PiPress: For QB Mitch Leidner, 'sky is the limit' after productive offseason

[BleedGopher]

per Greder:

"I feel like the sky is the limit for me," Leidner said. "Over the course of the summer and ever since the bowl game ended, I was able to greatly develop my skills.

One of the intangible skills Leidner said he needed to work on was remaining even-keel after negative plays. The addition of Minnesota's former record-setting quarterback Adam Weber as an offensive graduate assistant can help keep Leidner on a baseline, Gophers coach Jerry Kill said.

"Mitch has had an outstanding offseason," said Kill, citing Leidner's attendance at the camp run by former and current NFL quarterbacks Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning and the addition of Weber, who played with Peyton Manning on the Denver Broncos.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_28602962/gophers-football-qb-mitch-leidner-sky-is-limit

Go Gophers!!

 

[MNVCGUY]

Stories like this are commonplace during this time of year so always tough to put a ton of stock in the "outstanding offseasons" guys had until they hit the field in a game and prove it. That being said if Leidner has another level to go to this would be a reasonable year to expect to see it come through because he has been in the program for a while now and has quite a few games under his belt.

Goes without saying that improved QB play, especially in the passing game, would go a long way to making the offense more productive. Obviously that is more then just Mitch but he is the key piece of the puzzle.

 

[hungan1]

The biggest key we will not overlook this season is the O-Line play. The O-Line can make it easier for Mitch, and the new young backup QBs.

tOSU wouldn't have been able to put in a third stringer Cardale Jones and be successful without his great protection. Of course, it helps that the team as a whole are loaded.

 

[nsmike]

It's a team game and a lot of small improvements could result in a big jump in performance. The O-Line gives Leidner more time, a more confident Leidner makes more accurate throws, the receivers drop less balls. Increased success feeds on itself, if Leidner is more accurate, the recievers will run more precise routes, more precise routes means Leidner can trust throwing to spots. Throw in the coaches tailoring the gameplan to his abilities and we just may see the 60% passer needed to make this offense really successful.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Last year, it seemed as if most of the big passing plays went to Maxx W and KJ Maye. I think you can surmise that those were the receivers that Leidner felt the most comfortable with and trusted the most - just like Weber trusted Decker to go up and get the ball. (Or, you could also surmise that those were the two receivers who got open most often.)

Either way, for the Gophs to expand their attack, Leidner needs to be comfortable throwing the ball to more receivers. One of the keys to watch in the non-conf games will be distribution of attempts/catches. The more people catching passes, the better.