Philip Nelson Is Leaving The Gopher Program UPDATED 1/29: Transferring to Rutgers

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You went 0 for 8. Sometimes 4 star guys aren't quite as bright as their hype...sometimes they are. But...at 0 and 8 Bielema will be feeling a LOT of heat in a big hurry, I would think. But, maybe this is just a cold winter rumor that just took shape yesterday after Nelson announced that he was going to transfer. Good luck with your four stars and good luck with Bielema. How many conference games does he need to win in the 2014 season to have a chance to survive more than three or four years down there? The Razorbacks aren't used to having 0-8 Conference records and they won't take too kindly to too many BAD seasons. They were what, 4-8 in 2012 and then 3-9 last year? Got to be pretty darn tough on that razorback pride and ego isn't it? I'd say the former Badger coach has his work cut out for him. But, maybe he will hit it out of the park in 2014!
 

DeltaHog said:
I have not heard that name mentioned even once and I keep a pretty good eye on recruiting.
I don't see it happening because we have a 4 star qb coming in this year and another 4 star coming in next year.
There are also three or four on campus now.
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Wren AKA imthewalrus seldom makes sense, nobody else actually thinks Nelson is going to the Hogs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Phil Nelson was a 1.5 year starter, he started more games than those 5 guys combined. It's different if a guy transfers because he is buried in the depth chart.

I never made an assumption that Nelson was going to get much better. My take has always been "we'll see". So yeah, I agree the people writing him off are dumb and the people assuming he is going to automatically be really good are dumb. I'm in neither camp.

I never said anyone WANTED him to transfer. People downplayed it as "not a big deal" after the fact. I have no idea why you would make this argument, it has nothing to do with my entire post. I thought it was wide open on who would be our starting QB next season and I would be making this exact same argument if Leidner had decided to transfer.
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I don't know about the common zeitgeist around here, but I said after the Syracuse game that Nelson couldn't be trusted at all and should be shelved until further notice, and had been saying since at least the San Jose State game that I liked Leidner more. This, at least for me personally, is hardly a kneejerk reaction to him transferring. I didn't really want to see him play QB at all in 2014 anyway.

As for Nelson starting those games, again I'll ask, why does experience matter if he wasn't any good? People want to cherrypick certain cases, but overall Nelson wasn't even an average QB.
 




Why would another Big Ten team want the worst passer in the Big Ten?

Where would he go and start in the Big Ten?
 

Jeshurun said:
Wren AKA imthewalrus seldom makes sense, nobody else actually thinks Nelson is going to the Hogs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I'm sure Bielema is under some pressure from a passionate SEC fanbase. A career 50% passer transferring from Minnesota may just extend his honeymoon.
 

Iceland12 said:
Make a point first, unless you're saying that Nelson has no business thinking that he can have a better chance elsewhere or he's lying about why he left.
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I thought my point was obvious. You're trying to minimize Nelson's performance during the 4 game win streak. I'm asking when Leidner has played anywhere remotely close to as good as Nelson did during the streak.
 



DMB123 said:
VS. Michigan at the Big House Leidner was very good.
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14-21, 1 TD, 1 INT, and a few fumbles is good? I will grant you that it was his best game.

I think Leidner has no business being a D-1 QB, and is the worst starting QB for the Gophers that I've seen in the last 30 years. My opinion.
 

John Galt said:
14-21, 1 TD, 1 INT, and a few fumbles is good? I will grant you that it was his best game.

I think Leidner has no business being a D-1 QB, and is the worst starting QB for the Gophers that I've seen in the last 30 years. My opinion.
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Assuming he starts next year....
 

John Galt said:
14-21, 1 TD, 1 INT, and a few fumbles is good? I will grant you that it was his best game.

I think Leidner has no business being a D-1 QB, and is the worst starting QB for the Gophers that I've seen in the last 30 years. My opinion.
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Fumbles are an easy correction to steer. Confidence and accuracy are not. If he's the worst gopher RS Freshman QB you've seen the past 30 years, I seriously doubt you've watched many games every year.
 

kisarazu said:
Fumbles are an easy correction to steer. Confidence and accuracy are not. If he's the worst gopher RS Freshman QB you've seen the past 30 years, I seriously doubt you've watched many games every year.
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How many RS Fr QBs have we played in the last 30-years? Serious question, I doubt it is many and Mitch may be toward the bottom.
 



Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is this a rule change? Kim Royston had to pay his own way to the U because he was ineligible for scholarship since he transferred from within the B1G.
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It depends. I believe this is correct but I could be wrong. Kim would have had to only paid for his first year at Minnesota but them could have been on scholarship after that if Wisconsin would have released him. They wouldn't and as a result Kim had to pay for all his years at Minnesota. You can thank our favorite ex Wisconsin head football coach for that. I remember Kim's dad talked about this. He said most coaches in the same situation would have released him but he wouldn't. His dad was upset very upset about this.
 

Spoofin said:
How many RS Fr QBs have we played in the last 30-years? Serious question, I doubt it is many and Mitch may be toward the bottom.
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That's a good question. And just to clarify, I'm not saying Mitch is going to become some all-American QB (or even be the starter come fall). But I generally don't write off freshman so quickly. It's amazing the changes that can happen after a few years.
 

2013 Stats:

Philip Nelson
Comp % - 50.5
Passing Yards - 1306
TDs - 9
Int - 6
Yards per pass - 7.0
Yards per completion - 13.89
Rushing yards - 364
Yards per rush - 3.9
Rush TD - 6

Mitch Leidner
Comp % - 55.1
Passing Yards - 619
TDs - 3
Int - 1
Yards per pass - 7.9
Yards per completion - 14.40
Rushing yards - 407
Yards per rush - 4.0
Rush TD - 7

So tell me again why Mitch Leidner is such a terrible QB? Is Nelson really that much better of an option? Plus, Leidner still has three years left as compared to Nelson's two.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Former <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> QB Philip Nelson says via text five D-1 schools have reached out in the last day. Doesn't want to crack yet on who they are.</p>— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenWolfson/statuses/424339907872452608">January 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

lets see David Carr has graduated Fresno State needs a passing QB to fill his shoes. Then there is UCF Bortles has moved on. Heck Texas AM will need to replace Johnny Football. Will he be taking his talent to these schools?
 

Ya'll saying Mitch is the worst QB we've had in a long time do not know what you're talking about. For a Freshmen I think he has some good promise. Let's work on his fumbling issues. He's a hell of a runner. He's not easy to bring down for linebackers and has a nose for the hole. In the Syracuse game he came in and led the comeback while Nelson was in his head figuring out how to throw within 10 feet of a receiver.

Maybe you haters are missing the drama from your life. It's like you're expecting everything to be a cars.com commercial. CHILL OUT and stop acting like the TC media.
 

Rosemountian said:
How many years do you think kill has left? I have got 2


Mitch can't get the ball out on time.
Mitch can't throw the ball accurately down the field.
Mitch fumbles the ball at a high rate.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your number of posts in the last 24 hours is 30-40 X more than how many posts you had during the 5 weeks of the season in which the Gophers were winning 4 straight conference games for the first time in decades?
 

Spoofin said:
How many RS Fr QBs have we played in the last 30-years? Serious question, I doubt it is many and Mitch may be toward the bottom.
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A list of Gopher QB stats during their first season with at least 20 Pass attempts.
Year Name----------------Cmp----Att---Pct----Yds-----Y/A---AY/A---TD---INT---Rate
2013 Mitch Leidner---------43------78---55.1---619-----7.9----8.1-----3----1----131.9
2012 Phillip Nelson----------75-----152---49.3 ---873----5.7----4.4-----8----8----104.4
2011 Max Shortell----------26------54---48.1---309-----5.7----4.8-----2----2----101.0
2011 Marqueis Gray--------108-----213---50.7--1495----7.0----6.1-----8----8----114.5
2007 Adam Weber---------258-----449---57.5 --2895-----6.4---5.6----24----19---120.8
2005 Tony Mortensen-------9-------24---37.5 ---130-----5.4---4.4-----1----1-----88.4
2004 Bryan Cupito---------123-----261---47.1---2097----8.0---7.9----14----7----127.0
2003 Benji Kamrath---------16------34---47.1----250-----7.4---5.3----1-----2----106.8
2000 Travis Cole-----------131-----223--58.7---1780-----8.0---8.0----11----5----137.6
2000 Asad Abdul-Khaliq-----51------94---54.3----676----7.2----7.2----7-----3----132.9
1998 Andy Persby----------60------143--42.0----661----4.6----3.5----3-----5-----80.7
1997 Billy Cockerham-------13------28---46.4----242-----8.6---7.6----3-----2----140.1
1995 Jason Murdock--------18------45---40.0----263----5.8----3.7----2-----3-----90.4
1994 Cory Sauter -----------9------21---42.9-----80-----3.8----1.7----0-----1-----65.3
1993 Tim Schade----------135-----286---47.2---1648----5.8---4.3-----8----13-----95.7
1993 Scott Eckers---------119-----206---57.8---1564----7.6---5.9----14----14----130.4
1992 Rob St. Sauver--------28------47---59.6----303----6.4---5.4-----2-----2----119.3
1989 Marquel Fleetwood----23------56---41.1-----270----4.8---0.0----0-----6-----60.1
1988 Scott Schaffner------106-----191---55.5----1234---6.5---5.5----7-----7-----114.5
1985 Alan Holt--------------27------47---57.4----408----8.7---9.5----2-----0-----144.4
1984 Rickey Foggie---------57------121---47.1---1036---8.6---6.9----10----9-----131.4
1983 Greg Murphy---------115------242---47.5---1410---5.8---3.3----6-----16-----91.4
1983 Brett Sadek-----------60-----130---46.2----757----5.8---5.2-----7-----5-----105.1

(If anything needs to be fixed, just let me know. I got the information from http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/minnesota/)
 

kisarazu said:
(Guessing my paste below will need to be fixed, but here goes)

A list of Gopher QB stats during their first season with at least 20 Pass attempts.
Year Name Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A AY/A TD INT Rate
2013 Mitch Leidner 43 78 55.1 619 7.9 8.1 3 1 131.9
2012 Phillip Nelson 75 152 49.3 873 5.7 4.4 8 8 104.4
2011 Max Shortell 26 54 48.1 309 5.7 4.8 2 2 101.0
2011 Marqueis Gray 108 213 50.7 1495 7.0 6.1 8 8 114.5
2007 Adam Weber 258 449 57.5 2895 6.4 5.6 24 19 120.8
2005 Tony Mortensen 9 24 37.5 130 5.4 4.4 1 1 88.4
2004 Bryan Cupito 123 261 47.1 2097 8.0 7.9 14 7 127.0
2003 Benji Kamrath 16 34 47.1 250 7.4 5.3 1 2 106.8
2000 Travis Cole 131 223 58.7 1780 8.0 8.0 11 5 137.6
2000 Asad Abdul-Khaliq 51 94 54.3 676 7.2 7.2 7 3 132.9
1998 Andy Persby 60 143 42.0 661 4.6 3.5 3 5 80.7
1997 Billy Cockerham 13 28 46.4 242 8.6 7.6 3 2 140.1
1995 Jason Murdock 18 45 40.0 263 5.8 3.7 2 3 90.4
1994 Cory Sauter 9 21 42.9 80 3.8 1.7 0 1 65.3
1993 Tim Schade 135 286 47.2 1648 5.8 4.3 8 13 95.7
1993 Scott Eckers 119 206 57.8 1564 7.6 5.9 14 14 130.4
1992 Rob St. Sauver 28 47 59.6 303 6.4 5.4 2 2 119.3
1989 Marquel Fleetwood 23 56 41.1 270 4.8 0.0 0 6 60.1
1988 Scott Schaffner 106 191 55.5 1234 6.5 5.5 7 7 114.5
1985 Alan Holt 27 47 57.4 408 8.7 9.5 2 0 144.4
1984 Rickey Foggie 57 121 47.1 1036 8.6 6.9 10 9 131.4
1983 Greg Murphy 115 242 47.5 1410 5.8 3.3 6 16 91.4
1983 Brett Sadek 60 130 46.2 757 5.8 5.2 7 5 105.1
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Oh...so....one of the best. Huh.
 

John Galt said:
14-21, 1 TD, 1 INT, and a few fumbles is good? I will grant you that it was his best game.

I think Leidner has no business being a D-1 QB, and is the worst starting QB for the Gophers that I've seen in the last 30 years. My opinion.
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You're missing the point and you'd be wrong anyway. 11 for 22 for 205 yards and 2 TD, the first in 12 Quarters, against Syracuse would have been his best game, but what does that have to do with Nelson leaving? Unless you are trying to make the argument that Nelson had to stay because you think Mitch is a worse QB.

That doesn't matter. Nelson thinks it's the system itself that's holding him back here.

Let's try again.

In many games Phil didn't get to throw it much. Even during the 4 game stretch of solid B1G victories, Nelson had two where he completed 7-8 passes. He thinks he can have a better chance to air it out somewhere else. Your response is "but Leidner is worse!"

That makes no difference at all to Nelson's decision.
 

husker70 said:
lets see David Carr has graduated Fresno State needs a passing QB to fill his shoes. Then there is UCF Bortles has moved on. Heck Texas AM will need to replace Johnny Football. Will he be taking his talent to these schools?
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Hahahaha.....no.
 


If he wants to leave don't let the door hit you on the rear on the way out. He played very poorly at the end of the season while likely spending time talking with daddy about leaving. Time would have been better spent trying to figure out how to right his ship. 20 year old kid, no hard feeling but I also won't miss him and his injury and accuracy issues.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Former <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> QB Philip Nelson says via text five D-1 schools have reached out in the last day. Doesn't want to crack yet on who they are.</p>— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenWolfson/statuses/424339907872452608">January 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm assuming D-1 means FCS as well. I'd be shocked if Nelson ends up at a school in a BCS conference.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
We lose Nelson and we're better off than last year at QB? Does not compute.
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diehard said:
No disrepect to Nelson (I think plays big whereever he goes) but I believe we are better off than last year at QB and the rest of the team significantly improved.
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I know what you're saying, Costa... But I'm with DH on this one:

2013 season, entering UNLV game: True SO Nelson, with 7 games of PT under his belt, 2nd year in the system; RS FR Leidner, zero game experience, 2nd year in the system.

2014 season, entering E. Illinois game: RS SO Leidner, with 10 games of PT under his belt, 3rd year in the system; RS FR Streveler, zero game experience, 2nd year in the system.

AND, the team will likely be significantly better at most positions, certainly they will on every other position on the offensive side of the ball (provided Christenson and Bak return 100%). It hurts the depth, no doubt about it, not to mention turnover just isn't really a good thing. But it's far from catastrophic.

I shook my head at the time over all the people pulling their hair out over burning Nelson's RS in the 2012 season. I bet several Gopher friends of mine various chunks of cash at the time that Nelson wouldn't be the starter entering the 2015 season; not because he wasn't THAT good, but just because you never know...
 

jaymil said:
I'm assuming D-1 means FCS as well. I'd be shocked if Nelson ends up at a school in a BCS conference.
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It could mean FCS, it could mean a non-BCS conference or a BCS conference, hard to say. A school might approach him to be a backup, but if he wants to be a starter, a step down might be a good idea.

I still find FBS, FCS, BCS, AQ to be unnecessarily confusing terms.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I know what you're saying, Costa... But I'm with DH on this one:

2013 season, entering UNLV game: True SO Nelson, with 7 games of PT under his belt, 2nd year in the system; RS FR Leidner, zero game experience, 2nd year in the system.

2014 season, entering E. Illinois game: RS SO Leidner, with 10 games of PT under his belt, 3rd year in the system; RS FR Streveler, zero game experience, 2nd year in the system.

AND, the team will likely be significantly better at most positions, certainly they will on every other position on the offensive side of the ball (provided Christenson and Bak return 100%). It hurts the depth, no doubt about it, not to mention turnover just isn't really a good thing. But it's far from catastrophic.

I shook my head at the time over all the people pulling their hair out over burning Nelson's RS in the 2012 season. I bet several Gopher friends of mine various chunks of cash at the time that Nelson wouldn't be the starter entering the 2015 season; not because he wasn't THAT good, but just because you never know...
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This.

It sucks to lose a soon to be upperclassman QB, that started a bunch of games. However, I don't believe it sets the program back as much as some are saying. Is it good to lose Nelson, no....but I think we'll recover. (hopefully quickly)
 

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