Shortell transferring

Seriously... I felt bad for Max the minute the red shirt came off of Nelson. I appreciated the way he held with the Gophers during a coaching change and I was really pulling for him. Seeing him play (especially against Iowa) this year, it really did seem like he was a guy that was not built for this offense. With that in mind, he might find a very good fit with a different style offense.

+1. Well said, Schnauzer.
 

Anyone who is even mildly surprised by this hasn't been paying attention. I remember at the time thinking that Shortell might've been better off de-committing prior to signing day and going somewhere where his arm and lack of mobility would be a better fit. The irony is that if Nelson had committed even a few weeks earlier (say, 1/19 instead of 2/19) Shortell might've been able to see the writing on the wall and never become a Gopher. If the alleged Michigan offer had any validity (I doubt it did), he's probably kicking himself for not accepting it.
 

Seriously... I felt bad for Max the minute the red shirt came off of Nelson. I appreciated the way he held with the Gophers during a coaching change and I was really pulling for him. Seeing him play (especially against Iowa) this year, it really did seem like he was a guy that was not built for this offense. With that in mind, he might find a very good fit with a different style offense.

Agree and well said...best wishes to him and I also agree with the other post mentioning "this is the way to transfer!"
 

It was great to experience first hand, I will always remember him leading us in the Coliseum in his first college game as a true frosh and almost upsetting U$C. Best of Luck.
 






As everyone else is saying it isn't much of a surprise. Max seems like a good kid, and he's a talented thrower. I'm confident he'll end up playing somewhere else and he'll have a nice career.

As someone else also observed, he accomplished the same thing that AJ Barker did, only without making himself look like a d**k.

And by d**k I mean dork.
 



Dime a dozen.

Plus, heard he was an atheist...

I can hardly wait to hear what his mom's best friend thinks.

Probably good for both parties. I remember Brady Hoke tried to get him to change his commitment from us to Michigan shortly after taking the reins in Ann Arbor. If Shortell goes to a pro-set, he could really develop. I don't really like his mechanics, but seeing I've never coached football, it may be that I don't have any idea what I'm talking about. He just seems to trust his arm (which is extremely strong) a bit too much which can sometimes hang his receivers out to dry.

Anyway, good luck Max. Without you, we're probably not in a bowl game this year.
 

I can hardly wait to hear what his mom's best friend thinks.

Probably good for both parties. I remember Brady Hoke tried to get him to change his commitment from us to Michigan shortly after taking the reins in Ann Arbor. If Shortell goes to a pro-set, he could really develop. I don't really like his mechanics, but seeing I've never coached football, it may be that I don't have any idea what I'm talking about. He just seems to trust his arm (which is extremely strong) a bit too much which can sometimes hang his receivers out to dry.
Anyway, good luck Max. Without you, we're probably not in a bowl game this year.

Kind of agree with you there. I have only played QB/WR, albeit, at the 9-man level (I know, I know) and I always thought he mechanics seemed a little off. But, like you, I haven't coached football nor did throw the ball a lot with our team. So, I probably do not know what I'm talking about either.

But, anyways, best of luck to him! Hope he does well wherever he ends up! Definetely not in a bowl game without his contributions this year!
 

Shortell tweet: "Thanks to all the Minnesota people that supported me. I loved it here, hate to leave, but its my best option. Best of luck to gopher nation"
 

Anyway, good luck Max. Without you, we're probably not in a bowl game this year.

+1. I think there is little doubt about that. WMU and 'Cuse would have been difficult numbers to get in the left column the way #5 and the offense was performing at the time.
 



I'll miss Max, the Red Rocket. He does have a really good arm, and I think with a more mature (better) offensive line, he would have retained the starting job this year as the team could have managed to run the ball to take the pressure off the passing game.
 

Unfortunate but not surprising, especially when Shortell's dad kind of blasted Kill for playing Shortell last year.

As much as I hate to see them do this, does anyone think they sign a JUCO QB to get someone with experience? If not, they'll be down to three QB's period, right? Nelson, Leidner and Sheveller (SP?)?

It will be a bad omen if we have to use a scholarship to bring in a JUCO QB. Next year will be Dexter Foreman's 3rd year in the program and he was a Kill recruit. If he can't be the 3rd string QB he was a big miss.
 

Definitely not a surprise to see him transfer. As others have pointed out this leaves us really unproven at the QB position. You have Nelson who looked decent as a true freshman. We run an offense that relies on the QB run and gets the QB hit a fair amount meaning there is a very good chance at some point you have to turn to your backup. And when we make that turn we hand the ball to.........ummm.........well there's.........hmmmm

Man I hope Phil proves to be really durable.
 


This sucks.

It means we have zero depth at QB. It is a good example of why you should always redshirt QBs. If we redshirt Max and play Parish this doesn't happen. In addition maybe Parish sticks around to give us enough QBs so that Nelson doesn't need to play this year. It is a cycle we need to get out of. Hopefully Kill recruits a decent JC QB for depth.
 

This sucks.

It means we have zero depth at QB. It is a good example of why you should always redshirt QBs. If we redshirt Max and play Parish this doesn't happen. In addition maybe Parish sticks around to give us enough QBs so that Nelson doesn't need to play this year. It is a cycle we need to get out of. Hopefully Kill recruits a decent JC QB for depth.

You may have a hard time getting a JC QB to commit to coming in to be the backup. Kill made it very clear that Nelson is his guy can't see a lot of JC guys lining up to play second for the limited amount of time they have available.
 

What is about right, one or two QBs a class?

Anyway, can’t blame Max for wanting to move on and find a better fit. Thanks for being a Gopher and best of luck!
 

You may have a hard time getting a JC QB to commit to coming in to be the backup. Kill made it very clear that Nelson is his guy can't see a lot of JC guys lining up to play second for the limited amount of time they have available.

Agreed. Leidner and Foreman are probably the guys behind Nelson right now.
 

Does he have a blog post?

Best of luck to him. I think he is a very talented QB who probably would have excelled if we would have had more depth at the position last year. Just too much to ask for from any true freshman right out of the gate last year. Hopefully Nelson doesn't have any issues next year (health or performance wise) and we can build depth at QB again.
 

You may have a hard time getting a JC QB to commit to coming in to be the backup. Kill made it very clear that Nelson is his guy can't see a lot of JC guys lining up to play second for the limited amount of time they have available.

It depends I guess on who else is offering. If I am a qb, I see a sophomore QB with six starts and ordinary results. Yes you would have to beat out the starter but you would almost certainly be 2nd string ahead of Leidner. One injury away and you are the starter. Might interest someone.

I miss the days of having guys like Mortenson and Macejowski (sp.) who stayed 4 years without playing much.
 

I liked Max. We all liked him. I am glad he came here and I wish him the best. You losers who say he should have decomitted have zero sense about the damage decomitting does to a program. Stop it already with the 'i knew Philip was better' crap . Guarantee the current coaches hate seeing him go.
 

Good luck Max. I'm bummed that you decided to transfer but also understand the reasons for your decision. You showed a lot of class sticking with your original commitment to attend MN despite a coaching change and Hoke trying to steal you away to Michigan. Again, good luck Max.

Go Gophers!
 

I liked Max. We all liked him. I am glad he came here and I wish him the best. You losers who say he should have decomitted have zero sense about the damage decomitting does to a program. Stop it already with the 'i knew Philip was better' crap . Guarantee the current coaches hate seeing him go.

I don't think anyone is saying we knew Philip was better. Also, I think what most people are saying is that it would have been in Max's best interest in hindsight to have gone somewhere else.
 

Shortell tweet: "Thanks to all the Minnesota people that supported me. I loved it here, hate to leave, but its my best option. Best of luck to gopher nation"

Well said. He had a lot of fans here, but just gotta admit, it wasn't the best of fits here with the run option stuff and him being that prototype pocket guy, and the best option for his career personally was to probably seek a different offense.

But as a Gopher fan, this sucks as we just lost a junior QB, that's experience walking out, along with Gray finishing up this year, we're terribly young at QB next year now.
 

It will be a bad omen if we have to use a scholarship to bring in a JUCO QB. Next year will be Dexter Foreman's 3rd year in the program and he was a Kill recruit. If he can't be the 3rd string QB he was a big miss.

+1
 

I don't like this. I think it's likely good for Max, but it makes the QB position INCREDIBLY thin next year, as others have stated. Kill's offenses have apparently relied on more than one QB in the past and this puts a HUGE priority on keeping Nelson healthy next year.

I never hid the fact that I was a Shortell fan. I thought around mid-season (right before Nelson took over) that if he got 200+ snaps the rest of the season, with the players returning around him next year, that he would be one of the better QB's in the BT next season. He'll be successful somewhere else, I really believe. He never did anything to embarass himself or the school while he was with the Gophers as well. Thumbs up for that.

The silver lining though: it's HUGE that both Nelson and Leidner were both on campus for spring ball last year. By next fall they'll have had almost 2 years in the program, and for both of them this is the only offense they'll have ever played in. Foreman is in the mix as well. Hopefully Leidner, or whoever the backup is, gets the chance to get some MAJOR snaps in the NC schedule next year.

Scary going into what will be a VERY promising season so razor thin at QB though. Nelson has the next 6-8 months to learn how to NOT take many direct hits.
 

I liked Max. We all liked him. I am glad he came here and I wish him the best. You losers who say he should have decomitted have zero sense about the damage decomitting does to a program. Stop it already with the 'i knew Philip was better' crap . Guarantee the current coaches hate seeing him go.

What thread are you reading? Outside of maybe one or two comments almost everyone on this thread is saying they totally understand why Max is transferring and hate to see him go.
 




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