WoJo Freshman Wide Recievers

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nevisgopher

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I'm impressed with what the Gopher wide receivers have accomplished when there were huge concerns with that position going into the year. Obviously, there is still room for improvement. But, while listening to the game today I couldn't help but think that we could have couple special freshman wide receivers in Drew Wolitarski and Donovahn Jones. I see promise that they could develop into a formidable duo in the next 3+ years. I'm looking forward to watching their progress.
 

They made some good catches today. Jones had a 4th down reception that we normally seem to drop and he held on. Was sure glad to see that. It's sad we have a D3 Transfer and two true freshmen as the best receivers we have, but that's the breaks. Hopefully we continue to recruit the position because it's obviously an area of need.
 

Sparlimb said:
They made some good catches today. Jones had a 4th down reception that we normally seem to drop and he held on. Was sure glad to see that. It's sad we have a D3 Transfer and two true freshmen as the best receivers we have, but that's the breaks. Hopefully we continue to recruit the position because it's obviously an area of need.
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Winona is D-2.

I'm not sure where we'd be without Engel. I think he's been really good. I can't wait to see Jones get better and better. I've been a bit disappointed in Wolitarsky but my expectations were probably too high. I too thought we were completely screwed at WR to start the year, and while we still need help, I think they've done OK as a unit all things considered.
 

Donovahn is a QB who wanted a shot at the position, but smartly realized the future looks brighter as a converted WR. I remembered in one of the of Kill's early talk or travelling show saying that he likes to recruit QBs because that is usually what position the best athletes play in schools that are not necessarily powerhouses.
 

Can we make it WoJoWill since Maxx is essentially a wide receiver? I like the look of things next year at WR/TE!
WR- Freuchte, Jones, Wolitarsky, Harbison (if he figures things out)
TE- Williams, Goodger, Wozniak
 


GameDay said:
Can we make it WoJoWill since Maxx is essentially a wide receiver? I like the look of things next year at WR/TE!
WR- Freuchte, Jones, Wolitarsky, Harbison (if he figures things out)
TE- Williams, Goodger, Wozniak
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Of course....Williams and TE in general is huge in this offense.
 


Watching Wolitarsky in the open practices I was very impressed. It looked like his hands had magnets on them - I thought he had the best set of hands since Marcus Sherels played the position. Then the season started and he looked below average, he was out of sync with the QBs, and was dropping passes. They didn't throw to him much until the Indiana game and then, I think he dropped 90% of the passes that came his way. But I was impressed with his game today - it looks like he is relaxing out on the field and is adjusting to the speed of the game. I think there will be a lot of teams who will regret not offering him. He will be fun to watch as he develops more. I would not be surprised with a breakout game against Bucky.
 




Engle is a D-1 player and always has been. Derrick had the misfortune to play his senior year of high school in a dreadful program that used 4 different guys at QB and changed their offense scheme midway through the season. When you’re a receiver and no one is capable of throwing you the ball it’s difficult to impress college recruiters. Derrick was recruited by 2 different Big Ten teams but was only offered preferred walk-on. I have never understood this ongoing mantra that the Gopher receivers are not good enough. As I see it, now that our Gopher QB’s have shown significant improvement this past month the receiver are making more plays because the passes are more catchable.
 

Fan of Crazy George said:
Engle is a D-1 player and always has been. Derrick had the misfortune to play his senior year of high school in a dreadful program that used 4 different guys at QB and changed their offense scheme midway through the season. When you’re a receiver and no one is capable of throwing you the ball it’s difficult to impress college recruiters. Derrick was recruited by 2 different Big Ten teams but was only offered preferred walk-on. I have never understood this ongoing mantra that the Gopher receivers are not good enough. As I see it, now that our Gopher QB’s have shown significant improvement this past month the receiver are making more plays because the passes are more catchable.
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Good info - thanks for sharing. Looks like his alma mater certainly has turned things around. Chaska is 11-0 and in state semi's next wk.
 

Fan of Crazy George said:
Engle is a D-1 player and always has been. Derrick had the misfortune to play his senior year of high school in a dreadful program that used 4 different guys at QB and changed their offense scheme midway through the season. When you’re a receiver and no one is capable of throwing you the ball it’s difficult to impress college recruiters. Derrick was recruited by 2 different Big Ten teams but was only offered preferred walk-on. I have never understood this ongoing mantra that the Gopher receivers are not good enough. As I see it, now that our Gopher QB’s have shown significant improvement this past month the receiver are making more plays because the passes are more catchable.
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I didn't say he wasn't a D-1 caliber player. He definately is and is contributing to this team, and we sure need him. If one looks at it from the perspective of not knowing anything of the player, then it is okay to surmise that asking a player that started D2 (thanks for the correction above) to be one of your top 5 receivers is not often a recipe for success. It is working out for us with Engle, but not normally the route we'd like to go.
 

THese guys are freshman people. They are 18. They are going to be studs. Wolitarsky runs really crisp routes. Jones is going to leap like decker and get the ball. Give them some time. I am excited about our team next year. I think we could be really dangerous.
 



It would have been nice to have McDonald, Crawford tufts and barker still on the roster and Jamel not have had that injury last year but Williams, wolitarsky, Jones and Jamel are all freshman and will be a very good receiving core in a few years, hopefully they all stay healthy, don't transfer, don't do anything stupid etc.
 

Sparlimb said:
I didn't say he wasn't a D-1 caliber player. He definately is and is contributing to this team, and we sure need him. If one looks at it from the perspective of not knowing anything of the player, then it is okay to surmise that asking a player that started D2 (thanks for the correction above) to be one of your top 5 receivers is not often a recipe for success. It is working out for us with Engle, but not normally the route we'd like to go.

Let's not forget coach Kill has mentioned many times that Derrick has the best hands on the team. Thus he is returning punts and this has been a big turnaround starting with Northwestern game. He has not a fumble and replaced Jones which costed us lots of field position. He also is the fastest player on the team which Donavan Jones stated last week.
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I have been very impressed with the true freshman receivers. Go back and look at some footage of Eric Decker as a freshman. I remember the early positive talk about him coming out of gopher practices and then being underwhelmed by his play in games. Maybe I expected too much but if my memory is correct he was not a star from the get go. Boy did that change by the time he was a Junior and Senior. Wojo is that big strong receiver who knows how to run routes. Jones is raw but electric with the ball in his hands. Max Williams already plays like an upperclassman. I would like to know how the redshirt TE Wozniak) and the receiver Eric Carter have looked in practice this year. Anyone hear anything?
 

We started the year having nothing but questions about our passing game. Who would throw the ball? Who would catch it? Now we have two QB's with more accuracy and ability to go deep than any of us remember from this position in a long while. Now we have two true freshman wide outs and a true freshman TE with much more than just promise. Plus we have an OC we all wanted run out of ten 5 weeks ago who has opened up the play book beyond our wildest expectations. I expect I'm not alone feeling better about our passing game than I can ever remember.
 

Engel has played better than I expected. I have been a (vocal on this board) DJones proponent since I saw him in fall practice and the scrimmage. He is raw talent and could be very special. He needs time as does Wolitarski. I think both will be very good. IMO, there was a significant change in our WR strategy made during the bye week. If you haven't noticed, ever since the jNW game WoJo have played a ton - maybe even more than any other wr (including Engel). Way more than KJ, Issac, Hutton, etc. That wasn't the case prior to the bye. I have also noticed them throwing to Jones on critical plays in the past couple weeks (as option A).

Those guys are just Freshman. The future is bright with them. If you watch what the coaches are doing with them you will see that they agree. We could certainly use another WR to emerge, however, come next year.
 

Engel is drawing some double coverages as the leading receiver and only WR to score a TD in the Big Ten (5). Jones will help take some pressure/ coverages off of Engel. Maxx said at the luncheon that Engel is drawing lots of coverages his way leaving him wide open down the middle. If you watch the routes it looks like this is by design. I think Maxx will get some more attention now so Jones will need to make some plays. He has had some drops and the fumble so making freshmen mistakes but has some big play ability to help this year! Our passing game has gotten much better with better line play.
 


SWMNGOPHER said:
Does Engel have a decent shot of making it in the NFL?
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I would say probably not, but he's improved a ton in the past year and has a lot of athletic ability. I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way into the try-out pool and who knows what can happen. But I want to stress that he has really come a long way in a year. He was just a guy running fly patterns last season.
 

Freuchte has made some nice catches on third down but he hasn't showed his speed and made any deep catches. I think the saddest thing from Saturday was Wolitarsky getting robbed of what would have been a long completion by that non call. I found it humorous that the ref who should of made the call was from Pennsylvania. Engel is having a great year. What more can you say.
 

Well said, ncgo4

ncgo4 said:
We started the year having nothing but questions about our passing game. Who would throw the ball? Who would catch it? Now we have two QB's with more accuracy and ability to go deep than any of us remember from this position in a long while. Now we have two true freshman wide outs and a true freshman TE with much more than just promise. Plus we have an OC we all wanted run out of ten 5 weeks ago who has opened up the play book beyond our wildest expectations. I expect I'm not alone feeling better about our passing game than I can ever remember.
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