Outlook of Gopher QB Position

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This is all going to shake out on the practice field.

A few things to consider: Morgan is a year older, so he should have looked better than a true FR. But - don't forget that the true FR was named the starter by the Coaching staff going into the season opener. The Coaches saw something that made them decide Annexstad was a better choice at that point.

Granted, things may have changed. one player may have shown more growth or development than the other. But, last year, Annexstad was the opening day starter. if the two are even this year, I think that gives Annexstad the edge. If one is clearly better than the other, then that player will start. But, if it's a dead heat, I still think Annexstad gets the first snap of the season.

After that, the question becomes this: under what circumstances would the coaching staff make a change at QB? Injury? Poor Play? how much rope does the starter get? we will see.
 

John Galt said:
Last year we were up in arms over Vic transferring out and only having 2 freshmen QBs on the roster that had never played.

Fast forward one year and now the belief is we have too much talent at QB and someone is going to leave.
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Maybe there were some who were because they didn't go to any open practices or read any of the threads on those practices, but I think it was pretty apparent he was not going to see the field at QB.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
If it’s anyone other than TM2 on opening day...and the offense sputters in the Big Ten PJ will look like a fool. I’m not predicting that scenario but it’s a risk. Maybe ZA5 takes off and we all forget about the other guy.

I’d be shocked if Morgan didn’t transfer out even if it’s down a level. He clearly loves to be out there and he’s proven to be a competent QB. Getting spurned twice is enough motivation to seek greener pastures.
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Was Morgan your starting QB last year?

Why would he want to transfer to an FCS school?
 


highwayman said:
No one is going to transfer.
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I could see Kramer transferring ZA and TM should be playing for awhile plus Clark seems to be a strong QB he has quite the arm just needs some more work I could see him playing in two years.
 


Flecknation said:
I could see Kramer transferring ZA and TM should be playing for awhile plus Clark seems to be a strong QB he has quite the arm just needs some more work I could see him playing in two years.
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Kramer is Coughlin's cousin and Tom Moe's grandson. I don't see him transferring. If QB doesn't work out then they can always move him to safety.
 

Some players are happy to have a free ride going to school somewhere they love. Being the starter on a football team isn’t the be all and end all for every kid.
 


GSUsTALON said:
Was Morgan your starting QB last year?

Why would he want to transfer to an FCS school?
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Not initially, that was Annexstad who got hurt.


I'd say morgan outperformed Annexstad
 



The other thing I like about Morgan is that he’s a legitimate threat to run when nobody is open down field. He doesn’t have blazing speed, but he has a knack for getting what he needs to move the chains. It gives defenses something else to think about.

I hope Fleck doesn’t make his decision solely based on how they perform in practice, because we all know that can be deceiving. I doubt Tom Brady ever outperformed Drew Bledsoe in practice.


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If they are close it will come down to who the team wants to led by. Certainly not by a vote, but chemistry is easy to detect. I would think Morgan gained a great deal of that beating W and GT. I think ZA was the leader in that at the beginning of last year. I have no idea exactly where that is now. It is also built off the field.
 

I’ve thought a little more about this and the quality that differentiated TM the most (to me) was probably his decisiveness and pocket awareness. Not perfect by any means but he didn’t seem as influenced by the pass rush. Obviously teams like to hit opposing QBs often and early to get into their heads and influence their accuracy, timing, mechanics and some QBs seem to be a little more “courageous” and cold blooded in terms of shrugging this off than others. Bottom line is who can make more plays? Move the chains? TM made something out of nothing more than once. Productivity in actual games with hitting is way more important than practice.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I’ve thought a little more about this and the quality that differentiated TM the most (to me) was probably his decisiveness and pocket awareness. Not perfect by any means but he didn’t seem as influenced by the pass rush. Obviously teams like to hit opposing QBs often and early to get into their heads and influence their accuracy, timing, mechanics and some QBs seem to be a little more “courageous” and cold blooded in terms of shrugging this off than others. Bottom line is who can make more plays? Move the chains? TM made something out of nothing more than once. Productivity in actual games with hitting is way more important than practice.
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I agree with your take but it would have been interesting to see what a healthy ZA would have looked like behind the O-Line we were running out there in the second half of the season.

Will be an interesting battle to keep tabs on in the fall to see how it all shakes out.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I agree with your take but it would have been interesting to see what a healthy ZA would have looked like behind the O-Line we were running out there in the second half of the season.

Will be an interesting battle to keep tabs on in the fall to see how it all shakes out.
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Yeah Zack played with a team that was still getting a hang of things early on, and he was also hurt when he played quite a bit.

Would be interesting to see how things would have played out otherwise.
 

Pretty sure Daniel was put out there at Iowa. Certainly a fair debate to have but to some extent like accuracy I think you either have it or you don’t. Obviously time will tell on that.
 

Flecknation said:
I could see Kramer transferring ZA and TM should be playing for awhile plus Clark seems to be a strong QB he has quite the arm just needs some more work I could see him playing in two years.
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Ignorance. You know who Kramer is?
 

MNVCGUY said:
I agree with your take but it would have been interesting to see what a healthy ZA would have looked like behind the O-Line we were running out there in the second half of the season.

Will be an interesting battle to keep tabs on in the fall to see how it all shakes out.
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If ZA wins the battle, I wont cry
 

Kramer is actually a slightly higher rated 3-star than Morgan and ZA were. Why didn’t he have other offers? Is it because the other schools knew he was coming here? He made a few unofficial visits to other schools. I didn’t follow the recruiting of that class.


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Offers vs stars the eternal, vexing question.

Sometimes if they don’t put themselves out there at the camp circuit guys aren’t going to generate a lot of interest. I have no idea if that’s the case with Tommy. Who knows.
 

Just GOpher It said:
I believe I remember seeing a post from someone plugged in saying that it wouldn't surprise them if a Gopher QB transferred after this year. After seeing how the team sees to be favoring Annexstad even after Tanners good performance last year its an interesting question.

Will one of the QB's transfer out after the year?

This tweet by Autman-bell makes it look like the WR's like to work with Annexstad... Just a thought from a gopher fan who is craving some football

https://twitter.com/withoutsept/status/1144015373160931335

Side note - I have no insider knowledge only speculation
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"tryna make a slow change, mama still slavin’ for a low wage,".

I'm kind old and don't know the young folks lingo, so I can't tell which QB he favors based off of that tweet.
 

FredCoxRocks said:
"tryna make a slow change, mama still slavin’ for a low wage,".

I'm kind old and don't know the young folks lingo, so I can't tell which QB he favors based off of that tweet.
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That's just lyrics from a Nipsey Hussle tune, "Double Up". Zack is in the picture whereas Tanner isn't (but yep, maybe Tanner is the one that took it...)
 

PitinoFan said:
Kramer is actually a slightly higher rated 3-star than Morgan and ZA were. Why didn’t he have other offers? Is it because the other schools knew he was coming here? He made a few unofficial visits to other schools. I didn’t follow the recruiting of that class.


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He looked lost and confused at times in the open practices, clearly #4 by a lot IMHO. The gap from TM and ZA to Clark was also very noticeable, as would be expected.
 

Morgan is solid but if this offense and this team is gonna reach its ceiling this season it will be with Annexstad at QB. Zack was very solid before suffering injury and even with the way the team was playing towards the end of the year it was a tough decision as to who would start at Wisconsin at the end of the year. Zack just can make so many more throws and this offense is so much more explosive with him at the helm. Tanner is a solid player who has shown he can step in when needed but lets not also forget how much of the success offensively during his time came because of the heavy lean on the ground game.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Morgan is solid but if this offense and this team is gonna reach its ceiling this season it will be with Annexstad at QB. Zack was very solid before suffering injury and even with the way the team was playing towards the end of the year it was a tough decision as to who would start at Wisconsin at the end of the year. Zack just can make so many more throws and this offense is so much more explosive with him at the helm. Tanner is a solid player who has shown he can step in when needed but lets not also forget how much of the success offensively during his time came because of the heavy lean on the ground game.
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I'm guessing the team will continue to lean heavily on the run game no matter who the QB is. I really didn't notice Zack being able to make all these throws that Tanner couldn't. I don't think the difference in arm talent is that great between the two. I think either one of them could have a nice year if they stayed healthy and started the whole year, the offense should be very qb friendly.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Morgan is solid but if this offense and this team is gonna reach its ceiling this season it will be with Annexstad at QB. Zack was very solid before suffering injury and even with the way the team was playing towards the end of the year it was a tough decision as to who would start at Wisconsin at the end of the year. Zack just can make so many more throws and this offense is so much more explosive with him at the helm. Tanner is a solid player who has shown he can step in when needed but lets not also forget how much of the success offensively during his time came because of the heavy lean on the ground game.
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Regardless of who they choose, I want them to succeed. That said, you must have been watching a different team last season. I realize Morgan had another year in the system watching from the bench, but he was far more effective in leading the offense, and he did it against stronger competition. We’ll see if Zach catches up to him this year. I don’t care who it is, as long as we’re winning, even if it’s Seth Green.


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U2Gopher said:
I’m with you. I think Morgan clearly earned the spot last year. They may still go into fall camp with the position up in the air to promote the competition, but I’d be shocked if the job wasn’t Tanner’s to lose.

Regardless, I think we are in good shape either way, but Tanner’s my guy opening day unless he falls on his face in practice.


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My thought as well.


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Goldy Gopher said:
Morgan is solid but if this offense and this team is gonna reach its ceiling this season it will be with Annexstad at QB. Zack was very solid before suffering injury and even with the way the team was playing towards the end of the year it was a tough decision as to who would start at Wisconsin at the end of the year. Zack just can make so many more throws and this offense is so much more explosive with him at the helm. Tanner is a solid player who has shown he can step in when needed but lets not also forget how much of the success offensively during his time came because of the heavy lean on the ground game.
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I'm sure glad GSU has its QB in place!
 
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GSUsTALON said:
I'm sure glad GSU has its QB in place!
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We have two who are probably capable of doing the job. For the GSU game, they won’t need to do much more than hand the ball off to a rotating trio of very good running backs (running behind a massive O-Line), with an occasional slant pass and/or deep ball over the top of a worn down defense.


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Whoever plays QB, I hope the offense can become a little less predictable. There has to be more to the offense than just Run up the middle and throw the slant to Johnson. They need to get all the receivers involved, and show some variety in the running game - some counters, toss sweeps, jet sweeps - something to keep the defense honest.

my gut tells me it's something like this - when you don't trust your defense, you keep the offense basic and try to avoid mistakes at all costs, because you don't want to give the ball back to the other team. But, if you trust your defense, you can afford to take a few more chances on offense, because one turnover, or some bad field position, is not going to doom your chances of winning.

So, the better the defense plays, I think (and hope) that the offense will feel free to open things up a little more.
 

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