Open Practice - 8/3

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LivinOnLove_BuyingOnRoses

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Just got back from the open practice tonight. Very hot out… I’d say about 500-600 people were there watching. Very fast moving practice and seemed well-organized.

Both lines looked solid. I only counted 13 healthy offensive lineman. The D line was putting in absolute work in the corner of the stadium. Seems we have a deep group. Brosmer looks like a good leader. He missed a few throws during red zone group drills, but other than that he was on target basically every throw.

They had a very competitive block shedding/tackling drill between the hashes that was entertaining. A few big hits from our defensive backs in space.

Give me the over on wins.
 

LivinOnLove_BuyingOnRoses said:
Just got back from the open practice tonight. Very hot out… I’d say about 500-600 people were there watching. Very fast moving practice and seemed well-organized.

Both lines looked solid. I only counted 13 healthy offensive lineman. The D line was putting in absolute work in the corner of the stadium. Seems we have a deep group. Brosmer looks like a good leader. He missed a few throws during red zone group drills, but other than that he was on target basically every throw.

They had a very competitive block shedding/tackling drill between the hashes that was entertaining. A few big hits from our defensive backs in space.

Give me the over on wins.
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Thanks for the report! Anyone look especially good (any newcomers show up big)?
 





Also went… thoughts:

I’m not a clean freak but the stadium was dirty …. Pigeon poop all over the Gate E steps leading in and the black gate behind the Plaza needs painting bad … embarrassing with the amount of money that football brings in that they couldn’t power wash the steps the day before having guests, me Ex would have killed me 😂

Impressed by RB 24, looks good

Perich is going to be solid, they also had him back on punt return a bit

Brosner and Lindsey both looked good, but Fleck pulled Lindsey in a Goal Line drill after he improvised a play and chewed him out, hopefully Lindsey uses it as a teachable moment - PJ did call him back onto the field and talked to him before sending him back to the sideline

0 DL looks really good, noticeable out there

Defense looked pretty good overall
 


FWIW regarding RB24, Burns said on the GG podcast this week that people are sleeping on him and that he’s gonna make an impact.
 





LivinOnLove_BuyingOnRoses said:
I wish I could give you more granularity, but had the kids there so I wasn’t on a swivel like the old days. #3 QB and #24 RB stood out from a size perspective.
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NCAA Football '25 has given me a much better knowledge of numbers and guys going into this season. Though Marcus Major is not part of the Gophers default rotation on the game, #2 Sieh Bangura got a lot of quality reps for me.
 

I agree with all of the positive comments about Max, but one thing I observed, that has not been mentioned, is his ability to know/see/guess where the open receiver will be in zone coverage. We all know zone coverage has “holes” - spots on the field where the defender is not particularly close to a receiver - areas between zones or spots underneath zones for example. Multiple times I observed receivers where the nearest defender was 10 feet or more away. It certainly looked to me that Max was either expecting that receiver to be open or he recognized it almost instantly. Max would throw an accurate, catchable pass to that receiver.

I know that coverage will tighten up a lot, and get much more sophisticated - combo man/zone for example - but I was still very impressed. I think any defensive coordinator that relies heavily on zone coverage will get carved up pretty badly by Max. I have no doubt that Max will shine this year.
 




I've been quite interested to see how Brosmer looks in person, specifically how his ball looks. We all have a desire for PJ to push the ball downfield this year, but I don't think Max is that QB. Hard to find tape of him actually throwing heat past 15 yards
 

GopherEnEspaña said:
I've been quite interested to see how Brosmer looks in person, specifically how his ball looks. We all have a desire for PJ to push the ball downfield this year, but I don't think Max is that QB. Hard to find tape of him actually throwing heat past 15 yards
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Really? I just quick looked on YouTube for Brosmer highlights and found several really nice, long passes.
 

fmlizard said:
NCAA Football '25 has given me a much better knowledge of numbers and guys going into this season. Though Marcus Major is not part of the Gophers default rotation on the game, #2 Sieh Bangura got a lot of quality reps for me.
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CFB 25 told me the gophers are going to win the national champion in 2027
 



Word said:
Really? I just quick looked on YouTube for Brosmer highlights and found several really nice, long passes.
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Exactly, here are some of his stats last year - Passing Yards per Game: Ranked #1 in FCS with 314.9 yards per game. Total Offense: Also ranked #1 in FCS with 325.0 yards per game. Passing Yards: Second in the nation with 3,464 passing yards. Passing Touchdowns: Second in the nation with 29 touchdowns. So, do some people think he threw for those kinds of yards by throwing 10-yard slants and checking the ball down to the RB in the flats.
 
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My takaways from Saturday are the lines look solid, running game will be what we expect, and it looks like the short passs to RB is a thing in this offense. The unknowns to me are WR depth, and how the secondary will perform. If the D-line can consistently apply pressure, I think the secndary will be just fine, but hard to tell from Saturday's practice.
 


GopherEnEspaña said:
I've been quite interested to see how Brosmer looks in person, specifically how his ball looks. We all have a desire for PJ to push the ball downfield this year, but I don't think Max is that QB. Hard to find tape of him actually throwing heat past 15 yards
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When he reads your insights, he will hopefully quit immediately. I'm glad our time was not wasted on him.
 

Let's be honest, we know PJ is a little paranoid about revealing too much in open practices/scrimmages and keeps everything super vanilla in those atmospheres. If PJ had been working on any type of downfield passing game there is no way he is going to reveal that in an open practice for all to see going into the fall.
 

99Gopher said:
Let's be honest, we know PJ is a little paranoid about revealing too much in open practices/scrimmages and keeps everything super vanilla in those atmospheres. If PJ had been working on any type of downfield passing game there is no way he is going to reveal that in an open practice for all to see going into the fall.
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True, but he has framed the fall camp conversations around addressing the shortcomings in the passing game. Sounds like from the open practice and from what he and the staff are saying, they are trying to fix those things.

Things I've heard from Fleck and staff when asked by the press that stood out to me:
- emphasis on quick pass game, aiming for 90% completion with quick-passes with a goal of an overall 70% completion rate
- highlighting Brosmer's ability to go through progressions to check down, emphasis on short completions (not sure I saw AK go through his progressions ever)
- throwing the ball to open up the run
- passing to the RBs (something that has been almost non-existent in the Fleck era)
- Brosmer's ability to adjust protections on early downs at the line (considering our OL is a strength, having an intelligent QB get the protections right can only elevate this offense)
- admitting that they moved away from pass game very early in the season due to lack of personnel, this year they feel they have the talent to pull it off (we saw this with our own eyes last season, but its nice to hear Fleck admit it)
- Harbaugh explaining the need to get Brosmer in a rhythm early so that he can have consistency throughout 4 quarters of play (did not see this much last season, especially during conference play)

These all have me feeling optimistic. Will see when gametime comes if they can put it all together.
 


Bayfield Gopher said:
Coaches like to avoid 3rd and long. PJ has basically relied on the run to avoid that situation. Bringing in a QB and RB’s who can catch the ball could change that.
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Yes they do. But if they consistently run on 1st and 2nd downs the D will eventually load up against the run on those downs and stop the run (ie., putting the O in a 3rd and long). That's why I like to see some passes on 1st down. But again, if its incomplete, you are immediately in 2nd and long. Such is the life of the coordinator.
 

99Gopher said:
Exactly, here are some of his stats last year - Passing Yards per Game: Ranked #1 in FCS with 314.9 yards per game. Total Offense: Also ranked #1 in FCS with 325.0 yards per game. Passing Yards: Second in the nation with 3,464 passing yards. Passing Touchdowns: Second in the nation with 29 touchdowns. So, do some people think he threw for those kinds of yards by throwing 10-yard slants and checking the ball down to the RB in the flats.
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Look, I'm just saying I don't know yet. I have high expectations for the kid because overall I think he's a very solid player and a big upgrade from last year.
 

'The most competitive camp we've had': P.J. Fleck reacts to night practice​

The Gophers began fall camp for the 2024 season last week on Monday, July 29. Saturday was their first open practice to the media and fans, and P.J. Fleck is thrilled by what he has seen from his new-look team.

"We haven't had one day where I've come out, and we're like the energy's not there, the tempo's not there. The willingness to get better is not there, the competitiveness, isn't there," Fleck told the media. "It's a very competitive game, and probably the most competitive camp we've had in our eight years here. I mean by far, so that's what we talked about."

www.si.com

'The most competitive camp we've had': P.J. Fleck reacts to night practice

The Gophers began fall camp for the 2024 season last week on Monday, July 29. Saturday was their first open practice to the media and fans, and P.J. Fleck is th
www.si.com www.si.com

Go Gophers!!
 

jonnyganas said:
True, but he has framed the fall camp conversations around addressing the shortcomings in the passing game. Sounds like from the open practice and from what he and the staff are saying, they are trying to fix those things.

Things I've heard from Fleck and staff when asked by the press that stood out to me:
- emphasis on quick pass game, aiming for 90% completion with quick-passes with a goal of an overall 70% completion rate
- highlighting Brosmer's ability to go through progressions to check down, emphasis on short completions (not sure I saw AK go through his progressions ever)
- throwing the ball to open up the run
- passing to the RBs (something that has been almost non-existent in the Fleck era)
- Brosmer's ability to adjust protections on early downs at the line (considering our OL is a strength, having an intelligent QB get the protections right can only elevate this offense)
- admitting that they moved away from pass game very early in the season due to lack of personnel, this year they feel they have the talent to pull it off (we saw this with our own eyes last season, but its nice to hear Fleck admit it)
- Harbaugh explaining the need to get Brosmer in a rhythm early so that he can have consistency throughout 4 quarters of play (did not see this much last season, especially during conference play)

These all have me feeling optimistic. Will see when gametime comes if they can put it all together.
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I don't disagree with your thoughts that they need to be efficient in their short passing game, which we know by the end of last year a simple dump-off pass was a challenge for Athan. However, what I'm saying is that we still need to be able to push the ball down the field in the 10-20 yd range like 2019 if we want to be effective against teams like Iowa. I think as you mentioned that they do believe they have the talent. However, if we can't do that and everything is short then you are saying that the WRs are losing and can't win their match-ups downfield beyond 10 yds. So, we are back to letting teams like Iowa load up in the box where the Safeties are allowed to cheat up. So, you're going to have to be able to push the ball downfield if you really want the passing attack to be effective and have the desired effect on the offense. If you have to dip and dunk your way down the field with 10-15 play drives every time that's going to be a hard way to win in this conference now.
 

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