All Things 2019 Gophers Fall Camp Thread

If the defense is ahead of the offense all season, I’ll be fine with that, assuming a certain level of competency on offense. I don’t want to see another result like the Maryland, Illinois and Nebraska games.




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Practice observations
-Tanner will be the guy barring any injury (no surprise here) - he leads well, constantly talking to different players
-Kramer looks a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say it is hard to separate him and Clark
-So much depth at WR...I've never seen it like this in all my years. Under Kill it felt like we always had 1 guy we could rely on. We have 3-4 now.
-Spann Ford is going to make some plays this year
-Schluetter is the starting LT as of yesterday. This really surprises me, I really thought Dickson would be the guy. I don't know how Schluetter could've improved that much in a year so I expect some more issues from him this season as he didn't look great in scrimmage time.
-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter
-Weird moment with Braelyn Oliver towards the end of practice...Fleck pretty much kicked him out of practice for saying or doing something...Oliver may be upset where he currently sits on the depth chart?
-St juste looks long and athletic, he gets pretty handsy with WRs off the line so I'm not sure if some of that will be called in a game
-JJ Guedet looks small standing next to some of our starters, which is a testament to the bodies we've brought in under fleck for the OL. JJ could easily add another 30 pounds to his frame and not lose any athletic ability.
-Simon seemed to be riding Seth Green a lot on his footwork. Seth had a nice catch on a beautiful ball from Clark during scrimmage time. Probably the best pass of the night.
 

Anyone get a read on #89?, Nnamdi? When I watched him Saturday, he doesn't have a typical wide receiver body. He doesn't look speedy, but that could be distorted by his size.
Is he secure at WR or could he potentially move to TE or elsewhere?

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Practice observations
-Tanner will be the guy barring any injury (no surprise here) - he leads well, constantly talking to different players
-Kramer looks a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say it is hard to separate him and Clark
-So much depth at WR...I've never seen it like this in all my years. Under Kill it felt like we always had 1 guy we could rely on. We have 3-4 now.
-Spann Ford is going to make some plays this year
-Schluetter is the starting LT as of yesterday. This really surprises me, I really thought Dickson would be the guy. I don't know how Schluetter could've improved that much in a year so I expect some more issues from him this season as he didn't look great in scrimmage time.
-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter
-Weird moment with Braelyn Oliver towards the end of practice...Fleck pretty much kicked him out of practice for saying or doing something...Oliver may be upset where he currently sits on the depth chart?
-St juste looks long and athletic, he gets pretty handsy with WRs off the line so I'm not sure if some of that will be called in a game
-JJ Guedet looks small standing next to some of our starters, which is a testament to the bodies we've brought in under fleck for the OL. JJ could easily add another 30 pounds to his frame and not lose any athletic ability.
-Simon seemed to be riding Seth Green a lot on his footwork. Seth had a nice catch on a beautiful ball from Clark during scrimmage time. Probably the best pass of the night.

Thanks for these observations!

Schlueter, I don’t know, I think he just plays too high. Leads to waist bending, which is a brutal habit to get rid of, is my understanding. Makes it easy to toss the guy around. Bad technique.

Purely based on last season, if Schlueter is our best option at LT, that is bad news. Hope he has corrected some things and comes out with his hair on fire this year.
 

Anyone get a read on #89?, Nnamdi? When I watched him Saturday, he doesn't have a typical wide receiver body. He doesn't look speedy, but that could be distorted by his size.
Is he secure at WR or could he potentially move to TE or elsewhere?

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He doesn't look too slow but I've said since he signed that I think he will be a TE eventually. I don't like how he comes out of breaks, I think he will struggle to get good separation against Big Ten DBs.

I'll be happy if he proves me wrong though!
 


Devers is still on the team?? I remember those crazy sacks against Oregon St and Colorado St, what like eight years ago?? Hasn’t done a thing since.

(Yes, this is personal bulletin board material for him. Hope it motivates him to have a great year! Good on him for sticking with it!)

They were saying on the gopher podcast that Devers was looking really good. It would be great if Devers and Mafe could chip in a bit to help Coughlin out.
 


Practice observations
-Tanner will be the guy barring any injury (no surprise here) - he leads well, constantly talking to different players
-Kramer looks a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say it is hard to separate him and Clark
-So much depth at WR...I've never seen it like this in all my years. Under Kill it felt like we always had 1 guy we could rely on. We have 3-4 now.
-Spann Ford is going to make some plays this year
-Schluetter is the starting LT as of yesterday. This really surprises me, I really thought Dickson would be the guy. I don't know how Schluetter could've improved that much in a year so I expect some more issues from him this season as he didn't look great in scrimmage time.
-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter
-Weird moment with Braelyn Oliver towards the end of practice...Fleck pretty much kicked him out of practice for saying or doing something...Oliver may be upset where he currently sits on the depth chart?
-St juste looks long and athletic, he gets pretty handsy with WRs off the line so I'm not sure if some of that will be called in a game
-JJ Guedet looks small standing next to some of our starters, which is a testament to the bodies we've brought in under fleck for the OL. JJ could easily add another 30 pounds to his frame and not lose any athletic ability.
-Simon seemed to be riding Seth Green a lot on his footwork. Seth had a nice catch on a beautiful ball from Clark during scrimmage time. Probably the best pass of the night.

If I remember correct at one point there was talk of Oliver being a major contributor as a true freshman, I wonder where he stacks up vs Aune and the 2 true freshman. One guy have heard very little on since he signed is Malcolm Robinson. He seemed like a solid DT add with nice size when he signed, he is listed at 6'3" 305 now, still just a redshirt sophomore but hasn't seen any action. Anyone hearing anything on him?
 

Practice observations
-Tanner will be the guy barring any injury (no surprise here) - he leads well, constantly talking to different players
-Kramer looks a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say it is hard to separate him and Clark
-So much depth at WR...I've never seen it like this in all my years. Under Kill it felt like we always had 1 guy we could rely on. We have 3-4 now.
-Spann Ford is going to make some plays this year
-Schluetter is the starting LT as of yesterday. This really surprises me, I really thought Dickson would be the guy. I don't know how Schluetter could've improved that much in a year so I expect some more issues from him this season as he didn't look great in scrimmage time.
-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter
-Weird moment with Braelyn Oliver towards the end of practice...Fleck pretty much kicked him out of practice for saying or doing something...Oliver may be upset where he currently sits on the depth chart?
-St juste looks long and athletic, he gets pretty handsy with WRs off the line so I'm not sure if some of that will be called in a game
-JJ Guedet looks small standing next to some of our starters, which is a testament to the bodies we've brought in under fleck for the OL. JJ could easily add another 30 pounds to his frame and not lose any athletic ability.
-Simon seemed to be riding Seth Green a lot on his footwork. Seth had a nice catch on a beautiful ball from Clark during scrimmage time. Probably the best pass of the night.

Not feeling good about my "Braelen Oliver wins Nekton of the week" wager I placed earlier this month.
 



Yeah when you’re signing 25 scholly guys per year plus a couple Maroon Shirts, that means you’re always looking for 15-20 guys to drop off per year in one way or another, to get down to 85. That can take many forms, including burning redshirts if needed. And guys always leave of their own accord too, natural attrition.

But it also means targeting some guys every year who have been around 2-3 seasons and haven’t contributed much to the program. Those are guys you might have to “cut”, in the sense of college football. Ie, ask nicely to step aside.
 


-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter

This is the scariest news I have heard this offseason. We're probably going to have a lot of close games this fall and kicking will win/lose at least 2 or 3. Might be the difference between going to Indy and scraping for a bowl game.
 

It was him that Devers was going around.

Oh...excitement falling. I legitimately felt bad for SS last year. Hopefully the lightbulb goes on this camp, or there is another option. There cannot be a chink in the armor at tackle like last season if the team wants to take the next step on offense...
 



Devers is still on the team?? I remember those crazy sacks against Oregon St and Colorado St, what like eight years ago?? Hasn’t done a thing since.

(Yes, this is personal bulletin board material for him. Hope it motivates him to have a great year! Good on him for sticking with it!)

Yes, and he played quit a bit last year especially towards the end of the year.
 

This is the scariest news I have heard this offseason. We're probably going to have a lot of close games this fall and kicking will win/lose at least 2 or 3. Might be the difference between going to Indy and scraping for a bowl game.

I disagree with gophers 141. First, I can't remember his name, but the transfer we brought in wasn't at practice. Not sure why. Two, I thought both kickers looked pretty solid. The freshman has great ball height and looked to be making solid contact and I think he was like 3-4. Not a huge leg, he was barely getting it there from 50 out. And then the other kicker from SD, he was inconsistent in his ball height, hit a couple line drives that would be blocked, but I think he made a 50 yarder too.
There were no shanks. And Carpenter had a down year last year after winning KOY. I think we're fine there. Herbers looked good punting too. ST overall is going to be better this year I would bet.
 

Practice observations
-Tanner will be the guy barring any injury (no surprise here) - he leads well, constantly talking to different players
-Kramer looks a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say it is hard to separate him and Clark
-So much depth at WR...I've never seen it like this in all my years. Under Kill it felt like we always had 1 guy we could rely on. We have 3-4 now.
-Spann Ford is going to make some plays this year
-Schluetter is the starting LT as of yesterday. This really surprises me, I really thought Dickson would be the guy. I don't know how Schluetter could've improved that much in a year so I expect some more issues from him this season as he didn't look great in scrimmage time.
-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter
-Weird moment with Braelyn Oliver towards the end of practice...Fleck pretty much kicked him out of practice for saying or doing something...Oliver may be upset where he currently sits on the depth chart?
-St juste looks long and athletic, he gets pretty handsy with WRs off the line so I'm not sure if some of that will be called in a game
-JJ Guedet looks small standing next to some of our starters, which is a testament to the bodies we've brought in under fleck for the OL. JJ could easily add another 30 pounds to his frame and not lose any athletic ability.
-Simon seemed to be riding Seth Green a lot on his footwork. Seth had a nice catch on a beautiful ball from Clark during scrimmage time. Probably the best pass of the night.

Kramer looked a little better in the drills (except the down field throws) compared to Saturday, but really struggled in the scrimmages. There were a couple times in line passing drills where someone had to move him to the right spot to start the drill. He has to be under 6' as well. Shorter than Morgan, who is listed at 6'2" but is the same height as Dom Douglas who is listed at 6'.
 

Practice observations
-Tanner will be the guy barring any injury (no surprise here) - he leads well, constantly talking to different players
-Kramer looks a lot better than I thought he would. I'd say it is hard to separate him and Clark
-So much depth at WR...I've never seen it like this in all my years. Under Kill it felt like we always had 1 guy we could rely on. We have 3-4 now.
-Spann Ford is going to make some plays this year
-Schluetter is the starting LT as of yesterday. This really surprises me, I really thought Dickson would be the guy. I don't know how Schluetter could've improved that much in a year so I expect some more issues from him this season as he didn't look great in scrimmage time.
-We have no kicker....both options look like big downgrades from what we've been used to with Carpenter
-Weird moment with Braelyn Oliver towards the end of practice...Fleck pretty much kicked him out of practice for saying or doing something...Oliver may be upset where he currently sits on the depth chart?
-St juste looks long and athletic, he gets pretty handsy with WRs off the line so I'm not sure if some of that will be called in a game
-JJ Guedet looks small standing next to some of our starters, which is a testament to the bodies we've brought in under fleck for the OL. JJ could easily add another 30 pounds to his frame and not lose any athletic ability.
-Simon seemed to be riding Seth Green a lot on his footwork. Seth had a nice catch on a beautiful ball from Clark during scrimmage time. Probably the best pass of the night.

Yeah, Fleck lit up Oliver. Stopped practice to basically tell the coaches to get him off the field. He basically wouldn't and took off his helmet and tossed it to the ground. Rodney Smith then went across the field to the defensive side, talked to Oliver for a few minutes on the sideline and then walked with him into the tunnel. Oliver came out maybe 15 minutes later and was on the field for scrimmages...looks like he is a starter on ST.
 

Kramer looked a little better in the drills (except the down field throws) compared to Saturday, but really struggled in the scrimmages. There were a couple times in line passing drills where someone had to move him to the right spot to start the drill. He has to be under 6' as well. Shorter than Morgan, who is listed at 6'2" but is the same height as Dom Douglas who is listed at 6'.

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA
 


Oh...excitement falling. I legitimately felt bad for SS last year. Hopefully the lightbulb goes on this camp, or there is another option. There cannot be a chink in the armor at tackle like last season if the team wants to take the next step on offense...

Perhaps they both have gotten a lot better...glass half full?!? Devers got around the edge on pretty much everyone in front of him. He's got his technique down and engages at the right time as the lineman is moving out and back to contain him.
 

Regarding the kicking game, since Fleck has been here, we've only had one game with a margin of 6 points or less. 2017 MSU when we came from behind to give MSU a scare thans to Demry Croft having the game of his life. 27-30 final.

Fleck has had 5 other games where margin was 7.
4 of those were wins.

I appreciate a good FG kicker, but we haven't played a lot of close games under Fleck.
 

Regarding the kicking game, since Fleck has been here, we've only had one game with a margin of 6 points or less. 2017 MSU when we came from behind to give MSU a scare thans to Demry Croft having the game of his life. 27-30 final.

Fleck has had 5 other games where margin was 7.
4 of those were wins.

I appreciate a good FG kicker, but we haven't played a lot of close games under Fleck.

But this analysis doesn't take into games like Fresno State (we won by 7 but Carpenter was the player of the game until Winfield went all Wolverine on the final play).
 

Screen Shot 2019-08-09 at 10.23.34 AM.jpg

Is this Cam Wiley? Kid looks like a monster
 

Sounds like they’ll have to build their offense around a porous left side of the line....lots of quick hitting passes, double teams and rolling the QB to the right, in addition to a heavy dose of the running game. Morgan and these receivers are capable of the quick passing game. They’ll still have to take an occasional shot down the field to keep defenses honest. Rodney’s receiving skills will come in handy too.

We cannot have Morgan getting hit from the blind side.


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But this analysis doesn't take into games like Fresno State (we won by 7 but Carpenter was the player of the game until Winfield went all Wolverine on the final play).

Beat me to it...correct. Missed FG usually means a shorter field for the opponent and has potential for a 10 point swing. FG hit or miss in close game can be critical...as with Carpenter's miss late in the 3rd in 2017 MD game. It would have given Gophs lead.

How a bad kicker would impact kick-offs would be another potential concern.
 

Yeah when you’re signing 25 scholly guys per year plus a couple Maroon Shirts, that means you’re always looking for 15-20 guys to drop off per year in one way or another, to get down to 85. That can take many forms, including burning redshirts if needed. And guys always leave of their own accord too, natural attrition.

But it also means targeting some guys every year who have been around 2-3 seasons and haven’t contributed much to the program. Those are guys you might have to “cut”, in the sense of college football. Ie, ask nicely to step aside.

Or find a medical “ailment” mandating their need to retire but maintain their scholarship


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Oh...excitement falling. I legitimately felt bad for SS last year. Hopefully the lightbulb goes on this camp, or there is another option. There cannot be a chink in the armor at tackle like last season if the team wants to take the next step on offense...

It’s even worse than last year- this time he’ll be “protecting” Tanner’s blind side- hope his performance improves!


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