Tanner Morgan is Overrated

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BigGopher69

BigGopher69

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Its time someone says it. He has one of the weakest arms in the big ten and below average athleticism. Most passes he completes are RPOs set up by the run game. Does he ever do a traditional drop back and make progressions finding the 2nd and 3rd WR? He has trouble hitting out breaking routes and throws outside the numbers.
 

I have a newsflash for you. Everyone runs the RPO and they run it alot.

He hasn't been great this year, but I still think he is the best option going forward.
 

Go Gophs said:
I have a newsflash for you. Everyone runs the RPO and they run it alot.

He hasn't been great this year, but I still think he is the best option going forward.
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correct but how often do we complete drop back passes not set up by the run game? Every pass play cannot be an in breaking RPO
 

I'm increasingly thinking that a lot of his success has come from having 2 NFL WRs to throw to, who have made some crazy individual plays.

He's probably our best QB, and he's at least league average. All accounts have him as a great dude and leader. Not calling for a benching. But the OP has some valid points - an awful lot of his best work has been on:
  • Endless RPO-driven slant passes to TJ and Bateman
  • Deep heave type plays where elite college WRs won individual matchups
Not a ton of depth to his success, such as finding 2nd and 3rd reads and more difficult throws to the perimeter of the field. Arm strength still looks marginal, though he proved last night he can certainly throw it 40 yards.
 

BigGopher69 said:
correct but how often do we complete drop back passes not set up by the run game? Every pass play cannot be an in breaking RPO
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then tell the coordinator to call drop back passes. We don't run them. I fail to see how that's Tanner's fault that this is the system we run. I'm not saying TM2 has had a great season by any stretch, but citing lack of completed drop back passes as the reason is odd to say the least.
 


He had such a great year last year that you have to cut him slack. I am not sure if he is playing hurt, has some other issues he is dealing with or what but something is really messing him up and he is not the same QB as he was last year. If I were Fleck I would be trying to figure out what the problem is but there's something very wrong here.
 

Last year was the greatest QB season maybe in school history. Definitely top 5

This year is not.


should we bench him?
 


I have always believed that Annexstad with Bateman and Johnson is going to look better than Morgan with Autman Bell and Douglas.

Meaning that Tanner benefitted from having TJ and Rashod more than Rashod and TJ benefited from having Tanner.
 




die hard gopher said:
I have always believed that Annexstad with Bateman and Johnson is going to look better than Morgan with Autman Bell and Douglas.

Meaning that Tanner benefitted from having TJ and Rashod more than Rashod and TJ benefited from having Tanner.
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Annexstad and Morgan both had half a season with TJ and Bateman in 2018. Morgan was better.
 

He is playing pretty lousy this year. Not sure if this is the change in coordinators, or what. He is locking in and having tunnel vision on Bateman way to much. His throws are late and he is telgraphing where he is going with the football. The one thing he is doing well is calling the line protections, and changing plays to the running game. He isn't throwing the ball real well right now, not sure if there is hidden injury or he just lacks athleticism as others have said. Just not a good year so far for Gopher football. PJ Fleck is now 0-4 against Iowa and you can tell the Iowa coach doesn't have much respect for this Gopher staff with the ticky tack time out crap last evening.
 

RogueGopher said:
Annexstad and Morgan both had half a season with TJ and Bateman in 2018. Morgan was better.
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Never said Annexstad was better then Morgan than or is better now.

My point is Annexstad with Tyler and Rashod as his top two weapsons is better than Morgan with Douglas and Autman Bell as his top receivers meaning that our QB’s benefit a lot more from our receivers than our receivers benefit from our QB.
 



LesBolstad said:
He is dealing with his father's illness and he has shoulder issues. Healthy, he's a top 2-3 B10 QB; he's not healthy. Fleck has to figure out if it's worth sticking with him this year.
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If he's hurt and not healthy, why is he playing?
 

PMWinSTP said:
If he's hurt and not healthy, why is he playing?
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PJ has a history of liking to do this as evidenced by ZA playing on one wheel previously. I'm not saying it's true, just wouldn't be surprised given past experience here.
 

LesBolstad said:
He is dealing with his father's illness and he has shoulder issues. Healthy, he's a top 2-3 B10 QB; he's not healthy. Fleck has to figure out if it's worth sticking with him this year.
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What do you mean shoulder issues? First I’ve heard of this. That might explain a little bit, however.
 

die hard gopher said:
I have always believed that Annexstad with Bateman and Johnson is going to look better than Morgan with Autman Bell and Douglas.

Meaning that Tanner benefitted from having TJ and Rashod more than Rashod and TJ benefited from having Tanner.
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I’m not following you here. Annexstad didn’t exactly light it up in his (true freshman) playing time. Is this more of a hope than a fact?

TM2 hasn’t been on target this year but Bateman hasn’t looked the same either. Several dropped passes by different receivers/RB last night. He’s been under more pressure this year which will screw with any QB. Now I’m hearing a potential shoulder issue which will affect anyone. Way too soon to get out the hook unless his shoulder is affecting his motion.
 


LesBolstad said:
He is dealing with his father's illness and he has shoulder issues. Healthy, he's a top 2-3 B10 QB; he's not healthy. Fleck has to figure out if it's worth sticking with him this year.
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Agree. Fleck was asked in his presser if he has lost confidence in Tanner and he said absolutely not. No surprise there but given all of the above you have to wonder why he wouldn't give another QB some reps ?
 

LesBolstad said:
He is dealing with his father's illness and he has shoulder issues. Healthy, he's a top 2-3 B10 QB; he's not healthy. Fleck has to figure out if it's worth sticking with him this year.
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If true, then JFC.

Annexstad all over again. Gimpy ankle but Fleck wouldn’t take him out.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I’m not following you here. Annexstad didn’t exactly light it up in his (true freshman) playing time. Is this more of a hope than a fact?

TM2 hasn’t been on target this year but Bateman hasn’t looked the same either. Several dropped passes by different receivers/RB last night. He’s been under more pressure this year which will screw with any QB. Now I’m hearing a potential shoulder issue which will affect anyone. Way too soon to get out the hook unless his shoulder is affecting his motion.
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ZA hurt his ankle in like the second play of the Miami OH game. Never was the same, for every game he remained the starter. It finally got so bad against, was it Nebraska? Had to bench him, Morgan has been the starter since.
 

MplsGopher said:
ZA hurt his ankle in like the second play of the Miami OH game. Never was the same, for every game he remained the starter. It finally got so bad against, was it Nebraska? Had to bench him, Morgan has been the starter since.
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I believe he was knocked out of the game due to an internal injury (think it was a spleen laceration if remembering correctly).
 

upnorthkid said:
I believe he was knocked out of the game due to an internal injury (think it was a spleen laceration if remembering correctly).
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Thanks. He couldn’t move. Kept getting pummeled by sacks.
 

upnorthkid said:
then tell the coordinator to call drop back passes. We don't run them. I fail to see how that's Tanner's fault that this is the system we run. I'm not saying TM2 has had a great season by any stretch, but citing lack of completed drop back passes as the reason is odd to say the least.
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Fair points. I noted Captain Morgan's reliance of simplistic RPO concepts above, but the counterpoint to that is what you are saying. Also, a lot of really successful college offenses have shockingly simple playbooks. We've all heard how basic the Mason-era running playbook was, and Heisman Trophies and NFL 1st round QBs have been built upon high school-sized passing schemes.
 

Leidner all over again except it’s not 3 straight years of bad play and coach bs.....yet.
 

MplsGopher said:
ZA hurt his ankle in like the second play of the Miami OH game. Never was the same, for every game he remained the starter. It finally got so bad against, was it Nebraska? Had to bench him, Morgan has been the starter since.
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My point is he didn’t look great in the throwing or decision-making departments before the injury or after he had (mostly) recovered. Intermediate and down range accuracy were awful. Obviously he may have improved by leaps and bounds but there is zero observable evidence outside of some biased practice observers. TM2 had the best statistical passing season of any Gopher QB in 2019...We have no evidence another QB would be an upgrade over TM2. If TM2’s throwing shoulder is hurt that’s another story. If that’s true he needs to rest.
 

Tanner struggled last night and he obviously benefited from having two NFL WRs last year, but he has been a really good Gopher. He was fantastic last year. He has been a class act from day 1 (being a generous backup to ZA), and he really seems like the leader.

I don't think we put him in the best position to succeed. I don't think we see enough slants, I think we need more plays drawn up for non-Bateman receivers and I think we are having a hard time in pass protection. One of the reasons for pass protection issues is that we aren't in max protect very often (that was osmething this board was clamoring for).
 

The only healthy games ZA played for the Gophers were NMST and Fresno.
 
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Bob_Loblaw said:
Tanner struggled last night and he obviously benefited from having two NFL WRs last year, but he has been a really good Gopher. He was fantastic last year. He has been a class act from day 1 (being a generous backup to ZA), and he really seems like the leader.

I don't think we put him in the best position to succeed. I don't think we see enough slants, I think we need more plays drawn up for non-Bateman receivers and I think we are having a hard time in pass protection. One of the reasons for pass protection issues is that we aren't in max protect very often (that was osmething this board was clamoring for).
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If we need to keep two TE to pass pro to give Tanner 8sec to find Bateman, so be it.
 


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