STrib: Who might emerge as the Gophers' top receivers?

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dpodoll68 said:
We'll agree to disagree I guess. Maye and Wolitarsky both drew professional paychecks, and Wolitarsky is still playing in the CFL. Gray is another one I didn't even mention before - he was also better as a Gopher than Douglas. I'd be absolutely floored if Douglas is even invited to an NFL camp, and in fact I wouldn't at all be surprised if he sees the field this year as little as he did last year.
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You have to remember this is the same board that thought we didn’t have a place for JD Spielman.
 

If Douglas gets passed up by younger guys in fall camp, we’ll that is the answer. This is his “now or never” year, more than ever.
 

Some guy said:
We won’t throw the ball as much as we did last year. So there is that. A lot of the catches will instead be runs.
I bet Morgan’s pass yards and touchdowns go down this year but yards per attempt stay pretty similar
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Perhaps we won't throw the ball as much but it will be interesting as our wide outs and tight ends are going to keep the defense honest. If the defense screws up, our offense will explode in my opinion.
 


dpodoll68 said:
We'll agree to disagree I guess. Maye and Wolitarsky both drew professional paychecks, and Wolitarsky is still playing in the CFL. Gray is another one I didn't even mention before - he was also better as a Gopher than Douglas. I'd be absolutely floored if Douglas is even invited to an NFL camp, and in fact I wouldn't at all be surprised if he sees the field this year as little as he did last year.
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Not sure why you’ve planted your flag on DD already. Maye and Woli never did anything as under class men either. I think DD is the best athlete of the three when you consider size and speed, he’s arguably better coached, and has a good qb throwing to him. Also Fleck put Davis and Braverman in the nfl via the draft then TJ and soon Bateman, wouldn’t be shocking to me if DD gets invites.
 
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dpodoll68 said:
We'll agree to disagree I guess. Maye and Wolitarsky both drew professional paychecks, and Wolitarsky is still playing in the CFL. Gray is another one I didn't even mention before - he was also better as a Gopher than Douglas. I'd be absolutely floored if Douglas is even invited to an NFL camp, and in fact I wouldn't at all be surprised if he sees the field this year as little as he did last year.
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I agree with this on DD. There is a lot of young depth in the WR room right now and Fleck has shown that he can identify and also develop WR's along with the rest of the staff. I'm a bigger fan of CAB than anyone, he's got the best hands on the team, and I'd be shocked if a few of the younger WR's don't step up this year to make big contributions instead of DD. DD certainly has a place here and has value, but it's likely not as a long term option at #1 or #2 WR
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I agree with this on DD. There is a lot of young depth in the WR room right now and Fleck has shown that he can identify and also develop WR's along with the rest of the staff. I'm a bigger fan of CAB than anyone, he's got the best hands on the team, and I'd be shocked if a few of the younger WR's don't step up this year to make big contributions instead of DD. DD certainly has a place here and has value, but it's likely not as a long term option at #1 or #2 WR
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I don't think it's unlikely that CAB and DD are the 1 and 2 for the next 2 years. I'm a little bewildered that people are so sure DD cannot be a reliable #2. Maybe it's more that you guys are very high on Daniel Jackson?
 

btowngopher said:
Not sure why you’ve planted your flag on DD already. Maye and Woli never did anything as under class men either. I think DD is the best athlete of the three when you consider size and speed, he’s arguably better coached, and has a good qb throwing to him. Also Fleck put Davis and Braverman in the nfl via the draft then TJ and soon Bateman, wouldn’t be shocking to me if DD gets invites.
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It's less a referendum on Douglas (though he has done little to impress me as a receiver) than a recognition of how good the #1 WR is on any Big Ten team, even on a bad Big Ten team - and the poster I responded to said that Douglas is better than the best guy on any of 6 Big Ten teams, some of which were pretty good squads. It's a preposterous statement. If he balls out this year (assuming there's a season) and next year, I'll happily admit that I was wrong. I'm not holding my breath.
 

btowngopher said:
I don't think it's unlikely that CAB and DD are the 1 and 2 for the next 2 years. I'm a little bewildered that people are so sure DD cannot be a reliable #2. Maybe it's more that you guys are very high on Daniel Jackson?
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I’m not sure DD can’t be a good #2, there just is not really any evidence of it at this point. I’m bewildered that people are so high on him as a #2 based on what we know today. I also like CAB but am not sold on him as a #1 either. Again this is just based on a lack of proof so far, I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
 



btowngopher said:
I don't see why we shouldn't have some optimism. DD seemed productive when actually given opportunity.
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I think that with reps/ opportunity we will see him continue to improve. Concentration and being able to fight through contact seem to be two things that he'll need to improve on. I hope that we can use him in the slot. I am hopeful he can use one of his biggest assets out of the slot, speed!
 

This will be pretty exciting. I don't know where this rumor came from, but I remember a lot of people hyping Matt Simon as a potential Pro WR coach. Now we get a chance to see his true work in year 4.

The thought from the experts (House and Burns) is that Emilen steps up and runs circles around the conference DB's. Maybe his progress stalled a little with Covid? We'll see.

My personal thought (I know it's shared with others) is that Spann-Ford sees significant playing time. I know we haven't seen him much in the passing game, but gosh he is a big, strong, fast, athletic kid. He's got NFL written all over him.

One thing I know for sure is that Kieft will be on the field for the majority of the snaps. They move him around quite a bit (at least Ciarrocca did), but his purpose is blocking...and boy is he good at it. He goes toe-to-toe with the leagues best DE's and LB's and it usually ends with Kieft standing on top of the dude. I'm rambling, but I think we'll see lots of multiple TE sets. You've also got Paulson and Auburn-killer Witham wanting reps too. That's a loaded position group.
 

I have a feeling that we are going to see a true freshman come out hot. Jackson might be getting snaps early to see what he has, if the trend is going to be that we have our skilled positions leaving early then it makes no sense to red-shirt talent early in their career. Watch Jackson take the #2 position behind Autman-Bell. Also, do not be surprised to see Jonathan Mann step up early as well. Big kid.
 

KoolAid said:
This will be pretty exciting. I don't know where this rumor came from, but I remember a lot of people hyping Matt Simon as a potential Pro WR coach. Now we get a chance to see his true work in year 4.

The thought from the experts (House and Burns) is that Emilen steps up and runs circles around the conference DB's. Maybe his progress stalled a little with Covid? We'll see.

My personal thought (I know it's shared with others) is that Spann-Ford sees significant playing time. I know we haven't seen him much in the passing game, but gosh he is a big, strong, fast, athletic kid. He's got NFL written all over him.

One thing I know for sure is that Kieft will be on the field for the majority of the snaps. They move him around quite a bit (at least Ciarrocca did), but his purpose is blocking...and boy is he good at it. He goes toe-to-toe with the leagues best DE's and LB's and it usually ends with Kieft standing on top of the dude. I'm rambling, but I think we'll see lots of multiple TE sets. You've also got Paulson and Auburn-killer Witham wanting reps too. That's a loaded position group.
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Assuming we see the fruits of his coaching and his is of that caliber (which I think he probably is) I bet PJ does what he can to keep him here as long as possible. I assume the co-OC title was part of that, give him a reason to raise his pay, give him a few years under a more experience OC to learn the ropes, and then the assumption would be the other OC potentially leaves for a different job and you promote Simon to full OC. Now a lot can change in the next few years, but if PJ struck gold with Matt Simon, I bet he holds onto him as long as he can.
 




The two true Freshman receivers have apparently been impressive so far. PJ even alluded to that yesterday. Both will probably get a significant number of snaps. DD has his work cut out for him to secure that 2nd spot.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I’m not sure DD can’t be a good #2, there just is not really any evidence of it at this point. I’m bewildered that people are so high on him as a #2 based on what we know today. I also like CAB but am not sold on him as a #1 either. Again this is just based on a lack of proof so far, I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
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It's not that I'm high on him. It's just that he's an experienced receiver in this system. I'm not going to hype true freshman that might, or might not, play. DD is going to get reps this year. They wouldn't have had him returning kicks if they were worried about his athleticism and he has had 2 years to work on routes in this offense. I would be pretty shocked if he can't hold down the #2 spot.

As far as CAB, he scored 5 touchdowns and had 28 receptions as a #3 last year. Those aren't bad numbers, and he looked good doing it. No egregious drops that I can remember, and he made some tough catches and ran a few great routes.

I'm not arguing that either of these guys is going to replace Batemen, but I do believe that they are solid B1G receivers. I think some people are confusing lack of utilization with talent. Minnesota had a wealth of options at receiver last year. That doesn't mean the guys behind them couldn't have won a starting position with another B1G team.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I’m not sure DD can’t be a good #2, there just is not really any evidence of it at this point. I’m bewildered that people are so high on him as a #2 based on what we know today. I also like CAB but am not sold on him as a #1 either. Again this is just based on a lack of proof so far, I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
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And what exactly do we know today? I don't think anyone is crazy high on him. He's being compared to Wolitarsky and Maye, not Bateman or Johnson.
 


Spoofin said:
I still wish they would have put DD at CB.
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I agree that he probably would be a better corner than receiver. But he also wasn’t going to come here if we offered him as a CB.
 


Thinking somebody will emerge. That's the way good college football programs roll; guys come in, guys go out, but results stay the same.

On top of that, Fleck has a proven track record of developing wideouts. CAB has very good potential and I think can be very very good. Jury is still out on Douglas imo, but Fleck and co. recruited some very promising receiver prospects the last few years. Eventually, they were going to have to play anyway, so to me, it's "next man up."
 

Tanner Morgan, with all of his experience, will also be better prepared to look for more receivers. Gotta admit, losing Bateman hurts because he was a proven contributor. Looking forward to some pleasant surprises from the newbies.
 

With Tanner Morgan at the helm, this is a very dangerous team in spite of losing a big chunk of production with TJ & RB gone.

This is were new stars are born.
 

It's very possible Gophs could just pound the rock, have a good passing threat and win at the same level.
 




It seems to me that Demetrious Douglas was used more as a small role player who made impact when he does play. He was selfless with 2-1/2 super stars ahead of him.

We shall see if he seizes the wide open opportunity.

Fleck said that he is out recruiting the starters. There are plenty of candidates.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I think DD just needs more opportunity




His dad only had 9 catches for 132 yards and 0 TDs his first two seasons.

DD has 34 catches for 327 yards and 1 TD in 2.25 seasons, plus the punt return TD @Wisconsin.
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This! We forget that at many top tier programs the majority of players might not even see the field (outside of special teams) till their junior season.
 

It's crazy how one of the best WRs in Gopher history decided to quit football with 2 years of college eligibility left on the table.
 

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