Are people finally begging to realize...

what a good defense we will have next year.

Secondary

CB - Sherels and Traye will make up the best set of corners in the Big Ten. Collado has show he finally is becoming a decent nickel man.

DB - Brock, Theret, Roylston - a very good group of safeties.

We have guys who have a lot of college experience and have performed well. Then you add Dandridge, Rallis and some JC players and it will be one of the deepest and best secondaries in the Big Ten.

Linebackers

Inside - Campbell, Maresh and Tripplet. Never have we been so deep at inside linebacker.

Ouside - Lawernce, Cooper, Reeves, Sharpe and Tinsley. Lawerence will be the anchor but one of these young guys will have a blow out year. My guess is Cooper.

Linebackers definetly will be better this year.

D-line

DT - Small, Brown, Jewhan, Kirksey - Good luck to any team trying to run up the middle with these 300 pound plus guys. Best and deepest defensive tackes we've had by far.

DE - Jacobs, Ced, Owni?, JC player -I think the Gophers will pick up a JC player here. People say Jacobs is ready to have a breakthrough year next year. If we get Johnson, we might have a good tag team daul pass rush. This is only area of concern on defense.

Overall defense - Van will be a big loss, but with practically everyone back plus new additions, Roof will work his magic and it will be the best defense we have seen in decades.

I am concerned with the seemingly stalling recruiting momentum in attracting some more depth to both the DB corp and the rangier Will type linebackers Brewster wants. Nonetheless I think we have good room to grow, and was mightily impressed with the defensive improvement up until November when they started to revert to their old disappointing form. Despite the collapse of the final game, I think the tremendous turnaround that Roof has marshaled gives the most hope yet this decade to realize conference championship dreams

I think it's too early to cast a light of any kind on the recruiting this year. It's already decent for a smaller class. You have to remember the higher ranking guys don't feel the need to nab a spot. They take their time. Look at last year for comparison. The 4*'s came later. Most of the guys we are in top three for are these kind of kids. We'll probably strike out on most but just a couple makes our class even better than last year. Remember when looking at team recruiting rankings that last year we had 31 kids compared to what is more likely to be 25-26. And we'll probably finish close to a T25 anyway.

Plus also notice that although the average star rankings may be similar to last year the actual value attached to each kid seems to be a little higher. This years 3* average is actually quite a bit better than last years 3* average.

Actually, if you recall, at this time last year we had a bunch of 2 stars. I believe two or three of them were upgraded to three stars in January. This year many of our three stars have a shot at being upgraded.

Let's not forget the offense's contribution. The offense should be much improved, and in my opinion, what happened to the defense in the last 4 games, especially Iowa was they got discouraged by the 3 and outs and field position. Add to that time of possession and they were worn out.

The improvement you predict should be helped mightily by an O that doesn't leave it all up to the D. btw, what about special teams? Both kickers are graduating, and I only see one on the list of recruits.

ulfr said:

I am concerned with the seemingly stalling recruiting momentum in attracting some more depth to both the DB corp and the rangier Will type linebackers Brewster wants. Nonetheless I think we have good room to grow, and was mightily impressed with the defensive improvement up until November when they started to revert to their old disappointing form. Despite the collapse of the final game, I think the tremendous turnaround that Roof has marshaled gives the most hope yet this decade to realize conference championship dreams

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Then you'll probably be happy to hear that we got a commitment from a 3 star WLB today. Singleton decommitted from South Carolina and announced he will be a Gopher.

I think we'll get both Leon & Paige soon and Carter may actually decide before the Jan. 3 Army All America game. We've already got two safeties in this class so I think the class will come along just fine, we just have to be patient for players to announce their decision.

A comparison of what we need to do to be a very good BT team in one year.

PSU-8 wins-scored 34ppg-gave up 14ppg-offense 409 yd ppg-defense 285yd ppg
OSU-7 wins-30ppg vs 12ppg-349yd-295yd
Iowa-5 wins-30ppg vs 16-365yd-307yd

Gophers-3 wins-17ppg vs 26ppg-291 yds-390yd

Stats don't tell the whole story but the top BT teams usually show similar numbers. Huge improvements will be needed in all the mentioned categories to get there. And that will come from a combo of improved talent, experience, better play, good coaching, stay away from injuries to key players, beter depth,luck and depending on fewer young players.

I still believe we stand a better shot in 2010 but that is still a season away.

I don't give a crap what stars these so called experts at rivals and scout hand out. The only thing I care about is how our coaches feel about these guys. What did the experts have Kyle Theret at?? This guy played at a very high level during his sophomore year and I bet you can find many 4 stars that have not played anywhere near the level he has so far in his Gopher career.

For once, Defense is the least of our concerns, lol.......

Kirksey and Jacobs will probably start at DE. Kirksey is not 300 lbs and does not play DT. He plays at 265 which is perfect for DE.

I do not think it would be a bad idea to play Kirksey at DE. Then we would have a Huge starting DL.

DT - Small, Brown, Jewhan all 300 pounds plus.

DE - Jacobs 290 and I'm sure Kirksey will gain some weight and be around 280 for next year. That would be a BIG starting defensive line.

Our Peepol Phinally Beeghinin' two Reelise...

that spelling counts?

thailleagle.
Until the Gophers can hold the teams we lost to under 35ppg, our defense will always be a concern. I know our inept O had some to do with this but a strong D usually has quality depth and can keep BT teams to under 20pg. The teams that contend usually have a D that gives up less than 15ppg. I realize how much work has to be done to get there. Its rather obvious.

This could be the year

We see the Gopher Defense turn nasty. Not only Turnover Tuesday, but Whipa$$ Wednesday. On Wednesday, the foucus in on punishing the offense. Making them give up. Not just controlling the line of scrimage, but dominating. And while I love a turnover, a punishing tackle goes a long way also. Offenses become tennative, three and outs are the standard. At least 7 players playing downhill. Hey coach, maybe a little 46 defense now and then. The team has more size, more speed, more talent, but do they have that gotta wanta that it takes?

Clarify please

All the stats presented are for B games only, correct?

Bayfieldgopher said:

A comparison of what we need to do to be a very good BT team in one year.

PSU-8 wins-scored 34ppg-gave up 14ppg-offense 409 yd ppg-defense 285yd ppg
OSU-7 wins-30ppg vs 12ppg-349yd-295yd
Iowa-5 wins-30ppg vs 16-365yd-307yd

Gophers-3 wins-17ppg vs 26ppg-291 yds-390yd

Stats don't tell the whole story but the top BT teams usually show similar numbers. Huge improvements will be needed in all the mentioned categories to get there. And that will come from a combo of improved talent, experience, better play, good coaching, stay away from injuries to key players, beter depth,luck and depending on fewer young players.

I still believe we stand a better shot in 2010 but that is still a season away.

Click to expand...

Bayfieldgopher said:

thailleagle.
Until the Gophers can hold the teams we lost to under 35ppg, our defense will always be a concern. I know our inept O had some to do with this but a strong D usually has quality depth and can keep BT teams to under 20pg. The teams that contend usually have a D that gives up less than 15ppg. I realize how much work has to be done to get there. Its rather obvious.

Click to expand...

2 of our losses were 29pts (which Mich stat padded at the end) and 24pts to Northwestern (which our Offense gave up 7 points and our Defense actually scored 7) and does OSU count since it was 34? lol.......

In *ALL* of our losses, our Offense did *NOTHING* and that kept the Defense on the field. Anybody with even near mentally disabled Football I.Q. knows that a solid Defensive performance is usually backed by a good Offensive performance. Leaving even the best Defenses on the field for too long is gonna wear them out, they are human at the end of the day. That's why a running game is so important and why our Offense didn't do much against decent Defenses. Because we didn't run, therefore the opposing Defense never got tired and was always fresh and could keep up with our Offense all game. It's the reason Mason was able to win so many games with a *TERRIBLE* Defense. Running the ball wears a Defense down, takes time off the clock and keeps your terrible Defense off the field.

A Minnesota team with Mason's Offense & Brewsters Defense is a Top 10 NCAA Football Team easily. A Minnesota team with Brewster's Offense & Mason's Defense is the laughing stock of College Football.

Need proof? USC.......

"Offense sells tickets, Defense wins games."

Sorry thailleagle but we will have to disagree on this one. I did pin some of the blame on the offense if you go back and read my post.

I saw a defense that was not able to keep the other team in check while our offense was struggling. A defense that lacked depth and wore down. A team that allowed teams like NIU, BG and Montana just under 400 yards and 22 points a game. A team that allowed a back up NU QB to run at will against us. A team that was unable to stop Iowa in the first half to keep the game somewhat close nor protect a nice halftime lead against Wisky. Who knows what the OSU score could have been if Tressel kept his horses in. And 550 yards against the Illini. I fail to see where we had a championship type D this Fall.

Do you remember OSU 6 or 7 years ago? A weak O but a fantastic D that keep games close until the OSU offense got untracked and won a few games on game ending drives.

The D did improve over 07 and hopefully we build on it next year.

Bayfieldgopher said:

Sorry thailleagle but we will have to disagree on this one. I did pin some of the blame on the offense if you go back and read my post.

I saw a defense that was not able to keep the other team in check while our offense was struggling. A defense that lacked depth and wore down. A team that allowed teams like NIU, BG and Montana just under 400 yards and 22 points a game. A team that allowed a back up NU QB to run at will against us. A team that was unable to stop Iowa in the first half to keep the game somewhat close nor protect a nice halftime lead against Wisky. Who knows what the OSU score could have been if Tressel kept his horses in. And 550 yards against the Illini. I fail to see where we had a championship type D this Fall.

Do you remember OSU 6 or 7 years ago? A weak O but a fantastic D that keep games close until the OSU offense got untracked and won a few games on game ending drives.

The D did improve over 07 and hopefully we build on it next year.

Click to expand...

I think the defense made some huge strides versus 2007. They still were not a dominant defense but we didn't have dominant talent either. We were sitll only starting 2 seniors and a 3rd played a lot. With a good offense the defense probably would have ranked about 7th in the conference (instead of 10th) and would have been about 60th-70th in the country. However, that is just on yardage, on points against we would have ranked higher due to the propensity of the defense to cause turnovers.

For this team to go where everyone wants us to go, the defense will have to improve in the offseason and move in to the top 4 or 5 of the Big Ten. It's possible to see that improvement next season but I think 6th or 7th is a more likely improvement and if we can maintain the ball hawking on defense we could move in to the top 4 of 5 scoring defenses. Of course, the offensive line and running game really have to improve to accomplish those statistics and we have to find a way to replace WVDS in the pass rush.

Brewster obviously realizes this too or he wouldn't be recruiting guys like Taikwon Paige (could possibly start at CB or will likely at a minimum take over nickel back) and Anthony Leon (I would project him to start at Safety alongside Brock) considering we return every player from the defensive backfield and we add a transfer (Royston).

Our defense definitely improved from 2007 but there is definitely work to be done before it is a dominant defense. I think the defense will continue to improve as the talent level improves as I believe that Coach Roof can coach defensive football. Let's just be glad we don't have to try and play defense in the Big 12.

Bayfieldgopher said:

Sorry thailleagle but we will have to disagree on this one. I did pin some of the blame on the offense if you go back and read my post.

I saw a defense that was not able to keep the other team in check while our offense was struggling. A defense that lacked depth and wore down. A team that allowed teams like NIU, BG and Montana just under 400 yards and 22 points a game. A team that allowed a back up NU QB to run at will against us. A team that was unable to stop Iowa in the first half to keep the game somewhat close nor protect a nice halftime lead against Wisky. Who knows what the OSU score could have been if Tressel kept his horses in. And 550 yards against the Illini. I fail to see where we had a championship type D this Fall.

Do you remember OSU 6 or 7 years ago? A weak O but a fantastic D that keep games close until the OSU offense got untracked and won a few games on game ending drives.

The D did improve over 07 and hopefully we build on it next year.

Click to expand...

You're comparing our D to one of the best defenses in the last 10 years. That OSU defense was literally a championship D. Our D was good enough for us to be a good, top 25 team. You stated the obvious about our depth but we all knew that from the get go. Our offense didn't hold up its end of the bargain in those games, point blank. OUr D was good but not good enough to win a 10-7 game when our offense has 3+ 3 and outs. Just wasn't going to happen.

Bayfieldgopher said:

Sorry thailleagle but we will have to disagree on this one. I did pin some of the blame on the offense if you go back and read my post.

I saw a defense that was not able to keep the other team in check while our offense was struggling. A defense that lacked depth and wore down. A team that allowed teams like NIU, BG and Montana just under 400 yards and 22 points a game. A team that allowed a back up NU QB to run at will against us. A team that was unable to stop Iowa in the first half to keep the game somewhat close nor protect a nice halftime lead against Wisky. Who knows what the OSU score could have been if Tressel kept his horses in. And 550 yards against the Illini. I fail to see where we had a championship type D this Fall.

Do you remember OSU 6 or 7 years ago? A weak O but a fantastic D that keep games close until the OSU offense got untracked and won a few games on game ending drives.

The D did improve over 07 and hopefully we build on it next year.

Click to expand...

+1

No. I did not compare our D to the mentioned OSU defense. I merely brought that up to contrast the USC mentioned by thailleagle.

I am confident that Roof/Brewster are on the right track. I really liked many of the schemes that were used. When we blitzed it often showed good results compared to the feeble attempts in the past. I appreciate Brewsters approach to D compared to the passive and unagressive philosophy employed by Mason. But he needs the players to make it work. And Brewster has finally gone away from the 100% Dunbar Suzy Spread in favor of adding a bit of traditional hard nosed offensive football. I like his style. But again the obvious; players. Duh!

09 is a year when we need to expect all around improvements. And put it all together in 10.

IMO, we are 3 starters short and 3-4 solid back ups from having a very good defense.

Still have holes at DE, LB, CB and Safety that need to be addressed and need talented depth in the secondary, LB and DL especially at DE.

As we sit right now, two injuries make us very mediocre to bad again.

Recruit D from now until there aint none left...IMO.

GopherinPhilly said:

IMO, we are 3 starters short and 3-4 solid back ups from having a very good defense.

Still have holes at DE, LB, CB and Safety that need to be addressed and need talented depth in the secondary, LB and DL especially at DE.

As we sit right now, two injuries make us very mediocre to bad again.

Recruit D from now until there aint none left...IMO.

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I agree. I'm hoping Cooper is ready to step up at LB, Jacobs at DE, Royston steps in at S, and Paige commits and is the missing piece at CB. Even if all of those pieces fit, we won't have the depth that we need but it would be a step in the right direction and it should be better than we have been.

With Maresh stepping in we should be deep at MLB with Campbell and Triplett returning. We know what we have with Lawrence but even if Cooper is that guy at WLB we don't know what we have for depth with Sharpe, Reeves, Tinsley, Rallis (possibly moved to OLB), Grant and Singleton. I know there are some highly recruited prospects in there and I think they'll eventually be really good but most are really young and inexperienced.

Michael Carter would be the real deal as a coverage corner if we can get him but I'm not sure if he'll be ready next year. We haven't seen what Johnson can do at CB either.

Leon looks like the real deal as a safety but unfortunately it looks like he is going to Oregon. I really like the film of both Watkins and Lewis but I don't expect either of them to contribute to anything more than special teams as a freshman. Perhaps Dandridge is ready to back up Brock at Safety but I don't know for sure.

I feel the most comfortable with the DT depth Small, Brown, Moen, Edwards, Kirksey. There is real talent there and we can probably afford to redshirt Searcy.

I'm less comfortable with DE...will Jacobs step up?--I think so but it remains to be seen. Then we have Onwuachi, and McKinley returning but I don't know whether the redshirts this year are ready and I expect KGM and Garin to both redshirt this year because they are too small to play DE in college right now.

There are a lot of talented players in there but for the most part we are talking about either Seniors to be, Sophomores/RS Freshmen to be or next year's true freshmen. The younger classes as a whole are more talented but they lack ideal size and experience at a lot of positions (WLB, DE). I think the 2009 defense should be better than 2008 and it could be good but not great and it will lack ideal depth. I think 2010 will either be a step back because we lose a lot of starters (1-2 DE's, 2 DT's, 2-3 LB's, 2-3 DB's) or it could be a very good defense if highly touted recruits emerge as stars (Jacobs, Edwards, Kirksey, Garin--if he's ready, Cooper, Maresh, Reeves/Singleton, Watkins/Lewis/Dandridge, Carter?, Paige?, Stoudermire/Johnson or future Juco CB). I really don't have a clue yet but it is at the same time the offense should be very good. I do belive that by 2011 we could have an elite defense with the good depth but everything has to work out right in terms of player development and continued success in recruiting.

grunkiejr said:

I do belive that by 2011 we could have an elite defense with the good depth but everything has to work out right in terms of player development and continued success in recruiting.

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Too many ifs...but would much rather be having this discussion about good vs. very good vs. elite than the discussions we've had the past 18 or so years with the very bad vs. bad vs. below average.

Good days are ahead for this program, IMO.

As it stands right now it looks as if our class should be 4th or 5th best in the Big Ten for this year. I think the late season collapse has definitely hurt us.