QB Mark Williams may make permanent position change to WR

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Joe:

Williams update

The Gophers’ other true freshman quarterback, Mark Williams, has been running routes as a receiver while he rehabs from a hand injury. Williams still might make that a permanent position switch.

“He’s a great, talented athlete, and so we think he’ll definitely help us somewhere,” Johnson said. “I think we’re going to re-evaluate that at the end of the year.”

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...practice-might-play-against-purdue/399578841/

Go Gophers!!
 

:pig::pig:Another raised flag on Johnson. That was "his" recruit last year as a QB. How in the Wide World of Sports does he think he will be a good receiver? Because of his hand he can't catch the ball
Hell, I could go out there and run route's; albeit it would be mercifully slow.
 

May be a genius move. If he can't throw anyway, why not have him learn the routes from the WR perspective. Can only help him if he moves back to QB.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
:pig::pig:Another raised flag on Johnson. That was "his" recruit last year as a QB. How in the Wide World of Sports does he think he will be a good receiver? Because of his hand he can't catch the ball
Hell, I could go out there and run route's; albeit it would be mercifully slow.
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:rolleyes:

You expected Johnson to bring in a big time QB in 4 weeks of recruiting? He was hired on 12/29/15. Up until then he was recruiting for Louisiana Lafayette.

You've shown that you know way more than that about College Football. Wonder why you posted that then? :horse:
 

Iceland12 said:
:rolleyes:

You expected Johnson to bring in a big time QB in 4 weeks of recruiting? He was hired on 12/29/15. Up until then he was recruiting for Louisiana Lafayette.

You've shown that you know way more than that about College Football. Wonder why you posted that then? :horse:
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No one expected him to bring in a big-time QB...

But we should expect that the guy he recruits to play QB is still at the position 5 months later.
 


In that same article Johnson praises the improvement of Seth Green. If we can believe that, the QB position might be fine and Williams moving to WR might benefit another position where we need help. The optimistic side of me says that all is good.

However, based on what I've heard on this board, Croft may not be the answer, and Green is currently behind him. If they already know Williams will see the field more quickly somewhere else, that seems like a miss. Plus, I think we only have one QB offered in the current class. The pessimist in me is worried about the future of this position.
 



John Galt said:
Because we need talent and depth at the QB position. And Williams was Johnson's hand-picked guy.
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I think they already addressed the issue with your "hand picked" theory... hand picked after 4 weeks.

What does depth do? This isn't a baseball bullpen. A lot of these guys we'll never see them anywhere but the sideline.

If it was apparent this guy was going to start next year I'd be concerned, but I don't see any reason to believe that. If that was the case I doubt he'd be switching.
 



Hopefully they can bring in a Juco or Grad transfer for depth and competition at the QB position.
 

Iceland12 said:
:rolleyes:

You expected Johnson to bring in a big time QB in 4 weeks of recruiting? He was hired on 12/29/15. Up until then he was recruiting for Louisiana Lafayette.

You've shown that you know way more than that about College Football. Wonder why you posted that then? :horse:
Click to expand...

+1.
 

Didn't the pay sites tell us that Williams was the best QB in the queue not too long ago??
 

John Galt said:
No one expected him to bring in a big-time QB...

But we should expect that the guy he recruits to play QB is still at the position 5 months later.
Click to expand...

Buzz is that Mark wants to play WR and not QB. Not sure why, he was playing very well at QB in fall camp.
 




Johnson seems like he is throwing the baby out with the bath water. I agree with Ryan Burns .I thought Williams in the fall was ahead of Green. The kid reminded me of Boykin at TCU.
 

We already had a QB commit in the class, one considered much more talented. Hard to call Williams "hand picked" when Johnson got here so late in the recruiting process and most of the guys he could get at Minnesota would have been committted already. If Johnson had to chose only one QB to offer between the two, chances are he would have taken Seth.
 

Section2 said:
Buzz is that Mark wants to play WR and not QB. Not sure why, he was playing very well at QB in fall camp.
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He probably realizes that he can be a 4-year starter at that position if he's any good at it. We don't have much depth there. At QB he would likely be battling for playing time all 4 years.
 

Maybe we do this with a couple guys and then line up a WR/QB and a WR/QB and a RB in the backfield.... who knows who will get the ball...
 

John Galt said:
No one expected him to bring in a big-time QB...

But we should expect that the guy he recruits to play QB is still at the position 5 months later.
Click to expand...

They already had Seth Green coming in.
 

Word said:
He probably realizes that he can be a 4-year starter at that position if he's any good at it. We don't have much depth there. At QB he would likely be battling for playing time all 4 years.
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That's not the impression from those I've talked to. Mark had a good chance to start at QB for 4 years. Given our talented WRs on the sidelines, I might even argue he has a better chance at QB to start 4 years. Certainly has the most unique skill set.
 

John Galt said:
Because we need talent and depth at the QB position. And Williams was Johnson's hand-picked guy.
Click to expand...

Its possible the thought was to have him in case they needed/insurance but after being here they decided they are comfortable with the other qb's so maybe we shouldnt crucify the staff for switching an athletes position just yet.
 

Section2 said:
Buzz is that Mark wants to play WR and not QB. Not sure why, he was playing very well at QB in fall camp.
Click to expand...

Funny so many will pass over this thought to meet their agenda. Some still complain that TC "burned" TB41's RS even though it is documented that he and his family requested and signed off on it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Section2 said:
That's not the impression from those I've talked to. Mark had a good chance to start at QB for 4 years. Given our talented WRs on the sidelines, I might even argue he has a better chance at QB to start 4 years. Certainly has the most unique skill set.
Click to expand...

If these guys on the sidelines are so good why are they not getting on the field when there's been a fairly obvious need? We've been hearing that for how many years now that the guys on the sideline are SO good, but yet here we are years later and I'd argue the top position of need is still WR (though I'm sure a handful will say QB).

Also, who's to say that Jay Johnson didn't have this transition in the back of his mind the whole time? People assume he was recruited with the sole intention of being a QB, but Johnson may have approached it as give a kid the chance to earn time there, if he doesn't, we'll move him to WR. I don't get why people get so hung up on position changes, like that means the coach failed. Hell, for all any of us know Johnson was never convinced he'd play QB, told him he'd get a chance but had it in his mind to move him to WR from day 1 (can't think of the player that Kill signed because he'd "give him a chance at QB" then converted him a few months in, but same thing).

Finally, the argument that earlier in the year Williams was ahead of Green is really meaningless. From all reports, Green has been improving by leaps and bounds. It might be a situation where the coaches are convinced Green is the guy and convinced that Croft and/or QB(s) to be signed this year will be an adequate back up squad, so they want to put Williams in a position he can contribute.
 

John Galt said:
No one expected him to bring in a big-time QB...

But we should expect that the guy he recruits to play QB is still at the position 5 months later.
Click to expand...

We don't know the whole situation. How do you know he was recruited as strictly a QB? Maybe he was a kid they felt was good enough to play multiple positions and they wanted to try him at QB at first. Then switch him to another position if they feel he can contribute more. This happens a lot.

Or maybe Williams wants to play WR. That happens all the time too.
 

GophersInIowa said:
We don't know the whole situation. How do you know he was recruited as strictly a QB? Maybe he was a kid they felt was good enough to play multiple positions and they wanted to try him at QB at first. Then switch him to another position if they feel he can contribute more. This happens a lot.

Or maybe Williams wants to play WR. That happens all the time too.
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This.
 

a HS coach I knew told me that, going into last season, his Junior Returning Starter QB came to him and said "I don't want to play QB any more." so, he moved the kid to wingback. It happens - kids decide they don't want the pressure of being QB.
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
If these guys on the sidelines are so good why are they not getting on the field when there's been a fairly obvious need? We've been hearing that for how many years now that the guys on the sideline are SO good, but yet here we are years later and I'd argue the top position of need is still WR (though I'm sure a handful will say QB).

Also, who's to say that Jay Johnson didn't have this transition in the back of his mind the whole time? People assume he was recruited with the sole intention of being a QB, but Johnson may have approached it as give a kid the chance to earn time there, if he doesn't, we'll move him to WR. I don't get why people get so hung up on position changes, like that means the coach failed. Hell, for all any of us know Johnson was never convinced he'd play QB, told him he'd get a chance but had it in his mind to move him to WR from day 1 (can't think of the player that Kill signed because he'd "give him a chance at QB" then converted him a few months in, but same thing).

Finally, the argument that earlier in the year Williams was ahead of Green is really meaningless. From all reports, Green has been improving by leaps and bounds. It might be a situation where the coaches are convinced Green is the guy and convinced that Croft and/or QB(s) to be signed this year will be an adequate back up squad, so they want to put Williams in a position he can contribute.
Click to expand...

I think the article said Williams had a hand injury so he couldn't throw and he's been running routess in practice. Probably not healthy enough to get on the field and at this point might as well redshirt him
 

It seems premature to criticize the coaches for this decision. I know, it's never too soon to criticize a coach.

But if Johnson says that Williams is an exceptional athlete, and Williams can't practice at QB, doesn't it make a lot of sense to have him running routes? And in doing so, couldn't they have decided that he's just too good to keep at a glutted position like QB, where we already have Rhoda/Green/Croft waiting in the wings and offers out to recruits?

I think sometimes the Gopherhole crowd gets a little trigger happy.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
a HS coach I knew told me that, going into last season, his Junior Returning Starter QB came to him and said "I don't want to play QB any more." so, he moved the kid to wingback. It happens - kids decide they don't want the pressure of being QB.
Click to expand...

or think their best chances at the pros are at WR, or want PT, or don't want the responsibility of the playbook. There's tons of reasons and I agree with you it isn't necessarily one sided that Williams got switched.
 

everybody knows my name said:
It seems premature to criticize the coaches for this decision. I know, it's never too soon to criticize a coach.

But if Johnson says that Williams is an exceptional athlete, and Williams can't practice at QB, doesn't it make a lot of sense to have him running routes? And in doing so, couldn't they have decided that he's just too good to keep at a glutted position like QB, where we already have Rhoda/Green/Croft waiting in the wings and offers out to recruits?

I think sometimes the Gopherhole crowd gets a little trigger happy.
Click to expand...


There has been criticism of the coaches in this thread for QB recruiting, but I don't think anybody has criticized the coaches for this position change (if there is one). It all sounds like speculation, but if anything, it sounds like Williams' preference, not the coaches'. Nobody has criticized the coaches for it (yet).
 

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