Strib: U's Leidner tries to beat the tweets

Donate To GopherHole
J

jaymil

Active member
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
5,181
Reaction score
0
Points
36
I can't stand the type of fans who feel it is necessary to tweet negative comments to college kids after they struggle playing a game. It's ridiculous. Sounds like Mitch handled it well.

Mitch Leidner deleted his Twitter account after the Gophers lost to TCU in mid-September.

He’d started using the social networking site only a few months earlier, when he was getting ready for his first full season as a Big Ten starting quarterback.

“When you have it in the offseason, it’s all fun,” Leidner said. “Nobody’s really saying too much about you.”

But the third-year sophomore from Lakeville South became a lightning rod for criticism after throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble in the 30-7 loss at TCU. Several people sent replies to @ MitchLeidner7, unloading on him.

“I went on, just to delete it and looked at a couple things,” Leidner said. “I was like, ‘Wow, people are pretty ruthless on here.’ It didn’t really affect me. I don’t really care what people think, but it was just a waste of time as well.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/287176521.html
 


I agree that its inappropriate for people to do that to a college kid and I would never launch attacks at him personally to his social media (though I will criticize on a fan discussion site). At the same time, its entirely predictable. You have to know when you take a position as a starting QB with a major college football program, where you have tens of thousands of people paying good money to watch you live, and many more watching on TV, people will criticize when you don't play well, and if you participate in social media, that criticism will also come through that avenue. There are benefits (he gets to showcase his talents, if he plays well enough he gets a shot at a pro career and also some hero worship on campus), and in exchange, you become a public figure and are subject to this kind of criticism.

Agree with Jaymil, sounds like he handled it well.
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I agree that its inappropriate for people to do that to a college kid and I would never launch attacks at him personally to his social media (though I will criticize on a fan discussion site). At the same time, its entirely predictable. You have to know when you take a position as a starting QB with a major college football program, where you have tens of thousands of people paying good money to watch you live, and many more watching on TV, people will criticize when you don't play well, and if you participate in social media, that criticism will also come through that avenue. There are benefits (he gets to showcase his talents, if he plays well enough he gets a shot at a pro career and also some hero worship on campus), and in exchange, you become a public figure and are subject to this kind of criticism.

Agree with Jaymil, sounds like he handled it well.
Click to expand...

+1 I seem to recall the level of Twitter brutality aimed at Jalin Marshall of tOSU after his two fumble performance here by their "fans" was just off the charts.
 


Unrealistic expectations meet developing athlete is the storyline here.
There are people who really need to get off their hate of Leidner.
Any doubt some of those idiots who tweeted him post here?

Honest question, because I don't know.
When was the last time a starting QB was good enough here to escape this type of over the top criticism? Weber as a Soph?
 


jaymil said:
I can't stand the type of fans who feel it is necessary to tweet negative comments to college kids after they struggle playing a game. It's ridiculous. Sounds like Mitch handled it well.

Mitch Leidner deleted his Twitter account after the Gophers lost to TCU in mid-September.

He’d started using the social networking site only a few months earlier, when he was getting ready for his first full season as a Big Ten starting quarterback.

“When you have it in the offseason, it’s all fun,” Leidner said. “Nobody’s really saying too much about you.”

But the third-year sophomore from Lakeville South became a lightning rod for criticism after throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble in the 30-7 loss at TCU. Several people sent replies to @ MitchLeidner7, unloading on him.

“I went on, just to delete it and looked at a couple things,” Leidner said. “I was like, ‘Wow, people are pretty ruthless on here.’ It didn’t really affect me. I don’t really care what people think, but it was just a waste of time as well.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/287176521.html
Click to expand...

I have been around quarterbacks that are talented and some that maybe aren't as talented but they have "it" and the teams follow them regardless and them being a leader isn't forced and when it comes down to the end of the game the squad always has confidence that the quarterback is likely to rise to the occasion. It's hard to have confidence in your quarterback when your head coach is trying to jam the leadership piece down everybody's throat when perhaps in Leidner's case he may not be considered by the team much of a leader. He's a nice kid, but maybe a bit of a dork. It's hard to inspire confidence when your completion percentage is 119th in the country and you admit to confidence issues at the end of the Wisconsin game and the coaches continue to talk about how you put too much pressure on yourself. A solid Big Ten quarterback should thrive on the pressure at the end of the games and the whole putting to much pressure on yourself and that affecting your performance should never be part of the equation. He is all we have right now but this article to me was kind of a buzz kill.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Anyone can act tough behind a computer.
Click to expand...

I'm obviously in the camp of wishing we had a different quarterback, but the whole Twitter thing whether it's stalking recruits or tweeting directly at some kid is ridiculous.
 



Indi1006 said:
I have been around quarterbacks that are talented and some that maybe aren't as talented but they have "it" and the teams follow them regardless and them being a leader isn't forced and when it comes down to the end of the game the squad always has confidence that the quarterback is likely to rise to the occasion. It's hard to have confidence in your quarterback when your head coach is trying to jam the leadership piece down everybody's throat when perhaps in Leidner's case he may not be considered by the team much of a leader. He's a nice kid, but maybe a bit of a dork. It's hard to inspire confidence when your completion percentage is 119th in the country and you admit to confidence issues at the end of the Wisconsin game and the coaches continue to talk about how you put too much pressure on yourself. A solid Big Ten quarterback should thrive on the pressure at the end of the games and the whole putting to much pressure on yourself and that affecting your performance should never be part of the equation. He is all we have right now but this article to me was kind of a buzz kill.
Click to expand...

Aaand example A.
 

It really takes a special kind of loser to actually tweet directly at a college kid and rip into him. It's like sending a piece of hate mail to their mailbox. Go ahead and tweet about them, but the minute you actually mention their twitter handle (this is when they will get a notification of your tweet) you become a scumbag.
 


Flatfoot said:
+1
Click to expand...

Yep, I know that's the feedback that is going to happen on here but if old Mitch could just elevate his game to being a slightly below average Big Ten quarterback that's good enough for me. He has a ways to go however and stuff like that outlined in the article doesn't help me have confidence that he's going to be the guy. Let's hope he comes out tomorrow like a house a fire I'll be happy to eat crow.
 



To be honest I actually didn't even know our fan base was big enough/ had fans that cared enough for a player to receive a substantial amount of hate mail. Thought it only happened at OSU, Mich and professional teams.
 

afurry91 said:
It really takes a special kind of loser to actually tweet directly at a college kid and rip into him. It's like sending a piece of hate mail to their mailbox. Go ahead and tweet about them, but the minute you actually mention their twitter handle (this is when they will get a notification of your tweet) you become a scumbag.
Click to expand...

Didn't you learn anything yesterday about calling people scum? Shame!
 

die hard gopher said:
To be honest I actually didn't even know our fan base was big enough/ had fans that cared enough for a player to receive a substantial amount of hate mail. Thought it only happened at OSU, Mich, Nebraska etc.
Click to expand...

I'm sure some of the hate mail was from Gopher fans, but usually when I'm circling the drain of negative Gopher comments on Twitter it doesn't take long to verify that most of the hate comes from Iowa/Wisconsin fans that happen to live in the Twin Cities (and some hard core Vikings fans that like to rip on the Gophers to make themselves feel better).
 



Ole said:
Aaand example A.
Click to expand...

You don't see the difference between tweeting directly at a kid, and posting an honest assessment of that player on a message board devoted to talking about the Gopher Football team? What was wrong with or over the line about Indi1006 post that I must be missing?
 

Playing QB is a tough position for any kid. I've always installed with the HS QB's I've coached back in the day, your the hero if we win and the zero if we lose. Your confidence needs to be unshaken (good or bad) and always positive for all to see. Some kids thrive on this, others don't. IMO I think Mitch was more or less forced into a leadership role, before he was ready. I except big things from him the next two years, as he's adapted more to his role.
 

Indi1006 said:
It's hard to have confidence in your quarterback when your head coach is trying to jam the leadership piece down everybody's throat when perhaps in Leidner's case he may not be considered by the team much of a leader. He's a nice kid, but maybe a bit of a dork. .
Click to expand...

Objection - facts not in evidence. Do you have any direct knowledge that Leidner is "not considered much of a leader?"
At this time one year ago, people were speculating that a certain segment of players preferred Leidner to Nelson - precisely because Leidner was considered to be a better leader and teammate compared to Nelson. There was also speculation that the coaches preferred Leidner because he was seen as a better leader.

Now, we have speculation that Leidner is not a leader. Something tells me that if Leidner's QB rating was higher, we wouldn't be hearing any questions about his leadership. Word to the wise - leadership and performance are not always linked together. You can be a very good player, but not much of a leader. And, you can be a leader without necessarily being one of the top players on the team.
 

MaroonGold1 said:
You don't see the difference between tweeting directly at a kid, and posting an honest assessment of that player on a message board devoted to talking about the Gopher Football team? What was wrong with or over the line about Indi1006 post that I must be missing?
Click to expand...

Honestly it's not worth getting into AGAIN, but there are people that will never give Leidner credit for leading this team to some pretty impressive victories this year.

On the eve of the first new year's day bowl game in 50 years, after winning on the road at Michigan and Nebraska, and beating the snot out of Iowa people still will rag on our starting QB.
After his game against Michigan and Iowa there was not a peep, none.

After TCU and Illinois there were people comparing him to D2 QBs and claiming an "average" college QB would take us to an undefeated season.

His zone read ability is vastly under appreciated here, as is his leadership and toughness. He didn't deserve the crap he took, thank god he's mentally tough enough to fight through it all.

He'll improve as a passer like all QB's do, and hopefully he'll be good enough to make posts like this obsolete.
 

Ole said:
Honestly it's not worth getting into AGAIN, but there are people that will never give Leidner credit for leading this team to some pretty impressive victories this year.

On the eve of the first new year's day bowl game in 50 years, after winning on the road at Michigan and Nebraska, and beating the snot out of Iowa people still will rag on our starting QB.
After his game against Michigan and Iowa there was not a peep, none.

After TCU and Illinois there were people comparing him to D2 QBs and claiming an "average" college QB would take us to an undefeated season.

His zone read ability is vastly under appreciated here, as is his leadership and toughness. He didn't deserve the crap he took, thank god he's mentally tough enough to fight through it all.

He'll improve as a passer like all QB's do, and hopefully he'll be good enough to make posts like this obsolete.
Click to expand...

He's the QB on this team for now, I doubt there is anyone who frequents this message board who isn't rooting for him to succeed.

That being said, the Pro-Leidner camp seems to be extremely defensive for some reason. The fact of the matter is, he's not a very good QB right now (and thats putting it kindly). I don't understand what is wrong with hoping for better production from the QB position. Just because the Gophers won 5 Big Ten games with a below avg qb, doesn't mean that people can't think what might have been with an avg or above avg qb.

Yes, he played very well vs Iowa. His season completion % was 119th in the country. That is not good enough. Remember when the Gophers coaches thought so highly of him that they called two consecutive draws with under 5 minutes left at Wisconsin, down double digits? I for one expect much more next year, and if he isn't up for the task hopefully another QB on the roster is.

As for the zone-read, we'll also have to agree to disagree. He's a fine runner, but I've always thought his mind seems to be made up going into the game whether its going to be a handoff-heavy or keep-heavy game. That is one area I am confident he can improve on, assuming the fumbling problems stop.
 

MaroonGold1 said:
What was wrong with or over the line about Indi1006 post that I must be missing?
Click to expand...

The only thing wrong or over the line about Indi's post was that it was ill-informed and just plain wrong. No judgement of Liedner is worth a thing unless it includes the unassailable fact that the Gophers have had among the worst wide receiver corps in Division I football during the last two years. If you spend any amount of time watching passing plays during games you can only be shocked at how often the opponent's wide receivers get open compared with Gopher receivers.
 

MaroonGold1 said:
He's the QB on this team for now, I doubt there is anyone who frequents this message board who isn't rooting for him to succeed.

That being said, the Pro-Leidner camp seems to be extremely defensive for some reason. The fact of the matter is, he's not a very good QB right now (and thats putting it kindly). I don't understand what is wrong with hoping for better production from the QB position. Just because the Gophers won 5 Big Ten games with a below avg qb, doesn't mean that people can't think what might have been with an avg or above avg qb.

Yes, he played very well vs Iowa. His season completion % was 119th in the country. That is not good enough. Remember when the Gophers coaches thought so highly of him that they called two consecutive draws with under 5 minutes left at Wisconsin, down double digits? I for one expect much more next year, and if he isn't up for the task hopefully another QB on the roster is.

As for the zone-read, we'll also have to agree to disagree. He's a fine runner, but I've always thought his mind seems to be made up going into the game whether its going to be a handoff-heavy or keep-heavy game. That is one area I am confident he can improve on, assuming the fumbling problems stop.
Click to expand...

He's not a very good passing QB right now, but that's not the only thing Kill and Limegrover care about.

Passing percentage is a crap statistic. It doesn't account for receivers, weather, or gameplans. The fact is we run the ball a ton in alot of ways and hit home run balls when we can. We'll never run a west coast offense style that matriculates the ball down the field through the air.

His zone read ability is excellent, and got much better after his knee healed up a bit.
At this rate he's going to end up with 40 rushing TDs for his career, that kind of production is impressive from the QB position. That is why they called 2 draws from him late in the game against wisky, because he had already shown he could run against that D and it was working pretty well. Our defense let us down more than Mitch did in that particular game.
 

I am shocked this thread turned into a "is ML7 good" debate. Shocked. Never saw that coming.
 

I'll stop. We have much more exciting things to discuss today.
 

Ole said:
That is why they called 2 draws from him late in the game against wisky, because he had already shown he could run against that D and it was working pretty well. Our defense let us down more than Mitch did in that particular game.
Click to expand...

He ran for 3.9 yards per carry against Wisconsin. He was 5-18 passing, I truly cannot wrap my head around how people think that is an acceptable performance for a Big Ten QB.

Oh well, call me a skeptic but I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe he's ready to turn the corner. Would love to be wrong, hopefully someone can throw these posts in my face sometime late tomorrow afternoon. Go Gophers
 

Maybe this is completely unrealistic in today's culture, any chance a coach prohibits his players from having a Twitter acct?
 

afurry91 said:
It really takes a special kind of loser to actually tweet directly at a college kid and rip into him. It's like sending a piece of hate mail to their mailbox. Go ahead and tweet about them, but the minute you actually mention their twitter handle (this is when they will get a notification of your tweet) you become a scumbag.
Click to expand...

Agree. Criticism of the kid's performance is one thing, but actively calling the kid out directly is uncalled for. For all his faults throwing the football, Leidner seems to have been a pretty good student-athlete during his two years with the U. No need to trash the kid as a person for what he does or doesn't do on the football field.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom