Official 2011 Gopher Fall Camp Thread: Updates, Analysis, Links, etc.

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MarQueis was never a guy who showed excellent QB mechanics even when he was dominating in high school, or when he killed it in his first spring game, or the drive at OSU, or whenever. He's never gonna look like Peyton Manning, he's just not that natural thrower like you see from other kids (like Shortell apparently from all reports). But playing QB is much more than just physically throwing the ball. Gray has clearly shown the coaches he knows the offense they will run better than anyone else, knows more of what Limegrover wants from his QB more than anyone else, and has the physical ability to, as Kill said, "cover up coaching mistakes" by extending plays and doing things on the move.

Let's get into B1G play before we start panicking about Gray's ability to lead this thing. USC could be ugly, not saying it will be, but it definitely could be. I wanna see how this offense builds over the NC schedule. As long as every week I see it getting better, I'm happy. If by Michigan, we're still struggling and can only muster 17 pts and 100 passing yards on NDSU, then we might have some issues on our hands.
 

Monty519 said:
Let's get into B1G play before we start panicking about Gray's ability to lead this thing. USC could be ugly, not saying it will be, but it definitely could be. I wanna see how this offense builds over the NC schedule. As long as every week I see it getting better, I'm happy. If by Michigan, we're still struggling and can only muster 17 pts and 100 passing yards on NDSU, then we might have some issues on our hands.
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I agree. What the public has seen is vanilla and basic in practice. Gray's best asset is his running and that is nearly impossible to show in practices. Come game time, we'll see if he can make people miss and what the run/pass ratio is. Kill's teams are run first if possible.
 

Let's pull our hand back from the panic button on Gray, at least before we see him in games. A lot of people were worried about T. Pryor's mechanics and throwing ability, and that seemed to work out fine for everyone.
 

Monty519 said:
Let's get into B1G play before we start panicking about Gray's ability to lead this thing. USC could be ugly, not saying it will be, but it definitely could be. I wanna see how this offense builds over the NC schedule. As long as every week I see it getting better, I'm happy. If by Michigan, we're still struggling and can only muster 17 pts and 100 passing yards on NDSU, then we might have some issues on our hands.
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I agree also but the problem is that the wrens of the world have as much patience as a two year old. Some even throw temper tantrums and make "demands" like a two year old.

The good news is that more and more fans realize that Kill knows what he doing and that he has a clear vision of were he is going and how he is going to get there. These people are becoming comfortable in letting him make the decisions.

Still others enjoy micro-managing the team. They have all kinds of opinions and insights as to who Coach Kill should redshirt this fall. This is not unusual. Fans by their very nature are passionate about their teams. As a result they love to discuss and dissect ever decisions that affect their team. This is what fans do. Personally though, I am happy that Coach Kill will be making the decisions. Actually, I am VERY happy that Coach Kill is making the decisions.
 


Who gives us a better chance to give USC a game, a true freshman who has 10 pratices or Gray who has seen the field of play for the last two years; and has a fall practice under his belt to learn the system? No brainer boys. You guys that are vapor locking over Gray's performance ( one clown said Gray would be moved to WR this week) snap the "F" out of it.
 


epgopher said:
No
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As someone who had to gameplan both teams, yes. We werent worrie about a single thing Moses could do. There wasn't anything he could do that helped them win games. He could fire the ball 80 yards, but other than that Aber was more accurate, had a better grasp of his offense, was an equal running threat. Add this onto the fact that Aber had a few decent targets and Aber was a MUCH better high school QB. Ask any lake conference football coach from that time. He was probably the 4th or 5th best QB in that conference in his three years at starter.
 






Again, we're not as deep as I'd like to be. Hearing it over, and over, and over in all coaches interviews is pretty crazy.
 




Am I seeing things through maroon and gold glasses or do all the players in the videos seem to have more muscle mass and definition?
 


MaxyJR1 said:
Am I seeing things through maroon and gold glasses or do all the players in the videos seem to have more muscle mass and definition?
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Most definitely. I went to a few practices and the players are without a doubt looking more like a Big 10 football team.
 


An entire video devoted to the defensive backs, and no mention of Carter, Manuel, Lewis, or Haviland?
 

Rosemountian said:
As someone who had to gameplan both teams, yes. We werent worrie about a single thing Moses could do. There wasn't anything he could do that helped them win games. He could fire the ball 80 yards, but other than that Aber was more accurate, had a better grasp of his offense, was an equal running threat. Add this onto the fact that Aber had a few decent targets and Aber was a MUCH better high school QB. Ask any lake conference football coach from that time. He was probably the 4th or 5th best QB in that conference in his three years at starter.
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Agreed. Truthfully, Aber did have more around him receiver-wise than Alipate did - which no doubt helped make him/the team more dangerous - but the accuracy of the two quarterbacks was not even in the same ballpark. Alipate wowed the scouts in camps/workouts due to his size, arm strength, and pedigree (can't really blame them for being wowed with those attributes), but those scouts also thought he was raw and would develop by leaps-and-bounds. However, when you've already been a HS starting QB for four years, the last thing you are is raw. You literally have more experience than 99% of the high school QBs ever to play at that level. That's the one thing the scouts never took into consideration, IMO. Plus, no matter what the measurables are, the #1 thing you need as a QB is accuracy.
 

CrocShots said:
Again, we're not as deep as I'd like to be. Hearing it over, and over, and over in all coaches interviews is pretty crazy.
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I think we need to realize also, that these coaches are looking at this from a perspective of competing for titles and doing what they've done when they've had their most success. There's no question we don't have enough depth to compete for any kind of B1G title. But to me, that doesn't mean we can't touch .500, or compete on a week to week basis. I don't think that's where they're coming from when they say that.
 



Some interesting tweets from Marcus:

"Is there something to these statements from Kill? "We'll have to see how (Gray) progresses, then says "Shortell is progressing very well."

"Somebody asked about Hageman and Kill really didn't want to say much about him. You could tell he wants to see more out of the kid."

"Kill says it's his fault Gray is having accuracy issues. Don't see how that can be case but it's good to see a coach taking heat for his QB."

Go Gophers!!
 


BleedGopher said:
STrib: U freshman QB keeps making strides

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/128292728.html

Go Gophers!!
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The strib article mentions that Q was having trouble holding onto the ball and it kept slipping out of his hand. Q better get that fumbling issue resolved like quick. We will have a hard enough time against SC, the last thing we can afford is him turning over the ball because it slipped out of his hand.
 

I do love our local media.

Gray having snapping issues. Gray having accuracy issues.
Max looks great (just ignore his fumbled snaps and interceptions)

Somebody wants a QB controversy
 

Rosemountian said:
I do love our local media.

Gray having snapping issues. Gray having accuracy issues.
Max looks great (just ignore his fumbled snaps and interceptions)

Somebody wants a QB controversy
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The Gophers are going to play at least 2 QB's this year. It is hard to tell if Kill is trying to motivate Gray or if he is already planning for Shortell to be QB at some pt this year, by the quotes.
 

Marcus Pioneer QB Article

A controversy brewing or due to Brewster's not coaching Gray to be a QB?

Per the Pioneer Article from Marcus Fuller today


Gophers football coach Jerry Kill called the transition MarQueis Gray is making from starting wide receiver to starting quarterback "kind of remarkable."

But Kill seems more impressed with the improvement of freshman quarterback Max Shortell through fall camp. Kill even said after practice Tuesday that Shortell needs to be ready to play. Whether that is in the Sept. 3 season opener at Southern California, he wouldn't say.

"We'll have to see how he progresses," Kill said of Gray. "That's something I can't answer. The best news we have is that the freshman is progressing very well. Shortell had a very good practice last night, and he had a very good practice today. He's going to have to be available. And he knows that."

Shortell, 6 feet 6 and strong-armed, has proved to be a more accurate passer than Gray in camp. Kill doesn't expect Gray to solve all of his accuracy issues before the season opener.

"We're not asking for miracles," he said. "Anything MarQueis does good and what he struggles on, that's our fault, that's my fault. You're talking about a kid who has played receiver for two years, who hasn't played quarterback for four years. And we're going to go line him up against USC. I imagine his mind has got a lot on it right now."

To make processing the offense easier for Gray, Kill and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover plan to simplify the play calling against the Trojans.

"We'll have to do what he does best and what he's comfortable with," Kill


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said. "He'll be a part of the game plan, but we won't ask him to do something he can't do."
Kill gave Gray some simple advice Tuesday when he saw a ball slip out of the junior signal caller's hands during team drills.

"Get a wrist band on," he said. "He's learning all of the increments. He's learning to get the signals from the sideline. He's learning when they rock a safety down and what to do. Shoot, they can't do that in pro football in two weeks. And those guys are getting paid a million dollars, more than a million dollars. What's that guy getting paid for the Vikings? What's (rookie quarterback Christian) Ponder getting paid for the Vikings? He's getting paid a lot of money, and he can't figure out what coverage is and all that stuff that's happening."
 

BleedGopher said:
Some interesting tweets from Marcus:

"Is there something to these statements from Kill? "We'll have to see how (Gray) progresses, then says "Shortell is progressing very well."

"Somebody asked about Hageman and Kill really didn't want to say much about him. You could tell he wants to see more out of the kid."

"Kill says it's his fault Gray is having accuracy issues. Don't see how that can be case but it's good to see a coach taking heat for his QB."

Go Gophers!!
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Wait, wait, wait... Let me get this straight; the guy who apparently should have been starting at QB last year, ahead of the guy who is impressing folks in the Denver Broncos camp, is being pushed by a true freshmen who wasn't even at spring ball.

That absolutely can't be true.....
 

MaxyJR1 said:
The Gophers are going to play at least 2 QB's this year. It is hard to tell if Kill is trying to motivate Gray or if he is already planning for Shortell to be QB at some pt this year, by the quotes.
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Especially when only the parts of quotes that suggest there is a controversy are mentioned in the article. Doesn't sound like a controversy when you find the full quotes.
 

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