PiPress: Jeff Jones making strides in year of adjustment

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

Gophers redshirt freshman Jeff Jones smiled and chatted with Rebecca Kill after practice Monday.

That's not an uncommon sight for head coach Jerry Kill, who says his wife is like a mother to all of his players.

But when it comes to Jones in particular, Kill is happy to see the talented former Minnesota Mr. Football is enjoying his first fall camp and progressing after sitting out last year to become academically eligible.

"I think he's been pretty involved," Kill said. "You've got to understand that he's not played football for a while. But I think he's done a good job. He had a nice practice today, caught a couple really tough balls."

http://www.twincities.com/gophers/c...all-jeff-jones-making-strides-year-adjustment

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per Marcus:

Gophers redshirt freshman Jeff Jones smiled and chatted with Rebecca Kill after practice Monday.

That's not an uncommon sight for head coach Jerry Kill, who says his wife is like a mother to all of his players.

But when it comes to Jones in particular, Kill is happy to see the talented former Minnesota Mr. Football is enjoying his first fall camp and progressing after sitting out last year to become academically eligible.

"I think he's been pretty involved," Kill said. "You've got to understand that he's not played football for a while. But I think he's done a good job. He had a nice practice today, caught a couple really tough balls."

http://www.twincities.com/gophers/c...all-jeff-jones-making-strides-year-adjustment

Go Gophers!!
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Let's take a moment to appreciate Jones' hard work to become eligible, willingness to switch positions despite being a top 10 RB in his class, and having a positive attitude throughout the whole thing.

Good work Jeff, can't wait to watch you tear it up for the maroon & gold!
 

hes gonna be fine. Look, he probably doesnt have the pass protection skill which is why he was moved out of the backfield, but they need him on the field either way because he is so dynamic. Switching to wide receiver gives him a little less responsibility in terms of blitz pickup and gets him in space where he can do damage. So lets all take a collective deep breath and stop worrying. Jeff will be a stud regardless of his position.

I just dont get what all the worry is about. Some people love to get worked up over nothing.
 

I think he was moved out of the backfield because we have solid talent there and much less depth at the receiver positions. He'll get his chance at tailback...
 



Sparlimb said:
I think he was moved out of the backfield because we have solid talent there and much less depth at the receiver positions. He'll get his chance at tailback...
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If our talent is so deep and solid at RB, so deep and solid that we could move a top national recruit to another position, why would we be burning a RS this year on a true Fr RB.

I think JJ will be a stud, but I am a bit confused by these two events when looked at together. I trust the coaches and hope it signals a move to more quick slant/screen passes to the slot (JJ) in order to spread things out than we have been willing to do in the past.
 

Spoofin said:
If our talent is so deep and solid at RB, so deep and solid that we could move a top national recruit to another position, why would we be burning a RS this year on a true Fr RB.

I think JJ will be a stud, but I am a bit confused by these two events when looked at together. I trust the coaches and hope it signals a move to more quick slant/screen passes to the slot (JJ) in order to spread things out than we have been willing to do in the past.
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Brooks might be impressing on special teams. Kill saying Brooks will play doesn't mean he'll get a lot of carries.
 

Count me among those "worked up over nothing". I am not a coach, I don't see the players every day, and most importantly I can't predict the future. What I do have is a top RB recruit playing a different position while another kid his age (eligibility) will be playing his RB position this year. He may tear it up this year at WR, tear it up again next year at WR or RB and all will be fine. It just seems odd as I view it all from afar. Very limited perspective on my part, of course and all may indeed be fine. But, until it all plays out I will be scratching my head a bit and wondering if JJ isn't as good at it once seemed.
 

We need as many playmakers on the field as we can. We motion players all the time, who's to say jones won't motion into the backfield and line up as an RB. There will also be opportunities for jet sweeps and bubble routes, and I don't think we've had a playmaker of his caliber in Kill's tenure who can excel at both of those plays. It seemed like teams didn't respect our jet sweeps last year due to the players running it, now hopefully they will need to.

I tend to look at it as more of a positive. If Williams and our other backs made great strides over the offseason and Jones is able to help our passing game, why not put him in the best opportunity to get playing time?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



swgopherdog said:
Its time to put Rebecca on the payroll.

Go Gophers
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Memo to the new AD - We will need two bronze statues down the road, not one. Momma Kill is big part of the success of Coach Kill too.
 

If the recruiting sites would have listed Jones as a 4 star ATH we wouldn't be having this discussion. Jones is a 4 star talent. That talent does not always stay at the position they played in high school.
 

Spoofin said:
If our talent is so deep and solid at RB, so deep and solid that we could move a top national recruit to another position, why would we be burning a RS this year on a true Fr RB.

I think JJ will be a stud, but I am a bit confused by these two events when looked at together. I trust the coaches and hope it signals a move to more quick slant/screen passes to the slot (JJ) in order to spread things out than we have been willing to do in the past.
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Because it doesn't make a ton of sense to have 3 RBs in the same class. Playing Brooks splits the depth chart a bit. Plus the kid may be good enough to play right now. RBs get hurt all the time and you can't go into a season with only 3 RBs that can play. Say Nugget turns an ankle and misses a few games. Don't think its a great situation to only have 2 RBs you can play so instead of waiting until week 7 to burn a RS you get the kid out there right away on ST
 

oleboy41 said:
Because it doesn't make a ton of sense to have 3 RBs in the same class. Playing Brooks splits the depth chart a bit. Plus the kid may be good enough to play right now. <b>RBs get hurt all the time and you can't go into a season with only 3 RBs that can play.</b> Say Nugget turns an ankle and misses a few games. Don't think its a great situation to only have 2 RBs you can play so instead of waiting until week 7 to burn a RS you get the kid out there right away on ST
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Totally agree on the #s. In itself the Brooks decision makes sense. Just as the move of JJ to WR (very soon after arrival of Spring) can make sense on its own. I have no problem with either - the coaches know way more than I do - I am just saying that when I look at the two moves together it is puzzling, IMO.
 



Spoofin said:
Totally agree on the #s. In itself the Brooks decision makes sense. Just as the move of JJ to WR (very soon after arrival of Spring) can make sense on its own. I have no problem with either - the coaches know way more than I do - I am just saying that when I look at the two moves together it is puzzling, IMO.
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I think it makes perfect sense. Moving Jones to WR means that we get another playmaker on the field. This is in part about manufacturing offense. Truth is we don't have a passing game - in terms of talent and experience - that we can truly rely on to be consistent. At the same time we want to diversify a bit and get more big plays. The best way to do that is to put our WRs in situations to get YAC. Problem was the only guy who even appeared to have that skillset was Maye. Jones is a guy that has talent with the ball in his hands so instead of just putting him at RB you split him out and now you have your backfield threat plus another guy the defense hopefully has to account for. He can be much more beneficial for us there this year than as a backup RB getting 5 carries a game. Plus there's not a ton of benefit of having 3 RBs in the same class, especially if they're somewhat similar in skillsets.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
If the recruiting sites would have listed Jones as a 4 star ATH we wouldn't be having this discussion. Jones is a 4 star talent. That talent does not always stay at the position they played in high school.
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Was thinking the same thing.
 

oleboy41 said:
I think it makes perfect sense. Moving Jones to WR means that we get another playmaker on the field. This is in part about manufacturing offense. Truth is we don't have a passing game - in terms of talent and experience - that we can truly rely on to be consistent. At the same time we want to diversify a bit and get more big plays. The best way to do that is to put our WRs in situations to get YAC. Problem was the only guy who even appeared to have that skillset was Maye. Jones is a guy that has talent with the ball in his hands so instead of just putting him at RB you split him out and now you have your backfield threat plus another guy the defense hopefully has to account for. He can be much more beneficial for us there this year than as a backup RB getting 5 carries a game. Plus there's not a ton of benefit of having 3 RBs in the same class, especially if they're somewhat similar in skillsets.
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I see your reasoning. It is just a situation that I found odd. Might make perfect sense. Time will tell. We are in agreement on the hope the JJ switch will make...

Spoofin said:
I trust the coaches and hope it signals a move to more quick slant/screen passes to the slot (JJ) in order to spread things out than we have been willing to do in the past.
Click to expand...
 


Spoofin said:
I see your reasoning. It is just a situation that I found odd. Might make perfect sense. Time will tell. We are in agreement on the hope the JJ switch will make...
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hopefully it does. That said I still don't really expect him to remain a WR for his entire career.
 

Jones will carry the title of WR but I'm predicting that he will be a hybrid WR/RB we throw a lot of short passes to out in the flats but also use on jet sweeps. Don't worry, he will get his touches.
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
Jones will carry the title of WR but I'm predicting that he will be a hybrid WR/RB we throw a lot of short passes to out in the flats but also use on jet sweeps. Don't worry, he will get his touches.
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ALA Percy Harvin?
 

When it comes to wr's and rb's, doesn't seem that quantity will be an issue.
 

Didn't Jerry say back in the spring that they wanted to play JJ where he would get the most touches in the open field? After TCU we will be calling him Big Play J. (Hope that did 't jinx him.)

No reason to showcase your secret weapon.
 

diehard said:
Didn't Jerry say back in the spring that they wanted to play JJ where he would get the most touches in the open field? After TCU we will be calling him Big Play J. (Hope that did 't jinx him.)

No reason to showcase your secret weapon.
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Don't know if he's 'secret weapon' status but it wouldn't shock me at all if they've been keeping things fairly vanilla to this point knowing they have 2 weeks without the media and fans around to begin throwing in wrinkles.
 


I think if ever there was a situation where the coaches may actually "hide" a player or wrinkle, it might be this one.
Gary Patterson is a notorious workaholic, digging up minute details and planning for everything. I'm sure he has broken down everything he can, probably even online content.
If getting Jones the ball in new and creative ways, or even just in ways that weren't used in this offense previously, then it would make sense to wait until the closed practices to add reps to those type of plays.
 

Ole said:
I think if ever there was a situation where the coaches may actually "hide" a player or wrinkle, it might be this one.
Gary Patterson is a notorious workaholic, digging up minute details and planning for everything. I'm sure he has broken down everything he can, probably even online content.
If getting Jones the ball in new and creative ways, or even just in ways that weren't used in this offense previously, then it would make sense to wait until the closed practices to add reps to those type of plays.
Click to expand...

If I were a college coach I'd have interns/ GA's monitoring every opponents news articles, recruiting sites, etc. Saw someone say a while back that most teams have subscriptions to the sites of their opponents so anything done during open practices is almost sure to get to the ears of your opponents
 

1) He has the best ability to change directions of any RB ,which is huge on short passes.
2) He has very good hands and can turn his upper body easier than any of the running backs, so it will be easier for him to play in the slot than the other RBs could.
3) He is strong with a bigger frame than WRs like Carter who would have trouble holding onto the ball if they got hit hard by LBs for example after catching a short pass, if they had to play in the slot.
4) He will be harder to bring down after a catch just due to his strength and balance than the WRS who could play in the slot as well as most of the RBs who could play there.
5) The short version is he has a chanice to be our best slot receiver by midyear, he probably won't be our best RB due to blocking and other stuff by midyear.
 

oleboy41 said:
If I were a college coach I'd have interns/ GA's monitoring every opponents news articles, recruiting sites, etc. Saw someone say a while back that most teams have subscriptions to the sites of their opponents so anything done during open practices is almost sure to get to the ears of your opponents
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Do we? Who is our spy in the TCU camp?
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
Jones will carry the title of WR but I'm predicting that he will be a hybrid WR/RB we throw a lot of short passes to out in the flats but also use on jet sweeps. Don't worry, he will get his touches.
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After a slow start, K. J. Maye had 23 carries for 153 and 16 receptions for 298 in 2014. If Jones can get 5 touches a game and produce a 12 yard average in 2015, I will consider him a success.
 

A factor in all of this somewhere is that the coaches have said on different occasions that Mitch's strength is deep passes. Off target short passes are more likely to be intercepted or even thrown backwards resulting in a fumble recovery opportunity. So, I believe that's why we haven't seen the slants and bubble screens etc. to date. Utilizing Jeff Jones is going to require improvement from Mitch or assessing Croft or Perra getting some playing time as Limegrover stated in the Monday interview. Streveler is not accurate so he's not going to help short passing. Maybe the comfort level with Mitch throwing short happens over the next couple weeks but for Jeff to be effective he has to get touches. Anxious to see the resulting recipe from the next couple weeks versus TCU.
 

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