Biggest concern for the upcoming season?

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For me it's the O-Line.

I've read a lot of posters here saying the expect the line to perform better this year. They point to greater depth, possibly more talent, and that 8 returning players saw game action last year, among others items.

But this unit is the biggest concern to me because even looking at the aforementioned positives, it still includes 0 Seniors and only 2 Juniors. It takes a lot of time for linemen to really grow into, and understand the position.

At least that's my $0.02.

So talk me out of it, or tell us what unit you think is the greatest area of concern.
 

What gives me confidence about the offensive line is the impovement during the course of last season. I had stats written down for sacks, sacks given up and penalties, but I can't find my notes. The o-line gave up a lot less sacks in the second half of the season than in the first half, that's encouraging.
 

For me, it's run defense.

We have Hageman in the middle and I really believe he is the most important player for us this season (probably tied with Gray). He needs to be a monster. Botticelli is better than a lot of people give him credit for, but he is undersized. It seems like we are counting on the JuCo kid, who has looked good in highlights, but is undersized. Our defensive ends are more upfield / pass rushing type of DE's.

Our LBs are also a concern. Rallis is in the middle for his first year. I like Rallis, but he never struck me as an overly physical OLB and now he needs to be making plays in the middle. Our other LBs are also a bit on the smaller end (Hill, Edwards, Manuel, etc.).

Lastly, we lose Royston. He was probably our best tackler last season and he made a lot of plays on running plays.

I'm concerned because we moved an OLB to the middle, we lost our best two tacklers (Tinsley and Royston), we lost a lot of depth at DT (Jacobs and Kirksey).
 

1) WR: Who's going to catch the ball? Seems like there's potential there. Hoping that McDonald and/or Harbison can step up, especially by the end of the season.
2) D-Line: Who's going to get to the QB? Can we handle the run?
3) Punting: Can we find a guy that can at least flip the fied with the O isn't going? Hopefully they can help the D out & make them go 70-80 yards.
4) RB: Bennett wasn't extraordinary, but he played a lot of Big Ten games. Can we at least find someone to share the running burden with MarQueis.

Solid special teams, hold on to the football. Take the football away. Do that & the Gophers can stay in some football games.
 

I'll say my biggest concern is pass rush. Where's the pressure on the QB going to come from? I have faith that our secondary would be serviceable if they didn't have to spend all day defending, but we can't get consistent pressure on the QB, or at least we didn't last year. Ranked 86th in the country last year with 1.6 sacks per game, T-84 with 5 TFL per game. Better pass rush = faster decisions from opposing QBs = more chances for turnovers. More turnovers lead to more wins.
 



This is lame, but I want to see a couple of fall practices first!:rolleyes:

I am interested to see how the second year goes with the same coaches in place. I know we are building depth, but it is young. Where I worry about more talent is at running back, d-line and linebacker.
 

Punting, run defense, and the pass game. Orseske cost us 1-2 games last year with his shanks. We can't afford that again, he either needs to be better or Mortell needs to step in. Run defense is also a concern. We're very light up front, how do we handle the 300 lb. O-lines in the Big Ten? The passing game will remain suspect until we see continued improvement, both from Gray with his consistency and with some wideouts who can get open and catch the ball.
 

I agree with everybody's concerns. I think the O-line will prove to be a strength though with the young and talented group that gained tremendous experience last year. For me, my biggest concerns are twofold.

1) Scoring points - we need to be able to move the ball and put points on the board through a more balanced attack. We need to be able to keep defenses honest by being able to throw over the top of the safeties from time to time.

2) Pressure on the opposing QBs to give our secondary a chance. If we don't apply pressure, it does not matter how good the secondary is they will not be able to stay with receivers consistently for 6-7+ seconds.

Now for two positives.
1) Ra'shede really started to show some of his "potential" turning into on the field activity towards the end of last year. If that carries over he could be one of the more dominant men in the middle in the B1G.

2) Even though Da'jon is gone, I think that our younger receivers are going to surprise this year. Anytime a group takes this much heat, they generally outperform expectations. Marcus Jones, DCT, Moulton, and the rest of the crew will be better than everyone gives them credit for being.
 



Unregistered User said:
For me it's the O-Line.

I've read a lot of posters here saying the expect the line to perform better this year. They point to greater depth, possibly more talent, and that 8 returning players saw game action last year, among others items.

But this unit is the biggest concern to me because even looking at the aforementioned positives, it still includes 0 Seniors and only 2 Juniors. It takes a lot of time for linemen to really grow into, and understand the position.

At least that's my $0.02.

So talk me out of it, or tell us what unit you think is the greatest area of concern.
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First of all I'm green with envy for that cute little limegrover you have but I digress. As far as the offensive line being a concern that is certainly understandable but being the biggest concern is saying quite a lot, given all the possibilities. The top five reasons I don't believe that is the case is: (1.) They will not be learning a completely new system. This means that they won't be thinking as much as they did last year but instead will be reacting much more instintively to the situation. (2.) They improved meaningfully during both the season last year and this spring. The coaches have acknowledged this fact on several occasions (3.) They have several players that were injured last year but hopefully should be healthier this year. There is no guarantee that this will be the case but if it isn't the case then (4.) The depth we have in the offensive line both in numbers and talent is the greatest that we have in years. (5) but most importantly they will be a year older. Offensive linemen take longer to develop than any other position because of the physical maturity required of the position. Ideally as we go forward we will be starting juniors and seniors at these positions. We are not there yet but we are a year closer. I would expect that the additional year of maturity will be very noticable in the play of offensive line this year. Of course you could be right with your concern but from my prespective there are several others concerns that I have rated much higher than yours.
 

Gopher07 said:
I'll say my biggest concern is pass rush. Where's the pressure on the QB going to come from? I have faith that our secondary would be serviceable if they didn't have to spend all day defending, but we can't get consistent pressure on the QB, or at least we didn't last year. Ranked 86th in the country last year with 1.6 sacks per game, T-84 with 5 TFL per game. Better pass rush = faster decisions from opposing QBs = more chances for turnovers. More turnovers lead to more wins.
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Good post.

I agree with almost all of this but for some reason, I believe a large part of our problem with rushing the QB has been because we can't stop the run.

Teams aren't forced to pass the ball as often against us and when they do, they tend to not need a lot of yards (we aren't facing a ton of 3rd and 9's).

In Big 10 play last year:
We had 18 sacks (ranked 5th) and we only face 208 passing attempts.
Additionally, we are the only team in the top 5 that didn't have a top rush defense. That should be some indication that we probably faced a lot less 3rd and longs than the teams who got more sacks than us.

My point is that that is the basis of my optimism in the pass rush. We rushed the passer OK in Big 10 play and the circumstances to rush the passer were far from ideal. We have all of our best pass rushers back (and some of them aren't freshman anymore (Perry, Amafula). So I really think we have the people to get to the QB and hopefully start causing a lot more TOs. I especially like this groups chances of getting to the QB if our run D can get stingy and put us in a lot more 3rd and longs.
 

Unregistered User said:
For me it's the O-Line.

I've read a lot of posters here saying the expect the line to perform better this year. They point to greater depth, possibly more talent, and that 8 returning players saw game action last year, among others items.

But this unit is the biggest concern to me because even looking at the aforementioned positives, it still includes 0 Seniors and only 2 Juniors. It takes a lot of time for linemen to really grow into, and understand the position.

At least that's my $0.02.

So talk me out of it, or tell us what unit you think is the greatest area of concern.
Click to expand...

This is probably more accurate than most of us realize. I think a lot of us (myself included) can get a little intoxicated by the future of our OL. But the truth is that few OLs are effective that are dominated by underclassmen. It's a position for 21-22 year old men and not 18-19 year old boys.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This is probably more accurate than most of us realize. I think a lot of us (myself included) can get a little intoxicated by the future of our OL. But the truth is that few OLs are effective that are dominated by underclassmen. It's a position for 21-22 year old men and not 18-19 year old boys.
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Bob - I absolutely agree with that but for better or worse the offensive line will be better this fall and the improvement will be appreciable for the reasons I stated earlier. Having said that though I must admit I it is the 2013 offensive line that I am excited about.
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
For me, it's run defense.

We have Hageman in the middle and I really believe he is the most important player for us this season (probably tied with Gray). He needs to be a monster. Botticelli is better than a lot of people give him credit for, but he is undersized. It seems like we are counting on the JuCo kid, who has looked good in highlights, but is undersized. Our defensive ends are more upfield / pass rushing type of DE's.

Our LBs are also a concern. Rallis is in the middle for his first year. I like Rallis, but he never struck me as an overly physical OLB and now he needs to be making plays in the middle. Our other LBs are also a bit on the smaller end (Hill, Edwards, Manuel, etc.).

Lastly, we lose Royston. He was probably our best tackler last season and he made a lot of plays on running plays.

I'm concerned because we moved an OLB to the middle, we lost our best two tacklers (Tinsley and Royston), we lost a lot of depth at DT (Jacobs and Kirksey).
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Like usual, I pretty much agree with Bob's take. This is the biggest concern by far.

Our OL is young, but has a pretty descent amount of experience. I think they played pretty well last season. Having an elusive QB like Gray helps also. I've got to believe opposing defenses are less aggressive because they don't want to get burnt by his legs.

WR is a concern for me as well, but not as much as it is for others. If one of our RB can step up and be a consistent threat, I think our passing game will be just fine. If you have a QB and RB that a defense really have to be concerned about in the run game, then that opens up all kinds of high percentage play action pass plays.
 

Killjoy said:
Bob - I absolutely agree with that but for better or worse the offensive line will be better this fall and the improvement will be appreciable for the reasons I stated earlier. Having said that though I must admit I it is the 2013 offensive line that I am excited about.
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I agree completely.

The OL will be better than last season and I think the future is bright. We have a lot of talent on that group and the OL was probably one of the last positions I would have thought about being overly concerned. I was just pointing out that everybody's post was a different way of looking at the OL that does seem to be vaild.
 

Probably another big concern is that is one of your starters (grey) gets hurt you might not win a single conf game. talk me out of it, lets hear what you think. Yes, I am aware Mn beat Ia last year and the year before. Both good wins. Dont blow me up because I make a decent point.
 

MspHawk said:
Probably another big concern is that is one of your starters (grey) gets hurt you might not win a single conf game. talk me out of it, lets hear what you think. Yes, I am aware Mn beat Ia last year and the year before. Both good wins. Dont blow me up because I make a decent point.
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I'll play Dp - who's Grey?
 

And yes, if the starting QB gets hurt it will seriously hurt the team but that goes without saying because it's true for everyone. Many, myself included, would also point out that the Gophers at least have a backup who did some good things with real game experience - something a lot of college teams can't say.
 

MspHawk said:
Probably another big concern is that is one of your starters (grey) gets hurt you might not win a single conf game. talk me out of it, lets hear what you think. Yes, I am aware Mn beat Ia last year and the year before. Both good wins. Dont blow me up because I make a decent point.
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You don't really make a decent point though, except for stating the obvious.

Most teams, if their starting QB gets hurt, they are in big trouble. So that part is obvious. However, it is rather easy to dispute the notion that MN is much more vulnerable to injury than most teams.

Our backup is Max Shortell. He got some PT last season (not all in garbage time) and he played alright for a true freshman.

Who is Iowa's backup? Jake Rudock? He hasn't taken a single college snap.
Who is WI's backup? Stave? Brennan? I'm not really sure.

I realize that a lot of the Gopher offense runs through Gray, but the point is that a lot of backup QBs aren't proven and have very little experience. To single out the U in this is a bit bizarre. Most teams in the Big 10 would be significantly worse teams if their starting QB got hurt.
 

Punting and keeping the damn ball inbounds on kickoffs.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
You don't really make a decent point though, except for stating the obvious.

Most teams, if their starting QB gets hurt, they are in big trouble. So that part is obvious. However, it is rather easy to dispute the notion that MN is much more vulnerable to injury than most teams.

Our backup is Max Shortell. He got some PT last season (not all in garbage time) and he played alright for a true freshman.

Who is Iowa's backup? Jake Rudock? He hasn't taken a single college snap.
Who is WI's backup? Stave? Brennan? I'm not really sure.

I realize that a lot of the Gopher offense runs through Gray, but the point is that a lot of backup QBs aren't proven and have very little experience. To single out the U in this is a bit bizarre. Most teams in the Big 10 would be significantly worse teams if their starting QB got hurt.
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Mr. Bob

I see your point but it isnt really that good. Why? Because Gray makes up a ratio of the offense that is significantly higher than the other QBs in the B1G. I also wasnt picking on MN and you are correct in that most if not all teams would be significantly worse if they lost their starting QB but I suggest they would find a way to win a few games in conf play. Im suggesting that without Gray the gophers would be in a rather dire situation. Is the defense going to keep them in the games? Does coach Kill have the skills to win a game on play calling without Gray? Ive seen a lot of situations over the years where struggling teams have a man among boys like Gray is and they laser in on them, eventually they end up nicked up. Here's to Gray staying healthy and leading the gophers to a bowl game......ok?
 

MspHawk said:
Mr. Bob

I see your point but it isnt really that good. Why? Because Gray makes up a ratio of the offense that is significantly higher than the other QBs in the B1G. I also wasnt picking on MN and you are correct in that most if not all teams would be significantly worse if they lost their starting QB but I suggest they would find a way to win a few games in conf play. Im suggesting that without Gray the gophers would be in a rather dire situation. Is the defense going to keep them in the games? Does coach Kill have the skills to win a game on play calling without Gray? Ive seen a lot of situations over the years where struggling teams have a man among boys like Gray is and they laser in on them, eventually they end up nicked up. Here's to Gray staying healthy and leading the gophers to a bowl game......ok?
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You have to keep in mind that the Gophers aren't a very deep or talented team. So if we lose our best player, we are going to be in trouble. However, that does not make backup QB a point of weakness on the team. If any team loses their best player, it's probably going to cost them between 2 and 3 games per season.

I'd say Wilson probably was good for 2-3 wins for WI last year and they have a dominant running game / decent defense.

It's just part of any sport.

A weakness of the OKC Thunder is not "if Durant gets hurt, you'll lose a lot more games".
A weakness of the Patriots is not "if Brady gets hurt, they'll be a worse team".

The only reason I went after your post is that I think it does nothing but state the obvious.
 

Coming up with new breakfast items for those lousy 11:00 am starts. And not getting to sleep in and watch the preview shows. Last year the start times were perfect.
 

My biggest concern for the season is basic team chemistry. We are in year 1.5 and many of the installations of the new package are incomplete. I would like to see substantial better run blocking, especially in the interior lanes. If we open the interior, the backfield will have to cheat up a bit. That opens outside runs and passing.

We need to plow the road better. I would be happier with something more than 4 yards per carry.
 

Question marks for every unit on this team except for QB. Pretty much know what to expect from Gray, however if he goes down that does become another concern even though Shortell did show some flashes.

The team did play better the 2nd half of last season but there will be a lot of new faces around and still lacking overall depth and talent.

Going back numerous years I can't remember a Gopher defense that could get off the field consistenly on 3rd down. Every year that seems to be a concern.
 

Injuries are a huge concern. This team doesnt have the depth to handle many injuries and it doesnt matter what positions. If we are missing starters for any length of time we are in trouble.

I think this team has a ton of concerns in fact they probably have more questions than answers right now. I am just hoping we see continued improvement like we saw towards the end of last season. If we dont see 5 wins this year I will be very concerned.
 

Defense. Three and outs. Field position. We have to have a solid defense, because defense wins games. The offense has shown the abiity to play from behind, play with the lead. But if we cannot stop anyone, all talk of offense is useless.
 

11 am starts.

Honestly, my biggest concern is Gray staying healthy because I don't think we have enough on offense to be successful without him.
 


two biggest concerns - kicking game, and running game.

On kicking game, let's face it - the punting has just not been up to D-1 standards. How many times last year did the Gophs put the other team on a short field with a bad punt? Better punting will make the defense look better. And for placekicking - I don't expect miracles, but it would be nice to hit a few longer FG's every now and then, and get some touchback's on Kickoffs.

Running game - the better the running backs perform, the fewer times Gray has to carry the ball himself. Better production by the running backs will help set up the passing game, and keep Gray healthy. Whether it's RB by committee, or a lead back (Gillum?) emerges, I think the RB position may hold the key to the entire season.
 

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