Official 2012 Gopher Fall Camp Thread: Updates, Analysis, Links, etc.

Donate To GopherHole

http://twitter.com/GophersNow

Marcus Fuller -

PiPress Gophers Now‏@GophersNow

WR Isaac Fruechte was most impressive offensive player and CB Michael Carter most impressive defensive player Day One #Gophers fall camp
 



I watched for about 90 minutes today. No pads and somewhat laid back, but for what it's worth:

Ed Olson appeared to hurt himself slightly and seemed hesitant afterward. Not sure what he injured but am curious about his condition.
I think Shortell looks stronger and more accurate than before, and Leidner throws a nice ball.
The running game is going to again be an issue.
McDonald is big, quick and sure-handed, and Tufts and Fruechte are solid as well. Those are three great young receivers. Very excited about the future of the pasing game.
Pirsig has a huge frame and will be pushing 320 lbs. by 2013.
Just a few random thoughts after watching for a brief time.
Nice crowd out there today. 250 maybe?
Funny to hear a couple players complain amongst themselves about not getting enough breaks during pracice.
 


At what point do they put pads on? I would prefer to go down and watch one of those.
 

zman said:
At what point do they put pads on? I would prefer to go down and watch one of those.
Click to expand...

I am not sure if this is correct but I though for spring ball they were required under NCAA rules to have the first two practice without pads.
 

I went down to practice today as well. Definitely fun and interesting. My own brand of random thoughts:

>I'm extremely excited about the O-Line. There's a TON of beef up there and those guys can move. With Limegrover coaching them up, I think there's a lot of potential up there. I'm not in the least bit worried about running the ball this year, to be honest. No pads today, but there were routinely huge gashes for our backs between the tackles during 11-11 drills.

>On that note, let me say that I'm VERY worried about stopping the run. I know there was a huge thread on this about a week ago, but I didn't take the time to read it (lazy me). We're likely to have at least two VERY undersized LB's on the field at all times (Rallis, Cooper, Manuel), and those guys were getting caught up in the "wash" quite a bit today. Also, our DE's are pretty undersized as well, and I think it's likely we'll have to "sell out" to get up the field to rush the passer. Guys like Perry, Amafuela, and Cockran will really have to rely on speed to get the QB and this creates running lanes off-guard. We also have some inexperienced DT's, and without Hageman playing like a MONSTER this year, I just don't see how these guys can hang with most BT lines. I'm worried...

>I thought Shortell looked really sharp today. As another poster indicated, his throws looked tight and on the money. Great backup QB...

>Gray is obviously a monster out there, and he actually threw two or three really nice deep balls today and another intermediate route. He took too long a coupel times and tucked and ran, but who isn't OK with Gray running?!

>McDonald is the real deal. He made a spectacular catch along the sideline against the 1 defense with the JUCO corner (Balthazar?) all over him. He got a lot of reps with the 1's and 2's, so I don't think there's any doubt he'll be playing come Fall. Harbison looks pretty fit as well and was running with the 2's (behind Jones). He made one really nice play up the seam today...
 







MGGopher

Thanks for your report from the first day of practice. It was great to hear your assessment on the running game but I have to say you may have been a little premature in writing off the defensive line from what you saw on the first day without pads. I can understand your concerns, just not from watching today’s practice.
 



CP Gopher said:
I watched for about 90 minutes today. No pads and somewhat laid back, but for what it's worth:

Ed Olson appeared to hurt himself slightly and seemed hesitant afterward. Not sure what he injured but am curious about his condition.
I think Shortell looks stronger and more accurate than before, and Leidner throws a nice ball.
The running game is going to again be an issue.
McDonald is big, quick and sure-handed, and Tufts and Fruechte are solid as well. Those are three great young receivers. Very excited about the future of the pasing game.
Pirsig has a huge frame and will be pushing 320 lbs. by 2013.
Just a few random thoughts after watching for a brief time.
Nice crowd out there today. 250 maybe?
Funny to hear a couple players complain amongst themselves about not getting enough breaks during pracice.
Click to expand...

So from 90 minutes you already determined that "The running game again is going to be an issue"....C'mon dude seriously???
 

To anyone that was at practice, how did the secondary look?
 

Parski1 said:
So from 90 minutes you already determined that "The running game again is going to be an issue"....C'mon dude seriously???
Click to expand...


He began his message by acknowledging that he had only watched 90 minutes and even said "for what it's worth" before he gave his opinion. I think he (and the rest of us) realized that it was only 90 minutes worth football and so it's probably not conclusive. Just like it is not conclusive that Michael Carter is going to have a great year despite him looking good for the first practice of the season.

For me, I appreciate all of the info, the good and the bad.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
He began his message by acknowledging that he had only watched 90 minutes and even said "for what it's worth" before he gave his opinion. I think he (and the rest of us) realized that it was only 90 minutes worth football and so it's probably not conclusive. Just like it is not conclusive that Michael Carter is going to have a great year despite him looking good for the first practice of the season.

For me, I appreciate all of the info, the good and the bad.
Click to expand...

I have to agree. Please anyone who goes give us your take. As I can't go living in TX I love to hear the detail and opinions on how they think we look.

Ski-u-mah!!

GM
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
He began his message by acknowledging that he had only watched 90 minutes and even said "for what it's worth" before he gave his opinion. I think he (and the rest of us) realized that it was only 90 minutes worth football and so it's probably not conclusive. Just like it is not conclusive that Michael Carter is going to have a great year despite him looking good for the first practice of the season.

For me, I appreciate all of the info, the good and the bad.
Click to expand...
Ok...Bob...I only watched 16 seconds on WCCO sports and the running game is going to be "incredible".
 


Anyone taking the time not only to attend the practice, but put their ideas on how the team looked is more than you get from the so called experts in the twin towns. If in person the defensive line looks suspect and the run game is not that good, I can except that. This was the first practice, no pads. And it strange the major media gave cudos to Carter, and no mention here. I like all the info I can get. Thank you for attending and writing.
 

husker70 said:
Anyone taking the time not only to attend the practice, but put their ideas on how the team looked is more than you get from the so called experts in the twin towns. If in person the defensive line looks suspect and the run game is not that good, I can except that. This was the first practice, no pads. And it strange the major media gave cudos to Carter, and no mention here. I like all the info I can get. Thank you for attending and writing.
Click to expand...

+1. CP Gopher watched 90 minutes of practice, which is more than can be said for the majority of the "journalists" that have put out their preseason predictions on the Gophers. I haven't been able to make it to practice and enjoy all of the opinions by those who have attended.
 


On the local media...a lot of good tweets from Nate Sandell on todays practice. I'll see if i can paste some in here...

@NSandell: Freshmen WR Andre McDonald and Jamel Harbison each had an impressive catches in nine-on-nines that induced cheers from the offense
 



Can someone sticky this thread at the top?

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/165079746.html

One name I hadn't expected to hear so soon: defensive back Eric Murray. The true freshman from Milwaukee has already caught his coach's attention with his quickness to the ball.

"Eric has done awfully well, very impressive," said defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys. "He's had a good couple of days. He has the ability to play at this level, so it creates good competition and gives us more depth."
 


Parski1 said:
Ok...Bob...I only watched 16 seconds on WCCO sports and the running game is going to be "incredible".
Click to expand...

That's fine, but that would obviously be worth significantly less than someone who saw 90 minutes of practice live. Additionally, you don't really hold that belief, you're just saying it to try to prove a point. However, I'd consider someone who watched 90 minutes of something live to be worth more than someone who watched 16 seconds on WCCO. That's why he prefaced it by saying, "for what it's worth".

Now what I find strange is that you seem to have been bothered by his opinion that the running game is going to struggle but you didn't have any problem with his opinion that McDonald is really good or that Fruechte is going to be solid. Hmmm. . .I wonder why his evaluation after 90 minutes was good enough for this information but not good enough for his knock on our running game. I wonder what it could possibly be. It couldn't possibly be that the info on the WRs was positive, could it?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
That's fine, but that would obviously be worth significantly less than someone who saw 90 minutes of practice live. Additionally, you don't really hold that belief, you're just saying it to try to prove a point. However, I'd consider someone who watched 90 minutes of something live to be worth more than someone who watched 16 seconds on WCCO. That's why he prefaced it by saying, "for what it's worth".

Now what I find strange is that you seem to have been bothered by his opinion that the running game is going to struggle but you didn't have any problem with his opinion that McDonald is really good or that Fruechte is going to be solid. Hmmm. . .I wonder why his evaluation after 90 minutes was good enough for this information but not good enough for his knock on our running game. I wonder what it could possibly be. It couldn't possibly be that the info on the WRs was positive, could it?
Click to expand...

Bob....You just like to type fodder don't you? Nobody can say the Gophers are in trouble at RB after watching just 90 minutes of fall practice - that's asinine!
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom