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diefirma

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Just got back from the scrimmage - some quick observations.

Weber is back! Looked really good - accurate and no hesitation.

The running game is back. The line is MUCH better and the running backs are much more patient in waiting for the holes to open up and then darting through them. Bennett and Kirkwood looked quick and shifty in the hole. This team will score on everyone they play and dominate the weaker teams.

Lots of different players on D. Hard to get a feel but as a whole they are big and fast. Faster than last year I think. There was really some heavy hitting going on by the D. I think once they settle on who the starters are they will improve quickly. By the SC game they will be as good as last year if not better.

I have not been a big Gray fan but today proved me wrong. The lights seem to be coming on. If he keeps improving we will be fine at QB next year. He is not as good as Weber now and Moses is not as good as Gray now. Gray looked very good at WR. He will present big time match up problems against everyone they play.

Ra'Shede is a physical force but didn't especially stand out to me but I wasn't watching him all that closely. Edwards needs work but like Ra'Shede is also a physical force. I think Edwards will redshirt.

The receivers in general looked better - better blocking and sharper patterns.

Overall I was VERY impressed. This is a good team that will be able to play with ANYONE on their schedule barring serious injury to Weber. They will handle MTSU and SD with no trouble and it is 4 weeks until the SC game. By that time they will have all the early season bugs worked out.

Strap on your seatbelts. It is going to be a fun ride!!
 

diefirma said:
Ra'Shede is a physical force but didn't especially stand out to me but I wasn't watching him all that closely. Edwards needs work but like Ra'Shede is also a physical force. I think Edwards will redshirt.
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Keep in mind that Hageman is injured, so that may have affected his play.

Thanks for the recap. It's very encouraging. :)
 

diefirma said:
Just got back from the scrimmage - some quick observations.

Weber is back! Looked really good - accurate and no hesitation.

The running game is back. The line is MUCH better and the running backs are much more patient in waiting for the holes to open up and then darting through them. Bennett and Kirkwood looked quick and shifty in the hole. This team will score on everyone they play and dominate the weaker teams.

Lots of different players on D. Hard to get a feel but as a whole they are big and fast. Faster than last year I think. There was really some heavy hitting going on by the D. I think once they settle on who the starters are they will improve quickly. By the SC game they will be as good as last year if not better.

I have not been a big Gray fan but today proved me wrong. The lights seem to be coming on. If he keeps improving we will be fine at QB next year. He is not as good as Weber now and Moses is not as good as Gray now. Gray looked very good at WR. He will present big time match up problems against everyone they play.

Ra'Shede is a physical force but didn't especially stand out to me but I wasn't watching him all that closely. Edwards needs work but like Ra'Shede is also a physical force. I think Edwards will redshirt.

The receivers in general looked better - better blocking and sharper patterns.

Overall I was VERY impressed. This is a good team that will be able to play with ANYONE on their schedule barring serious injury to Weber. They will handle MTSU and SD with no trouble and it is 4 weeks until the SC game. By that time they will have all the early season bugs worked out.

Strap on your seatbelts. It is going to be a fun ride!!
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great recap
 

I hate to be the guy, but these posters are drinking the Kool-aid.
I am a very big gopher fan, but today's scrimmage gave me no reason to think we will be a .500 team. Our O-line was improved, Ed Olson was the 1st team LT all day, but still looked slow and unable to control the line of scrimmage.
Kirkwood will be a player, he has gary russell size thighs. Weber looked ok, still some inaccurate throws but impressed me with what seemed to be a quiet confidence.
Our defense looked faster as a whole with many big hits, but was inconsistent and gave up some big plays. I loved the aggressive play they had, specifically johnson with his big hits, but kirksey and lewis also were playin like beasts.
Tyrone Bouie was the player that impressed me the most outside of Kirkwood, he is fast and aggressive and had a really nice move on a CB blitz.
Overall, it seemed like there was a lack of urgency and energy, a showing that has me worried when the best of the best come to town. We for sure have the talent, but i was not shown anything today that proved to me we can improve significantly.

Go gophs
 

I love the Gophers, but . . .

I was at the scrimmage. After hearing how great the strength and conditioning program has been I was surprised to see that most of the O-line(except Ed Olson) had big guts hanging over their pants. Maybe that's what you need to get to the weight to play D-1 OL but they were not impressive to look at. I went on the field after the game and was again surprised, as I always am when I see footbal players away from the field, at how small the guys are. Most of them were not a lot bigger than I am. Overall I thought the scrimmage was mixed. I have no idea how good these guys will be but I hope that the Kool-id drinkers are correct.
 


Tough to get a real read when 1's go against 2's, but there are some athletes there.
 

Crowd of 4-5,000.

Weber looked more poised han last year.

The defense looked good. Johnson had 3 big hits.

Offense...I didn't see anything special. Kirkwood has potential.
 

I only caught the last approximately one-half of the scrimmage, but I was extremely impressed with Kirkwood. He seems to have great vision and feet and rarely went down on initial contact. A tough, hard-nosed runner!
 

Curseislifted33 said:
I hate to be the guy, but these posters are drinking the Kool-aid.
I am a very big gopher fan, but today's scrimmage gave me no reason to think we will be a .500 team. Our O-line was improved, Ed Olson was the 1st team LT all day, but still looked slow and unable to control the line of scrimmage.
Kirkwood will be a player, he has gary russell size thighs. Weber looked ok, still some inaccurate throws but impressed me with what seemed to be a quiet confidence.
Our defense looked faster as a whole with many big hits, but was inconsistent and gave up some big plays. I loved the aggressive play they had, specifically johnson with his big hits, but kirksey and lewis also were playin like beasts.
Tyrone Bouie was the player that impressed me the most outside of Kirkwood, he is fast and aggressive and had a really nice move on a CB blitz.
Overall, it seemed like there was a lack of urgency and energy, a showing that has me worried when the best of the best come to town. We for sure have the talent, but i was not shown anything today that proved to me we can improve significantly.

Go gophs
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Agree 100% with this one.

There were several flags thrown for "high hits". I'm all in favor of protecting their heads, but this new enforcement will alter the outcome of games. Example: the flag thrown on the goal line...WR leaps in the air, catches the ball and on the way down the DB lays his shoulder into the WR's upper chest area. The ball pops out and a flag was thrown. The DB did not leave his feet; he laid the hit on the WR coming down. What's a defender supposed to do?
 



I don't expect there to be the same urgency and energy in a practice that there would be in a real game. You don't want to take out your own guys.
 

The reports on Kirkwood are true, he has talent

You can see that Kirkwood kid has some ability to see the hole and make the right read.
He is reasonably quick for a bowling ball thick legged type of guy too. I was impressed, the hit that he took in the back field was loud and a pretty good shot and he kept his feet and did not go down. The play was not for a big gain but if he can do that in a game and spin off that type of hit and shake free he is going to make some good plays. Need's to learn to cover up and protect the ball at this level even as strong as he might be, guy's will be popping on the football. Hageman, KGM and Willhite Garin all had good speed off the edge and could be the pass rushers we have been seeking.
I was impressed with the freshman O-lineman, there is a lot of talent in that group, Lienkiwiez and Epping are both guys that will play a lot of ball down the road. They identified some kids that have good frames, good quickness and are already developing some serious lean muscle mass. This new group of lineman is big and strong for young guys not big and fat with the big budahs hanging out. Manuel the safety and Christian Lewis both impressed me as being physically ready to help out, even Brock Vareen, talented athletes that are only going to get better with age. Harold Legaina number 94 he is phyiscally mature and in shape, could be a contributor if need be. Weber did look solid and poised cannot say he did anything that was really bad or crummy, he played well in limited action, he is the clear number 1 guy, you can see that, but the future is bright.

Marquies Gray he is a natural runner and pass catcher, you can tell he is an elite athlete that has some special ability to make guy's miss and even run people over if he want's too. He is going to be a pretty good QB down the road if we do not lose patience with him and force him to play to much receiver.Kid's got a gun now he needs to set his feet and follow through, not get to confident in his arm and forget about his feet. Brewster was not blowing smoke when he said this might be his most talented Freshman class, there is a different kind of athlete in this class, a lot more elite Marquies Gray body types where they are physically quicker and stronger than most freshman groups have been. This will be the fastest Gopher defense we have seen in a long time, there is just more quickness than we are used to seeing you can see that already.
 


MNRideorDieChick said:
Edwards will not redshirt. He is a junior and he will start.
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They were referring to Lamonte, I believe. I also did a double take, and then thought about it for a minute. I wish Jewhan would have redshirted his freshman year, though.
 



Curseislifted33 said:
I hate to be the guy, but these posters are drinking the Kool-aid.
I am a very big gopher fan, but today's scrimmage gave me no reason to think we will be a .500 team.
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Really, no reason to think we'll be a .500 team and then you listed all the things you saw that you liked?:rolleyes:

Curseislifted33 said:
Our defense looked faster as a whole with many big hits, but was inconsistent and gave up some big plays. I loved the aggressive play they had, specifically johnson with his big hits, but kirksey and lewis also were playin like beasts.
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Ah, I see, you must not actually have watched because kirksey was only playing like a beast on the sidelines in the boot he's wearing to protect his ankle.
 

jewhan edwards my bad. and i listed what i liked because i hate all the negativity on this board.
 

RodentRampage said:
I don't expect there to be the same urgency and energy in a practice that there would be in a real game. You don't want to take out your own guys.
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what?? have you ever played sports competitively? They better be playing with the same energy and urgency as a real game.
 

c'monman said:
what?? have you ever played sports competitively? They better be playing with the same energy and urgency as a real game.
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That's a great way to have your roster depleted by injury. You may have noticed the QBs wearing those special yellow shirts at the scrimmage. They don't plow into the QBs like they do in a real game. If we followed your reasoning, then they would, they would play it like a real game. So go ahead and take it up with every coach out there.
 

The one thing we learned from the scrimmage is that the Gophers will definelty play football in fall.
 

QB's wear the jersey and it touch and your sacked. Now the eye in the sky is there to evaluate every block, every tackle, every angle. If you want to start, you must carry out your assignment flawlessly. No mental errors, no physical errors, just do it. And you better be doing it at full speed. Most players get hurt when the are passively going through the motions, and get hit by someone going full tilt.

Go easy on your teammates? Grab a helmet and get in there.
 

auric@heart said:
QB's wear the jersey and it touch and your sacked. Now the eye in the sky is there to evaluate every block, every tackle, every angle. If you want to start, you must carry out your assignment flawlessly. No mental errors, no physical errors, just do it. And you better be doing it at full speed. Most players get hurt when the are passively going through the motions, and get hit by someone going full tilt.

Go easy on your teammates? Grab a helmet and get in there.
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So you must be against those special jerseys the QBs wear?
 

RodentRampage said:
That's a great way to have your roster depleted by injury. You may have noticed the QBs wearing those special yellow shirts at the scrimmage. They don't plow into the QBs like they do in a real game. If we followed your reasoning, then they would, they would play it like a real game. So go ahead and take it up with every coach out there.
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wow.....if your statement even remotely reflects the attitude of the players and coaches, we are in for a long season.
 

RodentRampage said:
So you must be against those special jerseys the QBs wear?
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no he is not at all. There is a difference between going full speed and taking a cheap shot on a qb that is wearing a "red shirt". People that have actually played football and sports competitively understand these basic concepts.
 


RodentRampage said:
I thought for you, "we" referred to the Hawkeyes.
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(LOL)lets stick with the topic.... Your point holds ZERO validity. To state that a team should not give / play with 110% effort and urgency in pre season practice is the dumbest comment you could possibly make.
 

c'monman said:
(LOL)lets stick with the topic.... Your point holds ZERO validity. To state that a team should not give / play with 110% effort and urgency in pre season practice is the dumbest comment you could possibly make.
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I will give your assessment all the consideration it deserves.
 

RodentRampage said:
I will give your assessment all the consideration it deserves.
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OK IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, ASK BREWSTER IF HE THINKS HIS PLAYERS SHOULD PLAY WITH 110% URGENCY/ENERGY DURING PRESEASON SCRIMMAGES?


just keep on coming with the personal attacks because you know you are unable to make a valid point. Nice.
 


auric@heart said:
QB's wear the jersey and it touch and your sacked. Now the eye in the sky is there to evaluate every block, every tackle, every angle. If you want to start, you must carry out your assignment flawlessly. No mental errors, no physical errors, just do it. And you better be doing it at full speed. Most players get hurt when the are passively going through the motions, and get hit by someone going full tilt.

Go easy on your teammates? Grab a helmet and get in there.
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well said. If the gophers had rodents attitude, this program would NEVER GO ANYWHERE.
 

And if you think practices are going to be indistinguishable from games, you're going to be mistaken.

And you're the last person who should complain about personal attacks.
 

RR, our friend amuses me too. But he has a point when he called out your claim that they weren't expected to be full energy. As far as I can tell, he wasn't claiming it should/was run like a real game, just that the team was expected to put game time effort out. I don't recall anyone complaining that Johnson gave 110% when he blew up people with those hits. Brew wants 110% effort, energy, and execution from the team in a scrimmage like that. I'm sure what they did say to the team in advance was to be smart (i.e. don't throw down runners, be extra careful not to go helmet to helmet, etc). Of course its not a real game and the QB's get extra protection, but your original urgency/energy post was just off base.
 

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