Ranking the Best Backfields for 2022 College Football Season (#7. Minnesota)

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BleedGopher

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per David:

7. Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota's situation is fascinating.

Last season, freshmen Ky Thomas (824 yards, six touchdowns) and Mar'Keise Irving (699 yards, four TDs) paced the Golden Gophers. In what would ordinarily be a crushing blow to the positional unit, those two backs transferred to Kansas and Oregon, respectively.

Minnesota, though, still has Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts to headline the backfield in 2022.
Ibrahim only played in one game before an Achilles injury ended his 2021 season, but he's rushed for 3,003 yards in his career. Potts replaced him last year, racking up 552 yards and six touchdowns in five games before his own season-ending injury.

Provided both players are back to full health, they'll be a tremendous one-two punch.


Go Gophers!!
 

I think the backfield should be ranked closer to 7th in the B1G, but I would be very happy to be wrong.
 

The backfield will mostly be as good as the OL is.
 

matt said:
I think the backfield should be ranked closer to 7th in the B1G, but I would be very happy to be wrong.
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Why.....Mo was seen as one of the best backs in the Nation and Potts looked dang good when he stepped in for him after the injury.

I mean I get the standard negative approach of assuming the worst in all situations but all reports seem to indicate both guys will be healthy and ready to go at the start of the season.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Why.....Mo was seen as one of the best backs in the Nation and Potts looked dang good when he stepped in for him after the injury.
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Mo is coming off an Achilles tear. If he wasn’t a Gopher, most people on the board would expect a drop in performance. Potts looked pretty good last year, but there isn’t much proven depth behind him. And honestly, Mo and Potts are unproven since their big injuries.
 


yup. Mo off the Achilles, and Potts off the mystery injury that had some people predicting his career was over. backed up by Williams coming off a broken leg, a true FR in Evans, and some PWO guys.
Plus LeCaptain if things really go south.

If everything works out perfectly for the Gophers then yes, this could be a strong group.

But that hinges on everything working out perfectly for the Gophers........need I say more.......
 

matt said:
Mo is coming off an Achilles tear. If he wasn’t a Gopher, most people on the board would expect a drop in performance. Potts looked pretty good last year, but there isn’t much proven depth behind him. And honestly, Mo and Potts are unproven since their big injuries.
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Okay. If we're assuming Mo and Trey will not return to previous form because of their injuries, you make valid points.

But let's explore the other possible outcome: they both return to their previous levels of play.

Where would you rank them if that was the case?

Keep in mind, Mo was a legitimate All American candidate, and Trey was leading the B1G in rushing when he went down.
 

The Gophers lost Ky Thomas and Mar'Kiese Irving to the Transfer Portal.

They have Zach Evans in the fold and Darius Taylor in the incoming class. They will continue to reload. I am not worried.
 

RememberMurray said:
Okay. If we're assuming Mo and Trey will not return to previous form because of their injuries, you make valid points.

But let's explore the other possible outcome: they both return to their previous levels of play.

Where would you rank them if that was the case?

Keep in mind, Mo was a legitimate All American candidate, and Trey was leading the B1G in rushing when he went down.
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They could also come back better like in the movie Rookie of the Year. Should the backfield be ranked by that metric? No, they should probably be ranked by the most likely outcome. The most likely outcome for an Achilles tear is that Mo is degraded. The most likely outcome for Potts is hard to ascertain.
 



matt said:
They could also come back better like in the movie Rookie of the Year. Should the backfield be ranked by that metric? No, they should probably be ranked by the most likely outcome. The most likely outcome for an Achilles tear is that Mo is degraded. The most likely outcome for Potts is hard to ascertain.
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Mmmm...

Is it 'most likely' Mo is 'degraded'? I guess we'll see.

And, if it is "hard to ascertain" what Potts' outcome might be, I guess the default position is... not very good. As in, the player who was the B1G leading rusher becomes less than that, to the tune of leading the B1G's seventh-ranked backfield.

That's your edicated guess, right?
 

RememberMurray said:
Mmmm...

Is it 'most likely' Mo is 'degraded'? I guess we'll see.

And, if it is "hard to ascertain" what Potts' outcome might be, I guess the default position is... not very good. As in, the player who was the B1G leading rusher becomes less than that, to the tune of leading the B1G's seventh-ranked backfield.

That's your edicated guess, right?
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My educated guess is that a backfield led by two players who had significant, season ending injuries will not be the 7th best backfield in all of college football.
 

They can preserve Mo by running by committee until the end of season run for the championship!
 

matt said:
Mo is coming off an Achilles tear. If he wasn’t a Gopher, most people on the board would expect a drop in performance. Potts looked pretty good last year, but there isn’t much proven depth behind him. And honestly, Mo and Potts are unproven since their big injuries.
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Williams is not proven?
 



matt said:
My educated guess is that a backfield led by two players who had significant, season ending injuries will not be the 7th best backfield in all of college football.
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Oh.

In post #2 in this thread, you were putting them 7th in the B1G.
 

Best Backfields
Okay, when you consider the rankings are for the entire country and not just the Big Ten...this is kinda wow!
Then, for the purpose of this article, add that backfield does not include QB and that is major respect to those two guys and the Gophers.
Fits, however, with the #22 pre-season Top 25 team ranking.
Go Gophers!
 

matt said:
My educated guess is that a backfield led by two players who had significant, season ending injuries will not be the 7th best backfield in all of college football.
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I agree, they could be higher. Sports medicine has advanced significantly for achilles injuries in just the last five years. 2022 percentages are that Mo will be good as new.
Potts may be 100% healthy and just held out for precautionary reasons.
Here's what we do know...no matter who the backs are PJ is gonna run the ball and attempt to dominate time of possession.
 



matt said:
Incorrect. In post #2, I said think they should be closer to 7th in the B1G.
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Which really doesn't change anything at all, but I'll play along.

How much 'closer' to 7th in the B1G should they be ranked, in your opinion?

I see you edited your original appraisal of Potts; if memory serves, he went from 'okay' to 'pretty good'. So we're making progress, of a sort.
 

RememberMurray said:
Which really doesn't change anything at all, but I'll play along.

How much 'closer' to 7th in the B1G should they be ranked, in your opinion?

I see you edited your original appraisal of Potts; if memory serves, he went from 'okay' to 'pretty good'. So we're making progress, of a sort.
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Do you really think Mo will be back at 100% after an Achilles tear? If he does, he will be the exception. The norm is that RBs who tear their Achilles do not come back to full form.

5th in the B1G probably correlates to the 20-30 range in the country. I think that would be a better range for our backfield going into the season.

My assessment of Potts and that post overall are unedited.
 

matt said:

Do you really think Mo will be back at 100% after an Achilles tear? If he does, he will be the exception. The norm is that RBs who tear their Achilles do not come back to full form.

5th in the B1G probably correlates to the 20-30 range in the country. I think that would be a better range for our backfield going into the season.

My assessment of Potts and that post overall are unedited.
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Have to be careful using NFL numbers to backup your point. Yes, coming back from an achilles injury in the NFL seems pretty daunting. Of course the average RB, achilles injury or not, only lasts 2.5 years in the NFL.

On a side note.....it's the off season man....this is that time when every team is moving in the right direction and ready to take the next step up the ladder.....embrace it...enjoy it......run the best case scenarios in your head as opposed to looking at the potential downside :).
 

MNVCGUY said:
Have to be careful using NFL numbers to backup your point. Yes, coming back from an achilles injury in the NFL seems pretty daunting. Of course the average RB, achilles injury or not, only lasts 2.5 years in the NFL.

On a side note.....it's the off season man....this is that time when every team is moving in the right direction and ready to take the next step up the ladder.....embrace it...enjoy it......run the best case scenarios in your head as opposed to looking at the potential downside :).
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My point is simply that RBs with a torn Achilles are likely to not come back at 100%. That is true in the NFL and in college.

I fully think this can be a top 20 team and win the B1G West, even with #5/6/7 most talented RB room in the B1G. I am overall quite happy with what has transpired since the season ended and am very much looking forward to the season.
 

matt said:
My point is simply that RBs with a torn Achilles are likely to not come back at 100%. That is true in the NFL and in college.

I fully think this can be a top 20 team and win the B1G West, even with #5/6/7 most talented RB room in the B1G. I am overall quite happy with what has transpired since the season ended and am very much looking forward to the season.
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I'm in the same boat as you - very skeptical of this ranking, but doesn't mean that I'm not optimistic about this team. RB is way down the list of my concerns going into this year.
 

matt said:

Do you really think Mo will be back at 100% after an Achilles tear? If he does, he will be the exception. The norm is that RBs who tear their Achilles do not come back to full form.

5th in the B1G probably correlates to the 20-30 range in the country. I think that would be a better range for our backfield going into the season.

My assessment of Potts and that post overall are unedited.
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Just commenting on the list from the Twitter post, I hadn't heard of any of these players other than White, Wells and Foster. Is it possible that a lot of these guys weren't good enough to play in the NFL to begin with!
 

It's not black/white - It's on a continuum. Mo could be anywhere from 75% to 100%. Same with Potts. We will know a LOT more after the first couple of games. But until we see them play, we're just guessing.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
It's not black/white - It's on a continuum. Mo could be anywhere from 75% to 100%. Same with Potts. We will know a LOT more after the first couple of games. But until we see them play, we're just guessing.
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And 85% of Mo might be better than a lot of guys out there. Tough to say what we are going to get but internally they seem very confident that he will make a full recovery.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Just commenting on the list from the Twitter post, I hadn't heard of any of these players other than White, Wells and Foster. Is it possible that a lot of these guys weren't good enough to play in the NFL to begin with!
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Isaiah Crowell was an ok back for a while, but you're right a lot of backs flame out pretty quickly regardless of injury. Foster was a very good back but was also 29 at the time of injury which is the cliff for even a lot of the better backs in the league.
 

matt said:
My point is simply that RBs with a torn Achilles are likely to not come back at 100%. That is true in the NFL and in college.

I fully think this can be a top 20 team and win the B1G West, even with #5/6/7 most talented RB room in the B1G. I am overall quite happy with what has transpired since the season ended and am very much looking forward to the season.
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It's more likely now than ever that they can come back 100% or very close to it. Surgical techniques and rehab have improved dramatically in the last few years.
 

matt said:
Mo is coming off an Achilles tear. If he wasn’t a Gopher, most people on the board would expect a drop in performance. Potts looked pretty good last year, but there isn’t much proven depth behind him. And honestly, Mo and Potts are unproven since their big injuries.
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This is another Rodney Smith/Shannon Brooks situation in the making.

Mo and Trey are coming off serious injuries. It's a wait-and-see how they will produce. I hope that they distribute the load so that they stay relatively healthy.
 

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