STrib: The Gophers' five most indispensable players

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I'd substitute Steve Richardson for Travis and also add Nugget, but otherwise it's pretty accurate.

I think we'll rely heavily on Nugget the first half of the season and we really need his experience at RB.
 

I might add Ben Lauer & subtract Eric Murray. As good as Murray is, if he went down we'd still be set with BBC/Myrick, when we lose Lauer though, the entire line has to be reconfigured.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I might add Ben Lauer & subtract Eric Murray. As good as Murray is, if he went down we'd still be set with BBC/Myrick, when we lose Lauer though, the entire line has to be reconfigured.
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I would agree with this and also substitute Steve Richardson as well for either Travis or Maye. I believe Richardson's contributions this year will be huge and with a fairly large drop off if he is out.
 

I think Joe's list is solid. I'd probably go with something like this:

1. Leidner - easy decision IMO
2. Richardson - big drop off from Steve to Ndondo-Lay, Stelter, or Moore
3. Murray - shuts down one side of the field, Myrick is solid but there's still a big drop off there
4. Campion - can play 4 o-line spots and play them well
5. Travis - can do it all and safety depth behind Travis and Johnson is inexperienced
 


Peter Mortell has to be on the list, probably in the top 3.
 






Firejumper said:
Ridiculous.
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Not really. The punter is often the most important player on the defense. If a DE got you 2 tackles for loss of -3 each & a sack for -10 yards each game for a net of -16 yards he'd be all conference. If the punter can pin the opponant at the 4 instead of the opponant starting at the 20 that's also a -16 yard net, except a good punter can often do that several times a game.
 

This should probably be another thread, but can we expect the kick and punt coverage teams to be as good this year? Last year's group had some unsung heroes like Kirkwood and who was it that was always hustling to down punts inside the 10 yard line again?
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Not really. The punter is often the most important player on the defense. If a DE got you 2 tackles for loss of -3 each & a sack for -10 yards each game for a net of -16 yards he'd be all conference. If the punter can pin the opponant at the 4 instead of the opponant starting at the 20 that's also a -16 yard net, except a good punter can often do that several times a game.
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Plus holding on FGs and PATs.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Not really. The punter is often the most important player on the defense. If a DE got you 2 tackles for loss of -3 each & a sack for -10 yards each game for a net of -16 yards he'd be all conference. If the punter can pin the opponant at the 4 instead of the opponant starting at the 20 that's also a -16 yard net, except a good punter can often do that several times a game.
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Show me a team who's punter is one of the 3 most indispensable players on the team and I'll show you a losing team. And Mortell is no Ray Guy. Ridiculous.
 



WorkingMyTailOff said:
This should probably be another thread, but can we expect the kick and punt coverage teams to be as good this year? Last year's group had some unsung heroes like Kirkwood and who was it that was always hustling to down punts inside the 10 yard line again?
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Logan Hutton comes to mind.
 


The more I think about it, the more I believe Mortell is the second most indispensable behind Leidner. Also, I'd say Lauer is the most indispensable on the O-line as LT is the one position where we can't afford to not shift other starters around if he goes down.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Not really. The punter is often the most important player on the defense. If a DE got you 2 tackles for loss of -3 each & a sack for -10 yards each game for a net of -16 yards he'd be all conference. If the punter can pin the opponant at the 4 instead of the opponant starting at the 20 that's also a -16 yard net, except a good punter can often do that several times a game.
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One of the smartest things I've read on GH in a while.
 

Firejumper said:
Show me a team who's punter is one of the 3 most indispensable players on the team and I'll show you a losing team. And Mortell is no Ray Guy. Ridiculous.
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Actually, if OSU and Bama have the exact same depth at punter as we do, I think you could argue that Cameron Johnston and JK Scott are in the top 3-5 most indispensable players on their team considering their overall depth.
 


In no particular order: Campion, Lauer, Pirsig, Richardson, Murray
 



Costa Rican Gopher said:
Not really. The punter is often the most important player on the defense. If a DE got you 2 tackles for loss of -3 each & a sack for -10 yards each game for a net of -16 yards he'd be all conference. If the punter can pin the opponant at the 4 instead of the opponant starting at the 20 that's also a -16 yard net, except a good punter can often do that several times a game.
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Some flaws with this IMO. First of all, even if you pin a team deep they still start out 1st and 10. If a DE is getting TFL's and sacks he is increasing the odds the offense won't sustain a drive by quite a bit. 2nd and 13, 2nd and 20, etc. is difficult to convert. Those 16 yards aren't exactly equal in terms of value. Second, finding a disruptive DE who can get TFL's and sacks is a lot harder than finding a punter who can pin a team deep.

Mortell is a good punter but I do think he gets a little overrated sometimes. It might have to do with how bad our punters had been before.
 

Leidner
Lauer
Murray
Pirsig
Calhoun

QB needs no explanation, our only reserve tackle who's showed well is Campion, moving him would cause even further disruption to the OL, and the strength of the corners is the foundation for everything the defense does.
 

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