On today’s Sports Huddle, Tracy Claeys discussed the Gophers victory yesterday over Colorado State University as well as the upcoming conference opener with Penn State University.
1) Sid opened the questioning by asking about problems on defense:
Tracy Claeys response was positive, “We have the talent!” However, he acknowledged there were some critical mistakes on defense, yesterday. He attributed some of the miscues to youth, “We’re going through growing pains.” He also said, “Moved some players through the week – set for the season.” He didn’t elaborate on the changes or movement of personnel.
2) Sid followed up by asking about freshmen on defense and Carter Coughlin specifically in his query:
He said the freshmen made a couple mistakes, but he didn’t cite any players. He said again they’re undergoing growing pains, and “experience matters” in clearing up the mistakes.
Claeys said Carter Coughlin “hurt his elbow a little.” He added, they’ll know more this afternoon about Coughlin’s injury. Later in the program he answered Dave Mona’s question related to the injury saying “Carter’s injury similar to (Nick) Rallis’s.” He expects Coughlin will be out a couple weeks.
Overall, Claeys sounded positive in his responses about the defense and the freshmen making mistakes. The mistakes by freshmen are a part of inexperience and they’re correctable.
3) Sid asked another question about concerns with the Gophers defense:
Claeys said improvement on defense is a matter of cleaning up mistakes and being consistent on defense.
On the positive side, Claeys said the defense had “three more sacks and 12-13 tackles for losses.”
On the negative side, Claeys said they need to eliminate mistakes on defense, including special teams – punts in the middle of the field which resulted in big returns and the successful fake punt executed by the CSU Rams.
4) Sid asked about JUCO running back Kobe McCrary:
Claeys told Sid that Kobe carried the ball a couple times and had a “big play receiving.”
Turning his focus to the offense, Claeys said, “We feel pretty good where we’re at.” He also cited the offensive line play of red shirt sophomore Jared Weyler who was filling in for Vincent Calhoun, “Weyler did a good job!”
5) Sid asked about the upcoming conference opener with Penn State:
“They have a great running back – running and receiving – moved the ball against Pitt,” Claeys replied.
Playing on the road at Penn State, Claeys said, “A challenge for us . . . Big 10 (game) at (Penn State) home.”
6) Sid asked if Claeys was still “high” on the team as he was at the start of the season:
Claeys quickly answered, “Yeah . . . I really do, especially offense . . . I’m just as high today (with this year’s Gophers team).”
Although he didn’t sound overly concerned, he did say, again, that they need to “clean up special teams and defense.”
7) Dave Mona opined the Gopher receivers made “athletic catches” yesterday and (clock management) that he didn’t think they would punt the ball in the final seconds of the game:
Claeys said because of the penalty on CSU that moved the ball to one yard for first down, there wasn’t any doubt that they’d run the ball, especially with the running backs that they have; however, with six yards for a first down they would have punted.
As to the topic of athletic catches, Claeys cited Tyler Johnson’s play. But he quickly added, “Eight different guys caught the ball.” He said they have practice drills that focus on catching difficult passes.
Claeys closed the question by saying the trip to PSU will be a “challenge with (stadium) noise – first trip on the road.”
8) Dave Mona’s final question dealt with offensive lineman Vincent Calhoun and Carter Coughlin’s injury:
It was at this time that Claeys said Coughlin’s elbow injury is similar to Nick Rallis’s and he will be out at least a couple weeks. Calhoun’s status: “Vince will be back this week!”
Go Gophers!!
1) Sid opened the questioning by asking about problems on defense:
Tracy Claeys response was positive, “We have the talent!” However, he acknowledged there were some critical mistakes on defense, yesterday. He attributed some of the miscues to youth, “We’re going through growing pains.” He also said, “Moved some players through the week – set for the season.” He didn’t elaborate on the changes or movement of personnel.
2) Sid followed up by asking about freshmen on defense and Carter Coughlin specifically in his query:
He said the freshmen made a couple mistakes, but he didn’t cite any players. He said again they’re undergoing growing pains, and “experience matters” in clearing up the mistakes.
Claeys said Carter Coughlin “hurt his elbow a little.” He added, they’ll know more this afternoon about Coughlin’s injury. Later in the program he answered Dave Mona’s question related to the injury saying “Carter’s injury similar to (Nick) Rallis’s.” He expects Coughlin will be out a couple weeks.
Overall, Claeys sounded positive in his responses about the defense and the freshmen making mistakes. The mistakes by freshmen are a part of inexperience and they’re correctable.
3) Sid asked another question about concerns with the Gophers defense:
Claeys said improvement on defense is a matter of cleaning up mistakes and being consistent on defense.
On the positive side, Claeys said the defense had “three more sacks and 12-13 tackles for losses.”
On the negative side, Claeys said they need to eliminate mistakes on defense, including special teams – punts in the middle of the field which resulted in big returns and the successful fake punt executed by the CSU Rams.
4) Sid asked about JUCO running back Kobe McCrary:
Claeys told Sid that Kobe carried the ball a couple times and had a “big play receiving.”
Turning his focus to the offense, Claeys said, “We feel pretty good where we’re at.” He also cited the offensive line play of red shirt sophomore Jared Weyler who was filling in for Vincent Calhoun, “Weyler did a good job!”
5) Sid asked about the upcoming conference opener with Penn State:
“They have a great running back – running and receiving – moved the ball against Pitt,” Claeys replied.
Playing on the road at Penn State, Claeys said, “A challenge for us . . . Big 10 (game) at (Penn State) home.”
6) Sid asked if Claeys was still “high” on the team as he was at the start of the season:
Claeys quickly answered, “Yeah . . . I really do, especially offense . . . I’m just as high today (with this year’s Gophers team).”
Although he didn’t sound overly concerned, he did say, again, that they need to “clean up special teams and defense.”
7) Dave Mona opined the Gopher receivers made “athletic catches” yesterday and (clock management) that he didn’t think they would punt the ball in the final seconds of the game:
Claeys said because of the penalty on CSU that moved the ball to one yard for first down, there wasn’t any doubt that they’d run the ball, especially with the running backs that they have; however, with six yards for a first down they would have punted.
As to the topic of athletic catches, Claeys cited Tyler Johnson’s play. But he quickly added, “Eight different guys caught the ball.” He said they have practice drills that focus on catching difficult passes.
Claeys closed the question by saying the trip to PSU will be a “challenge with (stadium) noise – first trip on the road.”
8) Dave Mona’s final question dealt with offensive lineman Vincent Calhoun and Carter Coughlin’s injury:
It was at this time that Claeys said Coughlin’s elbow injury is similar to Nick Rallis’s and he will be out at least a couple weeks. Calhoun’s status: “Vince will be back this week!”
Go Gophers!!
