STrib: Tanner Morgan will start at QB for Gophers again Saturday at Illinois

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BleedGopher

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per Randy:

Tanner Morgan had an eventful Monday morning. The Gophers quarterback was named the Big Ten football co-freshman of the week, and coach P.J. Fleck announced that the redshirt freshman again will start at Illinois on Saturday.

Morgan earned the Big Ten honor for his performance in a 38-31 victory over Indiana on Friday night. Making his first career start in place of injured true freshman Zack Annex*stad, Morgan completed 17 of 24 passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns. Included in that was a 67-yard hookup with Rashod Bateman that provided the winning points with 1 minute, 34 seconds left in the game.

Morgan, who shared the award with Michigan State quarterback Rocky Lombardi, completed nine of his first 10 passes and helped the Gophers build a 31-9 lead in the third quarter.

“We still have two freshmen and one’s not healthy, and the other comes in and plays and plays extremely well,” Fleck said Monday. “… You give an opportunity to the guy who is playing really, really well. Not that Zack wasn’t playing well, but he’s got to get healthy.”

Fleck did not have a further update on Annexstad, who missed the second half of the Oct. 20 game at Nebraska because of an internal midsection injury. Annexstad also has been limited in his mobility because of an ankle injury suffered Sept. 15 vs. Miami (Ohio).

http://www.startribune.com/tanner-m...phers-against-saturday-at-illinois/498929991/

Go Gophers!!
 

This seems just like a logical decision, not so much a rating of QB value or anything.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
This seems just like a logical decision, not so much a rating of QB value or anything.
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Yep, give ZA time to heal up and once he is back to as close to 100% as possible the coaches can then decide who to go with. In the meantime it is great to see Morgan get some reps and experience and if he keeps playing at a really high level then all the better.

Nice to have options at the QB position that people can actually be excited about for a change.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yep, give ZA time to heal up and once he is back to as close to 100% as possible the coaches can then decide who to go with. In the meantime it is great to see Morgan get some reps and experience and if he keeps playing at a really high level then all the better.

Nice to have options at the QB position that people can actually be excited about for a change.
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Curious to see if ZA is the backup or if something happened to Morgan (even just a couple plays) if we'd see the Green Line out there for an extended period.
 

He threw for 300+ yards, deserves the opportunity to play the hot hand.


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Have to wonder if ZA went to Fleck's office and said "look coach ... Tanner gives us the best chance to win right now ... I'm just not healthy where I want to be, please play Tanner". Wouldn't surprise me, with the type of selfless guy he has already proven to be!
 

With the series of injuries/re-injury that ails Zack Annexstad, it is about time that Morgan replaced him as the starter. That undisclosed internal injury is bothersome. I hope it is nothing serious.

He needs to sit back on the sidelines, heal properly, and cheer on Tanner Morgan.

We will need both QBs to be healthy. And as long as Tanner has the hot hand, keep playing him.
 

Why are we assuming ZA isn’t back to 100%?


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I like ZA a lot. But he really has some stuff to clean up to come back and be the starter in my opinion. He has to learn to not stare down his target from the snap (instead using his eyes to move the safety), and he has to learn how to throw a deep ball with a little zip. The two together make him even more vulnerable to picks.

TM seems to do a better job of both right now. I'm hoping they can work with ZA on those because I think he could be REALLY good if he can break both those habits.

But as of today, solely based on what I've seen in the games, I think this team has a better chance of winning with Morgan than with Annexstad, even if ZA is healthy.
 




Spoofin said:
Why are we assuming ZA isn’t back to 100%?


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I'm suspecting like others that he wasn't quite over the hump from his previous ankle injury and he kept aggravating it possibly making it worse. As a result of that the healing time is longer.
 


I just read PJ’s presser notes and he stated ZA is still banged up. I’m not surprised, was just wondering why we were all assuming he needed more time to heal and that factored into TM2 starting.


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Spoofin said:
I just read PJ’s presser notes and he stated ZA is still banged up. I’m not surprised, was just wondering why we were all assuming he needed more time to heal and that factored into TM2 starting.


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Cuz PJ said so in the presser. And because ZA missed last week.
 

John Galt said:
Cuz PJ said so in the presser. <b>And because ZA missed last week.</b>
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So 2 full week’s is never enough to heal? Good to know.

Not even sure why you responded - my question was already answered. I asked before reading the presser notes. OK, I have been here long enough to know why you did.


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