Morgan

[MaxyJR1]

How crazy is it to have arguably the best QB in the B1G right now? He has shown up in every way all season.

5 to 1 TD to Int's
Completes nearly 7 of every 10 passes
Most TD's in a Gopher Season (11 games)
Needs 217 yds to have most yards in a season.
14-3 as the Starting QB.
Puts ball in great spots for WR's to make the play.

 

[MNVCGUY]

A common theme on Gopherhole for years has been moaning and complaining about the QB play. That has been basically non-existent with Morgan at the helm this year. Best part of all is that he is only redshirt sophomore so in theory, the best is yet to come with him.

 

[dpodoll68]

Justin Fields is the best QB in the Big Ten, but yes, it is great to have inarguably the 2nd best, particularly in a program where our historical QB play is mediocre-to-terrible.

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

If Morgan is not the 2nd team All Big Ten QB, there is something wrong.

 

[Schnauzer]

Easy second team pick for all conference.

As others have said here and elsewhere, how long have we complained about QB play for the UofM? "If we only had a QB" was stated many times by many people. I think Morgan's rapid rise, coupled with the spotted recent Gopher history of QB's like Shortell, Nelson, Streveler, etc. is pretty strong evidence that these QB struggles probably had more to do with coaching than it did talent. Definitely the prime weak spot within the Gopher coaching profile of the Kill/Claeys years.

That isn't taking anything away against Morgan. He has proven to be a very good QB all by himself. Accurate, good decisions, and a bit of the "it factor" that seems to come along with really good QBs everywhere.

 

[Veritas]

In general people put way too much emphasis on QB play. Tanner himself has it right, his success is only in the context of the team as a whole. We are lucky to have Tanner Morgan and he is lucky to play on our team with our coaches.

 

[Mitu]

In general people put way too much emphasis on QB play. Tanner himself has it right, his success is only in the context of the team as a whole. We are lucky to have Tanner Morgan and he is lucky to play on our team with our coaches.

People put a lot of emphasis on QB play because the QB has a disproportionate impact on the success of the offense. Yes, their performance is certainly enhanced by having quality receiving and running threats. But, there’s a reason that franchise QBs are the first picks in the NFL and there’s a reason that securing top-flight QB recruits (and developing them) makes or breaks most college teams. Otherwise mediocre teams can be significantly elevated by having a great QB, and otherwise great teams can be significantly hampered by poor QB play.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Morgan has been excellent. I do think he has benefitted from a much much much better WR group than any of his predecessors. I do NOT think that Leidner, Shortell, Nelson, Streveler, Croft, etc. would have been as good as Morgan is though.

Maybe someone like Adam Weber? But that is a long time ago.

 

[BeerFueledFF]

Morgan has been excellent. I do think he has benefitted from a much much much better WR group than any of his predecessors. I do NOT think that Leidner, Shortell, Nelson, Streveler, Croft, etc. would have been as good as Morgan is though.

Maybe someone like Adam Weber? But that is a long time ago.

Weber did play with Decker and Maxx Williams, so it isn't like he didn't have weapons. I just don't think Weber was efficient enough to be compared to Morgan.

In his Freshman and Sophomore season, Weber attempted more passes than Morgan has attempted across 20 total games.

Adam Weber College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

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Tanner Morgan College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

Check out Tanner Morgan's College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits and More College Stats at Sports-Reference.com

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[MaxyJR1]

Weber did play with Decker and Maxx Williams, so it isn't like he didn't have weapons. I just don't think Weber was efficient enough to be compared to Morgan.

In his Freshman and Sophomore season, Weber attempted more passes than Morgan has attempted across 20 total games.

Adam Weber College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

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Tanner Morgan College Stats, School, Draft, Gamelog, Splits | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

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Weber never played with Maxx Williams. That was Leidner. Decker was the only threat.

 

[Veritas]

People put a lot of emphasis on QB play because the QB has a disproportionate impact on the success of the offense. Yes, their performance is certainly enhanced by having quality receiving and running threats. But, there’s a reason that franchise QBs are the first picks in the NFL and there’s a reason that securing top-flight QB recruits (and developing them) makes or breaks most college teams. Otherwise mediocre teams can be significantly elevated by having a great QB, and otherwise great teams can be significantly hampered by poor QB play.

Yes, most important player on the field. But look at Mathew Stafford and the Detroit Lions. We have a great coach, the best receiver set we have ever had, a very good O line, wonderful running backs and a quite decent D. Put Morgan on Rutgers and they are winless. Put him on four or five other BT teams and he would be just another "bad", injured QB. Here, he has been wonderful for us. He is an excellent game manager with B- technical skills. Possibly the offensive most valuable player.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Weber never played with Maxx Williams. That was Leidner. Decker was the only threat.

Correct. NO QB in the past 30? 50? 70? years has had weapons like Morgan does. He has been awesome. But Bateman, Johnson, Autman-Bell + Smith, Brooks and Ibrahim are much more accomplished and skilled and whatever else than anything we have seen.

To summarize: Morgan has been awesome, better than I imagined, helped by other guys but not sure his predecessors would have been that good even with this type of talent around them.

 

[BeerFueledFF]

Weber never played with Maxx Williams. That was Leidner. Decker was the only threat.

My mistake, I thought I remembered them overlapping but you are correct.

 

[Mitu]

Yes, most important player on the field. But look at Mathew Stafford and the Detroit Lions. We have a great coach, the best receiver set we have ever had, a very good O line, wonderful running backs and a quite decent D. Put Morgan on Rutgers and they are winless. Put him on four or five other BT teams and he would be just another "bad", injured QB. Here, he has been wonderful for us. He is an excellent game manager with B- technical skills. Possibly the offensive most valuable player.

I would disagree with this characterization. I would grade our offense as the following:

OL: B- when healthy, maybe C+. They are big and have gotten a lot better as the season goes on, but they struggle in pass pro against non-vanilla pass rush. They also don’t consistently get to the second level in run blocking and have their fair share of missed assignments.

RBs: B at best. None have true breakaway speed. Rodney has the best technical skills of the bunch. Shannon is a one cut and go guy who is great in shorter yardage situations, but his ability to get beyond the second level is based on our blockers getting downfield, NOT his ability to make defenders miss. Hope we see more of Mo Ibrahim, who I like a lot. We feast on bad defenses and struggle against good ones. Our passing opens up our running game, not the other way around.

I agree that Morgan is not a A in terms of technical skills, but his major flaw is really arm strength on deep balls. He has the occasional issue with pocket awareness and might make the rare bad decision. However, his accuracy is incredible and the way he looked off defenders to open up routes (look at some of DanielHouse’s breakdowns from PSU etc.) is impressive for a RS Sophomore.

TL;DR: Morgan has definitely benefited from having strong talent around him (and especially our elite WR corps), but he elevates everybody’s play with his decision-making and accuracy. This takes pressure off of the OL and lets us use the passing game to open up the running game. Our WRs are truly game-changing, our OL and RBs are not.

 

[Big Ten Championship]

Morgan is statistically better than Fields from Ohio State. Fields may be a better runner and much more athletic, but the Stats favor Morgan right now as a passer.

If you want to make an argument about the surrounding team diminishing results. Fields has 4 and 5 stars all around him.

Morgan is an excellent leader for this team, and I am excited to see what he can do this weekend and into the future. He is special player and apparently a great kid!

Lets celebrate what he has done!

 

[Word]

How crazy is it to have arguably the best QB in the B1G right now? He has shown up in every way all season.

5 to 1 TD to Int's
Completes nearly 7 of every 10 passes
Most TD's in a Gopher Season (11 games)
Needs 217 yds to have most yards in a season.
14-3 as the Starting QB.
Puts ball in great spots for WR's to make the play.

Pretty much every game I am blown away by the passes he can make.

 

[1983]

we need him to win the game Saturday and he is capable of doing that. His clutch throws are very good.

 

[dpodoll68]

Morgan is statistically better than Fields from Ohio State. Fields may be a better runner and much more athletic, but the Stats favor Morgan right now as a passer.

That is incorrect.

Pass efficiency: Fields 190.3, Morgan 187.2
Completion percentage: Fields 69.4, Morgan 67.9
Passing TDs: Fields 33, Morgan 26
INT: Fields 1, Morgan 5
Passing yards: Morgan 2,679, Fields 2,352
Yards per pass attempt: Morgan 10.6, Fields 9.3

Morgan has thrown for more yards (largely a function of OSU killing everybody and having 1,000 more rush yards as a team than Minnesota) and has more yards per attempt, but Fields is a superior passer in every other statistic.

 

[Bruno22]

Morgan has been excellent. I do think he has benefitted from a much much much better WR group than any of his predecessors. I do NOT think that Leidner, Shortell, Nelson, Streveler, Croft, etc. would have been as good as Morgan is though.

Maybe someone like Adam Weber? But that is a long time ago.

People forget about Bryan Cupito
He threw a nice spiral (yes, high praise for recent run of qbs as noted) and was a talent

 

[Word]

Correct. NO QB in the past 30? 50? 70? years has had weapons like Morgan does. He has been awesome. But Bateman, Johnson, Autman-Bell + Smith, Brooks and Ibrahim are much more accomplished and skilled and whatever else than anything we have seen.

To summarize: Morgan has been awesome, better than I imagined, helped by other guys but not sure his predecessors would have been that good even with this type of talent around them.

Pretty much what I was going to say. No doubt, Leidner would have looked a lot better with these receivers, but Morgan is a better passer.

 

[PitinoFan]

People like to mention the weapons Morgan has making him look good without pointing out that Fields, Tua, Hurts, Burrow all have their share of weapons too, and probably better O-lines than we have. I’d be curious what would happen if Hurts and Morgan traded places. I know Hurts is a much better runner, but I’m not convinced he would have better passing numbers here than Morgan does. And I think Morgan’s numbers would be even better at Oklahoma.

 

[Governor Sibley]

Great accuracy, great decisions, and great receivers make for a great season.

 

[Word]

People like to mention the weapons Morgan has making him look good without pointing out that Fields, Tua, Hurts, Burrow all have their share of weapons too, and probably better O-lines than we have. I’d be curious what would happen if Hurts and Morgan traded places. I know Hurts is a much better runner, but I’m not convinced he would have better passing numbers here than Morgan does. And I think Morgan’s numbers would be even better at Oklahoma.

Imagine how good Morgan would be if he could throw it 40 yards!

 

[Schnauzer]

Decker was the only threat.

Ernie Wheelwright holding on line 2. Says he wants to talk to you.

 

[gopher7]

Justin Fields is the best QB in the Big Ten, but yes, it is great to have inarguably the 2nd best, particularly in a program where our historical QB play is mediocre-to-terrible.

Agree. I've always wondered why we couldn't find an elite QB... even if it was by accident. Here is a list of some teams who have had QBs drafted since 2010. Not sure if Morgan will get drafted, but he at least has proven himself a great college player.

Ball State

Centeral Michigan

Central Florida

Colorado State

Duke (2)

Eastern Illinois

Florida Atlantic

Florida International

Fresno State

Idaho

Louisiana Tech

Miami (OH)

Nevada-Reno

North Dakota State (2)

Northern Illinois

Northwestern (2)

Richmond

San Diego State

San Jose State

SMU

Southern Utah

Tenn-Chattanooga

Toledo

Troy

UAB

Western Kentucky (2)

Wyoming

 

[PMWinSTP]

Correct. NO QB in the past 30? 50? 70? years has had weapons like Morgan does. He has been awesome. But Bateman, Johnson, Autman-Bell + Smith, Brooks and Ibrahim are much more accomplished and skilled and whatever else than anything we have seen.

To summarize: Morgan has been awesome, better than I imagined, helped by other guys but not sure his predecessors would have been that good even with this type of talent around them.

I think Weber and AAK would have had some pretty gaudy stats if they were on this team...

 

[dpodoll68]

Ernie Wheelwright holding on line 2. Says he wants to talk to you.

Da'Jon McKnight was pretty good too.