Next year's starting quarterback is......

Otis

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ZA looked good at the start and then got hammered by an underperforming o-line. Injuries took him out of the starting lineup.

Tanner looked good and averaged 32.2 points as a starter behind an improved o-line after moving building #73 (Faalele) into the starting lineup.

Who do you think starts next year or even in the bowl game if ZA in healed up?

Gotta admit, I haven't seen enough to be able to decide myself.
 

At this point, Tanner Morgan. But ZA gets spring ball and fall camp to earn back the spot.
 

Morgan for sure for the Bowl game. Then as Sparlimb has stated, it's up for grabs next spring.
 

What is the report on ZA is his ankle fully healed or is he still limited in movement. If he is fully recovered I would split the reps for the bowl game they both got us there
 

IMO Jacob Clark has a decent chance to over take both Zack and Tanner before the first game next season.
 


Tanner for bowl game.

Tanner starts out #1 in spring. But reps are split evenly to start. Would love to see what’s Clark can do too.
 

IMO Jacob Clark has a decent chance to over take both Zack and Tanner before the first game next season.
I would agree but I would bet PJ really wants to Redshirt Clark next year ti get a year of separation between the two existing guys. Maybe Kramer is the #3 next year with Clark getting 4 games if ZA and TM should both happen to go down.

Nicer problem to have than 2017 and 2018.
 

Think you have to give Tanner the edge heading into next year but I also think it will be a wide open competition and the one that earns it will get the nod.

Some have mentioned Clark as an option next year, personally I hope he can come in and redshirt but if he is so good that he needs to be on the field well that is a great problem to have.
 

It's now Tanner's job to lose going forward. He just displayed more accuracy, pocket presence, poise etc after taking over.

Feels nice having 2 QB's with decent experience going in to 2019. Jacob Clark is a good prospect but I'd really hope we're able to redshirt him next season.
 



They'll all (including Clark) have a chance for it in spring and summer ball. PJ has said he wants there to be always increasing competition for every position. I believe he said something like "It's my job to find players that are better than them, and it's their job to make my job really hard".

Starter won't be named until mid summer ball I'd guess. Though we may have a bit clearer picture this year on who is the favorite than we did last year.
 

Tanner Morgan. 3-2 in the Big. Won at Madison. No reason to come off him. He’s winning. He has the poise and leadership and he’s accurate. He’s a decisive decision maker [emoji16].

Morgan has the 4th highest passer rating in the Big Ten. 59% completion percentage. More yards per completion.

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Morgan is in the driver's seat from an experience and performance perspective IMO. I expect during fall camp we'll hear a lot about how it's an open competition, how players are pushing each other, and how freshmen are stepping up ... but Morgan will be trotting out as the starter for game 1.
 

Wide open competition going into Spring ball.

If all things are equal, you give the first shots to Morgan and Annextad. The starting job is theirs until there is sound reason to look to someone else.
 





Does Alipate have any eligibility left? Seriously, Morgan is #1 and Annexstad #1A. Improved O-line play was a major factor in the late improvement, but I think we saw (at least I did) the difference between a freshman and a redshirt freshman in the decision-making process on the field. Morgan was just so much quicker in recognizing reads. That's no dig at Annexstad. I don't care what level of high school ball you played, it's a big step to college ball. I like both these guys and I'm excited to see Clark and Kramer in the mix as well.
 

Will be interesting. Fleck seemed to love ZA, the press conference after Fresno State, waiting too long to finally get him off the field. Morgan has certainly earned it. Could be he never gives it back.
 

Will be interesting. Fleck seemed to love ZA, the press conference after Fresno State, waiting too long to finally get him off the field. Morgan has certainly earned it. Could be he never gives it back.

Isn't it nice to have TWO decent QB's heading into next year with a third that has a chance to beat both of them out or be redshirted to provide future depth? Just two years ago, Fleck came in here with ZERO decent QB's.......it's just a much better spot to be in right now!
 

Morgan for the bowl game, then I have a feeling Annexstad wins the job back in the offseason.
 

ZA is my choice. Morgan was underwhelming to me in every game except the first one he took over in. Realistically though I think it's best to open the competition up again in spring and see who is the best.


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personally I thought ZA showed potential to be a legit upper level B1G QB early in the year. He took risks and stared WRs down but I liked his potential more than Morgan's. It's a decent problem to have, though
 

I think it'll be Morgan, but as others, ZA isn't out
 

It will be really interesting next year, won't it? I feel like we'll have 4 legitimate options next season.

The bar has been raised at Minnesota in terms of the caliber of QB play we should expect to see going forward. Sure, the improved WR and OL play had a lot to do with it, too, but we've gotten solid QB play this season and it should only continue to get better going forward. So, while we have some uncertainty going in to next season, it's fair to expect that whoever wins the job will perform even better than our QBs this season.

Here's a summary of our team QB rating by season the past 5 years:

2014: 119.5
2015: 120.2
2016: 114.7
2017: 105.5
2018: 129.5

With how young our offense is, these numbers should only trend upward going forward, so I feel like we'll be in good hands regardless of who wins the job because that person will have beaten out multiple other legitimate options.

Burns discussed the incoming QBs Clark and Kramer on one of his recent podcasts. He mentioned Kramer's HS offense is significantly different from what the Gophers run so he may face a steeper learning curve, but is very athletic and talented. Said the staff has sky high expectations for Clark, who has been tearing it up his senior year and it sounds like is on the verge of a 4 star bump.

It will be really interesting, and I am so excited for next season in general. The schedule is favorable, and we are not losing a ton of seniors. We will miss Greene, Weyler, Cashman and a few others, but we will (hopefully) be getting back Smith, Brooks, and Winfield, and hopefully our incoming 2019 recruits can have a similar impact to our 2018 class. If they do, we'll be in great shape. If our offense can minimize mistakes, and our defense plays the way it has since Rossi took over, I see no reason we can't win at least 8 games.

Sorry, I strayed a little bit off topic! I am admittedly still basking in the glory of beating Wisconsin, and was getting more and more pumped for next season as I continued to type. The kool-aid tastes great! :cool:
 

It will be really interesting next year, won't it? I feel like we'll have 4 legitimate options next season.

The bar has been raised at Minnesota in terms of the caliber of QB play we should expect to see going forward. Sure, the improved WR and OL play had a lot to do with it, too, but we've gotten solid QB play this season and it should only continue to get better going forward. So, while we have some uncertainty going in to next season, it's fair to expect that whoever wins the job will perform even better than our QBs this season.

Here's a summary of our team QB rating by season the past 5 years:

2014: 119.5
2015: 120.2
2016: 114.7
2017: 105.5
2018: 129.5

With how young our offense is, these numbers should only trend upward going forward, so I feel like we'll be in good hands regardless of who wins the job because that person will have beaten out multiple other legitimate options.

Burns discussed the incoming QBs Clark and Kramer on one of his recent podcasts. He mentioned Kramer's HS offense is significantly different from what the Gophers run so he may face a steeper learning curve, but is very athletic and talented. Said the staff has sky high expectations for Clark, who has been tearing it up his senior year and it sounds like is on the verge of a 4 star bump.

It will be really interesting, and I am so excited for next season in general. The schedule is favorable, and we are not losing a ton of seniors. We will miss Greene, Weyler, Cashman and a few others, but we will (hopefully) be getting back Smith, Brooks, and Winfield, and hopefully our incoming 2019 recruits can have a similar impact to our 2018 class. If they do, we'll be in great shape. If our offense can minimize mistakes, and our defense plays the way it has since Rossi took over, I see no reason we can't win at least 8 games.

Sorry, I strayed a little bit off topic! I am admittedly still basking in the glory of beating Wisconsin, and was getting more and more pumped for next season as I continued to type. The kool-aid tastes great! :cool:

Our QB play took a drastic step up this season, I even think the step up was larger than the stats indicate. Last year, the staff (for good reason), had absolutely no trust in our QBs. If it was a situation where the QB was going to have to throw and it wasn't an ideal situation, we didn't even attempt a nuanced play. We'd throw a fade, screen, etc., to avoid catastrophe. We didn't have to do that this season, we had an actual Big 10 QB (Morgan or ZA) who could actually make a read. The point is, that's a dangerous pass on 3rd and 9 and every QBs passer rating will be worse on 3rd and 9 than it is on 1st and 10 or 2nd and 3. Essentially, we didn't have to "kid-proof" our offense nearly as much as last year.

I'm sure some of this was Johnson, Bell and Bateman, who were fantastic. But it was the whole passing game.

On a side note, Cole Kramer is better than people think. I don't know anything about Jacob Clark other than HUDL and his stats and he is impressive. But I've seen Cole Kramer play and I know a few people who have coached against him, he is going to be better than his rating (IMO).
 

personally I thought ZA showed potential to be a legit upper level B1G QB early in the year. He took risks and stared WRs down but I liked his potential more than Morgan's. It's a decent problem to have, though

I agree with this. I think ZA probably has a higher ceiling but Morgan is ahead of him right now. I think it will be an open competition once again this offseason.
 


Our QB play took a drastic step up this season, I even think the step up was larger than the stats indicate. Last year, the staff (for good reason), had absolutely no trust in our QBs. If it was a situation where the QB was going to have to throw and it wasn't an ideal situation, we didn't even attempt a nuanced play. We'd throw a fade, screen, etc., to avoid catastrophe. We didn't have to do that this season, we had an actual Big 10 QB (Morgan or ZA) who could actually make a read. The point is, that's a dangerous pass on 3rd and 9 and every QBs passer rating will be worse on 3rd and 9 than it is on 1st and 10 or 2nd and 3. Essentially, we didn't have to "kid-proof" our offense nearly as much as last year.

I'm sure some of this was Johnson, Bell and Bateman, who were fantastic. But it was the whole passing game.

On a side note, Cole Kramer is better than people think. I don't know anything about Jacob Clark other than HUDL and his stats and he is impressive. But I've seen Cole Kramer play and I know a few people who have coached against him, he is going to be better than his rating (IMO).

Just on social media I've seen a lot of pro Kramer hype. In all honesty, I expect a transfer or two between the 4 as only one can play and none seem candidates to play different spot. I say that as a good problem to have.....
 

I don't see how Morgan couldn't be the front runner at this point in time.

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Just on social media I've seen a lot of pro Kramer hype. In all honesty, I expect a transfer or two between the 4 as only one can play and none seem candidates to play different spot. I say that as a good problem to have.....

A good problem indeed. I can't imaging Zach or Tanner transferring.... particularly not for next season. Both of them are PJ's boys .... and Zach is basically a hometowner who brought his high school buddies along for the ride.
 
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Just on social media I've seen a lot of pro Kramer hype. In all honesty, I expect a transfer or two between the 4 as only one can play and none seem candidates to play different spot. I say that as a good problem to have.....

sorry... duplicate
 




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