughout the season. Harbinson should contribute soon as well as Isaac F. and Drew W.
 

This sounds like the kind of simple-minded pop journalism that they know will get the average fan to read an article. Anyone who watched that game wonders how different the outcome would have been had Nelson hit some open receivers and avoided costly sacks. Any receiver who gets open is a go-to receiver on that play.
 

We don't know if Nelson has what it takes yet. Maybe.

Our WRs are below MAC level wideouts. Engel and Fruechte are proven commodities - proven in that we know what we have there, which isn't much. Engel is a serviceable third option, Fruechte is a really bad player. Maye and Harbison may have potential. Same with Carter and Wolitarsky. It's really confusing why posters believe Wolitarsky is going to suddenly blow up randomly this season. He is a true frosh. He may or may not develop into a legit offensive threat, but it won't happen this season.

Bringing guys back is nice if they develop stronger skillsets. We see the same thing out of Engel and Fruechte this year as we did last year - nothing has changed. They are the same players year-over-year. It's fine to look forward to an older squad next year, but what we need is a better squad. Our WR corp is the area in most dire need of development.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Will give you McDonald because he seemed to have some upside. DCT was a track guy playing football, he was smart to walk away and focus on track because as a football player he was very average.
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Agree 100%. Looking at the games a second or third time, I seem to recall a number of times that DCT slowed down as he looked back for the ball, and the ball just went out of his reach. Never seemed to run through his routes. He could have hauled in a few home run balls in his short time. I wish him all the best in his track endeavors, but I don't know that the receivers as a group are missing him all that much.
 


wait!what? said:
Wolitarsky runs some clean routes and should start getting some quick out balls. pic 6 risk will go through the roof but 1/2 way through MI game it may be where we are at.
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Has there been news I've missed regarding Wolitarsky? With the ongoing doubt about our receivers, I'd think he'd get plenty of opportunities to break into the lineup given his resume.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
Has there been news I've missed regarding Wolitarsky? With the ongoing doubt about our receivers, I'd think he'd get plenty of opportunities to break into the lineup given his resume.
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I think it's simply that frosh need time. As mentioned, he was out there vs. Iowa in the 2nd half, running good routes and getting a couple targets. I'd expect his time on field to steadily increase throughout the season.
 

BleedGopher said:
PiPress: Gophers football: Philip Nelson looks to make better decisions

What bothered Nelson most was his decision-making under pressure against the Hawkeyes, who sacked him four times.

"That's something I looked at, and I knew that's something I have to be able to fix," said Nelson, who completed 12 of 24 passes with a touchdown against Iowa. "I can't be taking sacks, especially when we're getting closer to the red zone and may be in field-goal range. That's definitely something that (Gophers coach Jerry Kill) kind of said to me, 'You got to just learn from that, move on and not let that happen again.' So that's a valuable lesson I learned last Saturday."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci...nelson-looks-make-better-decisions?source=rss

Go Gophers!!
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I would think that he would have learned that last year. Or in practice. QB's get pressure and must adjust. They learn that with experience which he has.

My take is that Nelson was very tentative and that the hammy was not right and that kept him from reacting and using his past experience. He looked like a rooking QB which he is not.

Said that, I expect a better game from him Saturday.
 

paulser21 said:
How didn't it? DCT was going to stretch the field for us and Macdonald was probably the most talented WR we have had since Decker.
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Really? I was excited for AM, but what are you basing the above statement on? Hype? As for DCT... he didn't stretch the field when he was here, why would he have this year? He had little to no impact in the past and wouldn't have this year either. He knew it, the coaches knew it, I knew it, heck everyone but paulser21 seemed to know it. Folks like to romanticize certain players (and coaches) when they look back for some reason - but DCT??
 



Spoofin said:
Really? I was excited for AM, but what are you basing the above statement on? Hype? As for DCT... he didn't stretch the field when he was here, why would he have this year? He had little to no impact in the past and wouldn't have this year either. He knew it, the coaches knew it, I knew it, heck everyone but paulser21 seemed to know it. Folks like to romanticize certain players (and coaches) when they look back for some reason - but DCT??
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Ok. I'll give in. He didn't light the world on fire when he got onto the football field like he did on the track field. But he also only played his freshmen and sophomore year as well. He still had some room for improvement and to learn.

I'm not as quick as some others to give up on younger players.
 

DCT did have 2 pivotal catches against Iowa in 2011. We probably don't beat Iowa without those plays.
 

paulser21 said:
How didn't it? DCT was going to stretch the field for us and Macdonald was probably the most talented WR we have had since Decker.
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And his record at receiving at Minnie tells it all, to which he contributed 121 total yards. Was he like all decade or something with the team, second to Decker???
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
DCT did have 2 pivotal catches against Iowa in 2011. We probably don't beat Iowa without those plays.
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Still pisses off my 11 year-old son that he left to concentrate on track. He was his favorite player (he wants to be a WR), met him a number of times, and treated kids at camps and after practice really well. I hope he does well in track, and in the classroom. He really is a great kid.
 



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