lot of good news out of practice report

Donate To GopherHole
S

swingman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
3,143
Reaction score
2,022
Points
113
Ryan Burns put a podcast up yesterday...link from his Twitter

said Croft looks really good, great arm, makes all the throws, seems to really be improving consistency and accuracy, getting better at progressions, decisions, Rhoda and him competing at top, Morgan then Green, McLaurin non-factor

said Brooks looks fantastic, great burst, confidence, explosive; he and Rodney will carry load...rb situation is very good

Tyler Johnson looks incredible, staff really working with him, constantly open, extremely explosive off the line,

staff really working hard with Still and seem to be getting through, guy has talent to be really special

Eric Carter great leader for wr group

Phil Howard out with injury, Drew H raw but talented,

staff seems to be utilizing Melvin Holland's gifts better

sounds like he thinks Fleck/Simon influence will be big for WRs

says if Lingen can stay healthy, he is a guy who can play on Sundays; he (foot), Beebe (meniscus), Witham (back, hip) out with inj so far this Spring

really high on Conner Olson, the redshirt freshman center, says he is reason some other guys transferred, athletic, strong

said Connelly has filled out his frame nicely and is moving and bending well at right tackle

returning starter Donnell Greene looking good at left tackle

three returning starters watching practice: Weyler recovering from tricep surgery, Calhoun recovering from foot surgery, Garrison Wright also sidelined...says all three played through some things last year, tough kids

Dovich and Schlueter in mix, Oseland out for rest of Spring...juco walk-on Just out

said Richardson at defensive tackle is GOAT, will have to be double teamed at defensive tackle

expects a Botticelli like senior year from Stelter at dt

said Gary Moore really coming on at dt, expects big season

Merrick Jackson prbly a run stopper dt

DeLattiboudere looks solid at de, Gibson may be showing more upside

Coughlin and Devers could be special in stand up edge rush role, both have speed to cover a rb, but could wreak havoc in pass rush...can't remember exactly, but Julian Huff may be injured, could be in this role as well

says Barber looks fantastic, great instincts, plays downhill, produces

says Martin is freakishly athletic, all three MN soph lbs studs

Celestin leader on defense, moves well in space, proven great tackler

Cashman and Poock sidelined with injuries

Kiondre and Shenault good at starting corners, Craighton can play good press coverage

Winfield may play more nickel, staff loves him, are very excited about his future, he looks great in practice

McGhee picking up defense well, think he said staff loves Jacob Huff (I get Huff twins mixed up) Ayinde playing some safety, some corner, Dipre may contribute

says big talent infusion coming in June...need those bodies in secondary, lines for depth...thinks some of frosh wr talent may help right away

says kickers look great

all the coaches are great communicators, Fleck is always hugging, congratulating,

sounded like he likes the Ciarrocca offense, Croft a good fit

sounds like Smith is experimenting with a lot of looks for defense

also says recruiting is through the roof, night and day

thinks Kaler has taken handcuffs off Coyle, expects big marketing things from Coyle
 


Is this the same Lingen injury from last season or did he recover and get hurt again? I know they said possibly out for the season last year but haven't heard any updates then and they didn't make it sound like he'd still be hurt now.
 

So where is the 2017-18 CFB Championship game being played so I can make our reservations?
 

Everyone is great! Awesome!



I was kinda hoping for an alternate universe preseason practice report...

 



Thanks Swingman. Awesome post!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 





GoGophersUMN said:
Is this the same Lingen injury from last season or did he recover and get hurt again? I know they said possibly out for the season last year but haven't heard any updates then and they didn't make it sound like he'd still be hurt now.
Click to expand...

Per the podcast (caveat listened to late while falling asleep after Vegas excursion - recall may be suspect) Lingen's foot injury is concerning to Burns. He didn't sound 100% confident he'd make it back but I don't know if that reflects insider knowledge of the situation, or simply concern he's still not practicing. And yes, same foot injury he suffered that ended his season. I cannot recall the nature of the injury of if ever divulged...
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
https://audioboom.com/posts/5776142-episode-76-spring-road-trip-check-in

You can listen here, he wasn't very positive on WR talent, DB depth or the rush end position stopping the run. Thinks Croft will start. Also said that they are running a ton of different defenses.
Click to expand...

If they are just using the rush end on 3rd and longs shouldn't be a problem. If they are going to try a radar or psycho defense then the movement and confusion should help. Look at what .wisconsin does with their 3-4 with Beigel on the edge. Not much trouble stopping the run or the pass.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
If they are just using the rush end on 3rd and longs shouldn't be a problem. If they are going to try a radar or psycho defense then the movement and confusion should help. Look at what .wisconsin does with their 3-4 with Beigel on the edge. Not much trouble stopping the run or the pass.
Click to expand...

Is that position for Wisconsin bigger than Dievers and Coughlin?
 

I thought we had no talent coming back. I don't know what to believe now.
 



swingman said:
Ryan Burns put a podcast up yesterday...link from his Twitter

said Croft looks really good, great arm, makes all the throws, seems to really be improving consistency and accuracy, getting better at progressions, decisions, Rhoda and him competing at top, Morgan then Green, McLaurin non-factor

said Brooks looks fantastic, great burst, confidence, explosive; he and Rodney will carry load...rb situation is very good

Tyler Johnson looks incredible, staff really working with him, constantly open, extremely explosive off the line,

staff really working hard with Still and seem to be getting through, guy has talent to be really special

Eric Carter great leader for wr group

Phil Howard out with injury, Drew H raw but talented,

staff seems to be utilizing Melvin Holland's gifts better

sounds like he thinks Fleck/Simon influence will be big for WRs

says if Lingen can stay healthy, he is a guy who can play on Sundays; he (foot), Beebe (meniscus), Witham (back, hip) out with inj so far this Spring

really high on Conner Olson, the redshirt freshman center, says he is reason some other guys transferred, athletic, strong

said Connelly has filled out his frame nicely and is moving and bending well at right tackle

returning starter Donnell Greene looking good at left tackle

three returning starters watching practice: Weyler recovering from tricep surgery, Calhoun recovering from foot surgery, Garrison Wright also sidelined...says all three played through some things last year, tough kids

Dovich and Schlueter in mix, Oseland out for rest of Spring...juco walk-on Just out

said Richardson at defensive tackle is GOAT, will have to be double teamed at defensive tackle

expects a Botticelli like senior year from Stelter at dt

said Gary Moore really coming on at dt, expects big season

Merrick Jackson prbly a run stopper dt

DeLattiboudere looks solid at de, Gibson may be showing more upside

Coughlin and Devers could be special in stand up edge rush role, both have speed to cover a rb, but could wreak havoc in pass rush...can't remember exactly, but Julian Huff may be injured, could be in this role as well

says Barber looks fantastic, great instincts, plays downhill, produces

says Martin is freakishly athletic, all three MN soph lbs studs

Celestin leader on defense, moves well in space, proven great tackler

Cashman and Poock sidelined with injuries

Kiondre and Shenault good at starting corners, Craighton can play good press coverage

Winfield may play more nickel, staff loves him, are very excited about his future, he looks great in practice

McGhee picking up defense well, think he said staff loves Jacob Huff (I get Huff twins mixed up) Ayinde playing some safety, some corner, Dipre may contribute

says big talent infusion coming in June...need those bodies in secondary, lines for depth...thinks some of frosh wr talent may help right away

says kickers look great

all the coaches are great communicators, Fleck is always hugging, congratulating,

sounded like he likes the Ciarrocca offense, Croft a good fit

sounds like Smith is experimenting with a lot of looks for defense

also says recruiting is through the roof, night and day

thinks Kaler has taken handcuffs off Coyle, expects big marketing things from Coyle
Click to expand...

Thanks a bunch for this - more info than from the entire press corps in a month.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Per the podcast (caveat listened to late while falling asleep after Vegas excursion - recall may be suspect) Lingen's foot injury is concerning to Burns. He didn't sound 100% confident he'd make it back but I don't know if that reflects insider knowledge of the situation, or simply concern he's still not practicing. And yes, same foot injury he suffered that ended his season. I cannot recall the nature of the injury of if ever divulged...
Click to expand...

Thanks. It does seem concerning. Last year Claeys said he might be back that same season and now, 4 months after the last regular season game, he still can't do any more than walk on it. Hard to tell from how little they have said about it but it sure doesn't look good.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
https://audioboom.com/posts/5776142-episode-76-spring-road-trip-check-in

You can listen here, he wasn't very positive on WR talent, DB depth or the rush end position stopping the run. Thinks Croft will start. Also said that they are running a ton of different defenses.
Click to expand...
I chatted with Ryan yesterday at practice. He is not confident at all in terms of depth at CB, S, OL and DL. Pretty negative about it and worried about an injury coming in a non conference game to ruin our season.

I never like the playing scared of injury mentality, but sounds like a lot of true freshman and/or walk on will get playing time.

I liked what I saw from Demry Croft and Isaiah Gentry in yesterday's practice. Hope IG2 shows up in the depth chart on Saturdays this Fall.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
 

jonnyganas said:
I chatted with Ryan yesterday at practice. He is not confident at all in terms of depth at CB, S, OL and DL. Pretty negative about it and worried about an injury coming in a non conference game to ruin our season.

I never like the playing scared of injury mentality, but sounds like a lot of true freshman and/or walk on will get playing time.

I liked what I saw from Demry Croft and Isaiah Gentry in yesterday's practice. Hope IG2 shows up in the depth chart on Saturdays this Fall.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I've heard similar things. I haven't been able to watch a practice, but a friend of mine told me that it was night and day between the two seasons. The WRs look good (mentioned Johnson, Hmieleski, and Gentry).
 

seems like a pretty pollyannaish report. is there no room for improvement anywhere?
 

jonnyganas said:
I chatted with Ryan yesterday at practice. He is not confident at all in terms of depth at CB, S, OL and DL.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yeah, while he had a lot of good things to say about starters, he said getting bodies from recruits here in about 8 weeks will help depth.

Harris was one of best cover corners in Georgia and may have to play right away. Hardin, Shenault, Murray, James, have shown frosh can help early.

Estes maybe a corner? Durr ready for Big Ten season? Add a grad transfer?

At safety, HandyHolly was one of best in nation and Beck was hughly regarded.

On oline, we have Andries, Sassack, and Schmitz all coming in. Fleck loves all three. Maybe Abojei? Maybe a grad transfer or late juco? couple of walkons will add depth. Rousemiller turned down FCS money to walk on. His weight room numbers are legit. Warinner and Callahan will have huge impact on line play.

On dline, Fleck kicked ass recruiting. Was smart to get Silver, the AllAmerican juco to help at dt.Flipped Robinson from Purdue. He can provide good depth at dt right away. Hickok is also already Big Ten size ar dt. Fleck said Paup loves Schirck and called him the steal of class. Paup will have huge impact here.

Otomewo and Maye could also help right away at def end. Sounds like both had other Power 5 options.

With improved strength and conditioning, shorter more creative practices, and better teaching of how to take care of their bodies, I expect fewer injuries. That makes depth less important. Also, the pace of practice and the better motivation will have guys better prepared physically and mentally to play more minutes, also lessening importance of depth.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
https://audioboom.com/posts/5776142-episode-76-spring-road-trip-check-in

You can listen here, he wasn't very positive on WR talent, DB depth or the rush end position stopping the run. Thinks Croft will start. Also said that they are running a ton of different defenses.
Click to expand...

WR is not a problem. I thought the comments on Tyler (expected leading rcvr), Still, Carter and Holland were positive.

Friend of mine was at practice yesterday said Mark Williams could be a very good make you miss guy on bubble. Philip Howard injured but has talent. Ive heard good things on walkons Morse and Annexstad as well.

Sounds like Smith and Brooks will be better used as rcvrs out of backfield.

Dont forget how good the recruiting class was. Douglas flipped from Oregon before Notre Dame could get him, we beat Iowa and in-state Kansas for VanDyne, and Autman-Bell was a huge steal due to injury.

Also, Paulson, the te we beat out some good offensive programs for, could be great pass catching option.

Fleck and Simon are proven successful coaches at NIU, Rutgers, WMU, Tampa Bay..have gotten multiple guys to NFL, have improved NFL guys..Ciarrocca offense is so much more evolved for passing game.

WR/passing game will be much improved.
 

swingman said:
WR is not a problem. I thought the comments on Tyler (expected leading rcvr), Still, Carter and Holland were positive.

Friend of mine was at practice yesterday said Mark Williams could be a very good make you miss guy on bubble. Philip Howard injured but has talent. Ive heard good things on walkons Morse and Annexstad as well.

Sounds like Smith and Brooks will be better used as rcvrs out of backfield.

Dont forget how good the recruiting class was. Douglas flipped from Oregon before Notre Dame could get him, we beat Iowa and in-state Kansas for VanDyne, and Autman-Bell was a huge steal due to injury.

Also, Paulson, the te we beat out some good offensive programs for, could be great pass catching option.

Fleck and Simon are proven successful coaches at NIU, Rutgers, WMU, Tampa Bay..have gotten multiple guys to NFL, have improved NFL guys..Ciarrocca offense is so much more evolved for passing game.

WR/passing game will be much improved.
Click to expand...

Little early to pull out that line don't you think?
 


The success of the WRs is directly tied to the success of the QB.
 

Lots of promising evaluations at this point. Gophs really just need a little improvement in the passing game to get defenses to back off the line, and everything early seems to point to that easily being the case. No doubt they will have great new faces stepping up and filling the current gaps, with a handful of surprises, as has happened the last several years. There is talent throughout the roster waiting for opportunities.

Rhoda and Croft have seemed to pick up the differences in the passing offense quickly...I like how Fleck is focusing a lot on those during these early practices with the QBs. Also great to hear they may have figured out the keys to unlocking Still's obvious potential. Feeling more and more that Still and Johnson will be a combo that will cause fits and a lot of mismatches for many defenses. I'm looking forward to how and when Gophs mix in play-action passes...could make for some big YAC opportunities for those two.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
Lol, we've never heard great things in the Spring about the WRs over the last several years.
Click to expand...

With you here, each year there are multiple "legit" guys in spring practice and then come fall they haven't even been making the field.

I do think TJ has a good chance of being an explosive player. Hopefully we can spread the the field and get him the ball. The others have had flashes (still for example), can they put it together? Who knows...
 

swingman said:
Yeah, while he had a lot of good things to say about starters, he said getting bodies from recruits here in about 8 weeks will help depth.

Harris was one of best cover corners in Georgia and may have to play right away. Hardin, Shenault, Murray, James, have shown frosh can help early.

Estes maybe a corner? Durr ready for Big Ten season? Add a grad transfer?

At safety, HandyHolly was one of best in nation and Beck was hughly regarded.

On oline, we have Andries, Sassack, and Schmitz all coming in. Fleck loves all three. Maybe Abojei? Maybe a grad transfer or late juco? couple of walkons will add depth. Rousemiller turned down FCS money to walk on. His weight room numbers are legit. Warinner and Callahan will have huge impact on line play.

On dline, Fleck kicked ass recruiting. Was smart to get Silver, the AllAmerican juco to help at dt.Flipped Robinson from Purdue. He can provide good depth at dt right away. Hickok is also already Big Ten size ar dt. Fleck said Paup loves Schirck and called him the steal of class. Paup will have huge impact here.

Otomewo and Maye could also help right away at def end. Sounds like both had other Power 5 options.

With improved strength and conditioning, shorter more creative practices, and better teaching of how to take care of their bodies, I expect fewer injuries. That makes depth less important. Also, the pace of practice and the better motivation will have guys better prepared physically and mentally to play more minutes, also lessening importance of depth.
Click to expand...

Will agree that adding the freshman will add some depth at all positions. Really excited about a few of those guys.
Not in agreement with you on the bolded part. There have been some injuries during spring practice.
The practices may be shorter, but the intensity and number of reps the players are getting is the same, maybe even more. That itself will create more chances of injury. I also don't buy the notion that they are teaching them anything different, than any other program, in how to take care of themselves. Every program has been really focused on that aspect in the past few years. Depth at certain positions will be a concern, player development will be the key to overcoming that.
 

I just hope we are more creative on offense. The last few years have felt very vanilla even though our numbers increased. Passing routes seemed limited.

Need to get the ball to our players in space more.
 

I'm much more optimistic about the offensive gameplan and play calling than I have previous year, but other than running back I'm probably a little less optimistic. With that being said I think Ciarrocca will probably put these guys in a better position to succeed than we have seen with our predictable offense the last few years. I would also be optimistic about the quarterback position/passing game as last year we probably averaged going about 13-25 for 175 yards a game which really is not impressive at all. I think that the coaching of the WRs will improve and really help us along although we are inexperienced/young with a new QB.

Its refreshing to hear somewhat of a glowing report from practice although Burns is always overly positive
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom