Shama: U Quarterbacks Redshirt Candidates

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per Shama:

At the Gophers’ Spring Football Game tomorrow fans will be curious to watch highly hyped quarterbacks Demry Croft and Seth Green.

Croft, a sophomore next fall, and Green, a freshman, have received a lot of attention from coaches this spring with starting quarterback Mitch Leidner not participating in drills or scrimmages after left foot surgery late last year. Conor Rhoda, a junior next season and a quarterback who was a walk-on, has also taken plenty of snaps with new offensive coordinator Jay Johnson watching.

Johnson’s hope is Leidner, the Gophers’ starter last season, will not only have a school-record breaking season but also be healthy all season. That will allow a plan where Green or Croft could be redshirted, perhaps even both. Rhoda has already used his redshirt season.

Johnson replied “absolutely” when asked about his interest in redshirting either Green or Croft. That decision is months away, though. For now Johnson continues to evaluate his roster of quarterbacks including Green, who graduated early from high school to enroll this winter at Minnesota, and Croft who played in three games last season as a true freshman.

Johnson told Sports Headliners Croft’s experience has provided him with an edge compared to Green but he’s been impressed with the freshman and former four-star recruit who played his senior year of high school football in Texas after gaining so much attention as a junior and sophomore at East Ridge High School in Woodbury.

“He’s done a tremendous job mentally,” Johnson said about Green last week. “…I tried to throw a bunch of things at him this spring to kind of see what might stick and where we need to go, and I am really, really pleased with that.”

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 


I hope each QB has a chance to open it up a bit. Let 'er fly Uncle Rico style!
 


I think it's simple. Croft will back up Leidner and Green is redshirted unless both Leidner and Croft go down with serious injuries.
 



I can't imagine a likely scenario where Green plays this year. With the increasing complexity of the QB position in Johnson's offense Rhoda will almost certainly be third. It helps that by some accounts he has decent athleticism.
 

They should try to redshirt both.

Rhoda is the mop up time QB. The better of croft/green plays in the event of injury. Hopefully neither plays this year.
 

Love what Croft brings to the table. Redshirt green. Next year croft junior, green redshirt freshman, Williams shirt freshman. ..

Croft starts as junior
Green starts as a junior
U win with upper classmen at QB.
 



GopherRob said:
I think it's simple. Croft will back up Leidner and Green is redshirted unless both Leidner and Croft go down with serious injuries.
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I don't think it is a slam dunk that Croft ends up as the #2 guy. Perfect world both of them can sit all year because from the looks of things, neither is ready to be the guy yet. However of the two it would not surprise me if Green is the more college ready. Croft struck me as a project from day one, a raw athlete but a long way from being a legit Power 5 level QB. A guy his size/speed would have gotten far more Power 5 attention if he was viewed as a sure fire QB prospect.

Bottom line is we need Mitch to stay healthy all year and give the other guys more time to develop. And Rhoda doesn't factor into the mix at all, he is a scout team/worst case scenario guy. Nothing against the kid but if we end up at a point next year where he is our best option at QB we are in a ton of trouble.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I don't think it is a slam dunk that Croft ends up as the #2 guy. Perfect world both of them can sit all year because from the looks of things, neither is ready to be the guy yet. However of the two it would not surprise me if Green is the more college ready. Croft struck me as a project from day one, a raw athlete but a long way from being a legit Power 5 level QB. A guy his size/speed would have gotten far more Power 5 attention if he was viewed as a sure fire QB prospect.

Bottom line is we need Mitch to stay healthy all year and give the other guys more time to develop. And Rhoda doesn't factor into the mix at all, he is a scout team/worst case scenario guy. Nothing against the kid but if we end up at a point next year where he is our best option at QB we are in a ton of trouble.
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Claeys won't wait to pull a terrible Mitcheroo.
 

Fast forward to next year's football banquet....and this year's MVP is Mitch Leidner! you heard it here first folks!
 

MNVCGUY said:
I don't think it is a slam dunk that Croft ends up as the #2 guy. Perfect world both of them can sit all year because from the looks of things, neither is ready to be the guy yet. However of the two it would not surprise me if Green is the more college ready. Croft struck me as a project from day one, a raw athlete but a long way from being a legit Power 5 level QB. A guy his size/speed would have gotten far more Power 5 attention if he was viewed as a sure fire QB prospect.

Bottom line is we need Mitch to stay healthy all year and give the other guys more time to develop. And Rhoda doesn't factor into the mix at all, he is a scout team/worst case scenario guy. Nothing against the kid but if we end up at a point next year where he is our best option at QB we are in a ton of trouble.
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Do you think Croft and Green looked that much better than Rhoda that it would be worth losing a redshirt year for them? I didn't see it from watching the spring game, but I'm not an expert.
 




The Gap right now between ML7 and the other 3 is like the Grand Canyon. Mitch will have to throw INTs on purpose and celebrate Pick 6s with the other team to get pulled.
 

minibeaver said:
Do you think Croft and Green looked that much better than Rhoda that it would be worth losing a redshirt year for them? I didn't see it from watching the spring game, but I'm not an expert.
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This. I am with you in believing that Conor Rhoda could be as good of a backup as any. You don't need to be a scholarship player to be able to play - ask Marcus Sherels. And as Dr Don frequently reminds us, on Gopherhole, you don't need to be an expert to think you are one.
 

bamor5229 said:
This. I am with you in believing that Conor Rhoda could be as good of a backup as any. You don't need to be a scholarship player to be able to play - ask Marcus Sherels. And as Dr Don frequently reminds us, on Gopherhole, you don't need to be an expert to think you are one.
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The real question to me is how valuable is Demry Croft's redshirt? The expectation is that DC would start next year with SG as #2. At least based on the hype, the hope would be in 2018 to have a legitimate QB controversy between DC and SG. Then SG would start the next two years and the next guy could develop. Unless DC really blossoms, it's not like a third year of DC starting is so valuable that you play a lesser quality QB and risk losing.

Assuming he's the legit #2 (which I'm expecting he is since he played the whole game for his team), I'd forget about the RS and plan on playing him early and often. I'd like to see him with 1/4 of the snaps in the NC and at least one or two drives a game during B1G play.

Obviously his play and what they see in practice will dictate the above numbers. But if he can't support that, then there's a much bigger problem (like if he HAS to play).

The above said, the decision to play DC for what, a dozen total snaps last season was mind boggling.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
The real question to me is how valuable is Demry Croft's redshirt? The expectation is that DC would start next year with SG as #2. At least based on the hype, the hope would be in 2018 to have a legitimate QB controversy between DC and SG. Then SG would start the next two years and the next guy could develop. Unless DC really blossoms, it's not like a third year of DC starting is so valuable that you play a lesser quality QB and risk losing.

Assuming he's the legit #2 (which I'm expecting he is since he played the whole game for his team), I'd forget about the RS and plan on playing him early and often. I'd like to see him with 1/4 of the snaps in the NC and at least one or two drives a game during B1G play.

Obviously his play and what they see in practice will dictate the above numbers. But if he can't support that, then there's a much bigger problem (like if he HAS to play).

The above said, the decision to play DC for what, a dozen total snaps last season was mind boggling.
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We won't really know how valuable his redshirt is until we find out how good Green is though right? If Green for whatever reason doesn't pan out, an extra year with DC would be nice. If Green is as good as we all hope, red-shirting DC is not as big of a deal. Probably not a huge deal either way.
 

bamor5229 said:
This. I am with you in believing that Conor Rhoda could be as good of a backup as any. You don't need to be a scholarship player to be able to play - ask Marcus Sherels. And as Dr Don frequently reminds us, on Gopherhole, you don't need to be an expert to think you are one.
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The simple fact that we are having this discussion is proof of how suspect our QB situation has become over the past few years. Nothing against Rhoda but he was never destined to be more then a scout team guy at the D1 level. The fact that we are talking about him like he could be just as good or better then the two scholarship backups is sad. It is also so strange to see how many have gone from wanting anyone but Mitch under center to hoping he manages to stay healthy because the options behind him are still pretty scary at this point.

I really hope Croft or more likely Green turn out to be the real deal. This team is due for a difference maker at the most important position on the field. Mitch is what he is, he won't kill you most games and he won't carry you most games. The bar is not set real high but to this point they have not been able to find/develop anyone that can get past it. Hopefully with a new coordinator and QB coach we will see things start to shift on that front.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
The real question to me is how valuable is Demry Croft's redshirt? The expectation is that DC would start next year with SG as #2. At least based on the hype, the hope would be in 2018 to have a legitimate QB controversy between DC and SG. Then SG would start the next two years and the next guy could develop. Unless DC really blossoms, it's not like a third year of DC starting is so valuable that you play a lesser quality QB and risk losing.

Assuming he's the legit #2 (which I'm expecting he is since he played the whole game for his team), I'd forget about the RS and plan on playing him early and often. I'd like to see him with 1/4 of the snaps in the NC and at least one or two drives a game during B1G play.

Obviously his play and what they see in practice will dictate the above numbers. But if he can't support that, then there's a much bigger problem (like if he HAS to play).

The above said, the decision to play DC for what, a dozen total snaps last season was mind boggling.
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Will you please use accepted Gopherhole etiquette and refer to players by initials AND uniform number? I mean, my gosh, the whole time I was reading that I was thinking Shooting Guard and Defensive Coordinator.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 

If we were lucky enough to only have to play backup QBs in mop-up duty, or when a loss is out of hand, I would redshirt Croft and Green and let Rhoda play.
 


Leidner has not shown that he is recovered from his surgery and not shown that the repair will hold up in real play.
He has taken a real pounding over his career often putting winning the game on his running skills.
Who if any QB gets a red shirt will wait until Fall.
 

minibeaver said:
Do you think Croft and Green looked that much better than Rhoda that it would be worth losing a redshirt year for them? I didn't see it from watching the spring game, but I'm not an expert.
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There are just a lot of things Rhoda isn't physically capable of doing.

If a player is marginally better than another one, I think it's worth burning a redshirt. Redshirting is nice, but if Croft/Green give the Gophers even a 1% better chance at winning, I hope they burn the RS.

Do Green/Croft give us a better chance of winning? I can't say.
 

After watching both QB's, right now it's so hard to tell who is in front of who because the offense was so vanilla. There was poor pass protection, lots of dropped passes and both QB's made some poor reads. Our LB's and secondary are pretty good and this will help to develop our QB's as the summer practice schedule starts. Frankly, there isn't much to take away from the game other than our defense played pretty good and some new faces emerged.

Croft has put on a little weight but man he looks thin still. He's mobile though!
Seth Green looks built- I'd expect him to be redshirted with a possibility of eventually moving to WR or TE if he doesn't figure out the QB thing. He's got a ways to go, but he too is very athletic-hard to see with the QBs not really able to run the ball. He'll be All Big Ten by his senior year in some fashion.

Both QBs have some zip on their throws and I didn't see many knuckle balls.
 

Claeys doesn't have the benefit of time to redshirt players who can assist in winning games in 2016. This is Claeys shot and he has already displayed the guts to toss anyone he thinks will obstruct him from winning. past behavior predicts the future.
 

Hammer em' said:
After watching both QB's, right now it's so hard to tell who is in front of who because the offense was so vanilla. There was poor pass protection, lots of dropped passes and both QB's made some poor reads. Our LB's and secondary are pretty good and this will help to develop our QB's as the summer practice schedule starts. Frankly, there isn't much to take away from the game other than our defense played pretty good and some new faces emerged.

Croft has put on a little weight but man he looks thin still. He's mobile though!
Seth Green looks built- I'd expect him to be redshirted with a possibility of eventually moving to WR or TE if he doesn't figure out the QB thing. He's got a ways to go, but he too is very athletic-hard to see with the QBs not really able to run the ball. He'll be All Big Ten by his senior year in some fashion.

Both QBs have some zip on their throws and I didn't see many knuckle balls.
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Obviously there is no way to know how things will play out with any player but for the sake of the program I hope we never find ourselves thinking Green is better suited for a different position then QB (ala Streveler). This team can't afford to miss on any more QB recruits, especially with Croft still being a major question mark in terms of ability and Mitch entering his final year of eligibility. Our QB depth is already razor thin, we need any QB recruits we bring in to pan out over the next few years. They don't have to be elite but they do have to be legit options at the QB position at the very least.
 

I'd redshirt Green and not Croft. This would put Croft as a junior (starter) next year and Green would be a redshirt freshman. Put some separation between the two.
 

Let's remember the QB's were/are playing under a new offensive coordinator with a new system. It's perfectly understandable that the defense is ahead of the offense at this point of the year - and, also worth pointing out - the defense is very familiar with the offensive schemes and personnel, so they have the luxury of being able to cheat a little bit because they have a good idea what's coming.

I wasn't expecting miracles from the QB's in the spring game. having said that, I was a little disappointed in the QB play, especially Croft. I was hoping to see a little more from him. Rhoda is another Tony Mortensen. If the starter is healthy, Rhoda will never take a snap in a meaningful situation - but, if Leidner does get hurt, I could see Rhoda coming in to run the offense for a couple of series, or maybe an entire game - depending on the opponent. Now, if Leidner would suffer a season-ending injury, that's another matter, and I could see Croft being the starter in that instance.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
The real question to me is how valuable is Demry Croft's redshirt? The expectation is that DC would start next year with SG as #2. At least based on the hype, the hope would be in 2018 to have a legitimate QB controversy between DC and SG. Then SG would start the next two years and the next guy could develop. Unless DC really blossoms, it's not like a third year of DC starting is so valuable that you play a lesser quality QB and risk losing.

Assuming he's the legit #2 (which I'm expecting he is since he played the whole game for his team), I'd forget about the RS and plan on playing him early and often. I'd like to see him with 1/4 of the snaps in the NC and at least one or two drives a game during B1G play.

Obviously his play and what they see in practice will dictate the above numbers. But if he can't support that, then there's a much bigger problem (like if he HAS to play).

The above said, the decision to play DC for what, a dozen total snaps last season was mind boggling.
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I'd only do this if you really felt he could help the team win right now. I wouldn't do it just to get him experience, unless the game is a blowout.

My guess is the two freshman will end up redshirting (Williams & Green).
 

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