PJ after practice: stronger, faster, more agile than we've ever been..Cody one of best players in NCAA..Pleasantly surprised how caught up new cbs are

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swingman

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Nice to see KSTP and FOX 9 on the job.

kstp.com

Gophers football hosted practice Saturday night at Huntington Bank Stadium

Five days into fall practices, the Gophers football team hosted a night practice on Saturday in front of family and fans at Huntington Bank Stadium. P.J. Fleck talked with media after practice on his take-aways from the first five practices, quarterbacks Athan Kaliakmanis and Cole Kramer are...
kstp.com kstp.com
 


Hoping that NBC and CBS carrying Big Ten games means KARE-11 and WCCO get a little more engaged.
 






I'm interested in the development of the offensive line. PJ had some mannerism changes and showed a possible "tell" or tic while he was talking about them (spitting off to the side), I'm curious if they're not where they want them to be at this point. Or I'm reading into things too much (likely). The success of this season hinges on the O line performance.

PJ also sounds like a real power five coach now. That was a good interview. He didn't over the top embellish on things like he has in the past and seemed generally reserved minus some tidbits here and there about specific players and the team numbers. I'm really happy he's our coach. I feel confident in what continues to be built here regardless of the win/loss numbers in what may be a tough season considering the schedule.
 

fmlizard said:
The Cody Lindenberg hype train is rolling hard this preseason

Also, can you use "people above my pay grade figure that out" when you are the highest paid public employee in the state?
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I dunno about pay grade, but the question was about realignment which he wouldn’t have much say in.
 



PhiloVance said:
Normally I get caught up in the hype but reading between Flecks comments this is a 7 win season at best. Hope I'm wrong but rather be surprised than continue to be disappointed.
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What hype? Most seem to predicting around 7-8 wins.
 


swingman said:
Hoping that NBC and CBS carrying Big Ten games means KARE-11 and WCCO get a little more engaged.
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I have no idea who was there or not, but there is large KARE 11 logo'd microphone right in front of PJ on the video that you linked.
 





PhiloVance said:
Normally I get caught up in the hype but reading between Flecks comments this is a 7 win season at best. Hope I'm wrong but rather be surprised than continue to be disappointed.
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lol...."continue to be disappointed".....

Can always count on Philo to be a beacon of positivity....
 

mngg11 said:
I'm interested in the development of the offensive line. PJ had some mannerism changes and showed a possible "tell" or tic while he was talking about them (spitting off to the side), I'm curious if they're not where they want them to be at this point. Or I'm reading into things too much (likely). The success of this season hinges on the O line performance.

PJ also sounds like a real power five coach now. That was a good interview. He didn't over the top embellish on things like he has in the past and seemed generally reserved minus some tidbits here and there about specific players and the team numbers. I'm really happy he's our coach. I feel confident in what continues to be built here regardless of the win/loss numbers in what may be a tough season considering the schedule.
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OL is my biggest worry as well. Passing more will put more pressure on them. With 20 OL on the roster, I have to think we will be ok.
 

For the OL, both Lewis and Boe have been ready to start for "awhile". The position of concern is LG.
 
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MaxyJR1 said:
OL is my biggest worry as well. Passing more will put more pressure on them. With 20 OL on the roster, I have to think we will be ok.
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Of those 21 OL on the roster, 9 have been in college for 4 years or more which is huge for offensive lineman. Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out but there are a number of guys who might be a little light on actual game experience but who have had multiple years to grow and develop while waiting for their turn to start.

I'm optimistic they can field a strong starting 5 but until we get to see it, it is definitely an area of concern since so much hinges on those guys up front on both offense and defense.
 

It seems like PJ and company have emphasized and developed some real depth at O line as confirmed by the BTN network guys that were impressed, so I'm less concerned about them in the long run. My worry is that the O line won't be ready for Nebraska and UNC early in the season. It can take a while for an O line to gel. Remember how bad the very talented O line looked early in the 2019 season? It took them a while to figure out the outside run game and pass blocking.
 

Panthadad2 said:
It seems like PJ and company have emphasized and developed some real depth at O line as confirmed by the BTN network guys that were impressed, so I'm less concerned about them in the long run. My worry is that the O line won't be ready for Nebraska and UNC early in the season. It can take a while for an O line to gel. Remember how bad the very talented O line looked early in the 2019 season? It took them a while to figure out the outside run game and pass blocking.
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I think we have the numbers/depth at OL to produce a very good product as the season wears on. First game, however, is against a 3-3-5 defense that almost no one else runs (except Syracuse, so at least we've seen it)--and is tough to expect the scout team to run convincingly in practice. Glad we have a few weeks to prepare. Problem with that defense on passing downs is that blitzes come from all over and can be hard to pick up if OL communication isn't very effective. I'm flashing the SDSU opener several years back when blitzes and unusual DL schemes had our talented but young OL's heads spinning. Could be a tough opener for Athan if the OL is still a work in progress. But every guy who plays on the OL opening night will have been in the program for years, learning and strength training. If our OL is fully ready (PJ seems a tad concerned) opening night, I think we handle Nebraska. If not, it could be a SDSU or Georgia Southern type game.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
I think we have the numbers/depth at OL to produce a very good product as the season wears on. First game, however, is against a 3-3-5 defense that almost no one else runs (except Syracuse, so at least we've seen it)--and is tough to expect the scout team to run convincingly in practice. Glad we have a few weeks to prepare. Problem with that defense on passing downs is that blitzes come from all over and can be hard to pick up if OL communication isn't very effective. I'm flashing the SDSU opener several years back when blitzes and unusual DL schemes had our talented but young OL's heads spinning. Could be a tough opener for Athan if the OL is still a work in progress. But every guy who plays on the OL opening night will have been in the program for years, learning and strength training. If our OL is fully ready (PJ seems a tad concerned) opening night, I think we handle Nebraska. If not, it could be a SDSU or Georgia Southern type game.
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First games are always tricky and I am not a fan of starting the year with a conference game. Nebraska's new scheme may be a little tricky to deal with right out gate but the good news is that they will still be working out the kinks as well since it is a brand new system for them also.

Glad we are at home which should help the offense in general with communication since they won't have to contend with crowd noise.
 


fmlizard said:
The Cody Lindenberg hype train is rolling hard this preseason . . .
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Interested to see how the hype for Lindenberg plays out. It's quite a jump from HM All Big Ten to one of the best players in the nation.
 

BigTenGuy said:
Interested to see how the hype for Lindenberg plays out. It's quite a jump from HM All Big Ten to one of the best players in the nation.
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Agreed. I am, however, struggling to think of any players PJ has hyped in the past who didn't end up being anywhere near the expectations placed on them. Can anyone think of a player who ended up well below the hype placed by a member of this staff?
 

mngg11 said:
Agreed. I am, however, struggling to think of any players PJ has hyped in the past who didn't end up being anywhere near the expectations placed on them. Can anyone think of a player who ended up well below the hype placed by a member of this staff?
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DE Austin Booker?
 

Panthadad2 said:
It seems like PJ and company have emphasized and developed some real depth at O line as confirmed by the BTN network guys that were impressed, so I'm less concerned about them in the long run. My worry is that the O line won't be ready for Nebraska and UNC early in the season. It can take a while for an O line to gel. Remember how bad the very talented O line looked early in the 2019 season? It took them a while to figure out the outside run game and pass blocking.
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There is a big difference in years of experience between the 2019 starters and the projected starters this season though.

2019
Schlueter - 4 years
Andries - 3 years
Olson - 4 years
Dunlap - 2 years
Faalele - 2 years

2023
Ersery - 4 years
Shaw - 6 years or Cooper 5 years
Boe - 6 years
Carroll - 5 years
Lewis - 4 years or Guedet 5 years

This offensive line is old. Boe, Guedet, and Cooper were all on the 2019 team.
 

BigTenGuy said:
Interested to see how the hype for Lindenberg plays out. It's quite a jump from HM All Big Ten to one of the best players in the nation.
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The big risk will be injury. In the brief time that he's actually gotten playing time without injury, he's looked like a total stud.
 

Excited for Cody to have an excellent season. He has improved so much since the covid season.
 

on the OL, everything I hear and read seems to agree that there are basically 5 players contending for the three open positions:

Boe sounds like the starting C. at LG, it's Cooper and Shaw battling - with Cooper maybe having a slight edge according to some observers. and at RT, it's Guedet and Lewis - with Lewis maybe having the advantage. throw in Ersery and Carroll, and you have 7 players to choose from for the starting 5 and top two reserves.

if there are any injuries among that group, then that's where it gets a lot more murky. I know a lot of people like Greg Johnson, but he's still young to be a starting B1G lineman.
 


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