Which player are you most excited to watch in spring practice?

Which player are you mist excited to watch in spring practice?

  • Jeff Jones

    Votes: 51 59.3%
  • Rodney Smith

    Votes: 8 9.3%
  • Melvin Holland

    Votes: 10 11.6%
  • Isaiah Gentry

    Votes: 6 7.0%
  • Desmond Gant

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Jerry Gibson

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Cody Poock

    Votes: 3 3.5%
  • Jacques Perra

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Ace Rodgers

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • other

    Votes: 4 4.7%

  • Total voters
    86

Has to be Jeff Jones. Local kid, lotta hype, and his potential impact because we run it so much.
 

For me, it's Jeff Jones or Duke Anyanwu.

Jeff is obvious. He's dynamic, blue chip, local and has a chance to replace one of the better Gophers in the last 10 years (Cobb).

Duke also has a chance to replace a Gopher great in Maxx Williams. Duke can't seem to stay healthy, so this is an enormous season for him. He looked dynamic last spring and was our best receiver during the spring game (Maxx was out). He is a really large kid, but looked like a WR catching the ball. If he can stay healthy, he's going to be REALLY good. You always miss a kid like Maxx Williams, but Duke could be really good. I hope he stays healthy.
 

Actually interested to see all of the above. I think Mitch is our QB for the next two years, if healthy. But I'd like to compare Perra
to the other quarterbacks. Lots of buzz on Rodney Smith possibly being better than Jeff Jones from multiple comments...interesting to see those two guys together. Most of those people making those comments haven't seen Jeff Jones practice. Also, for sure
curious about the wide receivers. Curious too, if Rodrick is viewed as the starter or looks buried. Wanna see Wozniak again. I thought he was impressive catching the ball. And agree with Bob about Duke, too.
 



We all know what were gonna have with Jones, but I think Rodney Smith is the far more intriguing prospect. I am hoping that we are going to have a two headed monster in the backfield.

Also of course i want to see the passing game show some signs of life.
 


Can we add Charlie Rogers to the poll? I think he's going to really shine. In fact, there are so many exciting news faces coming up I think I'll pee my pants. Oops, just did
 

Can we add Charlie Rogers to the poll? I think he's going to really shine. In fact, there are so many exciting news faces coming up I think I'll pee my pants. Oops, just did

Check the poll options again. Second bottom option.
 



Isaiah Gentry. I want to see if he is as fluid as he seemed on video. Does he really catch the ball with his hands? Has he work on routes, and how quick is he in and out of his breaks. And can he go get the ball on go, post, or deep dig? We will find someone to run the ball, the thing we need is a 6'4" receiver who stretches the field. We have had the size before, but no hands, no routes. We have had the speed before but no hands, no routes. We had a receiver with great hands, precise routes, and he was the last consistent threat, Eric Decker. Can Gentry add the element of deep routes along with great hands, and precise routes.
 


Without a doubt Jeff Jones. You have to take a look at what other true freshmen backs did across the nation. Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Royce Freeman, Nick Chubb, Samaje Perine, and Nick Wilson. All of those guys came in and were not only productive, they were explosive. Jeff was ranked right up there with those guys and proved himself at the Under Armour game. I know Rodrick Williams has had to wait awhile and the staff loves Rodney Smith, but I'm expecting Jeff to run away with the job fairly early.
 

Without a doubt Jeff Jones. You have to take a look at what other true freshmen backs did across the nation. Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Royce Freeman, Nick Chubb, Samaje Perine, and Nick Wilson. All of those guys came in and were not only productive, they were explosive. Jeff was ranked right up there with those guys and proved himself at the Under Armour game. I know Rodrick Williams has had to wait awhile and the staff loves Rodney Smith, but I'm expecting Jeff to run away with the job fairly early.

And Justin Jackson at Northwestern was a 1,000 yard rusher too. Jeff was ranked a good amount higher than him too. RB seems like an accurate position to predict, not much of a crapshoot and it is easy to transition to from HS to college. I think that barring injury, there is a low probability that Jeff is a flop.
 



Can we add Charlie Rogers to the poll? I think he's going to really shine. In fact, there are so many exciting news faces coming up I think I'll pee my pants. Oops, just did

Yeah I'm gonna go with Chaz Rogers as well. It's either gonna be boom or bust with this kid and I'm hoping for the mother lode. I love watching our secondary right now.
 

I voted for Melvin Holland - unfortunately, with my track record, this is the kiss of death. Expect kicking from him: either kicked off the team or kicking someone in the head in Mankato. That's how my votes have gone these past few years.

Come on Melvin; buck the trend!
 

It's got to be Jeff Jones, I want to see what all they hype is about.
 


For me, it's Jeff Jones or Duke Anyanwu.

Jeff is obvious. He's dynamic, blue chip, local and has a chance to replace one of the better Gophers in the last 10 years (Cobb).

Duke also has a chance to replace a Gopher great in Maxx Williams. Duke can't seem to stay healthy, so this is an enormous season for him. He looked dynamic last spring and was our best receiver during the spring game (Maxx was out). He is a really large kid, but looked like a WR catching the ball. If he can stay healthy, he's going to be REALLY good. You always miss a kid like Maxx Williams, but Duke could be really good. I hope he stays healthy.

I agree with this totally. Obviously Jeff will be exciting to see how he has progressed. But, I am excited to see Duke as well. Agree on the spring game last year where he looked like our best receiving option that was out there playing on the field at the time. I can also agree that, IF he stays healthy, I think he will be very, very good for us. Hoping he is able to stay healthy throughtout the year.
 

I have two.

Mitch - to see if improvement is there in his passing.

The new and red shirt receivers as a group/

The reason: If we see a big improvement in these two --- watch out B10 here come the Gophers!!!
 

For me it is the offense as a whole. I feel pretty confident in where our defense is but there are a lot of question marks on offense.
 

We all know what were gonna have with Jones, but I think Rodney Smith is the far more intriguing prospect. I am hoping that we are going to have a two headed monster in the backfield.

Also of course i want to see the passing game show some signs of life.

We all know what we THINK we have with Jones but he still has to prove it. Jones is the easy answer to the poll because he was so highly rated and has had to sit for a year. If the WR were listed as a group I might have selected them though.
 

For those saying Anyanwu, are you expecting him to be full-go this spring? I'd be surprised if that's the case considering he tore his ACL for the 2nd time 7 months prior to the start of spring ball.

I went with Jones, although there's a lot of guys on that list I'm intrigued by.
 

For those saying Anyanwu, are you expecting him to be full-go this spring? I'd be surprised if that's the case considering he tore his ACL for the 2nd time 7 months prior to the start of spring ball.

I went with Jones, although there's a lot of guys on that list I'm intrigued by.

The offense in general is going to be interesting to watch because there are going to be a ton of new faces at the skill positions this spring and fall. If you take the QB rushing stats out of the equation we have to replace 81% of our non QB rushing yards and 71% of our non QB rushing TD's.

Receiving on the other hand......we need to replace 72% of our receiving yardage and we need to replace 92% of our receiving TD's (almost all Maxx).

The production will come from somewhere but heading into the season there are very few known commodities at the RB/WR/TE positions on offense.
 

Since our passing game has held us back the last few years - Isaiah Gentry. Kill says he can be all Big Ten before he's done.
 


For those saying Anyanwu, are you expecting him to be full-go this spring? I'd be surprised if that's the case considering he tore his ACL for the 2nd time 7 months prior to the start of spring ball.

I went with Jones, although there's a lot of guys on that list I'm intrigued by.

I went with Duke, but you're 100% right. It is really unlikely that the staff keeps his activity to a minimum this spring. Good call. I guess I am excited to see what Duke does in camp next year :)
 


Jones, Jones, and Jones. And then more Jones.
 

My pick is Jeff Jones but look at all the young offensive skill players listed! I'm honestly excited to see each of them at Spring Ball. A contribution from just 2-3 of them will improve the offense immensely. That's a pretty encouraging list.
 

Jeff Jones, because he is a Minnesota kid, and I am pulling for the dude, he has had to overcome some tough struggles at home to make it to this level. I hope everything works out for him, don't sleep on Jeff Jones, he is strong and if he can run between the tackles and make people miss like Cobb did good luck to anyone trying to knock him off his feet.
 




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