2019 - Top 5 youngest team

Dano564

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During PJ's keynote address at USA Football conference yesterday, he said that despite being young last year, this next seasons (2019) the Gophers (due to large number of freshman and sophomores) will STILL be in the top 5 for youngest teams in America.

I think this shows a bright future, but I can already imagine how much the TC media is going to groan over this.
 

During PJ's keynote address at USA Football conference yesterday, he said that despite being young last year, this next seasons (2019) the Gophers (due to large number of freshman and sophomores) will STILL be in the top 5 for youngest teams in America.

I think this shows a bright future, but I can already imagine how much the TC media is going to groan over this.
He could just cut back on how often we are reminded of it.

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It feels like the definition/use of "young" seems to float between just the numbers of Fr/So (including RS) and experience in the program. 2019 squad might still fall in the former, but do not fall in the latter. I consider the 2019 squad experienced.
 

He could just cut back on how often we are reminded of it.

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+1

If he is going to bring it up multiple times per press conference, then people are going to complain regardless of how much merit there is in the statement.
 

+1

If he is going to bring it up multiple times per press conference, then people are going to complain regardless of how much merit there is in the statement.

Yes, if it's overused it sounds like preemptive excuse-making.

However it is true that they are young. And the Twin Cities sports media is always going to be, well... the Twin Cities sports media — no matter what P.J. Fleck says or does.
 


Are you guys going to be okay?
Does him saying the team really upset you? Like really?
 

Are you guys going to be okay?
Does him saying the team really upset you? Like really?
Are you going to be ok? You seem more upset than anyone.

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Didn’t one of the WMU posters that pops over here say that PJ used that line each and every year at WMU? We likely just need to get used to hearing it.


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Expectations are raised this team will play like it finished.

None of us will accept we're young team next team

now if the mantra is hey we're this good and still really young, so look out...I can live with that
 

Didn’t one of the WMU posters that pops over here say that PJ used that line each and every year at WMU? We likely just need to get used to hearing it.


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No I don't think so. Someone will probably make that up now.
 

During PJ's keynote address at USA Football conference yesterday, he said that despite being young last year, this next seasons (2019) the Gophers (due to large number of freshman and sophomores) will STILL be in the top 5 for youngest teams in America.

I think this shows a bright future, but I can already imagine how much the TC media is going to groan over this.

You've mentioned the speech a couple of times so I assume you listened to the whole thing. Have to give credit where credit is due, you have much more perseverance than I do.
 




You've mentioned the speech a couple of times so I assume you listened to the whole thing. Have to give credit where credit is due, you have much more perseverance than I do.

I watched the first 30-35 minutes.
They didn't post the 2nd half.

He was only on the "P" in HYPRR culture when it cut off.
 

Are you going to be ok? You seem more upset than anyone.

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Says the guy who said the coach needs to cut back on how many times he says something
 


Yes, if it's overused it sounds like preemptive excuse-making.

However it is true that they are young. And the Twin Cities sports media is always going to be, well... the Twin Cities sports media — no matter what P.J. Fleck says or does.

Kill rode the young thing into the ground his first few years and it absolutely was used as an excuse for why the team was not good. Fleck has definitely overused it some and will need to move away from it this season because even though we are still young in terms of years in school there is a lot of experience returning.
 


Kill rode the young thing into the ground his first few years and it absolutely was used as an excuse for why the team was not good. Fleck has definitely overused it some and will need to move away from it this season because even though we are still young in terms of years in school there is a lot of experience returning.


You're exactly right. In fact, the Gophers rank 10th in the nation in terms of returning production, according to this:

https://www.sbnation.com/college-fo...9-ncaa-football-returning-starters-experience
 

No I don't think so. Someone will probably make that up now.

It looks like somebody just did - now it is internet gospel

Funny Stuff Guys. What would I even have to gain by making up that a WMU poster stated something on here? When you don't want something to be true it is kind of pathetic to instantly assume it didn't happen.

Post #17 (10/7/18):
http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?84374-Well-one-thing/page2

Quote Below if you don't want to go to the link:
Fleck told us how young our team was every year including his last.

Convenient fallback position if season doesn't go well.

But it does get old (no pun intended).
 

Last year he included walk ons when discussing percentages of underclassmen. He didn’t include special teamers when discussing scholarship seniors. His number of scholarship juniors was incorrect. Count me as one that wishes he would never discuss this topic in any way, shape, or form ever again - like nails on a chalkboard. I desperately want to pimp PJ but he makes it hard at times.
 

Can anyone really make a determination whether or not the Gophers are actually a young team as claimed by Fleck without a swingman thread attempting to debunk the claim?


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I watched the first 30-35 minutes.
They didn't post the 2nd half.

He was only on the "P" in HYPRR culture when it cut off.

I watched it too. Yes he said they were going to be young still, but he also said this year they have expectations. He talked about how he creates competitions so they get used to the pressure. After listening to him, I'm an even bigger fan of PJ Fleck than I was before.
 

Last year he included walk ons when discussing percentages of underclassmen. He didn’t include special teamers when discussing scholarship seniors. His number of scholarship juniors was incorrect. Count me as one that wishes he would never discuss this topic in any way, shape, or form ever again - like nails on a chalkboard. I desperately want to pimp PJ but he makes it hard at times.

We were starting 7 or 8 freshmen or red shirt freshmen on offense the last half of the season.
 


We were starting 7 or 8 freshmen or red shirt freshmen on offense the last half of the season.

I could swear I’ve heard that somewhere before. J. Pierpont Morgan observed that a person usually has a reason for saying or doing something: one that sounds good and a real one.
 

Assume the starting offense looks like this:

QB - Morgan (Soph)
RB - Smith (Senior)
WR - Johnson (Senior)
WR - Bateman (Soph)
WR - Autman-Bell (Soph)
TE- Kieft (Junior)
OT - Faalele (Soph)
OG - Andries (Soph)
C - Olson (Junior)
OG - Dunlap (Freshman)
OT - Dickson (Junior)

This is the most "upperclassmen heavy" starting lineup we could possibly see. I'm assuming Kieft start at TE over Paulson and BSF, which is by no means a certainty. It assumes Dickson wins the LT position, but we could also see Andries at LT and Schmitz starting at Center. It also assumes that Rodney is healthy, which is likely.

So even with this scenario, we are starting 2 seniors, 3 juniors, 5 sophomores and 1 freshman. 5 upperclassmen and 6 underclassmen. If Ibrahim starts at RB, Paulson or BSF at TE, and Schmitz at Center, we would have 2 upperclassmen and 9 underclassmen. At the end of the day, we return a ton of production which bodes well for the year, but we are still a young team on offense.
 

On defense, if we assume the starting lineup looks like this:

DE - Otomewo (Sophomore)
DT - Schad (Junior)
DT - Teague (Sophomore)
DE - Mafe (Sophomore)
LB - Barber (Senior)
LB - Martin (Senior)
LB - Cough(Senior)
CB - Smith (Soph)
CB - Williamson (Senior)
S - Winfield (Soph)
S - Howden (Soph)


That would be 4 seniors, 1 junior, 6 sophomores. So the defense has more seniors, but the same ratio of underclassmen/upperclassmen.
 

You’re making a lot of assumptions on starters, leaving out some upperclassmen. You certainly could be right, but you could be wrong, and there are obviously situational players in the two deeps.
 

I won’t try to guess the starting lineup next year, but would like to know how PJ has already determined we will be one of the 5 youngest teams with it? I’m sure that is a well researched and audited number.


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