Reason for hope next year?

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SeaBee_Gopher

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Just finished listening to Gopher Gridiron Radio podcast and while they didn't sugar coat the Michigan loss...because that's impossible, they did talk about the future. A couple things they mentioned:

1) They thought this was more of a development year for us than most. They said mid-tear, developmental programs like ours aren't good every year - just look at how bad TCU and Kansas State have been this year vs. last.
2) Gray Duck has been an amazing early success for local NIL which could bode well for the future! I haven't bought any yet because I just don't drink much, but I will soon.

I think in regards to number one above, we likely will have a lot of people coming back next year, right? If I recall, we did have quite a few very good players go out last year. Plus, assuming we don't all of a sudden have a great rest of the year, the NFL will likely not come calling for many, if any, of our guys, again, helping some for next year. Just a few more good players staying another year can have a big impact. Hopefully, some of our best and most important players can develop a little more. What do you all think? I was too lazy to put together a list of who's likely staying and going this offseason, but maybe one of you has already done it.

On a separate note, does GopherHole have a major podcast that I'm missing? I hate to advertise a competing podcast on their forum, but they don't appear to have a weekly Gopher football podcast.
 


If everyone comes back, we should be returning a lot of talent next year.

Almost everyone but Nubin on defense will return and I believe we are playing without our best defensive player in Lindenberg.

On offense, our OL should be improved (Ersery, Johnson, Cooper, Carroll returning) and all of our skill position people will be back. If we figure out QB, either internally through the portal, we should have a lot back on offense.

I'm not sure how all of this plays out going into next year, but that's the hope we can sell.
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
Just finished listening to Gopher Gridiron Radio podcast and while they didn't sugar coat the Michigan loss...because that's impossible, they did talk about the future. A couple things they mentioned:

1) They thought this was more of a development year for us than most. They said mid-tear, developmental programs like ours aren't good every year - just look at how bad TCU and Kansas State have been this year vs. last.
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I'll agree, and Michigan will probably not be as good as they are this year, very year. It would be nice if we did not get totally blown out against the good teams in our lower years. Then again, this season has a ways to go and it might turn out to be a pretty solid year after all. Go Gophers!
 

I listened to the podcast, too, and when they talked about "developmental," they were basically saying "we expected a step back because we lost talent." We hope "developmental" means there are young and/or inexperienced players who are talented but still learning -- meaning they'll be better next year.

Can anyone assure us that is what's happening?

The defense is flat out bad, led by the linebackers and most of the secondary. Will those in the back seven be better next year or are they simply not good? I'm not feeling optimistic right now. And I'm pretty sure that Athan isn't the guy at QB.
 



i can confirm if you are selling subscriptions to a site, always say there's reason for hope next year.

ya' think he's going to say, look at the schedule, look at our roster where no one is improving and next year could be more frustrating than this year? nope, they need your money, i can confirm.
 


The team could be better next year, problem is that next year starts more difficult schedules. Probably a 2ish more loss type difficulty on average compared to 2019,2021,22.
 




Hates Monikers said:
I listened to the podcast, too, and when they talked about "developmental," they were basically saying "we expected a step back because we lost talent." We hope "developmental" means there are young and/or inexperienced players who are talented but still learning -- meaning they'll be better next year.

Can anyone assure us that is what's happening?

The defense is flat out bad, led by the linebackers and most of the secondary. Will those in the back seven be better next year or are they simply not good? I'm not feeling optimistic right now. And I'm pretty sure that Athan isn't the guy at QB.
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Hates Monikers said:
I listened to the podcast, too, and when they talked about "developmental," they were basically saying "we expected a step back because we lost talent." We hope "developmental" means there are young and/or inexperienced players who are talented but still learning -- meaning they'll be better next year.

Can anyone assure us that is what's happening?

The defense is flat out bad, led by the linebackers and most of the secondary. Will those in the back seven be better next year or are they simply not good? I'm not feeling optimistic right now. And I'm pretty sure that Athan isn't the guy at QB.
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We'll see once it's the offseasons and the transfer portal opens. Who they target will say a lot about how they feel about the team.
 

I was often criticized for questioning what PJ was doing in the pre-season. He continually, repeatedly told us how good this team was going to be this year. How much he liked them, how hard they worked. No coach does that...normally. Coaches undersell....they worry. His cheerleading and championing his team prior to playing any games was very odd....even if we were actually good. But because we are not good it is/was perplexing.

So PJ had to believe this team was going to be special...that we were going to win a lot of games.
I questioned it in August. Now I'm even more curious...what the heck was PJ doing? Is he totally shocked we look so hapless so often? Does he just not realize what challenges the opponents present? How good or deficient his own team is? It's just weird to me he was so effusive in his praise of the this team in the preseason....and so very far off what we actually are.

Makes it hard to trust his evaluations going forward.
 

60's Guy said:
I was often criticized for questioning what PJ was doing in the pre-season. He continually, repeatedly told us how good this team was going to be this year. How much he liked them, how hard they worked. No coach does that...normally. Coaches undersell....they worry. His cheerleading and championing his team prior to playing any games was very odd....even if we were actually good. But because we are not good it is/was perplexing.

So PJ had to believe this team was going to be special...that we were going to win a lot of games.
I questioned it in August. Now I'm even more curious...what the heck was PJ doing? Is he totally shocked we look so hapless so often? Does he just not realize what challenges the opponents present? How good or deficient his own team is? It's just weird to me he was so effusive in his praise of the this team in the preseason....and so very far off what we actually are.

Makes it hard to trust his evaluations going forward.
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Hard to argue. I fell for it. I hate to use the tired old "next year" comment, but hoping for a turn around next year the same as after the Georgia Tech bowl year. We'll see, but yeah it is odd to praise so highly what is not that high. Maybe he thought it, or maybe he was selling tickets.
 



checking the roster, these appear to be among the significant contributors who will have used up their eligibility:

OFFENSE: Tyler, Crooms, Williams, Shaw, Boe, BSF (I would list CAB but he really hasn't played..)

DEFENSE: T. Jones, Jeffries, Collins, Nubin, Selig, Baugh

so the bulk of the roster returns. But there are areas which could be shored up through the portal.

On offense, I would look at OL, TE, and yes, QB - if they can land a veterans QB in the portal or a Grad Transfer.

On Defense: DL, LB, DB (need depth at all areas)

the unanswered question is how many players might - I say might - leave through the portal. Or in the case of Walley, try to go pro. IF one of the RB's would leave, then that becomes a position of need.
 


If the team had a dynamic quarterback... I don't know if AK will grow into that or if they get someone.

This last offseason the team brought in RB Sean Tyler and WR Elijah Spencer. Neither have made a positive impact. Maybe next year they get value for their transfer portal moves. Maybe they get one guy on offense to make a difference.
 

@swelna yeah, but who’s going to do the hiring of this competent OC/QB coach???

The same guy who hired Sanford and Harbaugh in the first place.

The same guy who refuses to hire the best play caller on the staff now for some time.
 

Some guy said:
People are pretty down on a team that’s going to go 6-6 or 7-5 and have almost everyone back
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Northwestern game really shook people and got them down on things. Beat Iowa after the bye and this place will get more happy again :)

lose to Iowa and this will basically become the basketball board which would be a real bummer.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Northwestern game really shook people and got them down on things. Beat Iowa after the bye and this place will get more happy again :)

lose to Iowa and this will basically become the basketball board which would be a real bummer.
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You can always resort to the volleyball board or their Facebook group. Despite the ugliness that's going on with that program right now, it is truly a half glass full crowd, always has been... "Those girls tried so hard in their 1-3 loss to 0-5 Rutgers today!"
Of course I made that line up, but it isn't far from the truth. Just don't type words like "suck" or disparage Taylor Landfair in any way.
 

What “good” QB would transfer to the Gophers? (I’ll answer my own question). A QB who is looking for playing time. Would we waste a scholarship on a #2 or #3 QB who wasn’t good enough to play for timbuckto?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
checking the roster, these appear to be among the significant contributors who will have used up their eligibility:

OFFENSE: Tyler, Crooms, Williams, Shaw, Boe, BSF (I would list CAB but he really hasn't played..)

DEFENSE: T. Jones, Jeffries, Collins, Nubin, Selig, Baugh

so the bulk of the roster returns. But there are areas which could be shored up through the portal.

On offense, I would look at OL, TE, and yes, QB - if they can land a veterans QB in the portal or a Grad Transfer.

On Defense: DL, LB, DB (need depth at all areas)

the unanswered question is how many players might - I say might - leave through the portal. Or in the case of Walley, try to go pro. IF one of the RB's would leave, then that becomes a position of need.
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Thank you for the run down on next year’s likely roster.
 

GopherRob said:
A lot of hope for next year….USC, UCLA, Penn St and Michigan…Let‘s go!
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My definition of a successful season after this last year in the mostly weak West will include a lower number of wins unless something significant changes for us. Just being realistic.

A do agree with the Gridiron podcast that divisions/pods will likely come back at some point. Fans are more engaged when they have a chance to win something. We’d have a better chance of occasionally winning or at least be in the running for winning a future pod of 4-5 teams then we will in the divisionless format starting next year. The TV execs will want us folks in flyover country to stay engaged.
 

MplsGopher said:
@swelna yeah, but who’s going to do the hiring of this competent OC/QB coach???

The same guy who hired Sanford and Harbaugh in the first place.

The same guy who refuses to hire the best play caller on the staff now for some time.
Click to expand...
File me in the skeptical camp on Simon, especially since we haven't had a breakout WR since Johnson and Bateman, but that could be related to the overall play calling.

However, I agree. I have doubts about PJ changing his best and improving his coordinator hiring process. Behind the scenes of he would give Simon a shot to play call in the second half of the year as a test, that would be awesome because then we could get more datapoints on his play calling ability. Even if that happened though, how hamstrung by the playbook would he be? Who knows...

Like just flip the script, you can have a QB coach/co-oc that has Simons current role where he helps develop the playbook and strategy during the week, but have Simon call the actual plays.

Anyway, that's my venting. I think we had the players this year to win the west without help, but now we need the right dominoes to fall in addition to being perfect the second half of the season. I get there is a talent gap and some execution errors, but I think the biggest problem at the moment is play calling and the overall cohesion of the offensive strategy.
 

Thread takeaway...hmmm should I be reading the volleyball board more? Or, pleased I don't too often?
 

The usually (since 2015) top 10-15 level volleyball program is embarrassingly bad this year.

Feel free to tune in starting at 7pm tonight on BTN, if you can’t take watching the Twins lose any further.
 

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