Hope for Next Year Thread...

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John Galt

John Galt

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This season was ugly, there is no sugar coating it. We took a step back in PJ's 1st season. Many issues contributed to it - coaching, transfers, players kicked out of school, new system, injuries, etc etc. Did we have the talent to be a 8-9 win team? No. Did we underperform given what we had? My answer is yes. I believe PJ will get this figured out, and here is what I'm watching on offense going into next year:

1. QB play has to be better. In fairness to DC, I didn't see him miss a lot of wide open WRs this year. His receivers got very little separation and he often put the ball on the money. His reaction time in the pocket will need to improve significantly. Fleck was smart to give Morgan an entire redshirt year. Assuming we land Viramontes, I am excited about a spring/fall QB competitions between DC, Morgan and Viramontes. It will be the best group we've had in a while.

2. Running game. We lose McCrary, but Smith and Brooks will be back for their senior seasons. Femi-Cole has looked good in spring. We red-shirted London and Ibrahim, and have 2 really good recruits that will be here next year - Nolan Edmonds and Bryce Williams. That's a pretty nice set-up at RB.

3. Wide Receiver play will be significantly better. We simply ran out of bodies at this position. We saw what TJ could do this year and next year he's a junior. We add playmakers in Douglass, Bell and Bateman. We also need Howard, Van Dyne or one of the other freshmen to emerge.

4. O-line is the biggest question mark for me. We lose Wright and Calhoun. Weyler will be back. Olson and Schleuter played a lot as redshirt freshmen. Greene will be back. Losing Connelly for good really hurt the o-line. We need a couple of the redshirt freshmen - Andries, Sassack and/or Schmitz to emerge quickly. We also need some JUCO help here. Unfortunately, it looks like the o-line is a couple year work in progress.

5. Tight End. I keep thinking that Lingen had to be banged up this year - he just wasn't a factor and didn't play that much. I won't miss Wozniak's hands of stone. We also didn't really see Beebe this year which was surprising. I'm excited to see what Jake Paulson can do and wouldn't be surprised if we see Spann-Ford next year as a true freshman receiving threat.
 

I'm not certain Brooks will be back. Concussions.
Beebe doesn't appear to have a place on this team, other than on kick returns. The guy can block, but apparently you don't need blockers on offense.
 


You nailed it.

PJ did mention he is shopping for QB(s). Looking for OLs. Possibly JUCOs for short term fix.

New up and coming slew of WRs may help in attracting QBs. Stabilizing the OL will help.

A lot to look forward to in the next three or four years.
 

Couple of thoughts:

I have been a huge Shannon Brooks fan - thought he had more upside than Smith - but the concussion issues are troubling. I'm not sure you can count on him being available. With his running style, he is one bad hit away from being done. So at least one or two of the other backs need to emerge - ideally a bigger back who can pick up a 3rd-and short situation.

Tight End - it just looks like Fleck's system does not use the TE as a receiver. So they might as well just go ahead and look for more 'blocking' TE's.

But overall - I want to see a consistent offensive philosophy emerge. It seemed like it was changing week to week. How much of that is due to the QB's limitations, we may never know. But one week they would run the wildcat play. Another week, the QB runs for a single-game school record. Other weeks, the QB never even tries to run. My biggest advice to the coaches is this: pick an approach. I really don't care what approach, but pick one approach and say to everyone, "this is our offense. When we have the ball, this is what MN looks like on offense."

We knew what Mason's philosophy was on offense. Brewster never knew, because he never settled on a consistent philosophy. With Kill, for all the complaining about play-calling, you knew what they were trying to accomplish on offense. If Fleck wants to succeed, he needs to figure out what his offense is going to be, and stick to it.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Couple of thoughts:

I have been a huge Shannon Brooks fan - thought he had more upside than Smith - but the concussion issues are troubling. I'm not sure you can count on him being available. With his running style, he is one bad hit away from being done. So at least one or two of the other backs need to emerge - ideally a bigger back who can pick up a 3rd-and short situation.

Tight End - it just looks like Fleck's system does not use the TE as a receiver. So they might as well just go ahead and look for more 'blocking' TE's.

But overall - I want to see a consistent offensive philosophy emerge. It seemed like it was changing week to week. How much of that is due to the QB's limitations, we may never know. But one week they would run the wildcat play. Another week, the QB runs for a single-game school record. Other weeks, the QB never even tries to run. My biggest advice to the coaches is this: pick an approach. I really don't care what approach, but pick one approach and say to everyone, "this is our offense. When we have the ball, this is what MN looks like on offense."

We knew what Mason's philosophy was on offense. Brewster never knew, because he never settled on a consistent philosophy. With Kill, for all the complaining about play-calling, you knew what they were trying to accomplish on offense. If Fleck wants to succeed, he needs to figure out what his offense is going to be, and stick to it.
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Fleck knows what his offense is and will stick to it. However, he needs a QB, WRs, and an OL for it to work. I think QB and WR will be the most improved positions next year, not that it'll take much.
 

PJ is getting baptized into the B1G this year.

Whatever has worked at WMU may not work against B1G teams. Readjustment or schematic refinement is in order.

One component of his offense that he may reconsider is the TE play.
 

Even presented from an optimistic point of view...there's not a lot there. Did Morgan in any way exhibit to you he might be the answer at QB in open practices? Really? Vic or some other new guy is the only hope at QB. Croft's decisions are just not those of a winning QB.
I do agree the receivers have to be better. Almost impossible not to be. Douglas can catch but is immediately on the ground after each reception. YAC are zero.
The running backs could be better but it's a hope. Will Brooks be able or choose to play? Anything to Rodney and the NFL?
O-line is a problem. It's gets worse if Warinner moves on.
The redshirt freshmen have only a couple of potential impact guys on paper. PJ says his philosophy is not to play incoming freshmen. We have to replace 12ish guys who played a lot. PJ says guys will transfer.
Vic or some other new QB has to be very good for us to better. D-line loses a lot. D-backs lose experience. Celestin was said to be the leader of the defense.
Hope for me would be the coaching staff all stays and we get a new better QB or two who play, who are not on the roster. Then, I have some hope.
 

It's a very easy schedule next season.

New Mexico State - H
Fresno State - H
Miami of Ohio - H
at Maryland
Iowa - H
at tOSU
at NE
Indiana - H
at IL
Purdue - H
NW - H
at WI
 



Iceland12 said:
It's a very easy schedule next season.

New Mexico State - H
Fresno State - H
Miami of Ohio - H
at Maryland
Iowa - H
at tOSU
at NE
Indiana - H
at IL
Purdue - H
NW - H
at WI
Click to expand...

Yep. Same for 2019. No reason Fleck's teams can't average 9 wins over those seasons.
 

hungan1 said:
PJ is getting baptized into the B1G this year.

Whatever has worked at WMU may not work against B1G teams. Readjustment or schematic refinement is in order.

One component of his offense that he may reconsider is the TE play.
Click to expand...

This. He may not, however. Kill stuck with the glorified RB theory at QB. If Fleck can't bring in a plug and play QB for next season, we will have a sequel of this season. Croft can't make decisions quickly enough and will not be a consistently good QB. He is Mitch without the power running/ toughness and wobbling passes.
 

Iceland12 said:
It's a very easy schedule next season.

New Mexico State - H
Fresno State - H
Miami of Ohio - H
at Maryland
Iowa - H
at tOSU
at NE
Indiana - H
at IL
Purdue - H
NW - H
at WI
Click to expand...

Definitely, the schedule should help. But, it was not that daunting this year either.
 




Breakin' The Plane said:
I'm not certain Brooks will be back. Concussions.
Beebe doesn't appear to have a place on this team, other than on kick returns. The guy can block, but apparently you don't need blockers on offense.
Click to expand...

Beebe was replaced by our tight ends this season. There is no room for a fullback on Flecks roster.
 

Another year in the weight room, and working on technique should benefit the young O-linemen, Olson, Schleuter, Green and Dovich. Andries should be ready.

I look for some O-line improvement..... which will benefit our QB and WR issues.
 

Vandy said:
Another year in the weight room, and working on technique should benefit the young O-linemen, Olson, Schleuter, Green and Dovich. Andries should be ready.

I look for some O-line improvement..... which will benefit our QB and WR issues.
Click to expand...

Seriously, as much as I hate the year 0 nonsense there is some logic behind it.
Getting a team ready takes time. Our entire offense changed as did our defense.

Halfway through the season I was screaming about how much space our corners were giving.
Yesterday we used that space to put McGhee in run coverage which was awesome to see.

Early in the year people were complaining about our tight ends not being involved in the passing game.
Halfway through the year we started pulling them and using them as a fullback in a zone running scheme.

Our team is adjusting, our fans are adjusting, and our coaches are adjusting.

Maybe we're worse next year, but I doubt it.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Yep. Same for 2019. No reason Fleck's teams can't average 9 wins over those seasons.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you feel that way. The non-conference schedule looks fairly easy but the team was 3-0 in non-conference in this terrible season.

We lost to Maryland at home without their top two quarterbacks. Why do you think that we'd have a better chance at Maryland with one or both of those guys returning?

We play Illinois away and they will surely have to be better than they were this year; as I understand, they played a lineup heavy on underclassmen this year.

Purdue is a team that clearly on the upswing.

We've lost to Iowa two of the last three times we've played them at home.

Of course, it makes no sense to even discuss Ohio State and Wisconsin.

I suspect NW won't be as good next year. We'll likely be favored against Indiana at home but I don't see why that would be a gimme at this point. We can probably be confident that Nebraska will still be down.

I don't see this schedule as enabling a 5 win team to transform into a 9 win team in one season. 7 wins seems doable but even that may be a bit optimistic.
 

cjbfbp said:
Not sure why you feel that way. The non-conference schedule looks fairly easy but the team was 3-0 in non-conference in this terrible season.

We lost to Maryland at home without their top two quarterbacks. Why do you think that we'd have a better chance at Maryland with one or both of those guys returning?

We play Illinois away and they will surely have to be better than they were this year; as I understand, they played a lineup heavy on underclassmen this year.

Purdue is a team that clearly on the upswing.

We've lost to Iowa two of the last three times we've played them at home.

Of course, it makes no sense to even discuss Ohio State and Wisconsin.

I suspect NW won't be as good next year. We'll likely be favored against Indiana at home but I don't see why that would be a gimme at this point. We can probably be confident that Nebraska will still be down.

I don't see this schedule as enabling a 5 win team to transform into a 9 win team in one season. 7 wins seems doable but even that may be a bit optimistic.
Click to expand...

Averaging 9 per season over the next two years is absolutely doable. I expect the Gophs to be better next year with an easier schedule. 2019 schedule might be even easier than 2018. I expect the Gophs to be a lot better in 2019.
 

We'll have the nations best long snapper!
 

Does anyone know what this is about?

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mkAz said:
Does anyone know what this is about?

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Click to expand...

Not at banquet. Read what you want into that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Spoofin said:
Not at banquet. Read what you want into that.


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

If it's true that Croft is transferring, what a huge mistake by PJ to play him all year.
 



PhillyGopher said:
The poster is a turd who sets the bar quite high hoping PJ fails. The schtick is worn out at this point.
Click to expand...

So 8-9 wins is the high bar now? Many Flecksters point to 2019 as the breakout year. Easy schedule, 3 years of Fleck recruits. Very reasonable possibility of 10 wins (or more) that season.
 


Word said:
If it's true that Croft is transferring, what a huge mistake by PJ to play him all year.
Click to expand...

PJF does not like pot heads. I expected DC to be moving on unless he received his medical marijuana card, lol. Just a rumor around campus and we have experienced the inaccuracies of those in the past.
 

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