Thoughts on Spring Game Thread

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MinnMarchDTF

MinnMarchDTF

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Here are some of my thoughts:

-Both O and D had their moments. Lots of gang tackling and pads cracking

-Cedric McKinley looked really good with 3 sacks

-Marquis looked really good on his passing. That 65 yard TD to Smith was great

-Running game looks to be a lot better

-Offense still needs a lot of work, but that is to be expected

-Defense had a few good stops, like the goalline stand in the 1st quarter

-McKnight had a pretty good game

-Special teams had a lot of good moments, not the least of which was like a 60 yard punt and a couple of long returns by Stoudermire

Overall, the offense is still a work in progress.

Other thoughts?
 



Stand Outs

Really enjoyed the "game." Much more organized than the last two spring games. Actually, better than the Mason-based games I attended too.

Announced attendance: 7,700. At least 6,000 present.

Stand outs for me:

Whaley
Stoudemire
Gray
Ellestad

A lot of other notables. August will be interesting.

Go Gophers! Beat Syracuse!
 



What an awesome day! Beautiful weather, outdoor football, smell of hotdogs and brats in the air! CAN'T WAIT FOR TCF!!!

Highlights (others have mentioned most of these):

1. Stoudamire is a stud! Will lead the BT in returns again, and MUST play a roll on offense.
2. Ellestad was awesome today. Hit a 48 yarder with ease and was dropping high, long kickoffs right on the goal line.
3. Whaley looked good. Hit the hole hard, initiated contact, and accelerated quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if he's getting carries in the Fall.
4. Was SO exciting to see Gray and Maresh out there! Neither was outstanding, but both made some plays and showed flashes. These guys are both unbelievable physical specimens, too!
5. Speaking of specimens, McKnight is pretty well put together as well...I was surprised by how big he looks. He was physical and make a nice catch in the endzone on a "fade" type route.

My only big concern (if you can have serious concerns in the Spring!) was our group 1 defensive effort--especially against the run. Whaley was gaining decent yardage on them and our interior wasn't getting much of a push against the 2nd OL. I thought Small and Brown would be big studs for us this year...hope it works out that way.
 


My two kids and I had a blast at the Spring Game. The day was beautiful, the atmosphere was pure joy, and the game was fun to watch. I thought Marquis Gray looked great, especially as a first year player. He has an incredible touch with his passes. That kid is going to be a very, very special player. My son made a beeline for his autograph after the game and the crowd around him may have even been bigger than Weber's.

Speaking of which, after the game, all the Gophers ran around the edge of the field high fiving all the fans. My 10 year old son was impressed with that. Then the crowd started spilling on the field, and the team knelt around Brewster. I got to hear a little of Brewster's speech, which had to do with making news off the field for the right reasons. After that, my son and I went from player to player getting autographs. Usually I don't care much about a person's signature, but I'm trying to brainwash my son into liking football, and this may have done the trick. He was wide-eyed around Jeff Wills. He was thrilled to get Sam Maresh's signature. Kevin Whaley even gave him a personal message with his autograph, and I got to talk with Kevin a little bit (I went to high school down the road from his).

All in all, it was a wonderful day. The players were all very happy to mingle with the fans a little bit, and the fans were complimentary and congratulatory towards the players. The weather was perfect, and there was a smile on everyone's face.

Go Gophers!
 

We are much improved even without incoming players

Whaley is raring to go, nice TD run.

Stoudermire appeared to have about 80 (two rets) plus another ret for 20-ish.

Gray was hampered by the no-QB run rule and the "touch sack" for the defense. He rolled out on a play at the 20 and would have easily scored, but he had to stop at the LOS and pass. The fade throw was called out of bounds. A couple of other times he got touched "sacked" but would have easily gotten away in a tackle situation. He made some nice completions where he had to thread the needle. I think he is far ahead of what Weber was in 2007. He is also listed as 1" and 7 lbs. larger than Weber. He easily 2" and 15 lbs. larger. Huge, RB thighs.

Weber has been off and on, still does not look off the receivers. They've done one play with both Gray and Weber in at the same time. Weber lined up at receiver and went in motion, got the hand-off then threw back across the field (and across his body) to Gray. Out of bounds throw by Weber.

Gray threw an effortless 65 yard TD pass. Didn't even cock his arm. He led Brodrick Smith in a man to man, Smith pulled away and then tip toed the sideline after catch. Our WR are much improved, even without the supposed starters, Decker and Carpenter. Stoudermire is monster fast. He pulled away from everyone on the TD run. Green made several catches, Xzavian Brandon had a couple, and Da'Jon McKnight looked like a starter as well. Eric Lair made a nice catch while covered, reached back and pulled a ball in that was behind him.

We are very deep at RB, WR, and Gray will make an impact. Stoudermire could be the sleeper star of this team as a slotback and RET specialist. The line was adequate, but with the incoming freshman, maybe just as deep. The LBs will make an impact, and may be deeper than expected if the Freshman come through even a little. DBs the same.

Eric Ellestad has a very strong and accurate leg (48 yard FG that was good from 60, XPs very high and right down the middle, KOs to 5 and goal line).

IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE A GOPHER FAN!!!!
 



I stood in the endzone for most of the game, so it was tougher for me see exactly what was happening on every play...I loved Gray, Im sorry but I think he is gonna be a "PROGRAM" changing QB, I am hoping he can take us to the next level of the big ten, maybe this year. And if that comes at the cost of us having to sit another quality QB in Weber, so be it.

Also liked Kim Royston, came up with some big Tyrone Carter type hits from the safety position.

Kevin Whaley, DaJon McKnight looked nice as well.

Great atmosphere all around out there, but it will be awesome when we can fill up TCF for the spring game in years to come. Something more toward the 95,000 people that they had in Columbus today.
 

Can any of you tell me what kind of offensive sets we were in most of the game? Did we line up in shotgun much (or at all)?
 

GophersInIowa said:
Can any of you tell me what kind of offensive sets we were in most of the game? Did we line up in shotgun much (or at all)?
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From what I remember, most were runs with the QB behind center. There were a few shotgun sets. I think a few I and ace formations, but I may be mistaken.
 

Under Center...

If memory serves me correct, both Weber and Gray were under center for 80-90% of plays.
 



There was some pro-set as well. I can't remember the last time the Gophers ran that. I always wished they would have done it with Maroney and Barber, but did Mason run ace and I pretty exclusively?
 

The 2009 season is going to depend on how much, if any the defense improves and on the development of the offensive line. Once the lads start going against players who attend different schools, wear different school colors and attend school in different states, the defense and the offensive line play will determine how many games the Gophers win vs the number of games they will lose. If the offensive line plays well and begins to dominate it won't mtter who is handing off to which running back. If, and only if the offensive line wins the battle of our o.l. vs their front seven. Without above average offensive line play, there will not be many wins in the 2009 season. With above average offensive line play the quarterback will look good, and the pass will be there from time to time. It will all hinge on the play of the defense and effectivness of the offensive line. That is as it has always been in collge football. These two factors influence the outcome of Big Ten Football Games much more than who the qb and who the rb will be. If I am not mistaken it is wins that we are after. The offensive line and defense wins ball games. A qb merely builds stats and no atter what can not usually get it all done by himself. It's the line and the defensive front seven that can win ball games and dictate how the game will be played.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Can any of you tell me what kind of offensive sets we were in most of the game? Did we line up in shotgun much (or at all)?
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~75% under center

The two most frequent sets were:
3 WR, 1 TE, RB (TE was next to the Tackle but I did see him split out once for a 4 WR look but with 3 WR & 1 TE) and 2 WR, 1 TE, FB, RB--sometimes in an I and sometimes in an offset I. That was the personnel for about 90% of the plays.

In a short yardage 4th and 2 they did 3 TE (one TE was off the line like a wing back) with a WR split wide and single back. They also did a couple plays with 2 TE, 2 WR, RB but double tights was limited.
 

I echo the thoughts above. I was struck by our speed on offense. The rb's ran hard and hit the holes fast. wr's looked good and also have some speed.

I agree we will go as far as our lines will take us, but we have some playmakers. I thought the db's filled and tackled well. Spoke briefly to Kim Royston after the game and he said he was fine after getting his bell rung on a nice tackle.

No injuries that I know of from the game.

Kudos to St Thomas. It turned out to be a great venue for the game. Just a glorious afternoon.
 

Maresh

I wasn't able to go yesterday - how did Maresh look? He is one guy I am really pulling for to make a difference in a year of two.
 

Maroon92 said:
I wasn't able to go yesterday - how did Maresh look? He is one guy I am really pulling for to make a difference in a year of two.
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Given what he has had to go through, he looked pretty good, imo. He still has a way to go getting his body back into shape (understandable), but I think come fall, if there are no other big health problems, he'll be ready to rock.
 

It sounds like the offense looked good at points with some big plays, however how was the defense. Did the defense get any pressure on the QB and how was the pass coverage, was more of the typical Cosgrove type of bend but don't break defense.
 

GopherGod said:
It sounds like the offense looked good at points with some big plays, however how was the defense. Did the defense get any pressure on the QB and how was the pass coverage, was more of the typical Cosgrove type of bend but don't break defense.
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Cedric McKinney had 3 sacks, and Simone Lawerence had 1 that I saw. The defense overall appeared to play fast. Still a work in progress though.
 

STPGopher said:
Cedric McKinney had 3 sacks, and Simone Lawerence had 1 that I saw. The defense overall appeared to play fast. Still a work in progress though.
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Thanks for the update, how was the pass defense? Was it a lot of zone coverage or man?
 

GopherGod said:
Thanks for the update, how was the pass defense? Was it a lot of zone coverage or man?
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Too distracted to notice, but I believe I saw both. Met up with friends late, so I missed portions of the game just trying to find a place to settle in.

Here is a link to Gophersports.com On this page you should find stats and also be able to watch the entire spring game. Well that is what the link says anyway.http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=3728001

Cheers!
 


GopherGod said:
Thanks for the update, how was the pass defense? Was it a lot of zone coverage or man?
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Wilhite, Combs, and Cooper all got sacks from the second team D too.

Not all of the sacks would have been sacks in a real game. Gray did a pump fake on McKinley, got him in the air and was going around him but because McKinley touched him it got whistled dead. There was another sack that Gray would have gotten away from but I don't remember who got credited with it.

I paid more attention to the line play than the defensive coverage schemes but I saw cover 2 and man-to-man but I couldn't tell you the frequency of either. The two TD passes from Gray to Smith were in man-to-man. Dandridge missed an easy pick against Weber in a cover 2 defense.

Sherels missed the game (injury) so Simmons & Collado started at CB. The 2nd team was made up of guys that are unlikely to crack the dime defense (McKelton, Ogundipe, others) this year with Sherels coming back from injury and the addition of Carter and Kerry Lewis. Royston & Theret ran 1st team safeties and Dandridge & Rallis were 2nd team.
 


Big Play said:
We are stacked with Talent
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Maybe by gopher standards on paper but we have a long ways to go to compete with the big boys both on talent and on being able to coach up the players. We need to increase our recruiting classes as well as our coaching to compete with the Ohio States in the conference because they beat us on both fronts by a large margin.
 

Our coaching is just fine and you don't need to coach up good players, you only need to coach up terrible 2 star and walk ons. Our lack of talent has been our problem for decades not coaching.
 

lawrence21 said:
Our coaching is just fine and you don't need to coach up good players, you only need to coach up terrible 2 star and walk ons. Our lack of talent has been our problem for decades not coaching.
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facepalm.jpg


I hope to god you aren't in charge of a youth sports program. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Did you play collegiate sports? Heck, did you play HS intramural sports? Great talent/athletic ability isn't everything. Sometimes that's because the talented athlete has bad habits/mechanics. Those things are coached and that's how a player improves. Some talented althletes lack drive or focus. Coaching helps push these people to challenge themselves and become better. And assuming that the talented athlete(s) I'm referring to in my example have no issues with skills, mechanics, drive, etc they will still need someone to design, coach, and implement a scheme/playbook in order to be successful. That's why you don't see National Champion level teams drawing game winning plays in the Field-Turf with a stick. Last time I checked, Tim Tebow didn't tell Percy Harvin to make the cut on hist post route at the red bike.

Yes, talent is IMMENSELY IMPORTANT to the success of a program. But if Brew and his assistants can't coach then the talented athletes will not be as successful as they can/should be.
 

lawrence21 said:
Our coaching is just fine and you don't need to coach up good players, you only need to coach up terrible 2 star and walk ons. Our lack of talent has been our problem for decades not coaching.
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I love this kid. I knew if you just let him post he would continue to embarrass himself.
 

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