Nice Write-up by Chip

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BilldGopher

BilldGopher

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For those with a Strib subscription Chip has a nice write-up about the 2021 squad.

Basically, we've gone from the youngest team in football to a team dominated by grown men, in both experience and physique. Not sure if this applies to the WR corps, but practically everywhere else.

Coming up with the correct game plan will be on the coaches.

Executing that plan is on the players. The youth "excuse" is gone.

Fixing what's not going right in real time will be on both.

This could be interesting...

Here's the link: https://www.startribune.com/this-gophers-football-team-is-old-and-that-s-good/600047277/
 
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Ryan Burns was on with Gaard on KFAN Sunday morning. reiterated much of what Chip wrote. Burns went through the depth charts on the OL and DL, rattling off the list of "5th year in college, 6th year in college, 4-year starter" and so forth.

Said the coaches think they have 6 solid DT's and plan to rotate snaps so players are fresh in the 4th Qtr. Also more depth at DE.

Also said a stronger DL will take some pressure off the LB's. Likes Glidden at inside LB. Oliver still working back from injury but they think he'll be 100% by the fall. Said Rossi was unable to use certain defensive schemes last year due to the issues at LB, but thinks they can run everything this year.

Oh - Burns said it looks like Faalele has lost about 40 pounds - still about 360-370 but noticeably trimmer. Also said Dunlap is taking part in practice and moving well.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Ryan Burns was on with Gaard on KFAN Sunday morning. reiterated much of what Chip wrote. Burns went through the depth charts on the OL and DL, rattling off the list of "5th year in college, 6th year in college, 4-year starter" and so forth.

Said the coaches think they have 6 solid DT's and plan to rotate snaps so players are fresh in the 4th Qtr. Also more depth at DE.

Also said a stronger DL will take some pressure off the LB's. Likes Glidden at inside LB. Oliver still working back from injury but they think he'll be 100% by the fall. Said Rossi was unable to use certain defensive schemes last year due to the issues at LB, but thinks they can run everything this year.

Oh - Burns said it looks like Faalele has lost about 40 pounds - still about 360-370 but noticeably trimmer. Also said Dunlap is taking part in practice and moving well.
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Would be nice to get some pressure from the DL, but I'm kinda wondering if that plays out with our containment issues last year ... not sure we'll be sending the DL on pass rush type sitautions as much as I might hope.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Ryan Burns was on with Gaard on KFAN Sunday morning. reiterated much of what Chip wrote. Burns went through the depth charts on the OL and DL, rattling off the list of "5th year in college, 6th year in college, 4-year starter" and so forth.

Said the coaches think they have 6 solid DT's and plan to rotate snaps so players are fresh in the 4th Qtr. Also more depth at DE.

Also said a stronger DL will take some pressure off the LB's. Likes Glidden at inside LB. Oliver still working back from injury but they think he'll be 100% by the fall. Said Rossi was unable to use certain defensive schemes last year due to the issues at LB, but thinks they can run everything this year.

Oh - Burns said it looks like Faalele has lost about 40 pounds - still about 360-370 but noticeably trimmer. Also said Dunlap is taking part in practice and moving well.
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Hopefully he continued to participate in a weight lifting program and the 30-40 pounds was bad weight.
 


I find Chip's articles about Gopher football to be pretty fair and accurate. And he does little, if anything, to mess with the delicate disposition of us GopherHolers.
 


paulser21 said:
Hopefully he continued to participate in a weight lifting program and the 30-40 pounds was bad weight.
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My guess is he lost some fat but also needed to just lose weight. Takes pressure off his injury and he should be more agile.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
I find Chip's articles about Gopher football to be pretty fair and accurate. And he does little, if anything, to mess with the delicate disposition of us GopherHolers.
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Have always been a big fan of Chip. Unlike a lot of the local media he doesn't go out of his way to take cheap shots or be negative simply for the sake of being negative. He is critical when it calls for it and for the most part is very fair and accurate with his assessments.

On the outlook for the team. If there is one spot where it is ok to be a little young it is probably WR. If good enough those guys can come in and make an impact right away as opposed to guys along the lines who need multiple years to develop most of the time.

We have a ton of depth and experience along both lines which will hopefully bode well for the results on the field. Being strong up front on offense and defense is nearly always at trait of any team that is really successful. Rare to find a really good team with weak lines.
 




Governor Sibley said:
Isn’t almost every team going to be “old” this year?
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Yep. But that evens the field for team like the Gophers who are almost always in a rebuild mode almost everywhere somewhere...

Still, concur it would be very interesting to see where it has made a real difference this season. For example, would a Clemson or tOSU see any significant difference? These programs are basically machines at this point.
 

Governor Sibley said:
Isn’t almost every team going to be “old” this year?
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I think across the board you will see more depth in nearly every team but the experience part will still be a little hit and miss. Take the Ohio State QB situation as an example.

We were fortunate in that almost everyone who could opt to come back did, that probably isn't the case everywhere. We also have the added bonus of getting some key guys back who we didn't have last year in Faalele, Dunlap, Oliver and Teague. So from a depth and experience standpoint we should rank pretty high I would think as we bring back a ton of experience all over the field and at almost every position.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I think across the board you will see more depth in nearly every team but the experience part will still be a little hit and miss. Take the Ohio State QB situation as an example.

We were fortunate in that almost everyone who could opt to come back did, that probably isn't the case everywhere. We also have the added bonus of getting some key guys back who we didn't have last year in Faalele, Dunlap, Oliver and Teague. So from a depth and experience standpoint we should rank pretty high I would think as we bring back a ton of experience all over the field and at almost every position.
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I think Teague is gone, but they added two transfers at DT and one, the Clemson transfer Pinckney, has already earned some good reviews from Fleck.
 




MNVCGUY said:
On the outlook for the team. If there is one spot where it is ok to be a little young it is probably WR. If good enough those guys can come in and make an impact right away as opposed to guys along the lines who need multiple years to develop most of the time.
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Top WR Autman-Bell a fifth year guy helps the room.

Geary likely in two-deep or better is a sixth year guy.

Bringing in the Texas A&M transfer Wright this winter/springas a guy who got two years at College Station and played at a very high level in Texas high school earning 4-star ranking as one of top WR prospects in the nation helps.

Jackson just a second year guy, but got a lot of run/confidence last year.

Brown-Stephens a third year guy who got on the field last year and flashed late.

Emilien will be a second year guy. Played at a very high level at Heritage High in Fort Lauderdale.

Early enrollees getting some good work in this Spring are Boyd from Southlake Carroll, one of the top high school programs in the nation, and Brockington, who has played against very good high school competition in Georgia.

The Kaliakmanis kid will come in ready to compete.

Worrying about the WR room with Simon and Fleck overseeing it in year five for both with a fifth year QB is a non-issue. All they do is develop All-Big Ten/AllAmerican/NFL wrs.
 

MNVCGUY said:
We also have the added bonus of getting some key guys back who we didn't have last year in Faalele, Dunlap, Oliver and Teague.
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I thought he decided to retire from football??
 

swingman said:
I think Teague is gone, but they added two transfers at DT and one, the Clemson transfer Pinckney, has already earned some good reviews from Fleck.
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This has been the assumption for quite some time but they seem to do a good job of keeping the football roster up to date on Gophersports.com and he is still listed there.

Have no inside info either way, just going off the roster. Sure would seem to me though that if he was 100% done they would have taken him off of there by now.
 

Always a pleasure to read Chip. His appreciation and knowledge of college football is always appreciated.
 

The defense couldn't possibly be worse...so that's a good thing. They will for sure be better. The question is just how much better?
 


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