Shama on U WRs: That has to be considered a recruiting failure and it’s uncertain how the receiver roster gets fixed in the offseason.

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MplsGopher said:
Maybe .... but would guess less likely .... is a thing of wanting to put "the guys I recruited here out of high school" ahead of a portal guy?
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Ummm. Jack Gibbens is starting, right?
 

getting back to the WR's - I posted about this in another thread.

Short version - at his Monday press conference, Fleck implied that a lot of the problem with the passing game is due to the WR's not matching catches. Fleck used the phrase "catch radius" multiple times. he said the 3rd-and-7 throw to Autman-Bell should have been caught. go back and look at the tape - Bell leaps and his fingertips graze the edge of the ball. But Fleck says it was "a catch we need to make."

So all the Gophers need to do is get someone at WR with glue for hands and a 45" vertical jump, and they should be fine.
 

I guess I’m in the different camp but I think the receivers are more than talented enough with the top 4 of CrAB, MBS, Wright, and Jackson. They have all shown glimpses. I mean look at CrAB for all these seasons…solid. Wright vs tOSU it was a coming out party all of us thought he was the next big thing. Other two have had their moments. Also what about BSF? Guy is a huge athletic TE. It’s on the OC to run routes that put your guys into positions that win. Every week you can see opportunities in the passing game and they don’t take it! Then they happen to have a chance on the route and TM is gun shy or struggling to throw a good ball. No, our talent is definitely good enough. Is it what it was with TJ and Bateman? No, but it’s more than good enough.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
getting back to the WR's - I posted about this in another thread.

Short version - at his Monday press conference, Fleck implied that a lot of the problem with the passing game is due to the WR's not matching catches. Fleck used the phrase "catch radius" multiple times. he said the 3rd-and-7 throw to Autman-Bell should have been caught. go back and look at the tape - Bell leaps and his fingertips graze the edge of the ball. But Fleck says it was "a catch we need to make."

So all the Gophers need to do is get someone at WR with glue for hands and a 45" vertical jump, and they should be fine.
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I agree that CrAB normally makes that catch. Was it well thrown? No but CrAB looked lost coming out of his break and didn’t time his jump and it still went through his hands

same with the 4th and 17 from the 2 yard line. CrAB was at the sticks and the ball this time was exactly where it should have been but went right through his hands
 

If we just matched up WR's, I am not sure we'd trade with anybody in the West outside of Purdue. While I think it's off base to make the receivers a focus in any way, I do think there is some truth to a recruiting/development failure at the position. Dylan Wright looked like the one guy that could be a game changer at the position, but hasn't gotten on the field much. MBS made some big plays this year, but I can't see him ever being the guy in the way a Johnson or Bateman could be. The fact that none of the young WR's not in the rotation were looked at to be our KR or PR this year seems a little alarming given we had to put CAB back to return kicks after the RB depth was depleted and we have Brock out there to basically fair catch 50% of the punts and let the rest drop.

An element of this also could be the coordinator change. Bateman was a lot less effective last year playing most out of the slot.
 


I think a lot falls on the coaches for not developing the passing plays in detail. They got fat, dumb., and happy with the run game and the big OL.

How can the receivers get better? They don’t throw high percentage passes for the WRs to gain confidence.

TM has digressed to a man of desperation. Pass protection doesn’t seem to be a priority to an entrenched coach.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Yeah because it’s much more likely Fleck I’d sitting him for no reason whatsoever
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Yeah, clearly there is something going on behind the scenes with Wright that is cutting into his playing time, but let's just assume it is just the coaches ego and not something else....makes sense.

Gotta love the assumptions fans can make with little to no information.

There is zero doubt that Wright is a talented player, but that doesn't mean you play him no matter what if he isn't doing what he is supposed to be doing away from the field.
 

MplsGopher said:
Maybe .... but would guess less likely .... is a thing of wanting to put "the guys I recruited here out of high school" ahead of a portal guy?
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You can't honestly believe that....I mean......

Williamson, St. Juste, Pinckney, Gibbens, Trickett, MDT.....Fleck isn't sitting transfer guys over some desire to play kids he recruited first. When they bring in a transfer they typically want that player to be a key part of the rotation right away. However there are some exceptions, Shaw was a move more for next year than this year and I think with Wright they also probably knew he would be a bit of a project but has a lot of time left.

Based on the way they are handling Wright it would seem pretty clear the kid has some growing up to do. You don't just reward him with playing time if he isn't doing what he is supposed to do behind the scenes. That sends the complete wrong message to everyone in the program.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Anyone know why Dylan Wright didn't play Saturday? Boyd didn't either. Was it because we went more pass blocking type WR and TE formations?
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Are they trying to preserve Boyd’s redshirt status? I am really excited about his potential. He made his HS qb look good.

With Dylan, it seems like he has the potential. But, something’s off. I sure hope they can coach him up. This is where TM’s regression is hurting the WR corpse.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
getting back to the WR's - I posted about this in another thread.

Short version - at his Monday press conference, Fleck implied that a lot of the problem with the passing game is due to the WR's not matching catches. Fleck used the phrase "catch radius" multiple times. he said the 3rd-and-7 throw to Autman-Bell should have been caught. go back and look at the tape - Bell leaps and his fingertips graze the edge of the ball. But Fleck says it was "a catch we need to make."

So all the Gophers need to do is get someone at WR with glue for hands and a 45" vertical jump, and they should be fine.
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If I'm remembering correctly, Bell took an awkward stride right before he made the catch. If he runs "normal" he can time it and make that catch.
 

hungan1 said:
Are they trying to preserve Boyd’s redshirt status? I am really excited about his potential. He made his HS qb look good.

With Dylan, it seems like he has the potential. But, something’s off. I sure hope they can coach him up. This is where TM’s regression is hurting the WR corpse.
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Boyd has played 9 games already
 

hungan1 said:
Are they trying to preserve Boyd’s redshirt status? I am really excited about his potential. He made his HS qb look good.

With Dylan, it seems like he has the potential. But, something’s off. I sure hope they can coach him up. This is where TM’s regression is hurting the WR corpse.
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Boyd's redshirt has been burned, and for no more than he's played after the fourth game,
this might have been a bad decision.
 

It also seems like defenses have figured us out a little bit. Is it just me or does Tanner have four or five passes knocked down every week? He’s short for a quarterback and defenses have caught onto the fact that we want to throw the slant pass and short stop routes. It’s not the pass rush, but the fact passes are being batted down and deflected that have led to a lot of issues with interceptions and off target passes.
 




Word said:
None of us here know exactly what it is, but to suggest there are no consequences for actions (aside from getting kicked off the team) is just plain silly.
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I'm not suggesting any such thing.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Yeah because it’s much more likely Fleck I’d sitting him for no reason whatsoever
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Again, not suggesting any such thing -- that it's a random, for "no reason" deal.

I'm guessing that, the reason that Fleck is sitting him, is some dumb little "culture" thing and that he has now made his point pretty clearly --- to the tune of potentially costing his team a win in Iowa.

Losses help the "culture" though. :cautious:
 

paulser21 said:
Ummm. Jack Gibbens is starting, right?
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Certainly. But in that case, who is the (other) MLB that was recruited out of high school that would be in a position to play that spot as well as Gibbens? I don't think we have the equivalent of Dan Jackson/MBS, for that position. I think we have some fast, smaller, more coverage type guys (Oliver type guys), not so sure about big, middle guys like Sori-Marin, that are ready.

But I'm happy to admit I was grasping at straws. Probably, it's not that.
 

MNVCGUY said:
You can't honestly believe that....I mean......

Williamson, St. Juste, Pinckney, Gibbens, Trickett, MDT.....Fleck isn't sitting transfer guys over some desire to play kids he recruited first. When they bring in a transfer they typically want that player to be a key part of the rotation right away. However there are some exceptions, Shaw was a move more for next year than this year and I think with Wright they also probably knew he would be a bit of a project but has a lot of time left.
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If they thought Wright was a project, then why did he star during the Ohio State game?

If he had never played (so well) in that game, then I wouldn't even know of him hardly.

MNVCGUY said:
Based on the way they are handling Wright it would seem pretty clear the kid has some growing up to do. You don't just reward him with playing time if he isn't doing what he is supposed to do behind the scenes. That sends the complete wrong message to everyone in the program.
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We don't know, though.

If he's doing "bad stuff", such that it's not "bad" enough to get kicked off the team, but it is "bad" enough that the coaching staff wants to "send a message" by cutting his playing time, to the detriment of the team ...... what are hypothetical examples of that?? That's where I'm struggling with this.
 

Word said:
If I'm remembering correctly, Bell took an awkward stride right before he made the catch. If he runs "normal" he can time it and make that catch.
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Seemed to me he didn’t get a good jump or time the jump just right but that’s strictly recollection. Should have been a better pass, yeah. Probably could have been caught. Allocate 50/50 blame or maybe 40/60.
 

MplsGopher said:
Again, not suggesting any such thing -- that it's a random, for "no reason" deal.

I'm guessing that, the reason that Fleck is sitting him, is some dumb little "culture" thing and that he has now made his point pretty clearly --- to the tune of potentially costing his team a win in Iowa.

Losses help the "culture" though. :cautious:
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If it's a clearly defined expectation then regardless of how dumb anyone thinks it is, it's still up to the player to figure it out. It doesn't appear like anyone else on the team is having the same issues.
 

Dragon21 said:
Boyd's redshirt has been burned, and for no more than he's played after the fourth game,
this might have been a bad decision.
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Since you have this connection, have you heard anything about why Wright is being barred from the field by the coaching staff? Feel free to PM me if it's not something you want to share publicly, and I will honor that and not share it. Thanks
 

GophersInIowa said:
If it's a clearly defined expectation then regardless of how dumb anyone thinks it is, it's still up to the player to figure it out. It doesn't appear like anyone else on the team is having the same issues.
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I don't disagree with you, here.

It makes me sad that a player who -- clearly -- could have helped us beat Iowa, and can still hopefully help us beat Wisconsin -- is being kept off the field for nothing more than "attitude".
 

MplsGopher said:
If they thought Wright was a project, then why did he star during the Ohio State game?

If he had never played (so well) in that game, then I wouldn't even know of him hardly.


We don't know, though.

If he's doing "bad stuff", such that it's not "bad" enough to get kicked off the team, but it is "bad" enough that the coaching staff wants to "send a message" by cutting his playing time, to the detriment of the team ...... what are hypothetical examples of that?? That's where I'm struggling with this.
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I have zero inside knowledge, but having coached even HS FB I can tell you there's a huge difference between summer and in-season prep. My guess is Wright had no problems learning a gameplan that was solely focused on one team for several weeks...and getting to meetings on time with no classes...and maintaining a positive attitude in the midst of adversity...or handling criticism in film sessions when there was no game tape...etc. A lot of guys are off-season All Americans, but it takes a special kind to do it week in and week out over the course of a season.

I can almost guarantee Wright isn't sitting for "little" reasons, and that Fleck cares for him and wants what's best for the team and Dylan. Regardless of what people think about Fleck, I hope most believe by now he loves these players.
 

Fleck is covering for Tanner Morgan for whatever reason. Personal issues, whatever.

The WR's will catch a lot more balls if you have a QB putting the ball into their belly at 90 MPH.
They'll learn to catch real fast.
 

Face The Facts said:
Fleck is covering for Tanner Morgan for whatever reason. Personal issues, whatever.

The WR's will catch a lot more balls if you have a QB putting the ball into their belly at 90 MPH.
They'll learn to catch real fast.
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OR you know, like giving them a reasonably catchable ball, in front, in stride, so they don't have to reach behind, stop the route, jump up to maximum vertical to try to bring it down, etc.
 

MGGopher said:
I have zero inside knowledge, but having coached even HS FB I can tell you there's a huge difference between summer and in-season prep. My guess is Wright had no problems learning a gameplan that was solely focused on one team for several weeks...and getting to meetings on time with no classes...and maintaining a positive attitude in the midst of adversity...or handling criticism in film sessions when there was no game tape...etc. A lot of guys are off-season All Americans, but it takes a special kind to do it week in and week out over the course of a season.

I can almost guarantee Wright isn't sitting for "little" reasons, and that Fleck cares for him and wants what's best for the team and Dylan. Regardless of what people think about Fleck, I hope most believe by now he loves these players.
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Thanks. Great post.

You've talked me off my hill here. Ha!
 

Hope he (Wright) figures it out. Just deals with it, and does whatever Fleck demands.


Zim "figured it out" with JJ, and look what happened on Sunday!!!
 

MplsGopher said:
Since you have this connection, have you heard anything about why Wright is being barred from the field by the coaching staff? Feel free to PM me if it's not something you want to share publicly, and I will honor that and not share it. Thanks
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Yes Sir, I do, but I don't know how to do it, I am somewhat electronically challenged.
It is a major chore for me to post on this board.
 

Fleck basically implied that CRAB should've bailed out Tanner's 3rd down pass. Ball was high but catchable.
 

Dragon21 said:
Yes Sir, I do, but I don't know how to do it, I am somewhat electronically challenged.
It is a major chore for me to post on this board.
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I'll PM you. If you look at the top right of your browser window for GH, there is a maroon bar, then it shows your user name and to the right of that a little "envelope". That should turn red with my PM. You click that, and you can respond to me in private.

I will keep it private. Thank you
 

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