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Minnesota continued their spring practice slate with another open practice. The coaches continue to emphasize situational work as play installation reaches another level. Overall, the players have been continuing to build off of the instruction this spring.
The Gophers held a closed scrimmage last Thursday with roughly 115 plays on script for both teams. It was a chance for head coach P.J. Fleck to evaluate the players in various situations. Fleck wanted to see consistency from his team as they continue to progress through spring practices.
“I think consistency for some players stood out,” Fleck said. “At this point of spring you want to see consistency. I thought we did a better job of tackling, making people miss. I could have been out there five hours if we could, we were just having so much fun out there.”
All of the position groups were placed in difficult situations to see how they would respond to adversity. Fleck said he noticed a solid performance from the trenches and secondary during the closed scrimmage.
“I was impressed with our offensive line in terms of the limited amount of sacks. The way we play defensively in terms of retracing on the D-Line,” Fleck said. “I thought we fought well on the outside, whether it was a DB winning some, whether it was our wide-outs winning some.”
Not only was the live action an opportunity to holistically evaluate the roster, but also provided valuable tape to evaluate the quarterback position. With no returning experience at the position, Fleck said the additional practice reps are important. The battle will continue to progress moving into the fall.
“[I am seeing] youth, inexperience, but growth,” Fleck said. “The whole thing is putting them in very chaotic, very tough positions and sometimes putting them in a position where they might not be successful and see how they respond to it and see if they can’t get themselves out of it.”
One quarterback who has drawn attention early in spring ball is preferred walk-on signal-caller Zack Annexstad. He joined the Gophers after playing high school football at IMG Academy in Florida. The Minnesota native turned down a variety of power-five offers to be a walk-on with the Gophers.
“Nothing rattles him. Nothing,” Fleck said. “I think he was maybe one of the best one in terms of the two minute. It looked like he’d been out there for five years. There’s a reason why when he was at IMG there was a starter ahead him who went to another Big Ten school on a scholarship and [Annexstad] beat him out.”
The battle will continue to intensify in the coming weeks with Tanner Morgan, transfer Vic Viramontes and Annexstad all competing for snaps. It’s something the head coach likes to see.
“You can see the battle amongst those three starting to take form, but that’s what you want, that’s a true battle,” Fleck said.
Outside of the quarterback position, Fleck and his staff are trying to place every player in a position to be successful. The team is converting quarterback Seth Green to tight end in an effort to use his athleticism. Fleck also said the team will use Antoine Winfield Jr. creatively within the defensive system.
“We are going to play [Antoine] like a corner this year, at safety, you might even see him come off the edge at like an ‘R’ rush end type position to move Carter [Coughlin] to other positions,” Fleck said. “Again, we’re going to continue to have to be creative. He’s a heck of an asset to have on your football team because he’s so versatile, so smart, so athletic, and just have to get him on the field and keep him on the field this year.”
On offense, the staff is expecting another step forward from junior wide receiver Tyler Johnson. Last year, he led the team with 35 receptions for 677 yards and seven touchdowns. Johnson was learning quickly under the instruction of wide receivers coach Matt Simon. It was like on the job training for the young receiver. This offseason, Johnson has worked on improving his technique to become more efficient.
“Last year he was a good wide receiver, right? I mean he could do a lot of things, but when he played against competition maybe that was better than him, his technique wasn’t perfected enough to get him out of those situations,” Fleck said. “So this year, he’s way more efficient with his technique and you can see that in him becoming a more efficient receiver.”
Video:
The Gophers held a closed scrimmage last Thursday with roughly 115 plays on script for both teams. It was a chance for head coach P.J. Fleck to evaluate the players in various situations. Fleck wanted to see consistency from his team as they continue to progress through spring practices.
“I think consistency for some players stood out,” Fleck said. “At this point of spring you want to see consistency. I thought we did a better job of tackling, making people miss. I could have been out there five hours if we could, we were just having so much fun out there.”
All of the position groups were placed in difficult situations to see how they would respond to adversity. Fleck said he noticed a solid performance from the trenches and secondary during the closed scrimmage.
“I was impressed with our offensive line in terms of the limited amount of sacks. The way we play defensively in terms of retracing on the D-Line,” Fleck said. “I thought we fought well on the outside, whether it was a DB winning some, whether it was our wide-outs winning some.”
Not only was the live action an opportunity to holistically evaluate the roster, but also provided valuable tape to evaluate the quarterback position. With no returning experience at the position, Fleck said the additional practice reps are important. The battle will continue to progress moving into the fall.
“[I am seeing] youth, inexperience, but growth,” Fleck said. “The whole thing is putting them in very chaotic, very tough positions and sometimes putting them in a position where they might not be successful and see how they respond to it and see if they can’t get themselves out of it.”
One quarterback who has drawn attention early in spring ball is preferred walk-on signal-caller Zack Annexstad. He joined the Gophers after playing high school football at IMG Academy in Florida. The Minnesota native turned down a variety of power-five offers to be a walk-on with the Gophers.
“Nothing rattles him. Nothing,” Fleck said. “I think he was maybe one of the best one in terms of the two minute. It looked like he’d been out there for five years. There’s a reason why when he was at IMG there was a starter ahead him who went to another Big Ten school on a scholarship and [Annexstad] beat him out.”
The battle will continue to intensify in the coming weeks with Tanner Morgan, transfer Vic Viramontes and Annexstad all competing for snaps. It’s something the head coach likes to see.
“You can see the battle amongst those three starting to take form, but that’s what you want, that’s a true battle,” Fleck said.
Outside of the quarterback position, Fleck and his staff are trying to place every player in a position to be successful. The team is converting quarterback Seth Green to tight end in an effort to use his athleticism. Fleck also said the team will use Antoine Winfield Jr. creatively within the defensive system.
“We are going to play [Antoine] like a corner this year, at safety, you might even see him come off the edge at like an ‘R’ rush end type position to move Carter [Coughlin] to other positions,” Fleck said. “Again, we’re going to continue to have to be creative. He’s a heck of an asset to have on your football team because he’s so versatile, so smart, so athletic, and just have to get him on the field and keep him on the field this year.”
On offense, the staff is expecting another step forward from junior wide receiver Tyler Johnson. Last year, he led the team with 35 receptions for 677 yards and seven touchdowns. Johnson was learning quickly under the instruction of wide receivers coach Matt Simon. It was like on the job training for the young receiver. This offseason, Johnson has worked on improving his technique to become more efficient.
“Last year he was a good wide receiver, right? I mean he could do a lot of things, but when he played against competition maybe that was better than him, his technique wasn’t perfected enough to get him out of those situations,” Fleck said. “So this year, he’s way more efficient with his technique and you can see that in him becoming a more efficient receiver.”
Video:
