Tanner Morgan compared to other quarterbacks at Minnesota Since 2000

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IceBoxGopher

IceBoxGopher

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Tanner Morgan is set to come back for another year, but he already has a lot of games under his belt. Here's how he stacks up with other Gophers under center. Just a note, I separated quarterbacks who played for two or less seasons as short term.

Also for the records portion, it's who started in which game. So while Mitch played in the 2013 bowl game, for example, it was Nelson who started it.

Long Term

Assad Abdul-Khaliq, 2000-2003
  • Passing: 6,660 Yards, 55 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 1,158 Yards, 16 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 7 Yards, 1 Touchdown
  • Total: 7,825 Yards, 72 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 2-2
  • Vs. Iowa: 0-3
  • Vs. Michigan: 0-3
  • Vs. Penn State: 1-0
  • Bowl Record: 2-0

Bryan Cupito, 2002-2006
  • Passing: 7,446 Yards, 55 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 3 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 9 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 7,458 Yards, 55 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 0-2
  • Vs. Iowa: 1-2
  • Vs. Michigan: 1-2
  • Vs. Penn State: 1-2
  • Bowl Record: 1-2

Adam Weber, 2007-2010
  • Passing: 10,917 Yards, 72 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 873 Yards, 10 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 9 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 11,799 Yards, 82 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 0-4
  • Vs. Iowa: 1-3
  • Vs. Michigan: 0-2
  • Vs. Penn State: 0-2
  • Bowl Record: 0-2

Mitch Leidner, 2013-2016
  • Passing: 7,287 Yards, 36 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 1,495 Yards, 33 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 25 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 8,807 Yards, 69 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 0-3
  • Vs. Iowa: 1-2
  • Vs. Michigan: 1-2
  • Vs. Penn State: 0-1
  • Bowl Record: 2-1

Tanner Morgan, 2018-2021 *Shortened COVID season
  • Passing: 8,072 Yards, 56 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: -50 Yards, 4 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 0 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 8,022 Yards, 60 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 2-2
  • Vs. Iowa: 0-3
  • Vs. Michigan: 0-1
  • Vs. Penn State: 1-0
  • Bowl Record: 3-0

Short Term

Marqueis Gray, 2009-2012 *Also played WR
  • Passing: 2,053 Yards, 14 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 1,731 Yards, 12 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 766 Yards, 6 Touchdowns
  • Total: 4,550 Yards, 32 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 0-1
  • Vs. Iowa: 1-0

Max Shortell, 2011-2012
  • Passing: 1,162 Yards, 8 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 62 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 0 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 1,224, 8 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: NA
  • Vs. Iowa: 0-1
  • Vs. Michigan: 0-1

Philip Nelson, 2012-2013
  • Passing: 2,179 Yards, 17 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 548 Yards, 6 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 5 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 2,732 Yards, 23 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 0-2
  • Vs. Iowa: 0-2
  • Vs. Michigan: 0-1
  • Vs. Penn State: 1-0
  • Bowl Record: 0-2

Chris Steveler, 2014-2015
  • Passing: 37 Yards, 1 Touchdown
  • Rushing: 243 Yards, 1 Touchdown
  • Receiving: 4 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 284 Yards, 2 Touchdowns

Conor Rhoda, 2016-2017
  • Passing: 927 Yards, 6 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 0 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 0 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total - 927 Yards, 6 Touchdowns

Demry Croft, 2017
  • Passing: 708 Yards, 4 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: 349 Yards, 4 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 0 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 1,057 Yards, 8 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Wisconsin: 0-1
  • Vs. Iowa: 0-1
  • Vs. Michigan: 0-1

Zack Annexstad, 2018
  • Passing: 1,277 Yards, 9 Touchdowns
  • Rushing: -89 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Receiving: 0 Yards, 0 Touchdowns
  • Total: 1,118 Yards, 9 Touchdowns
  • Vs. Iowa: 0-1
 




Tanner is the best qb to wear maroon and gold.... The wins prove it... He has a year to increase his stats and hopefully he does... (If athan doesn't beat him out)
 



Off-GridTNgopher said:
Tanner is the best qb to wear maroon and gold.... The wins prove it... He has a year to increase his stats and hopefully he does... (If athan doesn't beat him out)
Click to expand...

I think to say "the best," you need to clarify the standards he is being judged on.

Morgan has more wins. Other QB's have thrown for more yards and more TD's. and Morgan provides no running threat, while other QB's have been significantly better runners and provided a goal-line threat.

So, if you are saying he is the best at winning games, there is a solid argument to back that up.

But, if you are saying Morgan is "the best" passer, that is more questionable. He is certainly not the best runner or two-way QB.

And leadership is harder to quantify. Is Morgan the "best" leader? He may be, but that is really hard for an outsider to judge.

I am NOT criticizing Morgan. I'm just saying that "the best" is a somewhat subjective term. It depends on how you define your terms.
 

Off-GridTNgopher said:
Tanner is the best qb to wear maroon and gold.... The wins prove it... He has a year to increase his stats and hopefully he does... (If athan doesn't beat him out)
Click to expand...
QB wins is a very weird stat. It is a team game. Tanner is one of the best leaders I've seen in my 25 years of fandom, but the wins do not belong to the QB position.
 

The best to me... Who wins the most.. that's it.... Now would I take a qb from the past over Morgan if I was building a roster.. yes... I think A.A.K or A.W would have won more.... But that's not how this works... Who's won more games.. Morgan... He's the best qb to wear maroon and gold of our beloved gopher program..

But again.. it is subjective because it's my opinion





short ornery norwegian said:
I think to say "the best," you need to clarify the standards he is being judged on.

Morgan has more wins. Other QB's have thrown for more yards and more TD's. and Morgan provides no running threat, while other QB's have been significantly better runners and provided a goal-line threat.

So, if you are saying he is the best at winning games, there is a solid argument to back that up.

But, if you are saying Morgan is "the best" passer, that is more questionable. He is certainly not the best runner or two-way QB.

And leadership is harder to quantify. Is Morgan the "best" leader? He may be, but that is really hard for an outsider to judge.

I am NOT criticizing Morgan. I'm just saying that "the best" is a somewhat subjective term. It depends on how you define your terms.
Click to expand...
 



I still maintain that Leidner was the toughest Gopher QB. Not the best, but the toughest. He played his final season without his toes attached to his foot and still had rushing TDs.
 

jonnyganas said:
QB wins is a very weird stat. It is a team game. Tanner is one of the best leaders I've seen in my 25 years of fandom, but the wins do not belong to the QB position.
Click to expand...
Ill agree with this a bit... The losses in hockey shouldnt belong on the goalie either....
 

M Gray mishandled by multiple coaching staffs.

Interceptions probably a key stay to include. If you exclude interceptions and record Adam Weber on of the greatest QBs in the history of the conference. If you include them; not so much
 

jonnyganas said:
QB wins is a very weird stat. It is a team game. Tanner is one of the best leaders I've seen in my 25 years of fandom, but the wins do not belong to the QB position.
Click to expand...
I agree generally, and while I don’t believe “clutch” is a skill someone can have… Tanner has made a lot of very good timely throws when we needed one. More than other QBs IMO.
 





Read a story about a baseball coach. He had a bunch of good, smart, eager players. He brought them together early in the season and said "guys, I want someone to tell me the most important stat in baseball" so kids start guessing.
"Batting Average?" No.
"RBI?" No.
"ERA" the star pitcher says "Nope", says coach
Finally, the coaches kid has it figured out "Errors" cause if you play a clean game, you're going to win, he thinks.
"All of those stats are fine. The only stat that matters is wins"

Morgan has the most wins.
 


Nobody would argue Morgan didn't have an amazing 2018 & 2019, but just as important is that his past two seasons are historically more average compared to our past QBs. Hopefully getting his old OC back fixes this next year.

Not surprisingly, Leidner's rating went down every year as a starter. I guess what this board likes is improvement from the QBs.

Cupito had the same OC his entire career and was the beneficiary of a historically dominant running game. We will call him the privileged one.

Weber had a 5 different OCs in his 5 years on the roster.

I would also argue you have to factor in that passing has become far more efficient overall in recent years, so more recent numbers are probably skewed higher.

Snag_203e37f4.png
 

jonnyganas said:
I still maintain that Leidner was the toughest Gopher QB. Not the best, but the toughest. He played his final season without his toes attached to his foot and still had rushing TDs.
Click to expand...
Mitch “No Toes” Leidner. He was one tough QB!
 


gopher7 said:
Nobody would argue Morgan didn't have an amazing 2018 & 2019, but just as important is that his past two seasons are historically more average compared to our past QBs. Hopefully getting his old OC back fixes this next year.

Not surprisingly, Leidner's rating went down every year as a starter. I guess what this board likes is improvement from the QBs.

Cupito had the same OC his entire career and was the beneficiary of a historically dominant running game. We will call him the privileged one.

Weber had a 5 different OCs in his 5 years on the roster.

I would also argue you have to factor in that passing has become far more efficient overall in recent years, so more recent numbers are probably skewed higher.

View attachment 16299
Click to expand...
This graph really makes you see how good Morgan is. His worst year is a top 4 season if you take out his best 3 years.
2010 Weber
2005 cupito
2006 cupito

monkey 3 seasons better throwing than the WORST Morgan year.
 

Thanks for these stats, it is fun to compare the different eras.

I won't ask you to go back and add this in, but a truer comparison in my opinion when you're talking about yards would be yards per attempt. Tough to get total yards, if you just don't pass a lot.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Thanks for these stats, it is fun to compare the different eras.

I won't ask you to go back and add this in, but a truer comparison in my opinion when you're talking about yards would be yards per attempt. Tough to get total yards, if you just don't pass a lot.
Click to expand...
That's true, especially as offensive philosophies have shifted at Minnesota.
 

Off-GridTNgopher said:
Tanner is the best qb to wear maroon and gold.... The wins prove it... He has a year to increase his stats and hopefully he does... (If athan doesn't beat him out)
Click to expand...
Not really. No such thing as the "best". Nice job on the stats.
 


Flip flop Adam Weber and Tanner Morgan’s rosters. Put Weber on this team, with a amazing Line; probably better skill positions and some mobility. The guy who really would do well with this line is Leidner. A dual threat who could run a power run option game.

All things considered, I would take Mitch and Webers run threat in this offense
 

I think Morgan has been good. I think after 2019 most expected more that we have seen, maybe we will get that in 2022, I hope so. If not I hope there is another QB that can play.

As far as the question - I think AAK and probably AW was a more talented QB, but had a much poorer supporting cast around them both. AAK was a dual threat, good arm QB that had no defense and a much weaker WR group. He did have some great RBs though.

If I had to rank the QBs over the past 20+ years I would go:
AAK
Weber
Morgan
Cupito
Leidner
The rest
 

Classes started today and when students introduced themselves I learned that one young lady was from Union, KY. I asked her if she knew Tanner Morgan, she said, "oh yeah, I have heard of him, but he's quite a bit older than me." I guess that can happen when a person is in their 6th year of eligibility (I know that he's graduated).
 



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