Tanner Morgan's Pace

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What to expect of Morgan going forward is interesting. 6 games with good stats vs. quality competition gives a lot areas of optimism. On the other hand, it was only half a season and a mid-season start gave him the advantage of being completely fresh and healthy against opponents who were not. Also, did the staff change things up to better suit morgan which gave defenses new looks?

My opinion is that his stats or "pace" would not have held up over an entire season. He showed enough to prove that he is at the very least a competent B1G quarterback with room to improve. I am very optimistic about him getting better and the position group as a whole. Someone is going to have to play pretty good to beat him out.
 

GoGoGopher12 said:
And I don't think ZA or TM are really all that good. They are both "game managers". Neither have the big arm to stretch the field. I hope Clark and Kramer are better than both of them because we'll be that much better as a team then.
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Morgan and Annexstad didn't set the world on fire but one was a redshirt freshman and the other was a true freshman so it is way to early to assume they won't improve as they get more experience.

And given their youth I think both of them (especially Morgan) played really well. If Clark or Kramer walks in the door and is able to beat those two out then we are probably looking at something really special because I have zero issues heading into next season with either TM or ZA at the helm based off of this past season.
 

Spoofin said:
Yep - still absurd.



Did it hurt moving the goalpost this far?

Also, curious why you changed the bolded parts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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You're right, I changed "has become" to "is becoming". Didn't do it intentionally, nor am I trying to move any goalposts.

I hereby apologize to any Gopher Holers (and all current members of the Wet Blanket Fire Brigade) who were offended by my changing "has become" to "is becoming". Sometimes my Un-Minnesotan wild-eyed enthusiasm gets the best of me.

Thanks for bringing me back to reality, Spoofin.



--------------

"7 National Titles...

... But Let's Not Get Carried Away".
 

I think you made your point.

Me personally, I’m just not an optimistic person. Sorry just not wired that way.

You are. More power to ya!
 

MNVCGUY said:
Morgan and Annexstad didn't set the world on fire but one was a redshirt freshman and the other was a true freshman so it is way to early to assume they won't improve as they get more experience.

And given their youth I think both of them (especially Morgan) played really well. If Clark or Kramer walks in the door and is able to beat those two out then we are probably looking at something really special because I have zero issues heading into next season with either TM or ZA at the helm based off of this past season.
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I would agree with this. I wouldn't say they lit the world on fire, but for 2 QBs playing their first college games, they did very well.
 


Question is, would Annexstad have done better with the O-line we had at the end of the season? Umm,,,Yeah!

The Maryland game looked like sharks rushing in to blood stained water! Zach had no chance.

And there I was in the crowd thinking, "Why is Fa'a'le'le not in the game?"
 

Otis said:
Question is, would Annexstad have done better with the O-line we had at the end of the season? Umm,,,Yeah!

The Maryland game looked like sharks rushing in to blood stained water! Zach had no chance.

And there I was in the crowd thinking, "Why is Fa'a'le'le not in the game?"
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It's really hard to say. Annexstad had a worse o-line and was playing on 1 leg for a few games. But what I saw from a healthy Morgan, against Big Ten competition, was better than what I saw from Annexstad when he was healthy (and against non-con opponents). If Zach really is better than Tanner that would be a good thing though, because Morgan was solid.
 

Otis said:
Question is, would Annexstad have done better with the O-line we had at the end of the season? Umm,,,Yeah!

The Maryland game looked like sharks rushing in to blood stained water! Zach had no chance.

And there I was in the crowd thinking, "Why is Fa'a'le'le not in the game?"
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You're right. The o-line improved later in the season.

Also, Zach never had the benefit of starting a game after we made the change in defensive coordinators. I'm sure it's harder to play QB when you're constantly 3-4 touchdowns behind.
 

Morgan seems to fit the offense better, but whatever, welcome the competition
 



Clark W. Griswold said:
What to expect of Morgan going forward is interesting. 6 games with good stats vs. quality competition gives a lot areas of optimism. On the other hand, it was only half a season and a mid-season start gave him the advantage of being completely fresh and healthy against opponents who were not. Also, did the staff change things up to better suit morgan which gave defenses new looks?

My opinion is that his stats or "pace" would not have held up over an entire season. He showed enough to prove that he is at the very least a competent B1G quarterback with room to improve. I am very optimistic about him getting better and the position group as a whole. Someone is going to have to play pretty good to beat him out.
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This is the key to me. For years we had Mitch at the helm and most of us were begging for anyone to come in take the job, yet nobody could. So if a new guy comes in and beats out the two guys we currently have then that is going to be a pretty special player and we could be in line for some really big things.
 

RememberMurray said:
You're right. The o-line improved later in the season.

Also, Zach never had the benefit of starting a game after we made the change in defensive coordinators. I'm sure it's harder to play QB when you're constantly 3-4 touchdowns behind.
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The OL did improve, but ZA's pocket presence was atrocious. There were several times that he created the sack by leaving the pocket.
 

GoGoGopher12 said:
Morgan would NOT have started at Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State. Very doubtfully at Illinois or Indiana.
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I said he would have been an upgrade based on stats. No idea if they would have started him.
 




GoGoGopher12 said:
Honest question. Other than Minnesota and probably Rutgers, what other Big10 programs would Morgan or Zach been a starter last season?
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Hard to say because different teams look at different skill sets in different offenses.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The OL did improve, but ZA's pocket presence was atrocious. There were several times that he created the sack by leaving the pocket.
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To me it felt like that was more because of his ankle slowing him down. When he was healthy i thought he was fine. Still think Morgan starts though.
 

ZA had a very good game against Fresno State and made a great scramble and completion late in the game. He was relatively healthy at that time. His mobility suffered with injuries to his legs. Morgan entered and did a nice job against quality teams. Although I wouldn't characterize the quarterback position as a "position of strength", I would say it is less of a concern going into spring ball than it has been for a while. As to who rings the bell opening day? I'm think ZA gets the call.
 

die hard gopher said:
To me it felt like that was more because of his ankle slowing him down. When he was healthy i thought he was fine. Still think Morgan starts though.
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I disagree. I would have to re-watch the games (and I could certainly be wrong), but his poor pocket presence seemed to be an issue immediately for me.
 

Word said:
If he's truly better than Morgan, then so be it. But from what I've seen so far I'll take Morgan. PJ must really love Zach and I think playing him with 1 leg for as long as he did proves that.
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dpodoll68 said:
I think he has the potential to end up as one of the best Gophers QBs ever, statistically, which is an admittedly low bar to cross. He is very accurate and has enough speed to keep the defense honest when needed. He's short, but I think that's all overplayed anyway (at both the college and pro level). His arm isn't great, but is strong enough to complete a 20-yard out, which is more than enough to be very good in the Ciarrocca offense.

I also think that, if Fleck is being honest, Morgan will show that he deserves to start despite Fleck's clear affection for Annexstad.
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That Nebraska game that ZA finally was replaced, he was seriously gimped up. Went to the hospital if I remember correctly.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The OL did improve, but ZA's pocket presence was atrocious. There were several times that he created the sack by leaving the pocket.
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Agree with this, although there is a bit of chicken/egg to it. Many QBs, especially young ones, get rattled by constant pressure and start to drift back or scramble outside on most plays, even when the pocket was there. Its a matter of trust between the QB and his line and can be a hard habit to break once you've developed it. Guys like David Carr with Texans are a prime example.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I disagree. I would have to re-watch the games (and I could certainly be wrong), but his poor pocket presence seemed to be an issue immediately for me.
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I'm not sure if it's pocket presence per se. Just my opinion, but I thought he had a tendency to hold the ball too long. It was like he didn't always trust what he was seeing, and so he was hesitant to pull the trigger.

I think he needs to learn to be confident in his reads, and to get the ball out quicker.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The OL did improve, but ZA's pocket presence was atrocious. There were several times that he created the sack by leaving the pocket.
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The ZA Drift - I remember it well. Sam Schlueter at right tackle, which certainly not playing at a particularly high level, still got hung out to dry when he pushed his man outside only to find ZA waiting for him there.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think he would have started at WI.
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Yeah, Coan was horrendous and Hornibrook regressed as a third year starter. I’d take Morgan in a heartbeat. The MSU QB had a rough year. I like Iowa’s QB and wish we had him. I’m not sure who finished the year at Maryland but their big dual threat guy was not special IMO. Rutgers....Sitkowski may have had a historically bad year, once again proves if you struggle at a lower level of competition it’s not likely you’ll do well moving up to a better league.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I disagree. I would have to re-watch the games (and I could certainly be wrong), but his poor pocket presence seemed to be an issue immediately for me.
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That, and Morgan seemed much quicker and decisive. For a young guy he seemed to have a really good ability to feel pressure and scramble for a gain or dump the ball.
 



Pompous Elitist said:
Yeah, Coan was horrendous and Hornibrook regressed as a third year starter. I’d take Morgan in a heartbeat. The MSU QB had a rough year. I like Iowa’s QB and wish we had him. I’m not sure who finished the year at Maryland but their big dual threat guy was not special IMO. Rutgers....Sitkowski may have had a historically bad year, once again proves if you struggle at a lower level of competition it’s not likely you’ll do well moving up to a better league.
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I thought Rutgers started a kid from IMG same grade as Annexstad?? I might have made that up ...

EDIT: oh you’re saying he struggled at IMG, not that KNG is a lower level of competition than what most high school QBs face. Is that actually true though, that he struggled there?
 
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Pompous Elitist said:
Definitely a demerit for Fleck. Like Smith he hung on to him too long to the detriment of the team.
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Exactly what I was gonna say. Held on to Smith too long, and should’ve started TM earlier.

Wish there would’ve been a way to know that for Maryland. But shouldve been for all of Nebraska for sure.
 


BroncoRedux said:
ZA had a very good game against Fresno State and made a great scramble and completion late in the game. He was relatively healthy at that time. His mobility suffered with injuries to his legs. Morgan entered and did a nice job against quality teams. Although I wouldn't characterize the quarterback position as a "position of strength", I would say it is less of a concern going into spring ball than it has been for a while. As to who rings the bell opening day? I'm think ZA gets the call.
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Best not characterize it that way, because if you did, well, that would be absurd.

Or so I've been told.
 

The competition among the QBs will be interesting to watch this Spring. It is Tanner Morgan's until someone proves otherwise.

IMHO, we will miss Jared Weyler the signal caller for the OL.
 

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