Ranking the Big Ten's Quarterbacks for 2018 (12. Tanner Morgan, Minnesota)

BleedGopher

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12. Tanner Morgan, Minnesota

Minnesota’s quarterbacks managed only seven passing scores in Big Ten matchups last fall. Coach P.J. Fleck knows the Golden Gophers need more out of this position, which is why the staff added junior college recruit Vic Viramontes to compete with Morgan and incoming freshman Zack Annexstad. Morgan ranked as a three-star recruit in the 2017 signing class and used a redshirt in his first year on campus. During Minnesota’s spring game, Morgan completed 18 of 28 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns. He’s ahead of Annexstad and Viramontes entering fall practice.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-big-tens-quarterbacks-2018

Go Gophers!!
 

I'm getting bored of seeing the lack of passing TDs last year as justification for ranking this year's passing game so low. I get that there are many question marks given that we don't have a QB with any game experience, but I predict TJ will catch more than 7 TDs himself and I am confident that we have better depth at receiver than we've had in quite some time. I'm not expecting a formidable passing attack, but I'm not expecting a punchless one either.
 

OK! Let's rate this years guys based on last year. More garbage.
 

Given the other program pedigrees and about half of the league having decent or good starters that return, the last 2 posters are honestly mad or don’t agree with this ranking?
 

Looking at it from the inside, Gopher fans see potential. Looking at it from the outside, the national magazines see lack of experience.

Both could be true. Neither could be true. This is one time where we have to watch the season play out before we can decide which is correct. Morgan or Annexstad could turn out to be phenoms - or they could wilt under the pressure of D1 competition.

Come back and ask me after 6 games or so. That is why this season is so fascinating. Everybody has their own opinion about what might happen - but nobody knows what will happen. Unless you've invented time travel, and you've already watched the season play out. In that case, I have a few questions about the stock market for you.
 


Given the other program pedigrees and about half of the league having decent or good starters that return, the last 2 posters are honestly mad or don’t agree with this ranking?

The bottom 7 in passing offense averaged less than 200 yds./gm last year. It wouldn't shock me if the passing offense finished between 8-10 in ypg with 15-20 tds thrown. I seriously believe that.
 

The ranking seems fair considering the pass attack last year. QB, OL, WR all sub-par.

Part of QB play is their protection and the guys catching the ball. It stands to reason until we see concrete improvement there will be a lot of doubt. Morgan wasn’t a highly rated recruit and hasn’t thrown a pass in a game. He looked the best of the lot in the spring game but that was versus a defensive mishmash of backups - how will he look vs real defenses. We don’t know yet. Will VV be a factor this year -hard to say at this point.

We only have one returning WR that’s proven and a lot of youth behind that. The OL will be a question mark until proven otherwise. I expect we will be better at both positions (literally can’t be worse at WR) but I think it might be incremental improvement unless we have a generational type talent that is able to get open at will with sticky hands and makes the QBs life easy. I don’t know. Going tangential, it will be interesting to see Wisconsin’s pass attack this year without safety blanket Fumagalli. Under pressure? Throw it up to Troy. Red zone troubles? Troy. Need a third down? Troy.
 

Interesting that some folks who point to the QB position as a big reason to have lower expectations don't agree with this rating? Same thing is playing out in the thread on the recent 2019 JuCo commits.
 

Interesting that some folks who point to the QB position as a big reason to have lower expectations don't agree with this rating? Same thing is playing out in the thread on the recent 2019 JuCo commits.

Speaking for myself, I freely admit that I was too optimistic about the QB position last year. I thought Croft was a good athlete and expected him to blossom playing in a more quarterback-friendly system under new coaches with a new system. I was wrong. I was 100% wrong. So yes, I'm gun-shy this year. I expect nothing from the QB's until I see them play in a real game against real opposition.

Honestly, if I was ranking the B1G QB position, I might put the Gophers at 14th, because of all the questions and lack of experience. Now, I certainly hope they still won't be 14th at the end of the season - but we won't know that until the end of the season.
 



The ranking seems fair considering the pass attack last year. QB, OL, WR all sub-par.

Part of QB play is their protection and the guys catching the ball. It stands to reason until we see concrete improvement there will be a lot of doubt. Morgan wasn’t a highly rated recruit and hasn’t thrown a pass in a game. He looked the best of the lot in the spring game but that was versus a defensive mishmash of backups - how will he look vs real defenses. We don’t know yet. Will VV be a factor this year -hard to say at this point.

We only have one returning WR that’s proven and a lot of youth behind that. The OL will be a question mark until proven otherwise. I expect we will be better at both positions (literally can’t be worse at WR) but I think it might be incremental improvement unless we have a generational type talent that is able to get open at will with sticky hands and makes the QBs life easy. I don’t know. Going tangential, it will be interesting to see Wisconsin’s pass attack this year without safety blanket Fumagalli. Under pressure? Throw it up to Troy. Red zone troubles? Troy. Need a third down? Troy.

Wisconsin supposedly has the best depth of WR they’ve had in program history this year. Watch the Orange Bowl. I’m sure they’ll miss Troy but they’ve had how many NFL TEs cycle through and a pretty good group of WRs? Double check your research there.

I don’t know if any of the guys they have are an NFL talent, but they apparently have 4 guys that could get on the all conference teams.
 

Interesting that some folks who point to the QB position as a big reason to have lower expectations don't agree with this rating? Same thing is playing out in the thread on the recent 2019 JuCo commits.

There were people on here happy to see Mitch gone last year .... we're all st00pid5 here.
 

The top 7 are pretty locked in. Thorson has been shaky but apparently has draftable talent and also experience. I’d say 8 really with Blough being at least decent.

So really, it comes down to thinking Morgan or other starter would be better than Hill, Martinez, or the Indiana newcomers. I have no qualms about being rated lower. Those rungs could all end up being pretty mediocre this year.
 

The top 7 are pretty locked in. Thorson has been shaky but apparently has draftable talent and also experience. I’d say 8 really with Blough being at least decent.

So really, it comes down to thinking Morgan or other starter would be better than Hill, Martinez, or the Indiana newcomers. I have no qualms about being rated lower. Those rungs could all end up being pretty mediocre this year.

Really the list should be:

- Bunch of known quantities.

Followed by:

- MAYBE some guys you have a lot of legit reasons for high expectations.

Unranked:

- Unknowns and guys who suck.
 



Looking at it from the inside, Gopher fans see potential. Looking at it from the outside, the national magazines see lack of experience.

Both could be true. Neither could be true. This is one time where we have to watch the season play out before we can decide which is correct. Morgan or Annexstad could turn out to be phenoms - or they could wilt under the pressure of D1 competition.

Come back and ask me after 6 games or so. That is why this season is so fascinating. Everybody has their own opinion about what might happen - but nobody knows what will happen. Unless you've invented time travel, and you've already watched the season play out. In that case, I have a few questions about the stock market for you.

Spot on. This early season talk is appetizer tray to get clicks. After Game 6, they'll serve the main course.
 

Am I the only one troubled by the fact that Wisky is near the top of every pre-season ranking. Hornibrook is at #4 here (Realistically he is probably #3).
What are they doing better than we are? I mean, their recruiting classes haven't been any better than ours have. How does the on-field product vary that greatly from ours? It just doesn't make sense to me.
 


Am I the only one troubled by the fact that Wisky is near the top of every pre-season ranking. Hornibrook is at #4 here (Realistically he is probably #3).
What are they doing better than we are? I mean, their recruiting classes haven't been any better than ours have. How does the on-field product vary that greatly from ours? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I would say consistency. even with some coaching changes, it still follows the basic outline set down by Alvarez. Big, physical O-Line - strong running game - QB's who are game managers and generally don't hurt you with turnovers - and a solid defense, keyed around good linebacker play. That's Wisconsin football. Minnesota football changes from season to season depending on the coach or coaching philosophy that's being followed that season.

So. when you ask, what are they doing better - I would say #1 they recruit to their system, and they do a damn good job of it.
 

Wisconsin supposedly has the best depth of WR they’ve had in program history this year. Watch the Orange Bowl. I’m sure they’ll miss Troy but they’ve had how many NFL TEs cycle through and a pretty good group of WRs? Double check your research there.

I don’t know if any of the guys they have are an NFL talent, but they apparently have 4 guys that could get on the all conference teams.

Fumagalli was their leading receiver in 2017 and second in 2016. In the Wisconsin games I watched he was a huge part of making their offense go. Will they replace him at 100% with whomever they have waiting in the wings - it’s possible but like I said sometimes really good players are tough to replace, even for Wisconsin. If you want to crown their ass, crown em’...
 

Fumagalli was their leading receiver in 2017 and second in 2016. In the Wisconsin games I watched he was a huge part of making their offense go. Will they replace him at 100% with whomever they have waiting in the wings - it’s possible but like I said sometimes really good players are tough to replace, even for Wisconsin. If you want to crown their ass, crown em’...

Let’s go through a fun exercise, starting when Satan took over and got things going.

Start here:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/wisconsin/1993.html

1993-1994 Mike Roan, drafted 4th round
1995 Matt Nyquist FB/TE caught the ball a lot
1996 Kevin Lyles
1997-2000 not much, but they had Dayne running 100 times/game and Evans/Chambers
2001 Mark Anelli, drafted 6th round
2002 not much
2003-2005 Owen Daniels, 4th round, long NFL career
2006-2008 Travis Beckum averaged 65 catches/year, 3rd round pick
2007-2009 Garrett Graham, 3rd round pick
2008-2010 Lance Kendricks, 2nd round pick
2010-2013 Jacob Pederson, not drafted but a lot of catches
Austin Traylor is also in here somewhere, he’s on an NFL roster (ST)
2014 Sam Arneson had 30 catches
2014-2017 Troy Fumagalli


The next 2 guys appear to be 4 star players on some sites (3 on others) in Kyle Penniston who has done a bit, and the other as I’ve been reminded by my annoying becky friends, the grandson of Satan himself, Ferguson, a 4-Star recruit that sat out to redshirt last year


They’ll replace Fumagalli, basically the only guy they lost on offense other than a fullback, so I’ve also heard 100 times from my friends already this offseason.
 

I would advise never talking football with 2 groups: Wisconsinites and SEC fans.

Yeah, they've had some good production. It almost seems like utilizing tight ends is a good idea. I'd like their defense to stagnate even more than the offense. They've been absurdly good on D as we sadly know.
 

Speaking for myself, I freely admit that I was too optimistic about the QB position last year. I thought Croft was a good athlete and expected him to blossom playing in a more quarterback-friendly system under new coaches with a new system. I was wrong. I was 100% wrong. So yes, I'm gun-shy this year. I expect nothing from the QB's until I see them play in a real game against real opposition.

Honestly, if I was ranking the B1G QB position, I might put the Gophers at 14th, because of all the questions and lack of experience. Now, I certainly hope they still won't be 14th at the end of the season - but we won't know that until the end of the season.

I think we are saying the same thing. I am talking this year...folks tamping down expectations pointing to QB position being a question mark but then get upset when a publication basically says the same.
 

I would advise never talking football with 2 groups: Wisconsinites and SEC fans.

Yeah, they've had some good production. It almost seems like utilizing tight ends is a good idea. I'd like their defense to stagnate even more than the offense. They've been absurdly good on D as we sadly know.

I had painful memories of their recent TE production and went down a painful memory lane on my own there, but the other stuff was annoying friend input.

Now the defense, that’s something that could take a step back.
 

I think we are saying the same thing. I am talking this year...folks tamping down expectations pointing to QB position being a question mark but then get upset when a publication basically says the same.

If you're referring to my post, I'm actually confident that QB play will be improved despite the lack of game experience. Nowhere to go but up from last year.
 

Am I the only one troubled by the fact that Wisky is near the top of every pre-season ranking. Hornibrook is at #4 here (Realistically he is probably #3).
What are they doing better than we are? I mean, their recruiting classes haven't been any better than ours have. How does the on-field product vary that greatly from ours? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I think the bigger question is, why is every single post of yours about Wisconsin?
 

I think the bigger question is, why is every single post of yours about Wisconsin?

Word,

I am sorry but I live in Wisconsin because that is where the company I work for is based out of. I am on an island so the playful ribbing about the gophers is amplified by every local news story being about the Badgers. Kind of consumes you after a while! LOL!
 



Offensive line.

That's why WI has been good, and that's what will dictate our success.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Too high, IMO. Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State probably have 3 guys each on roster that I'd take. Then, you consider returning starters and incoming recruits elsewhere. If we're doing a real talent assessment, he realistically might not even be in the top 20.

If we're talking about starters only, after last year, I'm not sure how you could rank a Gophers QB in front of anyone until they prove something that they haven't in a number of years.

THe outrage following this post should be good, even though it's totally true if you're objective.
 




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