Practice Observations from Thursday
The practice rules limit what can be put up on the internet.
Kill ran a very up tempo practice today. Intensity was very high.
The passing game has received a lot of attention this spring. Come to practice and you will see a lot of balls flying through the air.
Quarterbacks have looked very good this spring, again they have been throwing a lot of passes. Dominic McKinzy is very talented. He has beautiful throwing mechanics. Six foot ten inch Nate Wozniak has very high potential. (no pun intended) He can pull down those high passes and run. Good luck to the defensive backs. Pirsig is an absolute beast. He's about the biggest human being you will ever see. The Defensive Backs are athletic and fast. They can also deliver a hard hit.
Coach Kill looks great, he's slim, trim and has a healthy glow.
I just want to echo what Johnny Gopher posted in a different thread. I agree with everything and would add a few items.
McKinzy is talented but looked very raw - like all QBs do when they first come in.
Leidner looks like the real deal. He is clearly the number one and his workouts with the wide receivers are showing. We WILL have a passing attack in the fall. I don’t know how good it will be, but it will definitely be better, with the potential to be very good.
Steveler also looked good although in my mind he is the clear number two. Steveler is fairly fast and if he ever breaks contain he will do some damage to the other team. I would expect him to get a lot of playing time in the first two games and whenever feasible during the season. With just a little bit of real game experience he can be a number two we won’t have to worry about.
Rhoda is good and not far behind Steveler but is a clear number three.
Of note to me was both Leidner and Steveler threw some VERY ACCURATE long passes. If the Gophers can hit one or two of those every game (or 20 for that matter) it will greatly loosen up the defenses.
Edwards is fast - Abdullah, Mark, Gorden fast. Just having him run jet sweeps will make defenses adjust and also loosen up defenses.
The receivers as a group looked pretty good to me. I know Kill recruits kids with good hands but I couldn’t tell if they were making catches because they had good hands or because the balls from the QB’s were on target. It is amazing how good a receiver can be if the ball hits him in the hands.
The pass D looked really good to me. When the receivers didn’t catch the ball it was usually because a D back was swatting it away.
The running backs looked fresh. I thought both Kirkwood and Williams had some nice runs and I can see both of them playing - especially towards the end of games if we have a lead and are trying to run out the clock.
I focused mostly on the offense but I did note a couple of things about the defense. I have already mentioned the D backs but I also noticed Wilson looked good, and Campbell is tall and fast. I would expect both of them to have good years.
I don't think I have posted anything that isn't common knowledge but I just wanted to reinforce some observations
