Phil Steele: Gophers near top of Big Ten in returning starters

swingman

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https://philsteele.com/2018/07/08/complete-breakdown-of-every-cfb-teams-returning-starters/

Illinois with 16, Nebraska with 15 only Big Ten West with more than Minnesota with 14. Steele says 14 for Minnesota; 18 is probably a better count.

Greene, Weyler, Olson, Schlueter gives you four of five starters back up front. Oseland started 2.
Smith, Tyler gives you top RB and top WR back. Howard started seven games. Douglas started two. Geary 1.
Beebe started 8 games in 2016.
Carpenter gives you former All Big kicker back. Jordahl back.

Moore, Umlor, DeLattiboudere and Coughlin gives you four d-line starters back.
Barber and Martin gives you 2 of 3 LB starters back. Cashman and Huff played a lot of downs in their first three years.
Safeties Huff, Winfield, and CBs Shenault, and Thomas all return in secondary...Williamson started one at Florida. Harris one last year. Durr one in '16.
 

Don’t take my inexperienced narrative away from me with facts!
 


Kickers/Punters/Long Snappers aren't part of Steele's breakdown. Just offense and defense.

Its a gray area labeling who where "starters" when there are 22 spots and depending on your criteria (how many games started) you can come up with many more than 22.

Given a healthy roster in 2017 on who the starters were, I'd say we have the following "starters" to replace. Some were already replaced in 2017 after injuries.

QB: 1 (Rhoda/Croft)
RB: 0
WR: 1 (Carter)
TE: 1 (Wozniak/Lingen)
OL: 2 (Connelly, Wright)

DE: 0
DT: 2 (Richardson, Jackson)
OLB: 1 (Celestin)
MLB: 0
CB: 0
S: 1 (McGhee)
 

Next analysis will be what month of the year players were born as to being stronger etc.
 


Have to give Swingman credit. He is committed to the bit.
 


As I said in another thread - they're both right.

Swingman is right - the Gophers do have a number of returning/experienced players.

But, the other side is right - the Gophers still have an overall young team.

What that means - if a starter gets hurt, he will be replaced by a much younger player.

At a helmet school, if a SR starter gets hurt, he will likely be replaced by a JR, or maybe a SO.

At MN, if a SR starter gets hurt this season, he will likely be replaced by a SO or more likely a RS FR.

So, the Gophers are experienced - and young - at the same time.

Coming up, a comparison of Left Twix and Right Twix........
 

As I said in another thread - they're both right.

Swingman is right - the Gophers do have a number of returning/experienced players.

But, the other side is right - the Gophers still have an overall young team.

What that means - if a starter gets hurt, he will be replaced by a much younger player.

At a helmet school, if a SR starter gets hurt, he will likely be replaced by a JR, or maybe a SO.

At MN, if a SR starter gets hurt this season, he will likely be replaced by a SO or more likely a RS FR.

So, the Gophers are experienced - and young - at the same time.

Coming up, a comparison of Left Twix and Right Twix........

I'll take young and experienced over old and experienced.
 






I would call 6th out of 14 middle of the pack, not near the top.

And a lot of the "returning starters" that are mentioned may not even be starting this year. Many, like Howard, Schleuter, and Oseland were forced into starting a few games because we were decimated by injuries.

Who would like to take the bet that Howard and Oseland won't be starting vs NMSU?
 



I'm confused now. Are we experienced or are we not experienced? [emoji53]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Depends on if your an optimist or a pessimist?

In Phil's magazine we return 38 lettermen, and lost 27.
OSU 49,16.
Mich 63,26
PST 39,22
MST 49,21
MD 48,25
IN 56,26
Rut 42,25
WS 44,13
IA 45,23
NW 61,15
NE 52,25
PU 53,18
Ill 41,18

We lost the most lettermen. We also have the least amount returning. Our depth is bad and we are working on it.
 

We lost the most lettermen. We also have the least amount returning. Our depth is bad and we are working on it.

Seems like a wide variance. Are lettermen standards in the Big 10 universal? For example, if Michigan were to give out letters to some guys who were walkons and got in a couple of special team plays, the numbers don't mean diddly.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

Kind of like what's the variance on returning starter? How many games would that be?
 

Kind of like what's the variance on returning starter? How many games would that be?

I can't confirm this, but I've seen pre-season magazines count a guy as a "returning starter" when the player started one game in the previous season. I think some of them just take the starting lineup for the bowl game, or the last regular-season game, and deem that the 'starting lineup' for the team.

It all depends on how much time and effort the mags put into their preview articles. Are they really digging into the team, or is it based on superficial knowledge that you can glean from a quick google search. if you were going to count every player who started at least one game, then you could have more than 11 returning starters in some cases. Which looks good on a chart, but may not be relevant to a real-world situation when only 11 men can start at a time.
 

Keep in mind, when PJ is talking about inexperience, he's referring to the inexperience this team has. Not the returning starters.

If he meant returning starters he would say, "We are inexperienced, but we have many returning starters which is nice".

When he said we are in experienced, he did not refer to starters or repeat starters. He was speaking only of inexperience.
 

Keep in mind, when PJ is talking about inexperience, he's referring to the inexperience this team has. Not the returning starters.

If he meant returning starters he would say, "We are inexperienced, but we have many returning starters which is nice".

When he said we are in experienced, he did not refer to starters or repeat starters. He was speaking only of inexperience.
 

Keep in mind, when PJ is talking about inexperience, he's referring to the inexperience this team has. Not the returning starters.

If he meant returning starters he would say, "We are inexperienced, but we have many returning starters which is nice".

When he said we are in experienced, he did not refer to starters or repeat starters. He was speaking only of inexperience.

I'm sure this post would make more sense to me if I was on mushrooms.......or maybe peyote. And listening to Jim Morrison. (I miss the 60's......)
 

I'm sure this post would make more sense to me if I was on mushrooms.......or maybe peyote. And listening to Jim Morrison. (I miss the 60's......)

Perhaps.

I think this is one of my more profound posts I've contributed here.
 


Depends on if your an optimist or a pessimist?

In Phil's magazine we return 38 lettermen, and lost 27.
OSU 49,16.
Mich 63,26
PST 39,22
MST 49,21
MD 48,25
IN 56,26
Rut 42,25
WS 44,13
IA 45,23
NW 61,15
NE 52,25
PU 53,18
Ill 41,18

We lost the most lettermen. We also have the least amount returning. Our depth is bad and we are working on it.

To say we lost all of them is a bit disingenuous, but I’ve been assured in this site since they all sucked, losing them doesn’t matter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

You have to keep in mind we're only in year 0.74.
 


A lot of teams make a big jump in year two (including WMU under PJ).

Matt Campbell came over from the MAC and took over a team just down the road in Ames that was in a rut of two and three win seasons in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and had them winning 8 in year two, knocking off top ten Oklahoma and TCU, top 25 Memphis, and nearly knocking off top 15 Oklahoma State and taking rival Iowa to overtime.

Frost had a helluva year two at UCF, winning a Natty after taking over an 0-12 team.

Expect big things in 2018.
 

I would call 6th out of 14 middle of the pack, not near the top.

And a lot of the "returning starters" that are mentioned may not even be starting this year. Many, like Howard, Schleuter, and Oseland were forced into starting a few games because we were decimated by injuries.

Who would like to take the bet that Howard and Oseland won't be starting vs NMSU?

Exactly. The only returning starters on offense that I think are a lock to start again this year are Smith, Johnson, Greene, and Weyler. Every other position is up for grabs.
 

Weyler will have to fight John Michael Schmitz who moves really well (he was number one ranked center in Midwest and number 8 in nation out of high school); Smith will have to fight Ibrahim (who looked great in Spring game and was #33 rb in nation out of high school), Edmonds (borderline four star, top 40 out of high school) and Williams (ranked in top 50 rbs out of high school) Greene will have to fight off four star Faalele and top 5 juco OT Dickson, Johnson will be challenged by Bateman, CAB and Douglas to be in top three WR. Even four star talent Andries, who some see as lock on Oline, will have to beat out four star Dunlap, among others. Remember Annexstad beat out four star Sitkowski at IMG. Good reports on Annexstad and how four star talent Seth Green is looking at TE...so much in the way of returning starters, maturity, pre-season All Big talent on offense, but also so much new talent coming on-line. All the talent and depth on offense is going to be really fun to watch.
 




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