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News, Notes, Tid-Bits and Quotes: Leidner Back at Practice, Rallis Out for the Season
By Grant Erickson
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/418296?referrer_id=388419
After an injury-filled victory over Middle Tennessee State, Tuesday’s weekly press conference brought both good and bad news for Gopher fans. Jerry Kill, Tracy Claeys, and Matt Limegrover discussed the injuries, playing freshmen, and ways to improve on Minnesota’s 2-0 start to the season.
Injury Update
After Mitch Leidner went down in the fourth quarter with an injury, it looked like the Gophers would be heading onto the road with their backup quarterback at the helm. Thankfully, Leidner’s injury was not serious and he took part in practice on Tuesday and signs point to a possible return on Saturday.
“He'll practice today,” said Kill of Leidner. “He's a tough son of a gun and that's straight up. Everybody wants to know, oh Coach; no, that's straight up. I told you he was tough and he's tough.”
Although it isn’t certain, the hope is to get Leidner on the field to play TCU.
“I mean, you've got to see his progression, but he's going to practice today, and we certainly won't wear him out today,” said Kill. “Wouldn't be very smart. We'll give Chris Streveler a lot of reps. And we've been doing that, anyway, because of nature of the game which we have to do.”
Limegrover is also optimistic that his starting quarterback will return this weekend.
“I mean, I'm a business as usual guy until told otherwise, and so we're business as usual,” said Limegrover. “We're in there preparing right now for practice and expect to be at full force.”
It wasn’t all good news on Tuesday as it was announced that linebacker Nick Rallis’ injury will keep him out for the rest of 2014.
“He's done for the season,” said Kill. “Tough thing is he worked so hard and has really, really played well. So it's just, again, I mean, you can't afford to lose depth.”
Looking Back
Minnesota’s victory over Middle Tennessee left Gopher fans with mixed emotions. A dominant first half followed by a lackluster second had the coaches looking for ways to improve.
“I thought we played much better in the first half than we did the first game,” said Kill. “The second half, I don't think we performed as well. And after watching the film, I think a lot of it just had to do with not having been in that situation that often.”
The Gophers aren’t accustomed to playing with a large lead like they had against the Blue Raiders.
“I just think we weren't as intense as we need to be in the second half, and you can usually tell that by execution on offense and missed tackles on defense,” said Kill. “I just think it was a lack of intensity, and we need to learn when we do get up on somebody, we need to take care of business and not let things kind of hang out.”
Claeys noted that the defense was unable to come up with big stops to get off the field.
“Second half, I don't know if we stopped them on third down,” said Claeys. “Maybe once in the second half. And so when you don't stop people on third down, you play a lot more snaps and have more opportunity to score points.”
Ways to Improve
Despite the 2-0 record, the Gophers’ second half against MTSU created plenty of opportunities to learn and get better as they head out on the road. One way for the offense to be more dynamic is by targeting dangerous tight end, Maxx Williams.
“So you know, when you throw it 11 times, we had him targeted a few more times and we probably need to continue to up that percentage because the one time we were able to get him broke free, it was a big play,” said Limegrover.
On defense, the Gophers have been great at forcing turnovers but Claeys doesn’t want to have to rely on the big play to get off the field when Minnesota takes on the Horned Frogs.
“It's all about getting the ball back for the offense,” said Claeys. “At the same time I don't want the turnovers to be something that covers up, because we're not worth a damn on defense. We have to play better on defense.”
Youngsters Playing
With injuries and a lack of depth at certain positions, a number of true freshmen have been racking up significant playing time in the first two games.
“John [Celestin] is out there and Everett [Williams] is out there, and Craig [James] is out there,” said Claeys. “So at one time there would have been six true freshmen on the field at one time out there playing.”
Although no coach wants to play all their freshmen, it is advantageous to get these kids on the field early to prepare for conference play.
“Our kids will be excited to play,” said Claeys. “We gotta get ready for the Big Ten as we're doing that. And that's our goal with the younger kids because they're going to have to play.”
By Grant Erickson
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/418296?referrer_id=388419
After an injury-filled victory over Middle Tennessee State, Tuesday’s weekly press conference brought both good and bad news for Gopher fans. Jerry Kill, Tracy Claeys, and Matt Limegrover discussed the injuries, playing freshmen, and ways to improve on Minnesota’s 2-0 start to the season.
Injury Update
After Mitch Leidner went down in the fourth quarter with an injury, it looked like the Gophers would be heading onto the road with their backup quarterback at the helm. Thankfully, Leidner’s injury was not serious and he took part in practice on Tuesday and signs point to a possible return on Saturday.
“He'll practice today,” said Kill of Leidner. “He's a tough son of a gun and that's straight up. Everybody wants to know, oh Coach; no, that's straight up. I told you he was tough and he's tough.”
Although it isn’t certain, the hope is to get Leidner on the field to play TCU.
“I mean, you've got to see his progression, but he's going to practice today, and we certainly won't wear him out today,” said Kill. “Wouldn't be very smart. We'll give Chris Streveler a lot of reps. And we've been doing that, anyway, because of nature of the game which we have to do.”
Limegrover is also optimistic that his starting quarterback will return this weekend.
“I mean, I'm a business as usual guy until told otherwise, and so we're business as usual,” said Limegrover. “We're in there preparing right now for practice and expect to be at full force.”
It wasn’t all good news on Tuesday as it was announced that linebacker Nick Rallis’ injury will keep him out for the rest of 2014.
“He's done for the season,” said Kill. “Tough thing is he worked so hard and has really, really played well. So it's just, again, I mean, you can't afford to lose depth.”
Looking Back
Minnesota’s victory over Middle Tennessee left Gopher fans with mixed emotions. A dominant first half followed by a lackluster second had the coaches looking for ways to improve.
“I thought we played much better in the first half than we did the first game,” said Kill. “The second half, I don't think we performed as well. And after watching the film, I think a lot of it just had to do with not having been in that situation that often.”
The Gophers aren’t accustomed to playing with a large lead like they had against the Blue Raiders.
“I just think we weren't as intense as we need to be in the second half, and you can usually tell that by execution on offense and missed tackles on defense,” said Kill. “I just think it was a lack of intensity, and we need to learn when we do get up on somebody, we need to take care of business and not let things kind of hang out.”
Claeys noted that the defense was unable to come up with big stops to get off the field.
“Second half, I don't know if we stopped them on third down,” said Claeys. “Maybe once in the second half. And so when you don't stop people on third down, you play a lot more snaps and have more opportunity to score points.”
Ways to Improve
Despite the 2-0 record, the Gophers’ second half against MTSU created plenty of opportunities to learn and get better as they head out on the road. One way for the offense to be more dynamic is by targeting dangerous tight end, Maxx Williams.
“So you know, when you throw it 11 times, we had him targeted a few more times and we probably need to continue to up that percentage because the one time we were able to get him broke free, it was a big play,” said Limegrover.
On defense, the Gophers have been great at forcing turnovers but Claeys doesn’t want to have to rely on the big play to get off the field when Minnesota takes on the Horned Frogs.
“It's all about getting the ball back for the offense,” said Claeys. “At the same time I don't want the turnovers to be something that covers up, because we're not worth a damn on defense. We have to play better on defense.”
Youngsters Playing
With injuries and a lack of depth at certain positions, a number of true freshmen have been racking up significant playing time in the first two games.
“John [Celestin] is out there and Everett [Williams] is out there, and Craig [James] is out there,” said Claeys. “So at one time there would have been six true freshmen on the field at one time out there playing.”
Although no coach wants to play all their freshmen, it is advantageous to get these kids on the field early to prepare for conference play.
“Our kids will be excited to play,” said Claeys. “We gotta get ready for the Big Ten as we're doing that. And that's our goal with the younger kids because they're going to have to play.”