Gopher Bong
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Who is this "us" of which you speak?
Minnesota probably doesn't deserve to have a guy on those lists to be objective though. Theret is the only guy who is even close. Everyone else has either not played enough to merit being on a list or has played poorly enough to not be on the list. Stoudamire makes it as the KR. I don't think Ellstad has the leg-strength to be a top kicker...he is good...not great. That is it, and that is all the team deserves at this point. When you lose 9/11 guys on D, and your offense was the worst in the Big Ten....don't expect a lot of preseason individual accolades.
Vandenberg in the top 50 QB's is a joke. Kirk Cousins as high as he is was a joke.
While I can agree with your critique of Steele's ranking of the QBs, you lost your credibility early in your post with the Theret comment. He is too slow and lacks the athleticism to get it done against the best talent in The Big Ten. Frankly, you should know this, Royston is a much better safety than Theret and it is Royston who have received some preseason rankings and deserves to be listed even higher.
If you have read any preseason reading/blog. Theret is getting more hype than Royston. I would say they are pretty comparable, both are a little better than your average safety...very little. The difference is, Theret puts up better stats and is not coming off a broken leg. Royston coming off a broken leg is not even close to being top 30 in the country at his position.
I never said i disagreed with Theret being left off the list, I said if there was one guy who was close...it would be him. If Royston was for sure going to be healthy, he would be seen by me as pretty much equal to theret.
Rittenberg...spelling?...has theret listed as the most irreplaceable defensive player on the team. You undervalue him. Theret, much like Collado, receives too much hate due to a poor freshman campaign in which he should have been redshirted. People still have the bad memories, and probably won't forget the bad memories in favor of newer ones unless the team starts winning at a higher level.
If you have read any preseason reading/blog. Theret is getting more hype than Royston. I would say they are pretty comparable, both are a little better than your average safety...very little. The difference is, Theret puts up better stats and is not coming off a broken leg. Royston coming off a broken leg is not even close to being top 30 in the country at his position.
I never said i disagreed with Theret being left off the list, I said if there was one guy who was close...it would be him. If Royston was for sure going to be healthy, he would be seen by me as pretty much equal to theret.
Rittenberg...spelling?...has theret listed as the most irreplaceable defensive player on the team. You undervalue him. Theret, much like Collado, receives too much hate due to a poor freshman campaign in which he should have been redshirted. People still have the bad memories, and probably won't forget the bad memories in favor of newer ones unless the team starts winning at a higher level.
Doogie has admitted on this board that he is passionate about gopher football, but admits he isn't very knowledgeable about football. So I wouldn't put that at the end of your post.If you don't trust me, trust Doogie, a quite knowledgeable guy on gopher football
I would be ecstatic to see Royston have a successful year. I hope we are able to get to the QB, and allow our safeties not to have to cover as long as they had to last year. From what I understand I think being able to have Watkins come in at nickle and allow Roysten, Theret, and Watkins play a variety of looks will allow the Defense to be able to utilize all the skills of our talented safeties.
From the interview it seemed to me that Watkins will be our nickle and first safety in if someone can't go, and Theret better stop the bullcrap off field stuff or he will be replaced.
Doogie has admitted on this board that he is passionate about gopher football, but admits he isn't very knowledgeable about football. So I wouldn't put that at the end of your post.
Once again I don't see any issues with Royston and Theret starting at safety again. If Royston's IQ is higher then Theret's, then we would expect Royston to have a huge year. (This is all of course assuming that our d-line will be able to get more pressure on the QB.) Otherwise I think it won't matter how fast and smart they are, if a QB has all day to throw we will get hurt on 3rd down again.
And if Iceland is counting at home, yes I read a Doogie link. I figured if I was going to respond I would at least have a context in which to respond with. I was caught between an emoticon and some (...)'s.
Again I think Theret's starting status being in question has to do with his off the field activities not his on. We are talking about someone who was driving drunk, hit a car, and tried to drive a way. The fact he was suspended indefinitely puts his starting status at risk, not his football performance.if Theret has to beat someone out to start
In addition to that quote the article that had that also had this:Ronnie Lee: "Kyle is a street-smart player. He knows the angles to take to the ball. He's smart enough to put himself into position to make plays."
Much of that improvement will start with Royston and Theret. The two became friends last season, while Royston sat out after his transfer but practiced with the team. Ultimately they became roommates, a familiarity that should help on the playing field.
Phil Steele has no reason to like us. Our returning starters have been less than spectacular, and our guys coming in are unproven. What do you expect?
Again I think Theret's starting status being in question has to do with his off the field activities not his on. We are talking about someone who was driving drunk, hit a car, and tried to drive a way. The fact he was suspended indefinitely puts his starting status at risk, not his football performance.
I think if Theret performs like he normally does during fall camp and keeps his nose clean then he will be in the starting line up. Again I don't think Royston having a great year means that Theret has to be off the field for that to happen. If Royston can get to as many spots as Theret could get to (and a couple more b/c he is faster) then we are talking about an All-Big Ten season for Royston, and I think that would be a great. Also remember when Royston was breaking the insight bowl record for tackles, Theret was busy picking off passes and making tackles also.
In tandem we are talking about a pair of safeties who collected 22 tackles 2 interceptions, a fake punch catch, and a forced fumble in the last game of the year together. Now you add in a nickle back that could easily start if one of those two can't perform, and you have a lot of diversity of skills for a D-Coordinator to switch up coverages and blitzes to help shore up an embarrassing stat from last season around 3rd down conversion percentage. Theret is currently ranked 6th in Gopher history in interceptions, by getting 3 picks a year since his freshman year. I imagine he will get 4 this year if our D-Line lives up to some of the hype that the reports having been talking about.
As far as Football IQ, I'll trust our coach if you don't mind:
In addition to that quote the article that had that also had this:
So if Royston is as smart or smarter then Theret on the field, I expect big things out of our starting safeties and that makes me even more optimistic about our secondary, b/c they work so well together.
Look at the end of the season last year he has many guys from Minnesota. You cant have a bunch of players on the list every year. His list at the end of the year means a lot more then his list at the start of the year before a single snap.
You are obviously straining to support Theret and I respect that. However, pulling quotes from last year is a bit disingenuous. If you follow a lot of college football you notice that some of the comments about players take on certain themes. Guys that are slow or lacking of athleticism are complimented for being savvy or field smart; able to take good agles. But the bottom line is that such players are torched when you encounter high end talent; Exposed if you will. The schedule this year does not give the Gophers the luxury to line up 20 yards off the ball so we don't get beat deep. One thing I do agree with you about, the coaches will decide what is best for the team. And based on what I saw this Spring, I doubt very seriously Watkins would be sent to the bench to make room for Theret. The extra speed back there just makes the defense so much better. I know you want Theret to earn that record, but are you willing to sacrifice victories to allow him to get it? I hope the coaches aren't. But again, I just want the team to get better than they were last year in the Insight Bowl.
I don't believe I'm straining and I apologize if my posts come across that way. All I have been trying to do is remind you that this isn't a Theret vs Royston thing, which a lot of your posts are set up as. The way I have been doing that is just stating what Theret has done when given the opportunity. In addition I pointed out how successful they were together, each making plays to help the Gophers win football games. I definitely wouldn't go so far as to strain in my argument to say that if Theret starts it will be the difference in (the lack of ) victories. I think the victories and improvement on the defense come from the d-line changes not any changes in the secondary.
It will be a fun Fall camp to watch. I like the fact that we can have this conversation about our Gophers. IMO, this conversation doesn't even get as far as this if Theret didn't make a terrible decision, get suspended indefinitely, and Watkins didn't seize his opportunity. That is the excitement about depth. At least we both agree that we hope Royston has a big year for us .