Quotes From Practice: Coach Zebrowski Will Judge Leidner's Success on Victories

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Gophers Football Quotes From Practice: Coach Zebrowski Will Judge Leidner's Success on Victories
By Alex Van Abbema

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/416282?referrer_id=

The Gophers are coming off their season opening win over Eastern Illinois and face Middle Tennessee State on Saturday at 2:30. Below is a recap of quotes from today’s media session.

Steven Richardson

(On his size)

I was not really recruited highly, basically with my size I didn’t look good on paper, but if you think about it, that’s what gives me the edge on everybody else. Just staying low, I can’t help that.

(Being from same high school as Jordan Lynch)

It made me feel safe that I’m not getting the looks I’m supposed to be getting, but if I just keep working at it, something will come.

(Bond with Stelter, Lingen, Elmore, all roommates)

We just hold each other accountable, in college everybody wants to party and all that, but if we got a game or a practice or something we’ll just sit and relax and maybe just play some Call of Duty.

Coach Kill

(Special teams performance on Thursday)

First game and everything, I thought we played well. Our coverage teams on kickoffs didn’t have to play much. Punt wise, I thought we did a good job, a good job covering, punt blocks spoke for itself. But I think we could do some things better on kickoff return. I think we have more speed, and that helps me in those things, and we like being on the attack. If we’re good like that every week, then it’ll certainly help our opportunities to be successful and win.

(Concern on defensive line)

I think we’re all concerned, but not just that position, you know, that’s the whole thing people don’t understand. You know, you got quarterback situations, everybody. That can change the scope of things, you get a couple key players anywhere, linebacker, then all of a sudden you’re going to play younger kids. So think that everything we do in college football or pro football right now again, is that you gotta be careful on the injury thing. It changes the way you practice and so forth. Every day I go to practice I worry about it, because you gotta have your good players.

(Middle Tennessee St. running game)

They run the ball very very well. Athletic quarterback, they have three or four running backs that they can play, and they wanna run the ball. But then you get in the box, and he’s good enough to throw it, so we will have to stop the run, there’s no doubt about that.

Coach Zebrowski

(On EIU taking away middle options)

There were some things outside that we just missed them. I told him it’s open, but something moved really fast, something moved that we didn’t think was gonna move, but it was open. We had some outside throws that were good, but we just didn’t hit them early. So we just kind of said “hey forget this,” and just spread them out and move the pocket around, and let those blitzers go blitz.

(Maxx Williams becoming more of an option for mitch, taking more attention from d)

When you watch our tape, and you watch the games, everybody knows that a lot of the big plays come through him. I think it becomes a security blanket for you. I think sooner or later we have to be able to go other places once they do take him away, and get some second options.

(Gauging Mitch’s success as a quarterback)

Victories. Victories honestly.

(Ball security?)

Part of the concept is you win. The other part is ball security, I agree with that. We fumbled it once in the pocket, but we didn’t have any interceptions. I think great quarterbacks always have great ball security. Just keep the ball in their hands. We may not have played as well as we maybe wanted to, but we didn’t turn the ball over a lot either.

(Focusing more on the pass game than last year)

If you can run the ball, everything’s really good. It’s those moments where you can’t run it, where they’re putting ten in the box, we have to be able to pass it. We can’t just have no answer.
 

Thanks Alex! It's nice to hear from Coach Z, we don't hear a lot from him.
 

Not thrilled with Coach Z's Answer

So Mitch goes 3-15 for 23 yards with an interception and a fumble. Our defense plays great, we get a pick-6 and a punt return for a touchdown and win 14-13. But hey, we'll judge Mitch based on victories. Not a good answer in my opinion. How about saying we'll judge Mitch based on his play, based on his progress, based on his statistics, based on his leadership.

If sales in my division are up 30%, but my personal production is down 50%, does my boss say we'll judge Joe's performance based on the sales in his division? Obviously not. They'll find another Joe very quickly who they believe will improve the division overall.

Personally, I think our coaches need to think outside the box. Invite 50 QB's who have no FBS offers whatsoever to tryout. I'll bet they'd find at least one who could run their offense better than it's been run the past three seasons and the first game of this season.

Or, stop trying to make Mitch into something he's not. Let him be the QB he was in high school. Let him throw the damn ball down field and open up the offense. Our QB's always look uptight and uncomfortable. Is it the coaching staff harping on them to not make mistakes? You keep pounding that into a kids head and he'll never be what you want him to be. Take off the training wheels. Let him take two steps backwards before he goes forward. Give the kid some wings. If Kill is only concerned with not making mistakes in order to win, I'm afraid he's never going to get a kid like Mitch to reach his potential.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
So Mitch goes 3-15 for 23 yards with an interception and a fumble. Our defense plays great, we get a pick-6 and a punt return for a touchdown and win 14-13. But hey, we'll judge Mitch based on victories. Not a good answer in my opinion. How about saying we'll judge Mitch based on his play, based on his progress, based on his statistics, based on his leadership.

If sales in my division are up 30%, but my personal production is down 50%, does my boss say we'll judge Joe's performance based on the sales in his division? Obviously not. They'll find another Joe very quickly who they believe will improve the division overall.

Personally, I think our coaches need to think outside the box. Invite 50 QB's who have no FBS offers whatsoever to tryout. I'll bet they'd find at least one who could run their offense better than it's been run the past three seasons and the first game of this season.

Or, stop trying to make Mitch into something he's not. Let him be the QB he was in high school. Let him throw the damn ball down field and open up the offense. Our QB's always look uptight and uncomfortable. Is it the coaching staff harping on them to not make mistakes? You keep pounding that into a kids head and he'll never be what you want him to be. Take off the training wheels. Let him take two steps backwards before he goes forward. Give the kid some wings. If Kill is only concerned with not making mistakes in order to win, I'm afraid he's never going to get a kid like Mitch to reach his potential.
Click to expand...

I'm confident that our coaching staff wouldn't sugarcoat his performance If Mitch really had a game like you described above. At least I would hope so.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
So Mitch goes 3-15 for 23 yards with an interception and a fumble. Our defense plays great, we get a pick-6 and a punt return for a touchdown and win 14-13. But hey, we'll judge Mitch based on victories. Not a good answer in my opinion. How about saying we'll judge Mitch based on his play, based on his progress, based on his statistics, based on his leadership.

If sales in my division are up 30%, but my personal production is down 50%, does my boss say we'll judge Joe's performance based on the sales in his division? Obviously not. They'll find another Joe very quickly who they believe will improve the division overall.

Personally, I think our coaches need to think outside the box. Invite 50 QB's who have no FBS offers whatsoever to tryout. I'll bet they'd find at least one who could run their offense better than it's been run the past three seasons and the first game of this season.

Or, stop trying to make Mitch into something he's not. Let him be the QB he was in high school. Let him throw the damn ball down field and open up the offense. Our QB's always look uptight and uncomfortable. Is it the coaching staff harping on them to not make mistakes? You keep pounding that into a kids head and he'll never be what you want him to be. Take off the training wheels. Let him take two steps backwards before he goes forward. Give the kid some wings. If Kill is only concerned with not making mistakes in order to win, I'm afraid he's never going to get a kid like Mitch to reach his potential.
Click to expand...

This is 100 percent correct. Saying you'll judge a quarterback by his wins is something you say after your quarterback struggles in a win. Be that as it may, I'm still buying Leidner stock. I'm getting a good price and I think there's strong growth potential.
 


Why do the coaches keep talking about the team leader who is 1-0?
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
So Mitch goes 3-15 for 23 yards with an interception and a fumble. Our defense plays great, we get a pick-6 and a punt return for a touchdown and win 14-13. But hey, we'll judge Mitch based on victories. Not a good answer in my opinion. How about saying we'll judge Mitch based on his play, based on his progress, based on his statistics, based on his leadership.

If sales in my division are up 30%, but my personal production is down 50%, does my boss say we'll judge Joe's performance based on the sales in his division? Obviously not. They'll find another Joe very quickly who they believe will improve the division overall.

Personally, I think our coaches need to think outside the box. Invite 50 QB's who have no FBS offers whatsoever to tryout. I'll bet they'd find at least one who could run their offense better than it's been run the past three seasons and the first game of this season.

Or, stop trying to make Mitch into something he's not. Let him be the QB he was in high school. Let him throw the damn ball down field and open up the offense. Our QB's always look uptight and uncomfortable. Is it the coaching staff harping on them to not make mistakes? You keep pounding that into a kids head and he'll never be what you want him to be. Take off the training wheels. Let him take two steps backwards before he goes forward. Give the kid some wings. If Kill is only concerned with not making mistakes in order to win, I'm afraid he's never going to get a kid like Mitch to reach his potential.
Click to expand...

What the team needs is a Tolzein or a Stanzi. Yet the staff seems dead-set on molding any QB into a Jordan Lynch. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're liable to change this anytime soon.
 

BJN said:
What the team needs is a Tolzein or a Stanzi. Yet the staff seems dead-set on molding any QB into a Jordan Lynch. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're liable to change this anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Again they are 8-3 in games Leidner has played in and 4-1 in games he starts. He has been average, not bad or awful, average. Maybe in three years Leidner will be a Tolzein or Stanzi.

Stanzi ATT CO % YDS TD INT.
2008 Iowa 254 150 59.1% 1,956 14 9
2009 Iowa 304 171 56.3% 2,417 17 15
2010 Iowa 345 221 64.1% 3,004 25 6
Tolzien
2008 Wisconsin 8 5 63% 107 0 1
2009 Wisconsin 328 211 64% 2,705 16 11
2010 Wisconsin 266 194 73% 2,459 16 6

At the end of the season we can see if he is on track as the Stanzi and Tolzien didn't play until their 3rd and 4th year.
 

Can we just get an "All things bitching about Leidner" thread? We get it - some people here don't think he's a very good QB and are still bitter about Nelson leaving. Teams have gone to bowl games with worse QBs...we'll be fine.
 



BJN said:
What the team needs is a Tolzein or a Stanzi. Yet the staff seems dead-set on molding any QB into a Jordan Lynch. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're liable to change this anytime soon.
Click to expand...

to be fair both of those QBs had really good O lines providing 5 second pockets. Not many more bites at the apple for Mitcheroo so let's just show up, cheer and have a beer and see what happens.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
So Mitch goes 3-15 for 23 yards with an interception and a fumble. Our defense plays great, we get a pick-6 and a punt return for a touchdown and win 14-13. But hey, we'll judge Mitch based on victories. Not a good answer in my opinion. How about saying we'll judge Mitch based on his play, based on his progress, based on his statistics, based on his leadership.

If sales in my division are up 30%, but my personal production is down 50%, does my boss say we'll judge Joe's performance based on the sales in his division? Obviously not. They'll find another Joe very quickly who they believe will improve the division overall.

Personally, I think our coaches need to think outside the box. Invite 50 QB's who have no FBS offers whatsoever to tryout. I'll bet they'd find at least one who could run their offense better than it's been run the past three seasons and the first game of this season.

Or, stop trying to make Mitch into something he's not. Let him be the QB he was in high school. Let him throw the damn ball down field and open up the offense. Our QB's always look uptight and uncomfortable. Is it the coaching staff harping on them to not make mistakes? You keep pounding that into a kids head and he'll never be what you want him to be. Take off the training wheels. Let him take two steps backwards before he goes forward. Give the kid some wings. If Kill is only concerned with not making mistakes in order to win, I'm afraid he's never going to get a kid like Mitch to reach his potential.
Click to expand...

For crying out loud, just because that was his answer to the media doesn't mean he's only judging Leidner on if the team wins or not. You don't think Coach Z sat down with Mitch and critiqued his play when reviewing film after game 1? It was a short answer to a question that means nothing. Coach speak, cliche, whatever you want to call it.

Mitch just started his 5th game. He's still young and in the early stages of development for a QB. Some of you seem to forget that. And like it or not, this team is built around a conservative strategy. Run the ball, play good defense, and don't turn the ball over. It has worked pretty well so far so I don't see a reason to complain this much.
 

jaymil said:
For crying out loud, just because that was his answer to the media doesn't mean he's only judging Leidner on if the team wins or not. You don't think Coach Z sat down with Mitch and critiqued his play when reviewing film after game 1? It was a short answer to a question that means nothing. Coach speak, cliche, whatever you want to call it.

Mitch just started his 5th game. He's still young and in the early stages of development for a QB. Some of you seem to forget that. And like it or not, this team is built around a conservative strategy. Run the ball, play good defense, and don't turn the ball over. It has worked pretty well so far so I don't see a reason to complain this much.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your calm rational understanding of Coach Z's comments. It is a breath of fresh air.
 

jaymil said:
For crying out loud, just because that was his answer to the media doesn't mean he's only judging Leidner on if the team wins or not. You don't think Coach Z sat down with Mitch and critiqued his play when reviewing film after game 1? It was a short answer to a question that means nothing. Coach speak, cliche, whatever you want to call it.

Mitch just started his 5th game. He's still young and in the early stages of development for a QB. Some of you seem to forget that. And like it or not, this team is built around a conservative strategy. Run the ball, play good defense, and don't turn the ball over. It has worked pretty well so far so I don't see a reason to complain this much.
Click to expand...

There's no question people have been either forgetting that fact or choosing to ignore it. 5 career starts is nothing and I believe he's only thrown grand total of 1 INT so far? About 55% completion for his career so far as well. He just needs time, it's that simple.
 



That's fair enough. I hope you're right. 1 INT is very positive and 55% is a good start. I hope he becomes a really good QB.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Again they are 8-3 in games Leidner has played in and 4-1 in games he starts. He has been average, not bad or awful, average. Maybe in three years Leidner will be a Tolzein or Stanzi.

Stanzi ATT CO % YDS TD INT.
2008 Iowa 254 150 59.1% 1,956 14 9
2009 Iowa 304 171 56.3% 2,417 17 15
2010 Iowa 345 221 64.1% 3,004 25 6
Tolzien
2008 Wisconsin 8 5 63% 107 0 1
2009 Wisconsin 328 211 64% 2,705 16 11
2010 Wisconsin 266 194 73% 2,459 16 6

At the end of the season we can see if he is on track as the Stanzi and Tolzien didn't play until their 3rd and 4th year.
Click to expand...

I'm not complaining about Leidner, necessarily. I'm complaining about Kill and his staffs outlook towards the QB position in general. I'm not a fan of their recruitment decisions regarding this position and just the overall style of how they utilize QBs. Leidner is more than capable of performing as well as or better than Tolzein/Stanzi; I just don't know if that will ever show in this system.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
That's fair enough. I hope you're right. 1 INT is very positive and 55% is a good start. I hope he becomes a really good QB.
Click to expand...

Only one interception for Leidner is the best stat by far. Only a few of us have recognized it. The only pass that was close to being an interception last week went for a Gopher touchdown. Once Leidner figures out how to keep from fumbling the football most of the complaints against him are going to stop. As long as he doesn't get hurt I am absolutely convinced Leidner is going to have a very good career and probably be considered one of the best Gopher QB's since most of us have been alive. Liedner has all the tools. Let's all relax and watch it happen. It is going to be a great ride.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
Again they are 8-3 in games Leidner has played in and 4-1 in games he starts.
Click to expand...

This is why stats are often misleading, and in your example downright fraudulent. You're giving him a "W" for starting the NW game last year, even though he got yanked after 3 series and failed to lead the team to a single first down. Against Nebraska you're also giving him a "W," even though Nelson played 75% of the game. His two other wins were at home against Western Illinois and SJSU.

It's ok to like Mitch, but come up with some better material....
 

dpodoll68 said:
Except they can't do that.



I'll bet they wouldn't.
Click to expand...



dpodoll, I'd like to ask you a serious question about something I don't understand and never really realized until last year. No gaming or trolling going on here.

If Coach Kill recruited and/or "molded" Lynch and Harnish at NIU, both of whom were listed as 2-Star "Dual Threat QB's", why did Kill recruit Nelson and Leidner (both of whom were listed as "Pro-Style" QB's)?

I'm really confused. I thought Kill and Limegrover wanted to bring to Minnesota what they did at NIU. What am I missing?
 


Whatever floats your boat Coach Z. Just as long as what you say in interviews is not indicative of what you actually think.
 


wait!what? said:
yes! The Boston Streveler is 1-0! just doing what i can to avoid being force fed a nickname by The Daily Gopher.
Click to expand...

Based on previous information, somebody said his nickname is Chip...short for Chippendale Dancer given his propensity to parade around campus shirtless.
Then, I heard that was wrong...I heard "dancer". Dunno for sure tho :rolleyes:
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
So Mitch goes 3-15 for 23 yards with an interception and a fumble. Our defense plays great, we get a pick-6 and a punt return for a touchdown and win 14-13. But hey, we'll judge Mitch based on victories. Not a good answer in my opinion. How about saying we'll judge Mitch based on his play, based on his progress, based on his statistics, based on his leadership.

If sales in my division are up 30%, but my personal production is down 50%, does my boss say we'll judge Joe's performance based on the sales in his division? Obviously not. They'll find another Joe very quickly who they believe will improve the division overall.

Personally, I think our coaches need to think outside the box. Invite 50 QB's who have no FBS offers whatsoever to tryout. I'll bet they'd find at least one who could run their offense better than it's been run the past three seasons and the first game of this season.

Or, stop trying to make Mitch into something he's not. Let him be the QB he was in high school. Let him throw the damn ball down field and open up the offense. Our QB's always look uptight and uncomfortable. Is it the coaching staff harping on them to not make mistakes? You keep pounding that into a kids head and he'll never be what you want him to be. Take off the training wheels. Let him take two steps backwards before he goes forward. Give the kid some wings. If Kill is only concerned with not making mistakes in order to win, I'm afraid he's never going to get a kid like Mitch to reach his potential.
Click to expand...

I am in the camp that judges quarterbacks on wins. The QB in your example is not a sales member he's the boss. He's responsible for the success of the whole division and the biggest factor in determining that is: did we win or in your example are we successful. The QB is the leader.
The easiest most obvious example for me is Joe Kapp. Ugly, ugly quarterback but put the team on his back and willed them to victory. Everybody says Peyton Manning is the consummate pro quarterback but detractors say as great as he is supposed to be, he chokes, can't win the big game, not a closer, only won one Super Bowl etc. Lots of theories on how you judge quarterbacks.

I agree the coaching message to Mitch is faulty. You can't tell an aggressive player to play safe. Mitch played like he looked scared...why? Because of the message being sent imo "Don't get hurt" "Be careful, be smart" Not how I think it should be presented. (Limegrover stated this message given to Mitch over and over and said it like five times to the press in a five minute press conference this week) As far as decisions, his two touchdowns where he just said screw it and ran against coaching wishes and scored were more of who he needs to be. Free and easy. Run somebody over for the first down or touchdown. Just play! Be aggressive! Be invincible! You are Mitch Leidner Heisman Trophy candidate...best in the land...go out and show people...versus be careful, if you get hurt we are really gonna suck. That's how you get hurt.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
dpodoll, I'd like to ask you a serious question about something I don't understand and never really realized until last year. No gaming or trolling going on here.

If Coach Kill recruited and/or "molded" Lynch and Harnish at NIU, both of whom were listed as 2-Star "Dual Threat QB's", why did Kill recruit Nelson and Leidner (both of whom were listed as "Pro-Style" QB's)?

I'm really confused. I thought Kill and Limegrover wanted to bring to Minnesota what they did at NIU. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

I'm not dpodoll, and it's really impossible to know for sure, but I'll give it a try.

First of all, Nelson could have easily been listed as a duel-threat QB. According to his bio, he rushed for over 1,200 yards as a senior. If I remember correctly some recruiting services did list him as duel-threat. Sure, he wasn't at the level of a Lynch or Harnish, but he was a good athlete.

I'm guessing that part of the reason Leidner was signed originally was for depth. They needed QBs on the roster, and even though he wasn't a great fit for the system, he was good enough to get an offer.

We've signed 7 QBs under Kill: Shortell, Foreman, Leidner, Nelson, Streveler, and McKinzy. We also have a commitment from Croft. Shortell was already committed when Kill was hired and Kill decided to honor that. Of the six QBs Kill has recruited and signed, Leidner is the only QB I would consider more of a pro style QB. The rest are duel-threat guys.
 

By the way, I'm still amazed how much people read into what coaches say in interviews. It's coach speak, no more, no less.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm not dpodoll, and it's really impossible to know for sure, but I'll give it a try.

First of all, Nelson could have easily been listed as a duel-threat QB. According to his bio, he rushed for over 1,200 yards as a senior. If I remember correctly some recruiting services did list him as duel-threat. Sure, he wasn't at the level of a Lynch or Harnish, but he was a good athlete.

I'm guessing that part of the reason Leidner was signed originally was for depth. They needed QBs on the roster, and even though he wasn't a great fit for the system, he was good enough to get an offer.

We've signed 7 QBs under Kill: Shortell, Foreman, Leidner, Nelson, Streveler, and McKinzy. We also have a commitment from Croft. Shortell was already committed when Kill was hired and Kill decided to honor that. Of the six QBs Kill has recruited and signed, Leidner is the only QB I would consider more of a pro style QB. The rest are duel-threat guys.
Click to expand...

Wasn't TE a back-up option for Leidner if QB didn't work out anyway?
 



BreakTheGopherCurse said:
dpodoll, I'd like to ask you a serious question about something I don't understand and never really realized until last year. No gaming or trolling going on here.

If Coach Kill recruited and/or "molded" Lynch and Harnish at NIU, both of whom were listed as 2-Star "Dual Threat QB's", why did Kill recruit Nelson and Leidner (both of whom were listed as "Pro-Style" QB's)?

I'm really confused. I thought Kill and Limegrover wanted to bring to Minnesota what they did at NIU. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I just noticed this question. I would answer it much the same way GiI did - Nelson was miscast by anyone who labeled him a pro-style quarterback coming out of HS. He had serious wheels (especially for a white guy) and ran for a lot of yards in HS.

Leidner himself even said that he was recruited as a TE out of HS, but then he was given a shot at QB (by his request? - who knows) and ended up sticking there.

That's one way of answering it - another way is that recruiting is difficult and maybe they've missed out on some guys that they wanted more, and had to settle for who they've gotten. For example, I know they would've killed for the chance to sign Clayton Thorson, a guy who didn't show much interest and ended up at Nerdwestern. Of course they'd never say that, and even if someone asked the question, they'd never give an honest answer.
 

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