Phillip Howard moving to CB





Good athlete. Hope he can help out in the secondary.
 


I wonder how Rey Estes is doing with his transition from QB to CB.
 

I don't see him making noise as a WR, so worth a shot

He's a pretty good athlete
 

Posted this in the depth chart thread, but this is a logical decision.
 

This needed its own thread?

In looking at the front page right now, there are threads on:
-Brett McMurphy and Urban
-A uniform thread for about the 87298167824617241040938 time
-Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue thread

Curious, were those up to your standards?
 



Why not? I find it interesting and didn't know. I was hoping DD82 would give it a whirl.

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Curious why would you want to see Douglass switch to DB? He hasn't gotten a ton of catches due to the other guys but we are one injury away from him being our #3 receiver and he has shown some flashes of being a pretty good one.

The drop against Purdue was unfortunate but that happens sometimes when guys are so wide open.
 


I am very interested in Gopher football so I appreciate this thread. It is on topic, timely, and interesting.

Thank you to the OP for posting this.
 

Curious why would you want to see Douglass switch to DB? He hasn't gotten a ton of catches due to the other guys but we are one injury away from him being our #3 receiver and he has shown some flashes of being a pretty good one.

The drop against Purdue was unfortunate but that happens sometimes when guys are so wide open.

He was highly recruited as a DB, nationally, and we need help there. More WRs coming next year. It’s going to get really crowded. Can’t win championships without a good defense. I’d like to see the move as well but he may develop into a starting WR and make an impact there.
 



He was highly recruited as a DB, nationally, and we need help there. More WRs coming next year. It’s going to get really crowded. Can’t win championships without a good defense. I’d like to see the move as well but he may develop into a starting WR and make an impact there.

He has already developed into a starting WR, per the depth chart. Barring injury the incoming WR's should be able to red-shirt.
 

He’s clearly the 4th WR and has had a mild (but at times significant) impact this season. We need help on defense.
 

He’s clearly the 4th WR and has had a mild (but at times significant) impact this season. We need help on defense.

Howard has operated more like the 5th, or even 6th WR (Tyler, Bateman, CAB, Douglas, Green all ahead of him).
 


Douglas will be the main slot guy once Johnson is gone. I think he's fine right where he is.
 

STrib: WR Howard may get chance at CB

When the Gophers released their weekly depth chart on Tuesday, it was mainly unchanged from last week and who played in Saturday’s victory over Purdue.

But there was one interesting tidbit on the two-deep for the home finale against Northwestern on Saturday: Wide receiver Phillip Howard also is listed as a backup at defensive back.

“How’d you find that out?’’ coach P.J. Fleck asked a reporter on Tuesday.

“Depth chart,’’ he said.

“I forgot that went out today,’’ Fleck added. “I thought maybe you were looking in the windows.’’

Spying wasn’t necessary, but the move did offer a window into Fleck’s thinking. With his secondary thinned because of injuries, sliding a versatile athlete from offense to defense could help.

Howard, a 5-11, 195-pound redshirt sophomore, has two catches for 5 yards in nine games this year. At Cooper High School, he was a jack of all trades, playing quarterback, receiver, defensive back and return specialist. Now, he’ll play in the Gophers secondary.

“For the most part, our wideouts have been healthy, and he’s been biting at the bit to get in there,’’ Fleck said. “The other guys are still ahead of him right now, and we obviously have an issue at defensive back. If we have one or two guys who don’t make it to Saturday, Phillip Howard could start at corner.’’

Fleck had a long talk with Howard about the position change.

“We had a really good heart-to-heart, and he was tremendous,’’ the coach said. “His words were, ‘Anything I can do to help this football team, Coach, I want to do. I love what we’re doing. I just want to help our football team.’ ’’

Fleck said the move was “for the next 11 days,’’ though it’s still evolving.

“Sunday, he was backpedaling [in practice],’’ Fleck said. “I told him, it’s just like playing receiver, just backwards.’’

http://www.startribune.com/wr-howard-may-get-chance-at-cb/500443691/

Go Gophers!!
 

STrib: WR Howard may get chance at CB

When the Gophers released their weekly depth chart on Tuesday, it was mainly unchanged from last week and who played in Saturday’s victory over Purdue.

But there was one interesting tidbit on the two-deep for the home finale against Northwestern on Saturday: Wide receiver Phillip Howard also is listed as a backup at defensive back.

“How’d you find that out?’’ coach P.J. Fleck asked a reporter on Tuesday.

“Depth chart,’’ he said.

“I forgot that went out today,’’ Fleck added. “I thought maybe you were looking in the windows.’’

Spying wasn’t necessary, but the move did offer a window into Fleck’s thinking. With his secondary thinned because of injuries, sliding a versatile athlete from offense to defense could help.

Howard, a 5-11, 195-pound redshirt sophomore, has two catches for 5 yards in nine games this year. At Cooper High School, he was a jack of all trades, playing quarterback, receiver, defensive back and return specialist. Now, he’ll play in the Gophers secondary.

“For the most part, our wideouts have been healthy, and he’s been biting at the bit to get in there,’’ Fleck said. “The other guys are still ahead of him right now, and we obviously have an issue at defensive back. If we have one or two guys who don’t make it to Saturday, Phillip Howard could start at corner.’’

Fleck had a long talk with Howard about the position change.

“We had a really good heart-to-heart, and he was tremendous,’’ the coach said. “His words were, ‘Anything I can do to help this football team, Coach, I want to do. I love what we’re doing. I just want to help our football team.’ ’’

Fleck said the move was “for the next 11 days,’’ though it’s still evolving.

“Sunday, he was backpedaling [in practice],’’ Fleck said. “I told him, it’s just like playing receiver, just backwards.’’

http://www.startribune.com/wr-howard-may-get-chance-at-cb/500443691/

Go Gophers!!

I can hear every DC and secondary coach in the country groaning at that over-simplification!
 


"If we have one or two guys who don’t make it to Saturday, Phillip Howard could start at corner.’’

when I saw that, I did a real double-take. Are the Gophers THAT thin in the secondary? You would think there has to be someone who was recruited as a DB and has been practicing as a DB who would be capable of emergency duty before a guy who has been practicing at the position for 3 days. With the 4-game rule, you wouldn't have to worry about burning a red-shirt to play a true FR at CB for a game.

I know it's just coach-speak and hyperbole, but Fleck makes it sound like the team literally has no healthy DB's on the roster. I mean, c'mon - this is a D1 FB team, not some HS 9-man team with 20 kids on the roster. what's next - get the trumpet player from the band and put him in at CB?
 

I can hear every DC and secondary coach in the country groaning at that over-simplification!

Or most will probably just view it as a head coach who clearly likes interacting with his players having some fun.
 

"If we have one or two guys who don’t make it to Saturday, Phillip Howard could start at corner.’’

when I saw that, I did a real double-take. Are the Gophers THAT thin in the secondary? You would think there has to be someone who was recruited as a DB and has been practicing as a DB who would be capable of emergency duty before a guy who has been practicing at the position for 3 days. With the 4-game rule, you wouldn't have to worry about burning a red-shirt to play a true FR at CB for a game.

I know it's just coach-speak and hyperbole, but Fleck makes it sound like the team literally has no healthy DB's on the roster. I mean, c'mon - this is a D1 FB team, not some HS 9-man team with 20 kids on the roster. what's next - get the trumpet player from the band and put him in at CB?

It helps with his "we are young" and "we have no depth" narrative.
Not sure why Ray E, J Harris or CJ Smith couldn't take reps of Howard
 




Seems like Green could be utilized more split out

Has anyone really paid much attention to how much he has been used as a receiver so far this year? Looks like he caught one pass against Nebraska but honestly have no clue how often he has been out there in any role other than QB. If he is a viable option as a receiver it might make sense to split him out some but given that we have 4 solid options at WR I would rather see one of them split out as opposed to Green as a decoy.
 

Has anyone really paid much attention to how much he has been used as a receiver so far this year? Looks like he caught one pass against Nebraska but honestly have no clue how often he has been out there in any role other than QB. If he is a viable option as a receiver it might make sense to split him out some but given that we have 4 solid options at WR I would rather see one of them split out as opposed to Green as a decoy.

I don't have specific numbers but I do notice him out there during a few series throughout the game, it isn't rare but it's also not regular. I will say that his main upside as a WR at this point was being a red zone threat (as we read, saw, heard, etc. throughout the spring) but they've decided to use him as the wildcat QB in those situations instead. Basically, he isn't lining up at WR in the situations that would make the most sense to use him because we've found a different and probably more effective way to get him the ball in those spots by just snapping it straight to him.
 

Has anyone really paid much attention to how much he has been used as a receiver so far this year? Looks like he caught one pass against Nebraska but honestly have no clue how often he has been out there in any role other than QB. If he is a viable option as a receiver it might make sense to split him out some but given that we have 4 solid options at WR I would rather see one of them split out as opposed to Green as a decoy.

Without verifying either of these via tape, I would say that: 1) he lines up at WR approximately 8-12 snaps per game and 2) that number has gone up quite a bit over the last few games.
 




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