Shama: It’s a possibility Minnesota, with Kaliakmanis, could have the Big Ten West Division’s most talented quarterback next season.

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Shama:

From a personnel perspective beyond this season, the best thing about the Gophers’ program is the promising future of redshirt freshman quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis. He was poised in his first college start last Saturday evening in the crazed-white out atmosphere at Penn State and showed both his running and passing skills that include a strong arm.

It’s a possibility Minnesota, with Kaliakmanis, could have the Big Ten West Division’s most talented quarterback next season. Look for Kaliakmanis to start Saturday’s home game against Rutgers if senior Tanner Morgan is still injured and unable to play.

Yesterday head coach P.J. Fleck wasn’t sure who his starter will be. He also said it’s uncertain if reserve quarterback Cole Kramer’s injury will allow him to be on the field. Kramer played on two downs in the wildcat formation against Penn State, but he didn’t touch the ball because direct snaps went to Ibrahim.


Go Gophers!!
 

Clearly Shama has no respect for Tanner Morgan, doesn't appreciate everything he's done for the program, right? At least that's how anyone who says anything positive about AK8 gets treated around here lol.
 


BleedGopher said:
per Shama:

From a personnel perspective beyond this season, the best thing about the Gophers’ program is the promising future of redshirt freshman quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis. He was poised in his first college start last Saturday evening in the crazed-white out atmosphere at Penn State and showed both his running and passing skills that include a strong arm.

It’s a possibility Minnesota, with Kaliakmanis, could have the Big Ten West Division’s most talented quarterback next season. Look for Kaliakmanis to start Saturday’s home game against Rutgers if senior Tanner Morgan is still injured and unable to play.

Yesterday head coach P.J. Fleck wasn’t sure who his starter will be. He also said it’s uncertain if reserve quarterback Cole Kramer’s injury will allow him to be on the field. Kramer played on two downs in the wildcat formation against Penn State, but he didn’t touch the ball because direct snaps went to Ibrahim.


Go Gophers!!
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The Non-Hot Take of All-Time!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Huh?
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I have no clue what he is talking about either. I mean maybe someone suggesting Morgan should be benched in favour of AK might catch some flack. But nobody is going to be upset about someone saying good things about Athan in general.
 


If he is supposed to be the most talented QB in the BIG West next season he must also be very talented this season.
What QB in the West will not be there next year that Sharma thinks is more talented than AK is?
This is not a very subtle nudge to PJ to start AK for the rest of the season and to be able to hammer PJ if he does not and the results are not pretty.
 


PJ is in a no win situation...start Athan and the Gophers win he'll be criticized for not starting him soon. Lose and he'll be criticized for giving up on 2022. But then again that's why he's paid the big bucks.
 

PhiloVance said:
PJ is in a no win situation...start Athan and the Gophers win he'll be criticized for not starting him soon. Lose and he'll be criticized for giving up on 2022. But then again that's why he's paid the big bucks.
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I’ll go ahead and assume PJ’s in a better position to know how to handle it than anyone posting on Gopherhole, writing a column in one of our city’s fine newspapers, or paid to talk about things on the radio between commercials.
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
Huh?
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It was sarcasm. If you haven't been paying attention to the threads on this board, anyone who says anything positive about AK8 gets immediately roasted and gets all these Tanner Morgan credentials thrown at them.

Just trying to make a little joke.
 

Goldmember said:
I’ll go ahead and assume PJ’s in a better position to know how to handle it than anyone posting on Gopherhole, writing a column in one of our city’s fine newspapers, or paid to talk about things on the radio between commercials.
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What a hot take. We should all probably just stop posting and close down gopherhole, no need for us nubes to waste time, right?
 

GopherTheJugular said:
It was sarcasm. If you haven't been paying attention to the threads on this board, anyone who says anything positive about AK8 gets immediately roasted and gets all these Tanner Morgan credentials thrown at them.

Just trying to make a little joke.
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No I get that, I just haven't seen that kind of reaction from people.
 

Well, O'Connell at Purdue is in his 6th year, so he's done.
I believe DeVito at Illinois is in his last year.
Graham Mertz at Wisconsin has a year of eligibility left.
Iowa is a mess at QB.
Hillinski at Northwestern is a Junior
Thompson at Nebraska is a Junior.

So, if you stop and think about it, saying that AK could potentially be the best QB in the West next year is really not an outrageous statement.

it's not like he's being compared to a list of Heisman candidates.
 



I mean it seems like a bit of a premature take if I'm being honest. It's not like Athan went 30-30 for 400 yards and 5 TD's.

Remember how Graham Mertz played as a starter his first few games? WAAAAAAY better than we just saw Athan play.

This isn't a dig at Athan by the way I think he looked the way he should have in his first start but to say he will be the best QB in the west after that performance seems kind of odd to me.
 

tmvander said:
I mean it seems like a bit of a premature take if I'm being honest. It's not like Athan went 30-30 for 400 yards and 5 TD's.

Remember how Graham Mertz played as a starter his first few games? WAAAAAAY better than we just saw Athan play.

This isn't a dig at Athan by the way I think he looked the way he should have in his first start but to say he will be the best QB in the west after that performance seems kind of odd to me.
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In Shama's defense he didn't say "will be" he said it was a possibility.

As for comparing Athan's start to Mertz's.....I actually see that as a good thing. Mertz was awesome in his first start and then sucked for a long time after that before becoming servicable this season. So glad Athan is on a different trajectory than golden boy Graham already. :)
 

Goldmember said:
I’ll go ahead and assume PJ’s in a better position to know how to handle it than anyone posting on Gopherhole, writing a column in one of our city’s fine newspapers, or paid to talk about things on the radio between commercials.
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Agree.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Well, O'Connell at Purdue is in his 6th year, so he's done.
I believe DeVito at Illinois is in his last year.
Graham Mertz at Wisconsin has a year of eligibility left.
Iowa is a mess at QB.
Hillinski at Northwestern is a Junior
Thompson at Nebraska is a Junior.

So, if you stop and think about it, saying that AK could potentially be the best QB in the West next year is really not an outrageous statement.

it's not like he's being compared to a list of Heisman candidates.
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There's certainly more data/film on the other QBs and a microscopic amount of AK play (that did not really demonstrate or even suggest superiority to any of the other teams' QBs), so, yeah, I guess he potentially could be... But it's a major reach at this point.
 


He shows a lot of promise. If he can keep it up, and we can find a way to get him receivers that can more consistently create space, our offense will become a lot more dangerous.

Having a QB that is actually a running threat would do so much for our offense. We saw glimpses of it the few times he pulled it and ran. It should help our RBs as defenses won't be able to completely sell out on blocking them during a run play as to not leave a wide open running lane for Athan.

Keywords above are if and should. Obviously things could go wrong one way or another.
 

tmvander said:
I mean it seems like a bit of a premature take if I'm being honest. It's not like Athan went 30-30 for 400 yards and 5 TD's.

Remember how Graham Mertz played as a starter his first few games? WAAAAAAY better than we just saw Athan play.

This isn't a dig at Athan by the way I think he looked the way he should have in his first start but to say he will be the best QB in the west after that performance seems kind of odd to me.
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What was Mertz’z OL like? Which of their Heisman RB candidates needed to be schemed for? It’s all perspective.
 

Goldmember said:
I’ll go ahead and assume PJ’s in a better position to know how to handle it than anyone posting on Gopherhole, writing a column in one of our city’s fine newspapers, or paid to talk about things on the radio between commercials.
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Shama isn't any of those things. He's Cosplay Sid.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
It was sarcasm. If you haven't been paying attention to the threads on this board, anyone who says anything positive about AK8 gets immediately roasted and gets all these Tanner Morgan credentials thrown at them.

Just trying to make a little joke.
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So, since you basically repeated the same post, your "sarcasm" wasn't really sarcasm. If that's your idea of a "joke," I don't expect to see you on Comedy Central anytime soon.
 

tmvander said:
I mean it seems like a bit of a premature take if I'm being honest. It's not like Athan went 30-30 for 400 yards and 5 TD's.

Remember how Graham Mertz played as a starter his first few games? WAAAAAAY better than we just saw Athan play.

This isn't a dig at Athan by the way I think he looked the way he should have in his first start but to say he will be the best QB in the west after that performance seems kind of odd to me.
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Odd indeed. Yes, basically he had a below average game which is understandable given his age, his first start, the team, and the environment but he didn't do anything that was particularly deserving of this conjecture.
 

These are always difficult dilemmas. As to the article, I get his point. AK has a lot of skill
but needs experience. He appears to be getting some this season out of necessity. I still want this team to make the most out of this season and get to the best bowl it can. There will be plenty of time to worry about next season, but AK does have some upside down the line
 

MNVCGUY said:
As for comparing Athan's start to Mertz's.....I actually see that as a good thing. Mertz was awesome in his first start and then sucked for a long time after that before becoming servicable this season. So glad Athan is on a different trajectory than golden boy Graham already. :)
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One game isn't a trajectory and Mertz currently is #3 in the Big Ten in passing efficiency (Sports Reference) so he isn't so bad at all as a QB this year. I hate to keep correcting you but you just have a habit of writing foolish things. Try to up your game a little!
 

Goldmember said:
I’ll go ahead and assume PJ’s in a better position to know how to handle it than anyone posting on Gopherhole, writing a column in one of our city’s fine newspapers, or paid to talk about things on the radio between commercials.
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Right on. Amazing how message board posters know more than D1 coaches.
 

cjbfbp said:
One game isn't a trajectory and Mertz currently is #3 in the Big Ten in passing efficiency (Sports Reference) so he isn't so bad at all as a QB this year. I hate to keep correcting you but you just have a habit of writing foolish things. Try to up your game a little!
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So you want to talk trajectory then fine. Mertz had an amazing 1st game and was pretty crappy for the rest of 2020. In 2021 he was extremely mediocre. In 2022 he has finally become a serviceable QB who isn't hurting them but isn't exactly carrying them to victories either. Very similar to Morgan in a lot of ways.

8 of his 17 TD passes have come against Northwestern and New Mexico State this season.

So yeah, I hope Athan has a better overall trajectory than Mertz since it took Mertz almost a full season and a half to get to a point where he wasn't playing like garbage most weeks.

If you don't enjoy my foolish takes please feel free to put me on your ignore list.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
If you don't enjoy my foolish takes please feel free to put me on your ignore list.
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I guess I'll have to. I keep waiting for you to write something worthwhile or at least interesting but that doesn't seem likely to happen.
 


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