Tanner Morgan needs to be the starter against Illinois

Donate To GopherHole
G

Gophers_4life

Banned
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Messages
15,846
Reaction score
3,986
Points
113
I mean ... is there any sane Gopher fan who would dare argue otherwise???
 

I agree that he will be.

I don't think ZA is substantially worse when healthy. Most of what we've seen from ZA has been him playing injured, and before that we saw him with a weaker O-line.

Tanner had a lot of time tonight which is a credit to the improving O-Line.

On the first drive tonight, Schlueter was left tackle, so it was 2 sophomores and 2 freshman with Weyler I believe.
 

Anyone printing Morgan Island shirts yet?
 

Morgan had a heck of a game, wasn't perfect but he played very well. If ZA is still not 100% next week it would make a lot of sense to stick with Morgan against Illinois.

Will be interesting to see how they handle this decision.
 

Tanner Morgan should've started the season, but starting an immobile pocket passing true walk-on freshman
seemed to make more sense.
Reason- Zach had more arm talent.
But couldn't hit a deep ball, under threw it a lot and all the sudden Tanner throws 3 TD passes including a long bomb.
Oh, and he can move out of the pocket with our iffy 0-line.
 


Morgan should start the rest of the season, period. I don’t understand everyone saying if Zach isn’t 100% healthy then Morgan should start. Even if Zach is healthy he shouldn’t start. Tanner throws a better deep ball, mobile, and doesn’t stare down recivers. His pocket presence seems to be light years ahead of Zach.
 

Face The Facts said:
I agree that he will be.

I don't think ZA is substantially worse when healthy. Most of what we've seen from ZA has been him playing injured, and before that we saw him with a weaker O-line.

Tanner had a lot of time tonight which is a credit to the improving O-Line.

On the first drive tonight, Schlueter was left tackle, so it was 2 sophomores and 2 freshman with Weyler I believe.
Click to expand...

I’d argue that.
 


Flash30 said:
Morgan should start the rest of the season, period. I don’t understand everyone saying if Zach isn’t 100% healthy then Morgan should start. Even if Zach is healthy he shouldn’t start. Tanner throws a better deep ball, mobile, and doesn’t stare down recivers. His pocket presence seems to be light years ahead of Zach.
Click to expand...

This. Here is the comparison I’ve seen thus far:

Arm strength: Annextad (barely)
Short pass accuracy: Tie
Long pass accuracy: Morgan
Mobility: Morgan
Pocket presence: Morgan
Running ability: Morgan

I actually saw Morgan look to his primary receiver, see he was covered, then throw a completion to a secondary receiver. When has that last occurred in MN? I don’t remember. I like Z. A. , but Morgan is the EASY choice for now.







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



Its nice that when healthy we have what I consider two capable QBs. ZA has had some moments this year. Morgan has had 6 very solid quarters.

Improved Oline, solid receiver group and some better play calling (moving the pocket!!) made Morgan’s first start a lot of fun.

Beat Illinois and you just need to go 1-2 to make a bowl!
 

I don't think Zach ever looked this good. What has Morgan been doing on the bench all season? He had a great game (and not this "great game for a young player" crap, that was a legitimate Big Ten quarterback performance).
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I don't think Zach ever looked this good. What has Morgan been doing on the bench all season? He had a great game (and not this "great game for a young player" crap, that was a legitimate Big Ten quarterback performance).
Click to expand...

Some guys play best in real games. Some guys are practice all-americans. I have no idea what either of them look like in practice, so I can't say. Annexstad was better than either of the guys last year. But Morgan's performance last night was better than any ZA game this year. That said, it was one game against a not good Indiana team. Let's see it again next week against a not good Illinois team.
 

Let Zach heal up 100%. Due to the mobility factor, keep rolling with Morgan for now.
 



ZA barely got the benefit of playing behind Faalele
 

Zach's circumstances early in the season is different than Tanner's.

The team was learning to gel, but had issues with inexperience at certain positions. Then Zach got hurt. We will never know how inserting Tanner would have made a difference.

In hindsight, PJ Fleck must be in a consternation of giving Zach playing experience versus playing him hurt. I think Zach should have rested and heal a couple of games.

However, when was the last time we had two capable QBs? We are lucky we have both.
Tanner had the advantageous position sitting on the bench and observing.

We can't forget that Tanner was a 10,000 yard passer in high school. So, going forward, play Tanner Morgan for as long as he is hot and not hurt.

I did notice Tanner was doing check downs on all his receivers and only once did I see him telegraph his passes. He is a gamer who showed his playing experience after a prolific high school career.

I am giving Tanner a slight edge on mobility and the long bomb. Again, Zach was hobbling for most of his playing time after getting hurt.

It is hard to speculate what if Tanner Morgan started if he would have the same trajectory as Zach.

This team needed this victory so badly. Let's hope the momentum carries to the Illinois game. Right now, 5-7 would look better than 4-8. Ultimately, 6-6 would be nice. Let's take one game at a time. The team seems to be gelling and clicking together better. It is entirely possible if they continue to progress that they could possibly stage a late season upset. I don't need to mention what team I am talking about. Just a teensy-weensy chance at the moment.
 
Last edited:

Morgan looked good in the first half. In the second he...and the team started to tank it. We're lucky the safety bit on play action and Bateman got an open catch near the end of the game.
Rollercoaster is what we get from this team and Morgan. I'll take first half Morgan. That was fun to watch. Second half Morgan...not so much.
 

"The big thing too is Zach's not healthy. I want healthy people out there that can run our offense efficiently. That's the reason we didn't play him today."

About at the 6 minute mark of the press conference. Dude is a blowhard, but I want him to win and be our blowhard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckblSO_QwdU
 

The team deserve to eke out one or two more victories and go to an Ugly Bowl (5-7) or to a Tidy Bowl (6-6). It is good for recruiting.
 

MennoSota said:
Morgan looked good in the first half. In the second he...and the team started to tank it. We're lucky the safety bit on play action and Bateman got an open catch near the end of the game.
Rollercoaster is what we get from this team and Morgan. I'll take first half Morgan. That was fun to watch. Second half Morgan...not so much.
Click to expand...

Hmmm ... I will disagree with you here, only on the magnitude of your comments, not that they are wrong.
 

hungan1 said:
The team deserve to eke out one or two more victories and go to an Ugly Bowl (5-7) or to a Tidy Bowl (6-6). It is good for recruiting.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, no 5-7 teams made a bowl last year. There was one less bowl last year (and presumably this year) than there was in 2015.
 



Morgan only made two mistakes last night, to my memory:
- the INT. He stared down that receiver from the git-go. Didn't look at anyone else, move anyone off with his eyes, period. Stared him down waiting for him to get open. He didn't see the LB sneaking into the passing lane, and then pounced on the ball as soon as it was thrown. It was a learning moment.
- he fairly badly overthrew one of the slant routes, in the 2nd half. It was during our streak of 3-and-outs, which happened once Brooks went out and we suddenly couldn't run the ball.


Other than that ... yeah, not even close. Here are two major, major things that stand out:
- the long ball. When ZA has thrown up those high, lofty passes ... they've been automatic picks. And so I winced last night when TM threw up high, long balls. ... but they were right on the money! One earlier, and one to win the game on the last TD that hit Bateman in stride. In stride!! That almost never happens in college. It's almost always the guy on TV saying "if he would've thrown it farther, it would've been a TD".

- not taking sacks!! With ZA in Big Ten games, as soon as someone looks like they're coming, ZA just has to fold up and protect himself. Not TM. He spins, he moves, he runs away. There was one that should've been a sack, where TM spun out of it, made the guy look silly, and I believe threw the ball away. That is simply night and day. I think he took one sack ... it was a play-action fake, and as soon as he came out of it, it was a blitzing guy and there was simply no time to do anything. But that's just one ... I can live with that.
 
Last edited:

cjbfbp said:
If I remember correctly, no 5-7 teams made a bowl last year. There was one less bowl last year (and presumably this year) than there was in 2015.
Click to expand...

Yep. The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego folded. There used to be both that bowl and the Holiday Bowl in SD. That organization decided they just wanted to focus on the Holiday Bowl.

And there were like 3 bowls in the process of being approved, like Little Rock, Austin, South Carolina Coast ... I think those all either got shut down or didn't work out, and would instead need an existing bowl to transfer.


Gonna need 6-6 to make it. But we can do it!! (if TM starts ...)
 

Gophers_4life said:
Morgan only made two mistakes last night, to my memory:
- the INT. He stared down that receiver from the git-go. Didn't look at anyone else, move anyone off with his eyes, period. Stared him down waiting for him to get open. He didn't see the LB sneaking into the passing lane, and then pounced on the ball as soon as it was thrown. It was a learning moment.
- he fairly badly overthrew one of the slant routes, in the 2nd half. It was during our streak of 3-and-outs, which happened once Brooks went out and we suddenly couldn't run the ball.


Other than that ... yeah, not even close. Here are two major, major things that stand out:
- the long ball. When ZA has thrown up those high, lofty passes ... they've been automatic picks. And so I winced last night when TM threw up high, long balls. ... but they were right on the money! One earlier, and one to win the game on the last TD that hit Bateman in stride. In stride!! That almost never happens in college. It's almost always the guy on TV saying "if he would've thrown it farther, it would've been a TD".

- not taking sacks!! With ZA in Big Ten games, as soon as someone looks like they're coming, ZA just has to fold up and protect himself. Not TM. He spins, he moves, he runs away. There was one that should've been a sack, where TM spun out of it, made the guy look silly, and I believe threw the ball away. That is simply night and day. I think he took one sack ... it was a play-action fake, and as soon as he came out of it, it was a blitzing guy and there was simply no time to do anything. But that's just one ... I can live with that.
Click to expand...
I agree with your points. Morgan threw a great ball on the first touchdown to Johnson. Great touch over linebackers arms and led Johnson perfectly on the slant.
 

After watching Morgan, I'm shocked he didn't get the call earlier when Annexstads leg troubles started. I'm sure the coaches won't even consider putting him back in until he is 100% completely healthy after seeing what Morgan did yesterday

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Healthy or not, Annexstad throws a lot of balls behind receivers. They can still be caught but they certainly aren’t in stride. Morgan was money on a lot of balls last night. The 52 yard slant to Johnson hit him in stride. He kept running. ZA hasn’t had a lot of that this year.
 

MennoSota said:
Morgan looked good in the first half. In the second he...and the team started to tank it. We're lucky the safety bit on play action and Bateman got an open catch near the end of the game.
Rollercoaster is what we get from this team and Morgan. I'll take first half Morgan. That was fun to watch. Second half Morgan...not so much.
Click to expand...

I don't like using "lucky " here. The safety bit on play action because Indiana had been selling out to stop the run and short passes, and we diagnosed and exploited that.
 

It's a small sample size, but so far I'm more impressed with Morgan, I like his mobility and poise, I'd keep riding him for the time being. I'm not sure what to think of ZA at this point, he seemed to get a bit exposed the more he played, but I really don't know how much the injuries had to do with that either. It would be nice if one of them could take command down the stretch.
 

Bordergopher said:
This. Here is the comparison I’ve seen thus far:

Arm strength: Annextad (barely)
Short pass accuracy: Tie
Long pass accuracy: Morgan
Mobility: Morgan
Pocket presence: Morgan
Running ability: Morgan

I actually saw Morgan look to his primary receiver, see he was covered, then throw a completion to a secondary receiver. When has that last occurred in MN? I don’t remember. I like Z. A. , but Morgan is the EASY choice for now.







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Spot on! Agree 100%.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom