BleedGopher
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per Randy:
Tanner Morgan stepped on the Minnesota campus in mid-January 2017 as an 18-year-old who joined the football program after graduating early from Ryle High School in Union, Ky. Conor Rhoda, then a fifth-year senior quarterback, saw a raw youngster with a confident drive.
“As soon as he got on campus, he had a lot of work to do,” Rhoda said, “but you could tell that he had a belief in himself and that there was something about him where he was going to be successful.”
Twenty-two months later, Morgan has backed up Rhoda’s assessment. After losing the starting quarterback job to true freshman Zack Annexstad in training camp, Morgan has taken over, with Annexstad out because of injuries. Morgan, a redshirt freshman, led three touchdown drives in the second half of a loss at Nebraska, then passed for 302 yards and three TDs — the winner a 67-yard connection to Rashod Bateman with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter — in his first start in a 38-31 victory over Indiana last Friday.
Morgan will start again Saturday at Illinois — “He’s earned that,” coach P.J. Fleck said — as the Gophers (4-4, 1-4 Big Ten) try to inch closer to bowl eligibility against the Fighting Illini (3-5, 1-4). He is embracing his opportunity.
“Really, the only thing that’s different [as the starter] is you know the whole week that no question you’re going to play the first snap of the game,” Morgan said. “Throughout the year, no matter what, at every position you’ve got to prepare to play, whether you’re the starter or there’s zero percent chance you’ll get in the game.”
http://www.startribune.com/quartrba...dent-when-he-took-reins-of-gophers/499467241/
Go Gophers!!
Tanner Morgan stepped on the Minnesota campus in mid-January 2017 as an 18-year-old who joined the football program after graduating early from Ryle High School in Union, Ky. Conor Rhoda, then a fifth-year senior quarterback, saw a raw youngster with a confident drive.
“As soon as he got on campus, he had a lot of work to do,” Rhoda said, “but you could tell that he had a belief in himself and that there was something about him where he was going to be successful.”
Twenty-two months later, Morgan has backed up Rhoda’s assessment. After losing the starting quarterback job to true freshman Zack Annexstad in training camp, Morgan has taken over, with Annexstad out because of injuries. Morgan, a redshirt freshman, led three touchdown drives in the second half of a loss at Nebraska, then passed for 302 yards and three TDs — the winner a 67-yard connection to Rashod Bateman with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter — in his first start in a 38-31 victory over Indiana last Friday.
Morgan will start again Saturday at Illinois — “He’s earned that,” coach P.J. Fleck said — as the Gophers (4-4, 1-4 Big Ten) try to inch closer to bowl eligibility against the Fighting Illini (3-5, 1-4). He is embracing his opportunity.
“Really, the only thing that’s different [as the starter] is you know the whole week that no question you’re going to play the first snap of the game,” Morgan said. “Throughout the year, no matter what, at every position you’ve got to prepare to play, whether you’re the starter or there’s zero percent chance you’ll get in the game.”
http://www.startribune.com/quartrba...dent-when-he-took-reins-of-gophers/499467241/
Go Gophers!!
