PP: Why Gophers football has faltered this season

[BleedGopher]

Per Greder:

Beyond graduations, the transfer portal and NIL — often combined to one factor — have pinched the Gophers’ overall roster talent and depth. When injuries hit this season, the ramifications of the new landscape are exposed in jarring ways.

“There are freshmen running all over that field,” Fleck said Saturday from Ohio Stadium. “You are not going to beat the No. 2 team in the country with freshmen running all over the field. Again, it’s investment toward the future. Sooner or later a program like us, you are going to have to do it.”

Why Gophers football has faltered this season

The fallout has been deepest at running back and linebacker for three reasons.

www.twincities.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[noamfromm]

Per Greder:

Beyond graduations, the transfer portal and NIL — often combined to one factor — have pinched the Gophers’ overall roster talent and depth. When injuries hit this season, the ramifications of the new landscape are exposed in jarring ways.

“There are freshmen running all over that field,” Fleck said Saturday from Ohio Stadium. “You are not going to beat the No. 2 team in the country with freshmen running all over the field. Again, it’s investment toward the future. Sooner or later a program like us, you are going to have to do it.”

Why Gophers football has faltered this season

The fallout has been deepest at running back and linebacker for three reasons.

www.twincities.com

Go Gophers!!

or even jNW, Illinois or Purdue for that matter!

 

[Polski]

PJ is trying really, really hard right now to build and create a narrative of excuses.

Is that how you handle leadership?

Hey...we're losing and we've performed terribly in a number of games this year...so let's talk to the reporters about transfers and NIL. The sheep out there will buy it.

How many players were bought away from us that we really, really needed to keep? I can think of one....Bucky. Why do we have no one else besides "freshmen running all over that field"? We have no one else in our system better than a freshman walk-on to play LB?

In year 7, that SHOULDN'T be the expectation....injuries or not.

Go get in the film room PJ, we've got a Wisconsin game to win.

 

[MNVCGUY]

PJ is trying really, really hard right now to build and create a narrative of excuses.

Is that how you handle leadership?

Hey...we're losing and we've performed terribly in a number of games this year...so let's talk to the reporters about transfers and NIL. The sheep out there will buy it.

How many players were bought away from us that we really, really needed to keep? I can think of one....Bucky. Why do we have no one else besides "freshmen running all over that field"? We have no one else in our system better than a freshman walk-on to play LB?

In year 7, that SHOULDN'T be the expectation....injuries or not.

Go get in the film room PJ, we've got a Wisconsin game to win.

I get that some of you don't want to hear it but the roster churn issue is a real thing and it has 100% contributed to how things have gone this season. We have lost some key depth pieces, not to NIL (pay for play) necessarily but to the free transfer rule in their pursuit of playing time somewhere else.

Obviously it is on the coaches to navigate this new landscape and nobody is going to feel sorry for them. The year 7 thing is irrelevant with the current roster turnover across the country. You can get into a tough spot really quick with some injuries which we have seen first hand in the LB room.

The other piece of all this is who you can bring in. The lack of pay for play money is going to make that process even tougher because you can't go out and buy the top guys and have to go after second tier players who might do well or might not pan out. Selig is an example of a transfer that hasn't really worked out as well as hoped for whatever reason.

Unfortunately all transfers are not going to be Jack Gibbons.

 

[Roland Brooks]

I get that some of you don't want to hear it but the roster churn issue is a real thing and it has 100% contributed to how things have gone this season. We have lost some key depth pieces, not to NIL (pay for play) necessarily but to the free transfer rule in their pursuit of playing time somewhere else. Obviously it is on the coaches to navigate this new landscape and nobody is going to feel sorry for them. The year 7 thing is irrelevant with the current roster turnover across the country. You can get into a tough spot really quick with some injuries which we have seen first hand in the LB room. The other piece of all this is who you can bring in. The lack of pay for play money is going to make that process even tougher because you can't go out and buy the top guys and have to go after second tier players who might do well or might not pan out. Selig is an example of a transfer that hasn't really worked out as well as hoped for whatever reason. Unfortunately all transfers are not going to be Jack Gibbons.

 

[STPGopher]

Though we have depth on the DL, we could have used Trill Carter.

Trill Carter - U. Texas Longhorns

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

I'm glad Fleck is young and still seems to have tons of energy because there are more moving parts than there were before with the portal and NIL. The U is not great right now at coaching, recruiting, the portal or NIL, not even vs. it's peer group. Hopefully, he can figure some things out to give us an edge. The added complexity can be a burden or an opportunity, so far it seems to have been more of a burden. As we've said many times on this site, maybe he can improve his best! I believe he's trying, but trying and doing are two different things and the B1G is very competitive!

 

[STPGopher]

Could have used the depth at LB/ Safety. Flip Dixon - Rutgers