Zach Annexstad strength for next year

#2Gopher

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Much has been said about Zach's lack of strength as to the long ball. What do you think after another off season of conditioning would be realistic as to growth? 10-15 yards of distance plus more zip in his throws?
 

Much has been said about Zach's lack of strength as to the long ball. What do you think after another off season of conditioning would be realistic as to growth? 10-15 yards of distance plus more zip in his throws?

Absolutely.
 

Not sure. Do baseball pitchers gain that much in mph from freshman year to senior year? I think 10-15 yards might be optimistic.

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Not sure. Do baseball pitchers gain that much in mph from freshman year to senior year? I think 10-15 yards might be optimistic.

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Two very very different things.
 

I don’t know how football works and arm strength. In baseball you’re either born with it or you’re not. Sure you can workout and maybe add 2-3 mph. Most of a pitchers velocity comes from your lower body, mechanics, and elasticity. I weighed 137 in high school and threw the ball 92mph. I never lifted a weight in my life until I got to college. And anyone who says I’m not telling the truth I will gladly tell you which high school and you can look up my pitching records where I’m still top 3 in most categories.
 


Two very very different things.

Actually not. The only two ways to thwart the constant effect of gravity is by optimizing the launch angle and to throw with more initial velocity. As Scottie would say "can't defy the laws of physics captain!" [emoji16]


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Maybe it is time for Manning Academy after the season is over? There must be an effective way for him to improve his strength and long throws. Another perspective might help.
 

Velocity in baseball doesn’t get better with age. I think ZA can throw just fine if he isn’t falling back as he tends to do. Can he throw it on a line 30 yards like a Haskins or others? I haven’t seen it. But he’s certainly good enough for college. It’s more about placement, anticipation, not throwing into coverage...all things that should get better. Caveat is some don’t ever really get that much better. Time will tell.
 

Velocity in baseball doesn’t get better with age. I think ZA can throw just fine if he isn’t falling back as he tends to do. Can he throw it on a line 30 yards like a Haskins or others? I haven’t seen it. But he’s certainly good enough for college. It’s more about placement, anticipation, not throwing into coverage...all things that should get better. Caveat is some don’t ever really get that much better. Time will tell.

Zack's issues aren't arm strength. He really zips the ball when he's throwing those slants to TJ.

His issues are a lot footwork on the deep passes (IMO), he still doesn't always plant and step up into the pocket when he throws.

He's an impressive freshman and I think his issues are the kind that can get ironed out pretty quickly.
 



I don’t know how football works and arm strength. In baseball you’re either born with it or you’re not. Sure you can workout and maybe add 2-3 mph. Most of a pitchers velocity comes from your lower body, mechanics, and elasticity. I weighed 137 in high school and threw the ball 92mph. I never lifted a weight in my life until I got to college. And anyone who says I’m not telling the truth I will gladly tell you which high school and you can look up my pitching records where I’m still top 3 in most categories.

I bet you could throw the ball over them mountains over there.
 


I don’t know how football works and arm strength. In baseball you’re either born with it or you’re not. Sure you can workout and maybe add 2-3 mph. Most of a pitchers velocity comes from your lower body, mechanics, and elasticity. I weighed 137 in high school and threw the ball 92mph. I never lifted a weight in my life until I got to college. And anyone who says I’m not telling the truth I will gladly tell you which high school and you can look up my pitching records where I’m still top 3 in most categories.

I think Flash's high school sports tales deserve their own thread.
 

It's hard to judge Zack's throwing ability until #1 he gets a healthy base to throw from. #2 The more comfortable he feels out there the better throws he'll make. That's health and psyche related. The pass protection is improving. He had times when he had to feel constant pressure because he was shell shocked from how porous our protection was.
On the pass to Johnson at the goal line vs Ohio State...Johnson never tried to catch the ball. He saw the safety coming and his eyes watched him catch it rather than making a play on the ball...his focus was on the the tackle. I don't think all of Zack's deep throws are a result of any arm deficiency. He needs more experience, better protection, receivers willing to battle for the ball in traffic and a most of all a healthy ankle and then I think he'll be just fine.
 



To be honest, I don't give a rip about arm strength or hitting 80% on the long ball with the receivers improving (that is unrealistic talk). What we need development on is decision making - and that should come with time in the system. Of course, we have exceptions like ML, who seemed to regress despite the system continuity. What we need is a QB that can limit mistakes, make the sure throws - and I would be tremendously happy if we could hit a quick slant or two again on those 3rd and intermediate (think Cupito to Johnson). Given our history at QB and the forward pass in general, I would be thrilled with just having a competent game manager rather than a liability. I remember reading the board here with the sky high talk about Vic single-handedly changing the QB position. I simply don't think that is ever going to happen here. Just show improvement year over year and don't melt down in big games.
 

I see no reason that someone I don't know at all couldn't increase their throwing distance exponentially...
 

I see no reason that someone I don't know at all couldn't increase their throwing distance exponentially...

But only if they'd do the things I'd tell them to do had I any experience in such matters.
 


If he can consistently hit short and medium range passes, I'm pretty happy.
The long ball would be a great nice to have but it's not like I'm going through withdrawals as a Gopher football fan.

I don't recall many long TD plays where the ball traveled 40 yards or so in the air.
 




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