What are our options at QB?

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PMWinSTP said:
Did you go look at their roster? From 2005 to 2019 (15 seasons) Wisc was ranked in the top-15 eight times, and top-10 five times.
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Not disputing that Wisconsin had a nice run of success while we floundered for the most part under previous coaches. But as we sit here today, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota are in a very similar position talent wise and all will struggle to get above the second tier level of the conference behind the helmet schools at the top.

The college landscape has drastically shifted with pay for play and free transfers. Going to be extremely hard for most midwest schools to keep pace in the current landscape.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Is AK the best choice right now?

I’m usually very hesitant to change QBs but right now I don’t see AK getting better. He is staring down his receivers, even then he is at best a second or two late to choose to throw, and he is constantly inaccurate.

I can see at the games that there are WRs open at times, ball just isn’t getting to them.

Considering our secondary I’m guessing he looks ok in practices, but in gameday… I’m not even sure he is getting anything out of being out there.


How are Cole and the other guys? That inaccurate too?
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Has anyone checked to see if the rifle is loaded with blanks?
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
Was the weather different when we dominated UW for years? How did we compete before the 60s without "players from the South." If you were competing with Minnesota for a recruit, what would you tout about Madison while dissing Mpls? Wisconsin isn't in the same boat as we are, not since the early 60s. Oh, and back to the weather, NDSU recruits pretty well despite the weather. Iowa, Wisconsin, and NDSU seem to recruit better than we can. Why, what's common at those sites that's so different from our site?
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Come on man really......you can't think of what might have changed since the 60's in terms of college football?

And NDSU recruits better than us......interesting take, wrong but interesting. NDSU would get slaughtered if they had to play a Big Ten schedule. They can be competitive with power 5 teams a few times a year but if they had to play a full conference slate against Big Ten teams it would get ugly.
 

on the new episode of "Gopher Gridiron Radio," Ryan Burns and his cousin, ex-Gopher Derek Burns, talked about the QB situation quite a bit. Ryan Burns made the point that the Gophers identified Athan as "the man" back in 2018. He says that MN even went as far as not taking a QB in one of their next recruiting classes because they wanted to show AK how committed they were to him.

they also talked about needing to develop the passing game. with winnable games coming up against (especially) Purdue, Illinois and Michigan State, those could/should be games where the Gophers really work on the passing game. But both Ryan and Derek Burns are worried that Fleck will go back into - as they put it - "turtle ball" because they think Fleck believes that gives him the best chance of winning.

as Ryan Burns put it - he is sick of hearing people complain about the OC, because the person who is most responsible for the style of offense is the Head Coach.

I see that the Lindsey kid from Arkansas - a Gopher commit - has been lighting it up this Fall in HS. Hope he stays committed.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
Was the weather different when we dominated UW for years? How did we compete before the 60s without "players from the South." If you were competing with Minnesota for a recruit, what would you tout about Madison while dissing Mpls? Wisconsin isn't in the same boat as we are, not since the early 60s. Oh, and back to the weather, NDSU recruits pretty well despite the weather. Iowa, Wisconsin, and NDSU seem to recruit better than we can. Why, what's common at those sites that's so different from our site?
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One word... Tradition. Minnesota has been below to middle pack team for years. People from the south barely know who Minnesota mascot is. I believe Fleck has put them on map nationally and because of his personality and culture he's building more kids are wanting to come play for him. This 24 class is really nice and if they all come I believe they can help push this team to a top 25 program.
 


btowngopher said:
Iowa and Wisconsin recruit marginally better, they have a little more instate talent.
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They have consistently won at a higher level. If you feel the talent is on the same level, what does that leave to explain the success gap?
 

dbradford29 said:
One word... Tradition. Minnesota has been below to middle pack team for years. People from the south barely know who Minnesota mascot is. I believe Fleck has put them on map nationally and because of his personality and culture he's building more kids are wanting to come play for him. This 24 class is really nice and if they all come I believe they can help push this team to a top 25 program.
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Isn't this the Seven National Championship board? Didn't that create tradition? And if so, what caused us to fade beginning in the early 60s? I agree that tradition was lost but I see that as a consequence not a cause.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Come on man really......you can't think of what might have changed since the 60's in terms of college football?

And NDSU recruits better than us......interesting take, wrong but interesting. NDSU would get slaughtered if they had to play a Big Ten schedule. They can be competitive with power 5 teams a few times a year but if they had to play a full conference slate against Big Ten teams it would get ugly.
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NDSU recruits well to play at the level they are in. What are you suggesting happened in the early sixties in the Twin Cities that didn't happen in Madison, Iowa City, Bloomington, West Lafayette, et al?
 

btowngopher said:
Iowa and Wisconsin recruit marginally better, they have a little more instate talent.
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Iowa has more instate talent? Really? A state with a lower population and four D1 programs to dilute the talent? If Iowa recruits only marginally better, why do they have a long winning streak against us? What makes Iowa City and Madison more attractive to recruits (even if, as you characterize it as "marginal") than the Twin Cities since the early 60s?
 




No offense meant towards the recruit from Arkansas, I'm sure he had his reasons for choosing Minn (maybe we actually got him some NIL? maybe really liked the culture? etc.)

But if we're really going to revert to the "PJ Fleck Service Academy" on offense ... why would any QB want to come here?
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
Isn't this the Seven National Championship board? Didn't that create tradition? And if so, what caused us to fade beginning in the early 60s? I agree that tradition was lost but I see that as a consequence not a cause.
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We were a Top Ten team 3 times in the early 60's and went to two Rose Bowls. Hardly a fade. Hell, my last two years at the U, Warmath had us in a final Top Twenty Poll and we were co-Big Ten champions (67-68). The fade might have started with Stoll although he had some success; but it really happened with Salem in the 80's. Memorial Stadium was a dump; we made the idiotic move to a bigger dump; and I seem to remember a couple of administrations that couldn't have cared less about the football team.
 

PMWinSTP said:
They have consistently won at a higher level. If you feel the talent is on the same level, what does that leave to explain the success gap?
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It used to be more of a gap, since Fleck it’s narrowed quite a bit. They still recruit a little better most years and have had a little more consistent success, although since 2018 the gophers have the highest finish in the AP poll of the three teams.
 



FanSinceTheFifties said:
Iowa has more instate talent? Really? A state with a lower population and four D1 programs to dilute the talent? If Iowa recruits only marginally better, why do they have a long winning streak against us? What makes Iowa City and Madison more attractive to recruits (even if, as you characterize it as "marginal") than the Twin Cities since the early 60s?
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Yes Iowa has more instate talent, at least according to recruiting services. Why do they have a long win streak vs us? Have you watched the game? You think they have had a big talent advantage each year? We’ve definitely outplayed them several times and choked away what could have easily been wins.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
Was the weather different when we dominated UW for years? How did we compete before the 60s without "players from the South." If you were competing with Minnesota for a recruit, what would you tout about Madison while dissing Mpls? Wisconsin isn't in the same boat as we are, not since the early 60s. Oh, and back to the weather, NDSU recruits pretty well despite the weather. Iowa, Wisconsin, and NDSU seem to recruit better than we can. Why, what's common at those sites that's so different from our site?
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NDSU recruits great for FCS level. If we switched rosters with them, we might have one win over EMU and that's it. Stop acting like their players are competitive at the B1G level!
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
NDSU recruits well to play at the level they are in. What are you suggesting happened in the early sixties in the Twin Cities that didn't happen in Madison, Iowa City, Bloomington, West Lafayette, et al?
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Unless you've been on an acid trip since the early 60's, that answer isn't hard to figure out!
 


PJ Fleck is not a thinker he is a brand. Have you ever noticed that leaders, coaches that are thinkers and place the person in front of their ego are the ones with dedicated players and win. They do not have to wave their banners all the time. We have plenty resources. They have been a losing program for a long time. Look what Augsburg is doing with their new coaches. PJ has done a good job. Might need someone to stand on his shoulders down the road.
 

60's Guy said:
The spring game. Cole's opportunities to show out are going to be very limited. You can't dismiss it...he knows he is not going to get game time without injury. He clearly performed in his only opportunity...the spring game. In North Carolina he was put into a disorganized and ill advised play calling disaster...you gotta put guys in a position to succeed. We sabotaged him.

Kramer played in two high school state championships at Minnesota's top level. AK8 played at a smaller class private school but covid wiped out much of his playing time. So, he is playing on potential...he hasn't done it. Not saying can't but he hasn't ... Kramer has led a team to the title game twice.
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Minnesota high school football, that’s like bragging about being the skinniest kid at fat camp.
 

GopherGod said:
Minnesota high school football, that’s like bragging about being the skinniest kid at fat camp.
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Tell that to Trey Lance, Most of the NDSU football team, the starting tackles at Wisconsin and ND. Alt will be a Top 10 pick this year. Singer, starter at USC. We have more then enough talent. The difference is most of the kids from the Iowa and Wisconsin, want to play for their state. PJ was recruiting more kids out of Illinois his first 5 years then Minnesota. The Iowa coaches are reaching out to every HS player that has potential.
 

Tommyboy said:
Tell that to Trey Lance, Most of the NDSU football team, the starting tackles at Wisconsin and ND. Alt will be a Top 10 pick this year. Singer, starter at USC. We have more then enough talent. The difference is most of the kids from the Iowa and Wisconsin, want to play for their state. PJ was recruiting more kids out of Illinois his first 5 years then Minnesota. The Iowa coaches are reaching out to every HS player that has potential.
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Re-read your post and the small number of players you yourself listed, including a whole bunch or FCS players and tell me again about the talent of Minnesota high school football.
 

GopherGod said:
Re-read your post and the small number of players you yourself listed, including a whole bunch or FCS players and tell me again about the talent of Minnesota high school football.
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Exactly, yes 3,4,5 guys a year from MN turn out really good. Assuming you’re able to identify and land all of them, you still need to fill out the other 75% of the roster.
 


GopherGod said:
Minnesota high school football, that’s like bragging about being the skinniest kid at fat camp.
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I get the humor but at the Eden Prairie level I’m guessing it would lose to only a handful of states?
Versus a guy who Trey Lance like didn’t play in games.
I don’t know if Kramer is the guy. I just think AK8 has opened the door wide enough that Michigan 2nd half would have been a great time to see if we looked any different under Kramer.
 

BigGopher69 said:
No its deeper 5 steps vertical, some teams do 7. WR has to run a winning angle against the DB so it can be fat not skinny. Basically its a deeper slant between a post and slant
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“More slant than usual slant”

“Hut!”
 

60's Guy said:
I get the humor but at the Eden Prairie level I’m guessing it would lose to only a handful of states?
Versus a guy who Trey Lance like didn’t play in games.
I don’t know if Kramer is the guy. I just think AK8 has opened the door wide enough that Michigan 2nd half would have been a great time to see if we looked any different under Kramer.
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Trust me, after UNC Kramer would have been handing the ball off had he come in.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Trust me, after UNC Kramer would have been handing the ball off had he come in.
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So, a guy hasn't played in any games because that's not how we do it. AK8 gets dinged and Kramer goes in. No chance to warmup, no chance to get loose, no chance to settle down. PJ likes taking timeouts. Call one, let the guy play catch, get loose, pump him up a little, tell him what we are thinking play calls-get his feedback. Did that happen? No. Instead, stone cold his first throw in a game is 50 yards.
Gee, he really is a bad QB.
It'd be arguable if he at least played in previous games but first time in a game this season, not loose, anybody is going to be uncomfortable. You can't tell nothing from North Carolina!
AND, it's 52 to 10 ... who cares if he throws an interception? We now have proven to him and the rest of the team...the solution is not as simple as a new quarterback. We got to block better, catch the ball better, play call better, etc etc.
But if he leads the team down the field we got different answers.
 
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