All Things 2015 Gophers Spring Practice: Tweets, Links, Analysis, Video & More

Donate To GopherHole
Our 2nd team defense is better than the first team defense in JK's first year. Same for the offense, now that I think about it.
 






die hard gopher said:
Definitely the best top 4 but I think I recall Kill or Claeys saying they need to build more depth in the secondary.
Click to expand...

Ya but, they're coaches...they worry about everything. And they promote competition. Always gotta get better.
 

Really need one of those big FR WR's to step up as Spoofin said. A little disappointing that Woli and Maye seem to be the clear front runners in that race.
 

Would like to see the QB go at the cb more. Murray didnt have 1 ball thrown his way yesterday and they only go after BBC on post routes hoping hell get out jumped.
 

die hard gopher said:
Definitely the best top 4 but I think I recall Kill or Claeys saying they need to build more depth in the secondary.
Click to expand...
I believe, that Coach Claeys would like to find one more safety that he has confidence in. Other than one safety, his building depth, refers more to getting some of the young players in a position to step in for the graduating seniors.
 



Costa Rican Gopher said:
My observations:

- Mitch looked fine on short routes, middle and deep wasn't great.

- Streveler is a thoroughbred. Runs so fast and strong, with excellent size. His throwing motion is cleaner and more compact. Each year since HS it seems to get better.

- Rodrick is the front runner at RB.

- Berkley had a couple nice runs. Not long ones, but just nice work and important for him.

- Jeff Jones was all over the field again and caught a couple passes.

- Wolitarsky and Maye are locks to start. Eric Carter is the next best receiver but he's stuck behind Maye.

- The staff clearly wants Gentry to get involved as they throw to him a lot. He's not necessarily better than the other Freshmen receivers, he just brings a skill set that no one else brings to the team.

- Holland runs great routes, is very physical, but drops some easy ones. He's usually catching underneath in traffic so it's not a horrible situation, but he needs to focus on making those catches.

- Duke and Plsek are locks as the starting TE's.

- Same OL with Lauer-Bjorklund-Bobek-Campion-Pirsig. Second unit is Chad Fahning (Alex Mayes has been battling injuries of one sort or the other for a while)-Isaac Hayes-Connor Mayes-Tyler Moore-Foster Bush.

- Same DL with Cochran-Richardson-Stelter-Hank Ekpe and then Keith-Moore-Ndondo Lay-Elmore.

- There was a drill where the DL came out of their stance low and explode up into a one man blocking sled, then release and go. Each guy in line did fine, then Richardson almost knocked the sled over bakwards, lol. Next time up he did it again. Launched the thing high into the air until it teetered for a second and came back down. The guy is just a force.

- Same secondary BBC-Antonio Johnson-Travis-Murray. Then Myrick-Rogers-McGhee-James.

- Lot's of interceptions. BBC basically has one every practice. Poock had a nice one in zone coverage. Nice read. I think one of the Huff's had one but I didn't see it.

- Linebackers, more of the same too. Lynn-Everett Williams-Campbell then De'Niro Laster-Poock-Celestin. Lynn is funny, has a calm demeanor about him and seems to be the leader of the linebackers.

- Santoso was CRUSHING punts. His looked better than Mortell's yesterday. No reason Bigfoot can't be our punter when Mortell graduates, imo.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'm assuming Scott Ekpe is not participating in spring practice? I'm sure I read about it at some point but can't remember.
 


Gold Vision said:
Really need one of those big FR WR's to step up as Spoofin said. A little disappointing that Woli and Maye seem to be the clear front runners in that race.
Click to expand...

Agree. This is weird, with the hype these guys came in with and the perceived lack of talent at WR, I don't see how these guys are not separating themselves by now from the upperclassmen. Have the older guys improved that much from last year?

I was just really hoping these young WRs would be startin this year, as it would indicate their superior talent, and show we are improving at that position. We still may be, but I'm a little less confident now.
 

minibeaver said:
Agree. This is weird, with the hype these guys came in with and the perceived lack of talent at WR, I don't see how these guys are not separating themselves by now from the upperclassmen. Have the older guys improved that much from last year?

I was just really hoping these young WRs would be startin this year, as it would indicate their superior talent, and show we are improving at that position. We still may be, but I'm a little less confident now.
Click to expand...

To my untrained eye, Woli, Maye and Carter are all vastly improved from last yr
 



Halsey Hall said:
To my untrained eye, Woli, Maye and Carter are all vastly improved from last yr
Click to expand...

That's another possibility, and that would be great if the upperclassmen WRs really showed up this year. As long as we are improving that's all that matters. Plus it gives the young guys more time to mature.
 

Halsey Hall said:
To my untrained eye, Woli, Maye and Carter are all vastly improved from last yr
Click to expand...

I think Maye really came on at the end of last year. I'm excited to see him this year. Not nearly as excited about relying on Woli.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

minibeaver said:
That's another possibility, and that would be great if the upperclassmen WRs really showed up this year. As long as we are improving that's all that matters. Plus it gives the young guys more time to mature.
Click to expand...

The same thing applies to the QBs. Counting the RS year, it takes two to three years to develop players. With Mitch playing reasonably well, the backups have time to develop physically and mature mentally.

That is of course, they must have a positive attitude and a burning desire to "be uncommon".

The Gophers have no choice but to spend time developing talent for the most part brick by brick.

Unless of course they get a lucky break on a thoroughbred talent or two. The players have to buy into the hard work and the patience it requires.

A good example is David Cobb. He was contemplating transferring at one time. It was great that he didn't both for him and for the Gophers. A bad example is Donovahn Jones. I wonder if he is regretting it now.

As we all know, five star talent doesn't grow in fruit trees in B1G country as they do down yonder. Unless of course Dr. Don knows of a secret tree up in the Fargo area that he is not telling us about.

The Gopher's modus operandi is getting the right recruits who want to be here, who have the right intangibles and are amenable to coaching, and then investing two to three years to develop them.

Jerry Kill does not have the luxury of a Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn, or a Jimbo Fisher in football factory country.

We can cry all we want in GH about getting a premier star studded QB. They ain't coming yet. We have to make it attractive for them to do so. Win a few B1G championships, and they will come. I have bad news for you amigos. Stud QBs are a million to Juan. :cool02:

One thing I can say. The Gophers have progressively gotten better year after year. The quality of recruits have also progressively gotten better.
 

minibeaver said:
Agree. This is weird, with the hype these guys came in with and the perceived lack of talent at WR, I don't see how these guys are not separating themselves by now from the upperclassmen. Have the older guys improved that much from last year?

I was just really hoping these young WRs would be startin this year, as it would indicate their superior talent, and show we are improving at that position. We still may be, but I'm a little less confident now.
Click to expand...

Woli was hurt last year, and Maye looked pretty good for us at the end of the season. So it may be hard for a the redshirts to pass them right now. From what Kill said last year after the bowl game, something along the lines "we have 2-3 redshirts that would have been starting and contributing if they could play in the bowl games" I think maybe Kill is just making the young guys really earn it. When fall practice comes around 1-2 of them may be on the field for every play (if they can block).
 

Spoofin said:
I think Maye really came on at the end of last year. I'm excited to see him this year. Not nearly as excited about relying on Woli.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It hard to know what to think about Woli, given his health problems last year.
 

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Thanks for posting die hard. I am planning on going today and I would have been at the wrong location.
 


OK, a quick search does not tell me which gate is Lake of the Woods. I assume it also has a letter designation???
 

When I've gone you entered near the student entrance. The county arches are alphabetical so L would be about halfway around.
 

Killjoy said:
It hard to know what to think about Woli, given his health problems last year.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It seems like he dropped a few easily catchable balls this year/last year. Which has been a little surprsing given his prolific HS record for catches. Hopefully he is able to get fully healthy and play quite a bit this coming season.
 

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

A few more observations

Mitch was picked off twice, once by Murray, don't remember the second one.
Carter had a few nice catches
Borchardt had a TD, don't remember who threw it, Rhoda?
Melvin Holland had a TD I believe but also dropped an easy one. They used him on the jet sweep once but the exchange was fumbled
Peter Mortell completed a pass to Wozniak on 4th and about 10. Did the Johnny Manziel money celebration after.
Sawvel absolutely coaches the DBs to not look back and isn't afraid to use a colorful vocabulary in teaching them not to
Jeff has also been used on the jet sweep a few times, Mcghee had a really nice open field tackle for no gain on Jeff
Somebody had a pretty nice hit on Roderick but don't remember who, Poock maybe?
Berkley got a lot of reps at RB
BBC partially blocked a FG
Santoso is okay at punting
 

I've enjoyed all the reports on practice. I'll be traveling down from the Fargo-Moorhead area to attend Saturday's practice - see you there!

Now I'm not technician, but my eyes tell me Wolitarsky is a good pass catcher. Remember, he was better than expected as a freshman, then was frequently (or chronically) hurt last year. It seems like it should be no surprise that he's doing better this year.
 

everybody knows my name said:
I've enjoyed all the reports on practice. I'll be traveling down from the Fargo-Moorhead area to attend Saturday's practice - see you there!

Now I'm not technician, but my eyes tell me Wolitarsky is a good pass catcher. Remember, he was better than expected as a freshman, then was frequently (or chronically) hurt last year. It seems like it should be no surprise that he's doing better this year.
Click to expand...

Wolitarski has the potential to be a good WR. He has dropped too many balls thus far to be called a good pass catcher. I think Woli can be a very valuable player. I also think if he is our #1 passing threat that this year will look a lot like last year on O. He is not elite. I'm hoping one of our Fr is.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Just a few more observations... Streveler had a very nice long pass to Woli. I do think Streveler is passing better this year - one observation is that Chris seems to pull the ball and run more than Mitch. I'm not sure if they are calling runs for him or, and this is my guess, he isn't making his reads as quickly or as accurately as Mitch. I would bet he gets a lot of playing time during the non-con games.

One grouping was interesting to me - Streveler at QB, Rodney Smith at tailback, Jones in the slot. If you are ahead in the game, and want to run the ball to take time off the clock, this would not be a bad way to do it.

I wouldn't worry about Woli. I think he will have a good year and would guess he will start and, if I had to pick someone to start across from him it would be Holland. Holland has been impressive each practice I've watched.

This defense has been very impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if they shut out some teams this year. It is good for the offense however, if you can move the ball against this defense you can move the ball against anyone.

The offense seems to be working on the short game a lot. Some VERY quick throws today. The QB takes the snap and immediately throws - either a WR screen or a slant over the middle. The ball is snapped and out of the QBs hands in less than a second. I think the goal is to try and get Smith or Jones out in space with the ball.
 

diefirma said:
The offense seems to be working on the short game a lot. Some VERY quick throws today. The QB takes the snap and immediately throws - either a WR screen or a slant over the middle. The ball is snapped and out of the QBs hands in less than a second. I think the goal is to try and get Smith or Jones out in space with the ball.
Click to expand...

This is the most encouraging thing I have seen posted yet. This is an element that this team NEEDS to add - and has for years. You can also add KJ Maye to the list of guys we need to get out in space with the ball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom