Off Season for Mitch

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He fixes his footwork and learns to set his feet and Leidner will become a more consistent passer. The more complicated throws and difficult throws he seems to do that, the stuff that is easy he seems to get too relaxed with his mechanics, get's sloppy and overthrows or drives balls in to the turf. He can make or break his future this offseason in football by going to one of those QB camps to work on his footwork. As long as the student athlete pays there own way and doesn't have an agent or booter pay for it they can go to a QB academey. He would benefit from working with Weinke in Florida a lot. The footwork stuff would become muscle memory if he went to work on it. He will be fine Leidner, he just needs to be more consistent.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I actually think this is something he needs to get a lot better at, especially on the long ball. There's been multiple long passes where he has misjudged the ball, was stumbling, or let the ball come to him instead of attacking it.
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I agree 100% with this and this is why I mentioned Jones in my original post. He's made 2 or 3 good plays, but for what is supposed to be our most athletic receiver, he just doesn't get open or go after the ball.
 

Spoofin said:
I may be the biggest DJ4 fan out there. Watching him in practices and I think he may be the best athlete on this team. I liked a lot of what I saw this year, but overall I was disappointed. Everything you wrote is correct. I worry he might transfer out to where he can have more impact (likely smaller school - maybe back to QB).
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Agree about his athletic ability. Limegrover needs to get him more touches like in the Nebraska game last season. I was waiting all year for him to throw a pass off a fly sweep or a bubble screen. Maye and him were both HS QBs, so how about some trickeration for the bowl game?

Leidner would benefit from a QB camp and a new set of eyes looking at his mechanics. Team can't take the next step without his completion percentage going up significantly.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
He fixes his footwork and learns to set his feet and Leidner will become a more consistent passer. The more complicated throws and difficult throws he seems to do that, the stuff that is easy he seems to get too relaxed with his mechanics, get's sloppy and overthrows or drives balls in to the turf. He can make or break his future this offseason in football by going to one of those QB camps to work on his footwork. As long as the student athlete pays there own way and doesn't have an agent or booter pay for it they can go to a QB academey. He would benefit from working with Weinke in Florida a lot. The footwork stuff would become muscle memory if he went to work on it. He will be fine Leidner, he just needs to be more consistent.
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Maybe Fitz can convince a QB better than Ryan Mallet come up to the U for his June training camp.
 

By the time Leidner's college career is over he will be considered the best Gopher QB since Sandy Stephens. Bank on it.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree 100% with this and this is why I mentioned Jones in my original post. He's made 2 or 3 good plays, but for what is supposed to be our most athletic receiver, he just doesn't get open or go after the ball.
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I have said this in the other thread but Isaiah Gentry has a longer stride, longer arms and an inch on Jones. He will be an even better deep threat and the best we have had in a few years.
 

GoMaroonGoGold said:
Sorry for taking the homer glasses off.

He is a complete joke. He has the best TE in the country (I don't care he finished 2nd in award....he's the best TE), top 10 running back in the country, a solid oline, and the dude still mediocre.
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GoMaroonGoGold said:
Yep. I'm not kidding when I say he might be one of the worst QBs in the FBS. It's bad. Really bad. Embarrassing for the program. It just makes me cringe seeing the OSUs of the world have 3 (probably 4) QBs better than Leidner. I mean if we had a somewhat decent QB we could maybe be talking about a B1G championship.
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These are exactly the type of posts I am talking about. Really he had a decent game or at least a W for the sole possibility of not having to hear nonsense like these for an entire offseason. It's also amazing how many posters come out of the woodwork for a Leidner or Limegrover criticism thread.
 

DougMN said:
When Mitch is 'on' he's OK and when he's 'off' he's horrible. I finally rewatched the 2nd half of the Ohio State game this weekend. His horrible interceptions in the 2nd half probably cost us that game.

All that being said- he is better this year than last and I hope he is better next year than this year. The best thing for Mitch would be to open up the QB position in camp and make him win it instead of anointing him QB1 for next year now. Sounds like we may have some able arms capable of throwing it downfield coming into the equation.
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Pretty sure all positions are open for competition each day and the staff plays the best player at each position. To close competition would be just dumb.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I agree 100% with this and this is why I mentioned Jones in my original post. He's made 2 or 3 good plays, but for what is supposed to be our most athletic receiver, he just doesn't get open or go after the ball.
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My guess is he is still trying to get comfortable at the position. Some guys just take longer to adjust to a position they haven't played before.

As others mentioned, he is extremely athletic and we need to find ways to get him the ball more often.
 



Maybe its the nature of the position, but I think that I'm unfair in my eval of Leidner. When the Gophers win I rarely find myself giving him credit for playing a good or great game. When we lose a tight game I'm always thinking that if he had made a play or two [ie., hit an open receiver], or even have avoided a sack, we would have won. So I tend, to a certain extent, to assign him blame for losses but not credit for wins. In other words, if we had a little more effective QB we would win some games that were tough losses, but anyone could have QB'd us to the games he wins. I guess that he's in a no win situation with me. Go gettem Mitch! :confused:
 

Gopher FB in a nutshell:

Who is the most popular QB on the roster?: Somebody Else.
Who would you like to see starting?: Somebody Else.

No matter who starts at QB for the Gophers, no matter what kind of stats he puts up, or what the team's record is, a certain percentage of the fans always want to see Somebody Else starting. The amazing thing is that Somebody Else is on the roster every year, and yet he still has eligibility remaining. (of course, some years Somebody Else isn't even on the roster - he's playing at a JUCO, or he's still in HS.)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Gopher FB in a nutshell:

Who is the most popular QB on the roster?: Somebody Else.
Who would you like to see starting?: Somebody Else.

No matter who starts at QB for the Gophers, no matter what kind of stats he puts up, or what the team's record is, a certain percentage of the fans always want to see Somebody Else starting. The amazing thing is that Somebody Else is on the roster every year, and yet he still has eligibility remaining. (of course, some years Somebody Else isn't even on the roster - he's playing at a JUCO, or he's still in HS.)
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Else? Sounds like a Scandinavian last name. No wonder he is so popular.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Gopher FB in a nutshell:

Who is the most popular QB on the roster?: Somebody Else.
Who would you like to see starting?: Somebody Else.

No matter who starts at QB for the Gophers, no matter what kind of stats he puts up, or what the team's record is, a certain percentage of the fans always want to see Somebody Else starting. The amazing thing is that Somebody Else is on the roster every year, and yet he still has eligibility remaining. (of course, some years Somebody Else isn't even on the roster - he's playing at a JUCO, or he's still in HS.)
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It's like you read my mind... scary!
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Gopher FB in a nutshell:

Who is the most popular QB on the roster?: Somebody Else.
Who would you like to see starting?: Somebody Else.

No matter who starts at QB for the Gophers, no matter what kind of stats he puts up, or what the team's record is, a certain percentage of the fans always want to see Somebody Else starting. The amazing thing is that Somebody Else is on the roster every year, and yet he still has eligibility remaining. (of course, some years Somebody Else isn't even on the roster - he's playing at a JUCO, or he's still in HS.)
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You are over simplifying things. There is the "did we win LAST game" variable as well. If so, there is a certain percentage of your certain percentage of fans that will then love the current QB (whether or not he played a significant role in that win). Of course, that same person will then want Somebody Else if we lose the very next game (whether or not the QB played a significant role in that loss), hating that QB as much as they loved him the prior week.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
By the time Leidner's college career is over he will be considered the best Gopher QB since Sandy Stephens. Bank on it.
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Best? Not very likely, but because of the success of this staff and the success of the TEAM, Leidner could very likely be looked upon EXTREMELY favorably when it's all said and done. I would definitely concede that IF he starts for the next 2 years, then yes, largely because the TEAM could win in the neighborhood of 35 wins or so over that period of time, that history could remember Leidner pretty favorably well after he's gone.

I'm not betting the farm that he starts for the next 24-27 games for the Gophers though. Between the possibility of injuries and/or getting Wally Pipp'ed, Leidner could lose that starting gig at any time.
 

Shuffle pass on the jet sweep (like osu does).
Higher completion percentage for Mitch.
More receptions for the receivers.
Better looking passing stats.
 

I think people are a little tough on Mitch sometimes. Our offensive line is just as much to blame as Mitch for his inconsistencies as he is. In the games where they were able to give him time he gave us games like the Iowa game and passes like the KJ Maye pass in the Nebraska game. Our O-Line play was the difference in all the games we lost. He had zero time in the TCU game, OSU game and 2nd half of the Wisconsin game (I'm blocking the Illinois game from my memory so not sure what the problem was there). I was at the Wisconsin game and their O-Line made Stave look like a pro QB but it was because they gave him 8 seconds to throw on each down while Mitch was pressured by the time he was completing his drop back on every down.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Pretty sure all positions are open for competition each day and the staff plays the best player at each position. To close competition would be just dumb.
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I think you are correct for every other position. Last year- I do remember Mitch being handed the keys and listening to what a great leader he had become and how his off season workouts that he attended with NFL QB's and receivers (Fitzgerald included) had proven to him he could make the throws that NFL ready QB's make and how he was ready to prove that he could be an effective passer. It seemed like a little bit of a Snow Job on Gopher fans at the time. And it was...
 

The difference in the Wisconsin game was that a week after leading the team in rushing against Nebraska, and possibly running too much, Mitch waited until the second half to call his own number enough to make Wisconsin account for him and take pressure off the other running backs and receivers.

We basically have three options on offense: pass, rb run, and qb run. We are 8 and 4 because most of the time that's enough, and if the mix is right it ends up being like playing rock paper scissors against the opposing defense and if you win or tie 2/3's of the plays you can win and occasionally like against Iowa you get on a streak where they are always defending the last play and your winning almost every go. Wisconsin game felt like after getting up in the first half we basically called rock 20 times in a row which wasn't terribly successful and let Wisconsin back into the game. When he finally did start keeping it he had some nice gains because the other team had stopped accounting for him.

If every play is basically pass (with option to keep it and run) or hand of to running back (with an option to keep it and run) all Mitch has to do to keep improving is to keep getting better at making that decision every play. He isn't going to become a passer like Drew Brees, or a runner like RGIII but he just needs to keep the other team guessing a little more and force them to account for him to take one more defender off Maxx or off Cobb.
 

DougMN said:
I think you are correct for every other position. Last year- I do remember Mitch being handed the keys and listening to what a great leader he had become and how his off season workouts that he attended with NFL QB's and receivers (Fitzgerald included) had proven to him he could make the throws that NFL ready QB's make and how he was ready to prove that he could be an effective passer. It seemed like a little bit of a Snow Job on Gopher fans at the time. And it was...
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Or no one was close enough to him to garner a competition. That could change at any time.
 


If Mitch can elevate his play to where he is a slightly below average Big Ten quarterback the next two years that would help us take the next step. I don't think anybody should expect more than that. In the meantime, we have several quarterbacks on the roster who should continue to improve and with Croft coming on board at least we will have some competition at the position should Mitch continue to periodically falter.
 

TrapperDoo said:
Most would agree - Mitch Leidner is tough as nails and he is a gamer.
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From all reports, he looks good in practice. So the last thing I'd call him is a gamer, since he is terrible at throwing in games (sans Iowa game). Now if you were calling Cobb a gamer, yes, he is a gamer. I'm scared what will happen once we lose Cobb, he covered up a lot of warts.


TrapperDoo said:
At this level it needs to be automatic and unconscious. I anticipate significant improvement.
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You completely contradict yourself here; it does need to be automatic and unconscious, in other words, you're either born with it or you aren't. I've watched Mitch for 2 years now....... nothing about him trying to complete a pass is automatic or unconscious. I wouldn't hold your breath expecting significant improvemet, if any.
 

sonnygarcia said:
From all reports, he looks good in practice. So the last thing I'd call him is a gamer, since he is terrible at throwing in games (sans Iowa game). Now if you were calling Cobb a gamer, yes, he is a gamer. I'm scared what will happen once we lose Cobb, he covered up a lot of warts.
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He's a gamer in the sense that he's tough, a great competitor who plays with passion, and a great leader in every single game we play.
 

Gophers must recruit better skilled players. Cannot compete at a higher level with a transfer from Rochester JC and a 5'9" converted running
back at receiver. For example, Ohio State was able single cover the wide outs all day with no problem.

It would be nice to have someone like Kenny Bell creating separation.
 


beatles said:
He's a gamer in the sense that he's tough, a great competitor who plays with passion, and a great leader in every single game we play.
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There isn't an exact definition for "gamer, but at the very least, to be called a "gamer", one would need to put up some kind of stats. Statistically, ML is one of the worst QBs in D1 football.

There are lots of D3 guys you could put on the Gophers and many of them would be tough, compete, play with passion and be a good leader. They would be terrible D1 football players, but they could very well be "gamers", based on your definition.
 

beatles said:
He's a gamer in the sense that he's tough, a great competitor who plays with passion, and a great leader in every single game we play.
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Solid Gopher Hole analysis right here. Too bad about his throwing skills, he's such a good guy. :rolleyes:
 

Ski U Master said:
Solid Gopher Hole analysis right here. Too bad about his throwing skills, he's such a good guy. :rolleyes:
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I didn't say anything about him being a good guy. But being a good leader is VITAL if you're going to be a good quarterback. It's even more important than throwing skills. Look at Jay Cutler. Great arm and can make throws that most others can't but overall he's a bad quarterback because of his attitude and the way he carries himself. His teammates don't respond to him in a positive way. The opposite is true for ML.

Look, right now I would say ML is an average quarterback at best. He's a sophomore who should get better. But some people refuse to see all the positives he brings and only focus on his passing stats. Take for example the Nebraska game. Im too lazy to look up his passing stats but Im assuming they weren't very good. But I would say that ML played a GREAT game and was a huge reason why we won. A quarterback deserves a lot of credit when his team comes back from 14 on the road against a good team.
 

beatles said:
A quarterback deserves a lot of credit when his team comes back from 14 on the road against a good team.
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Actually, I read somewhere the MSU-Mankato QB could have done it too. He had some offers out of HS see.
 

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