Aug. 10 practice observations?

PMWinSTP

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My observations from today's practice mini scrimmage...

QB - It definitely was Annexstad's day. Looked in control. I think he was 8-10 with a nice 20 yard TD to Green on a corner route. Morgan struggled...maybe 50% passing, fumbled hand off, two INT's and a TD throw. TD was nice short lofted corner throw to Johnson.

WR - TJ looks game ready. Douglas dressed but held out of scrimmage. Green lined up solely at left WR. Phil Howard in slot. Bateman played a lot and looked very good...targeted a lot and made nice catches. All three got a lot of field time in the mini scrimmage.

RB - Smith and Femi-Cole were very solid.

D- Very solid performance. Contested passes in close coverage, got good penetration several times to get to RB and QB.
Faalele has a lot of trouble with smaller, quick DEs. Ran right around him several times in practice sessions.

Fleck's voice was fried. Crowd was smaller than I anticipated.
 


My observations from today's practice mini scrimmage...

QB - It definitely was Annexstad's day. Looked in control. I think he was 8-10 with a nice 20 yard TD to Green on a corner route. Morgan struggled...maybe 50% passing, fumbled hand off, two INT's and a TD throw. TD was nice short lofted corner throw to Johnson.

WR - TJ looks game ready. Douglas dressed but held out of scrimmage. Green lined up solely at left WR. Phil Howard in slot. Bateman played a lot and looked very good...targeted a lot and made nice catches. All three got a lot of field time in the mini scrimmage.

RB - Smith and Femi-Cole were very solid.

D- Very solid performance. Contested passes in close coverage, got good penetration several times to get to RB and QB.
Faalele has a lot of trouble with smaller, quick DEs. Ran right around him several times in practice sessions.

Fleck's voice was fried. Crowd was smaller than I anticipated.

Thank you for commenting on today's practice. Always looking for this type of info. Quick question. Size and speed wise, do they look like a Big 10 team? Thanks
 

Thank you for commenting on today's practice. Always looking for this type of info. Quick question. Size and speed wise, do they look like a Big 10 team? Thanks

Size yes, speed I think so. Less today to gage speed-wise. No long pass plays to speak of today. They definitely looked fast at the last open practice...of course compared to themselves.
 



Maybe it wasn't as obvious in the spring game but I thought Zack was the better QB on that day too. Also, nobody seems to care he led his team down the field for the game winning touchdown. Just a spring game...no big deal is not how I viewed that..
 

Those fumbles .... spring game too .... the program is the ball!
 

Really concerned about the lines. Not worried, concerned. Hard to tell much playing against themselves.
 

Hmmmm....

So we might be going with a true freshman walk-on?
 




Maybe it wasn't as obvious in the spring game but I thought Zack was the better QB on that day too. Also, nobody seems to care he led his team down the field for the game winning touchdown. Just a spring game...no big deal is not how I viewed that..

Yes, I thought they looked pretty even last week during the drills with Zack throwing a better down field pass so I agree on a whole that Annexstad looked a bit better.

Yesterday, the separation between the two was very apparent to me.

Morgan still locks on his first read and seldom moves on to his second/third read in scrimmage setting. He looks good in the passing drills when not being rushed and quickly runs through the reads, so I'm not sure what's going on there. He had a very nice scramble...it looked to me that his first choice was covered so he pulled it down and ran, but the running lane opened up, he saw it and took off, so it may have been opportunistic on his part as well. One of his INTs was a back foot pass under pressure that floated. He just seemed to generally struggle on the whole and that was part of the separation between the two.

Annexstad looked in control and poised...eyes down field...moving in the pocket and through progressions. He has seemed to grasp the offense very quickly and if that continues, to me it means Fleck can open up the play book.
 
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Good stuff, thanks PMWinSTP! Was anyone else there?
 




Maybe it wasn't as obvious in the spring game but I thought Zack was the better QB on that day too. Also, nobody seems to care he led his team down the field for the game winning touchdown. Just a spring game...no big deal is not how I viewed that..

Others (me on GH) did notice and comment on the confidant way Zack led his team down the field to score and win the Spring game in the final minutes. Absolutely sure the coaches saw and were impressed also. That is exactly what they were hoping to see.
 

Hmmmm....

So we might be going with a true freshman walk-on?

He had Power 5 offers. He was playing better at IMG than a 4 Star QB. I wouldn’t think of him as a walk on. Basically overtook the #5 rated pro QB in the country as the season went on and had better statistics. Late bloomer. Plus, he won the job at one of the best HS football programs in the country. I see a ton of positives. Might be best QB recruit in the last how long?


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Let’s not go overboard. He was a three star recruit and Sitkowski was downgraded after struggling his Sr. Year. Annexstad came in and put up mediocre stats. That doesn’t mean he’s going to stink at the next level, but it does suggest he’s going to need a lot of development. I’d hate for you guys to turn on these young QBs after a few games like we’ve seen in the past. It’s very likely they’re going to struggle mightily at first, and that’s ok...if they show signs of talent and improvement.
 

He had Power 5 offers. He was playing better at IMG than a 4 Star QB. I wouldn’t think of him as a walk on. Basically overtook the #5 rated pro QB in the country as the season went on and had better statistics. Late bloomer. Plus, he won the job at one of the best HS football programs in the country. I see a ton of positives. Might be best QB recruit in the last how long?


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Spot on. He moves fluidly in the pocket and seems to have that sense of when to roll out of it to keep the pass in play. Definitely does not look like a true FR. He rolled out of the pocket on one play in scrimmage yesterday, looking down field the whole time for the pass but ended up with a nice little run.
 

He had Power 5 offers. He was playing better at IMG than a 4 Star QB. I wouldn’t think of him as a walk on. Basically overtook the #5 rated pro QB in the country as the season went on and had better statistics. Late bloomer. Plus, he won the job at one of the best HS football programs in the country. I see a ton of positives. Might be best QB recruit in the last how long?


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The important thing is he bleeds maroon and gold. He could have gone elsewhere with a full scholie, but instead chose to walk-on to the U. He is hungry. He wants to earn the job. Sometimes, that is better than being rated so high and having too big an expectation on the shoulders.

Any observations on who played better, the DL or the OL?
 
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I will second Pompous. Let's give both QB's room to breathe. They are young - really young - and young players make mistakes. If Morgan starts, he will make mistakes. If Annexstad starts, he will make mistakes. The key is how they react to mistakes, and how they learn from mistakes. Some guys make a mistake, and they go into a shell. Other players make a mistake, but they can shrug it off and focus on the next play or the next series.

For the Gophers - for this year at least - I would tend to favor the player who can shake off a mistake - even if the other guy may have more upside long-term.
 

I will second Pompous. Let's give both QB's room to breathe. They are young - really young - and young players make mistakes. If Morgan starts, he will make mistakes. If Annexstad starts, he will make mistakes. The key is how they react to mistakes, and how they learn from mistakes. Some guys make a mistake, and they go into a shell. Other players make a mistake, but they can shrug it off and focus on the next play or the next series.

For the Gophers - for this year at least - I would tend to favor the player who can shake off a mistake - even if the other guy may have more upside long-term.

Time and again, PJ Fleck echoed that they have to fail to learn to win.
 



Nice report. I didn't get there. Turned out to be a bad time for me and I was shut out from going to any of the three practices open to the public. Normally I'm there. I really would have liked to have been there this year to show support.
 

Was he playing WR or was he just split out wide as a TE?

I get the sense that's exactly how they are going to use Green - as a TE but split out or slotted to try and get a mismatch. He would be the "receiving" TE, and someone else would be the "blocking" TE.
 


He had Power 5 offers. He was playing better at IMG than a 4 Star QB. I wouldn’t think of him as a walk on. Basically overtook the #5 rated pro QB in the country as the season went on and had better statistics. Late bloomer. Plus, he won the job at one of the best HS football programs in the country. I see a ton of positives. Might be best QB recruit in the last how long?


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According to the recruiting sites most QBs the gophers sign are more highly rated than Annexstad, this includes Morgan and Leidner for example.
 

Play both QBs ..... and Green.

Who is the quarterback defense!??!?!??!?!
 

Play both QBs ..... and Green.

Who is the quarterback defense!??!?!??!?!

This is likely to end up happening. It is a long tough season. I enjoy so many people underestimating Annexstad based on recruiting ratings.
 

Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Alex Smith, none of these guys had much of anything for offers out of high school. There is a long list of QB's who were 3 stars or less that played in the NFL. When I looked into it, it's more common than you'd think. There are a fair share of the best QB's in the NFL who weren't even rated among the top 25 QB's coming out of high school. Just the 4 I listed are 4 of the the top 10 in the league? Ok, I'll stop.
 





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