We have to talk about the play of #Gophers Maverick Baranowski yesterday.

Donate To GopherHole

Both he and D Williams played just fine.

I think their struggles have been well documented against competent passing offenses this year.


But it’s certainly plausible that those two could be our starters, with our “big nickle” the defacto 3rd LB, the rest of the season.
 

Coach Fleck said this week that they are getting play "ahead of schedule" due to injuries. Kind of like Jordan Howden did his freshman year. He and Dev Williams will be great, but ideally they could use another year before being thrust into starting action. Trial by fire
 

It isn’t ideal to have your two LB’s begin the season with no prior starts and very few snaps. Devon and Maverick are learning on the fly. Run defense comes more naturally to gifted LBs; pass defense is often a skill that takes maturation. Cody’s absence, LeCaptain’s injury (and the transfers of Oliver and Willis) has really stressed the LB position. This is baptism by fire. But both are getting better each week. I thought LB play was pretty good against Iowa’s running game.
 
Last edited:



I think at this point I’m assuming Cody L will never be back this season. And if he does come back, will he be so rusty that it is better to play battle-tested Dev and Maverick anyway? 🤷🏼‍♂️
 

jonnyganas said:
Coach Fleck said this week that they are getting play "ahead of schedule" due to injuries. Kind of like Jordan Howden did his freshman year. He and Dev Williams will be great, but ideally they could use another year before being thrust into starting action. Trial by fire
Click to expand...
??? They are playing.
 

Anyone who was at the practice facility won the ax:

When PJ spoke he listed all the freshman who were significant contributors in that game too.

Having young guys step up in this game, reminds me of that.
 




Baranowski also had a really nice play on coverage. It was like 3rd and 12 and the pass would have only gone for 7, but Baranowski had great coverage nonetheless.
 

Nobody needed to bye week more than Maverick. He got beat up first in garbage time I can’t member which game when he shouldn’t have been in there looks like he suffered a stinger in his neck and shoulder. I think it’s been bothering him quite a bit. He looked very fresh yesterday.
 

Gopherchase said:
Nobody needed to bye week more than Maverick. He got beat up first in garbage time I can’t member which game when he shouldn’t have been in there looks like he suffered a stinger in his neck and shoulder. I think it’s been bothering him quite a bit. He looked very fresh yesterday.
Click to expand...
And yes, he’s about a year away from being really ready to go needs to gain probably 15 pounds but I think the kid has shown a lot of balls playing almost every snap all year.
 




He’s going to be very good. He seems to have good instincts and he also had good enough speed by my eye test. Needs to work on pass coverage as others have said and a little more “sand in the pants” as the old timers would say. That extra weight will help him even more in the run game. Oh, we have that really good kid from Michigan coming in next year too at LB. Future looks bright at this position.
 

Plus he has a great name especially for a linebacker.
 

Watched the replay of the game yesterday, very impressed with Williams and Baranowski, they stuffed some gaps and made big plays.
 

He has been pretty terrible in pass coverage, but he has great instincts in the run game. The missed tackles will be corrected. The baseline athleticism is high--bright future.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom