Where have you gone, Mitch Leidner?

fmlizard

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
5,845
Reaction score
6,457
Points
113
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...
 

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
 

Longing for Leidner at QB is exactly, and I mean exactly, like longing for Claeys to still be our coach. We are far better in the long run with Fleck and whomever he comes up with at QB in the years to come.
 


I'm glad he's gone. Still waiting for a real qb to come on board and drive this offense.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



We had a legitimate quarterback recently.

He bailed and the rest was history.

Kill gets some blame there.
 

We had a legitimate quarterback recently.

He bailed and the rest was history.

Kill gets some blame there.

Yes, with Streveler this squad is 7-0 heading to Iowa with a good chance to win.
 




And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear.
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
 


You mean you miss the DIII TE?

The people that despised Leidener as a player had/ have an unrealistic idea of what the average college QB is and/or should be. They expect the high end of NFL caliber play, otherwise the guy is a bum. There may have been 5 college QBs in the country that they would've been happy with.

The fact is, Mitch was pretty damn good here, and was a major part of one of the most successful 4 year stretches since before the Vietnam War. He should be lauded, even for all of his faults and bad interceptions.
 

Mitch could get you close... not always win, but get you there.

The thing is not a lot of QBs can get you that close....as we can see.
 



Longing for Leidner at QB is exactly, and I mean exactly, like longing for Claeys to still be our coach. We are far better in the long run with Fleck and whomever he comes up with at QB in the years to come.

Well we hope that is true. The one thing that I think Claeys had going for him that I am not sure Fleck does is that Claeys appeared to be much more open to changing things that didn't work and tweaking systems to fit the players that were on the rouster.

Yes I want Fleck to succeed in the worst way, but as a battle weary Gopher fan that the next bad thing is just around the corner.
 

We need more data on willingness to adapt/change over the course of a season. Does appear to be showing some in-game flexibility if things are going south (for whatever reasons).

Seemed to figure it out with Western Michigan...but that was over 4 years.
 

Mitch could get you close... not always win, but get you there.

The thing is not a lot of QBs can get you that close....as we can see.

I was never a huge supporter of Leidner but I didn't hate him as much as many did, I just accepted that he was who he was and it wasn't his fault that his ceiling as a QB wasn't particularly high. A lot of people wondered why we didn't give another QB a shot last year, some speculated that it couldn't be worse then Mitch, we are finding out first hand right now that it absolutely could be worse then Mitch.

Mitch had plenty of faults but I think if you asked most fans right now if they would rather have Mitch back or continue on with Rhoda/Croft I would bet most would take Mitch back in a heartbeat.
 

Not for me. Leidner hit his low ceiling in 2015 and regressed in 2016. The mythologizing that's already going on is interesting considering we've played two guys with barely any game experience. Mitch's numbers, statistically and particularly vs Big Ten opponents were not great and really not much if any better than the two we sent out this year. He had some good games and some atrocious games. IMO we've lost more so because of defensive woes and a really curious game plan vs Maryland rather than exclusively the QB position as was more the case during the K-C era.

While it doesn't look good right now, let's reserve judgement on the QBS for at least a while longer.
 

Not for me. Leidner hit his low ceiling in 2015 and regressed in 2016. The mythologizing that's already going on is interesting considering we've played two guys with barely any game experience. Mitch's numbers, statistically and particularly vs Big Ten opponents were not great and really not much if any better than the two we sent out this year. He had some good games and some atrocious games. IMO we've lost more so because of defensive woes and a really curious game plan vs Maryland rather than exclusively the QB position as was more the case during the K-C era.

While it doesn't look good right now, let's reserve judgement on the QBS for at least a while longer.

I agree with pretty much all of this. Mitch may have had a few intangibles that the current crop doesn't have but his shortcomings are things I don't miss. Both Croft and Rhoda show more pocket awareness and ability to move around within the pocket than Mitch ever did. I may be wrong but I can't recall either of the QB's this year taking any of those maddening sacks that Mitch used to take on a regular basis just because he had no clue what was happening around him.

That said, I'm not very hopeful for either of the two current guys to be any kind of long term solution. Rhoda is obviously gone soon and Croft just seems to be lacking in a few key areas. If Croft had even just a LITTLE bit more elusiveness as a runner, some other things could be overlooked but he's not a great runner. Three years with the team, I think we're seeing what all the coaches that have worked with him to this point have known for a while. Here's hoping one of them can guide them to a few more wins this year and we'll roll the dice on what next year can bring with either Armstrong or Morgan (or the remote possibility of a much improved Croft).
 

My only thought on Leidner is that I hope the storm door didn't hit him on the way out.
 

The Wisconsin game last year was Mitch's career in a nutshell. I can't see that twice in 1 lifetime
 

I was never a huge supporter of Leidner but I didn't hate him as much as many did, I just accepted that he was who he was and it wasn't his fault that his ceiling as a QB wasn't particularly high. A lot of people wondered why we didn't give another QB a shot last year, some speculated that it couldn't be worse then Mitch, we are finding out first hand right now that it absolutely could be worse then Mitch.

Mitch had plenty of faults but I think if you asked most fans right now if they would rather have Mitch back or continue on with Rhoda/Croft I would bet most would take Mitch back in a heartbeat.

Same, by senior season he was a known quantity.

Mitch wasn't a "great" QB, but he was closer to that than many QBs... and no reason to belive the next guy just has to be closer anymore than a 9 win season record will be the same the next year or that we just get better and nobody else does and so on....
 

Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...

Everyone liked to Dog on him despite crappy qb coaching and play calling, but
I knew before the season was over someone would post this thread..
doesn't seem like such a crappy qb after all, huh?
 

The Wisconsin game last year was Mitch's career in a nutshell. I can't see that twice in 1 lifetime

You mean when offensive guru Jay Johnson picked a game plan that worked over and over in the first half and decided to can the whole
plan in the second half and throw throw throw, to receivers that couldn't catch and constantly ran the wrong routes?

Yeah I cant watch that either..
 

The people that despised Leidener as a player had/ have an unrealistic idea of what the average college QB is and/or should be. They expect the high end of NFL caliber play, otherwise the guy is a bum.

THIS. The fact we are in an NFL town hurts the Gophers on this issue. For example, Teddy Bridgewater was an awesome college QB but has been average to below average in the NFL. Think about that for a second. Most college teams have QBs that are lucky to sniff the NFL and even if they get there those QBs could be average or bench players (see A. Weber).

Point being, an average to above average college QB is about what Mitch was. Which is also something that would have helped us this year compared to our current options. I’m not a huge Liedner fan myself but expectations for college QBs are crazy.
 

Fleck will get a better QB than Leidner in the future, but at least we all know why Leidner started over Croft and Rhoda.
 

How would Weber rank against Rhoda, DC, and Leidner?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

I still have nightmares of Wisconsin game. Leidner was pathetic. Couldn’t throw a spiral and glad he’s gone
 



I've said it before, but people hated on Leidner way too much. He probably is towards the top of the charts in wins (or wins per season) at MN. He wasn't flashy, but he made plays at big spots and was consistent.

Now you can see what was behind him on the depth chart. We we're lucky to even have a decent Big Ten quarterback with him here.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
 




Top Bottom