Gophers Ranked #126 out of 130 on Experience Chart


Gophers were among the leaders in the nation last year in not using redshirts...a lot of those frosh in possible two deep are redshirt frosh that PJ has said could have played last year...Bell, Osezi, Andries, Ibrahim, Morgan, Estes, Robinson...Douglas did play, but got a year back after injury...same with Winfield, who should be a junior, except for injury...also, Gophers didn’t go out and get jucos and grad transfers who could play right away like Brohm did and Frost and Allen and Durkin are doing...we redshirted jucos Silver and Davis...got transfers that had to sit a year in OJ and Williamson...OJ Smith also reclassified...he is a fifth year junior...not sure Steele includes special teamers, where Gophers have a lot of maturity...having Beck, HandyHolly, Craighton transfer hurts secondary age, but Sapp and the Smiths might have beaten them out anyway...Swenson is a third year guy and plays smart... Viramontes being afraid of Annexstad and Tanner ability hurts apparent age in two-deep, but speaks to talent in place...similarly, exodus of older WRs Williams, Hmielewski, Holland, Register makes us look younger, but sounds like younger guys are more talented...Dickson not ready would hurt maturity level at tackle, but I think Faalele may surprise...physically he is no frosh...bottom line is with all the redshirting and sitting out years due to transfers and injuries, Gophers are a lot older than they appear in this Steele breakdown.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda, if, might, maybe, possibly, sorta, similarly = Gophers are deep and talented.
 


It's dumb to make excuses before the first snap. I think this team will be better than last year's based on what I saw all of last season (giant steps backward as injuries mounted). If the team can stay healthy and avoid dropping several key pieces again then there's no reason that the Gophers can't put together a better season.

I'm of the, perhaps misguided, opinion that we would have beat Maryland if Winfield had been healthy, and probably would have been much more competitive in every game if we hadn't lost key pieces of our defense from the year before.

Injuries to Tyler Johnson, Duke McGhee, and Antoine Winfield Jr. decimated the team last year as we had very little depth. One year is a lot of time, hopefully Fleck has had the opportunity to use some of that time to build depth.
 

Some of you all are older than me - do you ever remember a time when the Gophers weren't young? I don't.

Even if the 2 deep in August is veteran by October it will be a young team again.
 



You're right. This discussion wasn't already beat to death. Maybe we can have someone weigh in on 40 times and the star rankings as well?

Huh, I guess I don't remember anyone saying that 9 wins is a pipe dream in the near future. Obviously it is to you though.
 





When was the last time all the stars of August were playing at the end of November? I don't think it happens too often - for any team. But, we seem to be star-crossed a bit taking key injuries lately. Assuming injuries aren't "institutional", we will have our share this year. How well a #2 plays can preserve a victory or hurry a loss. But, what about inspire a win.

Perhaps fodder for another thread, but when was the last time GHers can remember a sub rising above expectations and changing a game to the W column?
 

I didn't start this thread to make excuses. I expect a better year in 2018, and would hope we can win 9 games in 2019.

Fleck has talked about our youth and many have mocked him for it and said that he's exaggerating it. Based on Steele's analysis, we are young.
 

I didn't start this thread to make excuses. I expect a better year in 2018, and would hope we can win 9 games in 2019.

Fleck has talked about our youth and many have mocked him for it and said that he's exaggerating it. Based on Steele's analysis, we are young.

I think you can look at Fleck's comments two ways (at least).

When Fleck talks about the youth and inexperience of the team, he is:

A.....being honest about the team's roster, and doesn't want to mislead anyone into having overly-optimistic expectations.

B.....setting up excuses in case the team has another disappointing season. "It isn't my fault; we're so young."

Which is it? I don't know. I can't read minds. I don't begin to know what Fleck is really thinking. I'm just sick of hearing about it. Whether the Gophers have 9 Seniors, 19 Seniors, or No Seniors, they will play football this season, and it's the coaches' job to take the roster and try to produce the best possible results.
 

Gophers were among the leaders in the nation last year in not using redshirts...a lot of those frosh in possible two deep are redshirt frosh that PJ has said could have played last year...Bell, Osezi, Andries, Ibrahim, Morgan, Estes, Robinson...Douglas did play, but got a year back after injury...same with Winfield, who should be a junior, except for injury...also, Gophers didn’t go out and get jucos and grad transfers who could play right away like Brohm did and Frost and Allen and Durkin are doing...we redshirted jucos Silver and Davis...got transfers that had to sit a year in OJ and Williamson...OJ Smith also reclassified...he is a fifth year junior...not sure Steele includes special teamers, where Gophers have a lot of maturity...having Beck, HandyHolly, Craighton transfer hurts secondary age, but Sapp and the Smiths might have beaten them out anyway...Swenson is a third year guy and plays smart... Viramontes being afraid of Annexstad and Tanner ability hurts apparent age in two-deep, but speaks to talent in place...similarly, exodus of older WRs Williams, Hmielewski, Holland, Register makes us look younger, but sounds like younger guys are more talented...Dickson not ready would hurt maturity level at tackle, but I think Faalele may surprise...physically he is no frosh...bottom line is with all the redshirting and sitting out years due to transfers and injuries, Gophers are a lot older than they appear in this Steele breakdown.

And there it is. This bit never gets old.
 



I didn't start this thread to make excuses. I expect a better year in 2018, and would hope we can win 9 games in 2019.

Fleck has talked about our youth and many have mocked him for it and said that he's exaggerating it. Based on Steele's analysis, we are young.

I agree. I'm not a total Flecktarian, but it seems that there's a group of folks that are just going to jump on every statement he makes. If anything, I've found his statements to be a lot tamer than the things Kill said when he took over. Kill inherited a real mess, so much of what he said was warranted. But he sure didn't season the rhetoric. And for the record, I liked Kill as well. I'm a Gopher fan first, last, and always and I'm behind whomever is coaching.
 

I didn't start this thread to make excuses. I expect a better year in 2018, and would hope we can win 9 games in 2019.

Fleck has talked about our youth and many have mocked him for it and said that he's exaggerating it. Based on Steele's analysis, we are young.

He can’t quite get the number of scholarships right. That’s not mocking. I expect a lot out of highly compensated employees.

My advice. Just shut up, say we’re working hard to put out a winning team, and leave it at that. Nobody likes to hear excuses.
 


He can’t quite get the number of scholarships right. That’s not mocking. I expect a lot out of highly compensated employees.

My advice. Just shut up, say we’re working hard to put out a winning team, and leave it at that. Nobody likes to hear excuses.

Then why listen to him so much? It seems like many of the people who complain about what he's saying the most are the ones who hang on every word he says.
 

Huh, I guess I don't remember anyone saying that 9 wins is a pipe dream in the near future. Obviously it is to you though.

That is incredibly bad deductive reasoning. I, obviously, think there is a crowd of Fleck supporters who blindly support him and do not set expectations for the team.


So let me ask you this, when can we expect 9 wins? You said near future. . . so if it's not done in _______ years, Fleck has underperformed. Please fill in the blank.
 

That is incredibly bad deductive reasoning. I, obviously, think there is a crowd of Fleck supporters who blindly support him and do not set expectations for the team.


So let me ask you this, when can we expect 9 wins? You said near future. . . so if it's not done in the second to last year of his never ending rollover contract, Fleck has underperformed. Please fill in the blank.

That would give him infinite years to accomplish the task. :p and make all the Flecktarians happy,as there isn't anyway for him to underperform.
Realistically would say, it should happen within the next 3 years, even though the question wasn't directed at me.
 

That is incredibly bad deductive reasoning. I, obviously, think there is a crowd of Fleck supporters who blindly support him and do not set expectations for the team.


So let me ask you this, when can we expect 9 wins? You said near future. . . so if it's not done in _______ years, Fleck has underperformed. Please fill in the blank.

Really? You think anyone will be supporting Fleck if we don’t improve?
 


Then why listen to him so much? It seems like many of the people who complain about what he's saying the most are the ones who hang on every word he says.

Because he’s the coach of a team I follow? I can’t unsee the Sunday interviews or the press conferences and I see no reason to allow it to pass. The sad part is the gaffes are usually totally unnecessary and self-inflicted.
 

Really? You think anyone will be supporting Fleck if we don’t improve?

Apparently you're not allowed to support a new coach and must be critical of him while he's building his program. Any defense of a new coach and you're considered to be worshiping him.

Of course if things don't improve over the next few years, he'll lose support, including mine, and most others on this board. The same people just continue to argue the same things over and over again.
 

Apparently you're not allowed to support a new coach and must be critical of him while he's building his program. Any defense of a new coach and you're considered to be worshiping him.

Of course if things don't improve over the next few years, he'll lose support, including mine, and most others on this board. The same people just continue to argue the same things over and over again.

The alternative is that you must LOATH PJ as if he was that terrible person you met in traffic.... you know the one.
 

Then why listen to him so much? It seems like many of the people who complain about what he's saying the most are the ones who hang on every word he says.
I didn't know Rush Limbaugh was still on the air...[emoji41]
 



That is incredibly bad deductive reasoning. I, obviously, think there is a crowd of Fleck supporters who blindly support him and do not set expectations for the team.


So let me ask you this, when can we expect 9 wins? You said near future. . . so if it's not done in _______ years, Fleck has underperformed. Please fill in the blank.

Notice weather guy ignored this post?

Lack of spine.....
 

Apparently you're not allowed to support a new coach and must be critical of him while he's building his program. Any defense of a new coach and you're considered to be worshiping him.

You know this isn't true. There's nothing wrong with defending him in general. It's the passionate defenses against anything negative that anyone says, even defending outright lies like the number of seniors on scholarship. It's ok for people to say negative things - P.J. doesn't need you to protect him like you're his boyfriend.
 

Pretty subjective without context. Care to be a little more precise?

Sure - the expectation should be for at least 6-7 wins and a bowl game this year. Anything less would be disappointing.

In 2019, I'd expect at least 8-9 wins. Overall, PJ will be need to win more than the last staff to have a successful tenure at the U.
 




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