Bulls and Bears

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Pewterschmidt

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Not the Chicago variety but the buy or sell metaphor for Gopher FB units:

Bullish:
1. OL - I think over the next year or 2, you'll see a dramatic increase in play from our offensive line. I like the emphasis put on the position the past 2 classes with some of our most highly rated recruits coming into the unit.
2. QB - Gray will get his chance to start and that excites me (though I'm worried about his accuracy) but I really like the depth behind him. I feel good that Alipate, Parish, or Shortell will pan out.
3. LB - I think this without question the deepest and most talented unit on defense. Cooper, Tinsley, Reeves, Rallis, Hill, and Singleton all took their bumps last year but I expect a couple of those listed to really grow. There's also the potential of Brandon Beal and 3 nice looking recruits coming in in Bauducco, Westerhaus, and Matilus. This could be a position of strength for 2 or 3 years

Bearish:
1. DL - Hide your wives, hide your children, and hide your husbands because everyone gettin' some unwanted lovin in this unit. They were pathetic last year and I see very little reason for optimism in the future. There are some decent parts but the returning players on last year's team all regressed and the newbies really underwhelmed. Ugh.
2. DB - Maybe it's a byproduct of the horrific pass rush but this unit got abused last year. I'm a bit more optimistic than the DL but if you have a poor rush, you better have some above-average cover guys and I just don't see it.
3. WR - There's McKnight and everyone else. I see our pass game deteriorating, part new scheme, part new QB with possible accuracy problems, part WRs with very little experience other than McKnight (Green is an unknown because of injury). That mixture leaves me to believe next year might be ugly on the pass offense side of things.

Hold:
1. RB - I like what's returning and the consistency and I think they'll play better with an improved OL but the 2 seniors really aren't ground-and-pound RBs. Kirkwood might be that, and maybe Edwards is as well. There's some nice pieces here. Wish they brought in at least 1 RB in this class.
2. TE/HB - I think Lair was underutilized last year. He's the best pass-catcher returning not named McKnight (or Gray for that matter). This position's future was partially addressed with the addition or Rabe, Goodger, and Heifort. Not entirely impressed with the talent behind Lair but I'm not worried that this will be a liability in the future either.
 

What about special teams?
 


Good post. I like the creativity of the whole bullish and bearish thing, and would agree with your assessments.

Regarding the bearishness on the defensive side of the ball, I'm really hoping that Tracy Claeys can begin to have an immmediate positive effect upon that problem, and yeah, the absolute lack of pass rush and the DB's getting burned do go hand in hand.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
2. QB - Gray will get his chance to start and that excites me (though I'm worried about his accuracy) but I really like the depth behind him. I feel good that Alipate, Parish, or Shortell will pan out.
Click to expand...

One might say that Gray is a high risk/high reward type investment?
 


Pewterschmidt said:
Not the Chicago variety but the buy or sell metaphor for Gopher FB units:

Bullish:
1. OL - I think over the next year or 2, you'll see a dramatic increase in play from our offensive line. I like the emphasis put on the position the past 2 classes with some of our most highly rated recruits coming into the unit.
2. QB - Gray will get his chance to start and that excites me (though I'm worried about his accuracy) but I really like the depth behind him. I feel good that Alipate, Parish, or Shortell will pan out.
3. LB - I think this without question the deepest and most talented unit on defense. Cooper, Tinsley, Reeves, Rallis, Hill, and Singleton all took their bumps last year but I expect a couple of those listed to really grow. There's also the potential of Brandon Beal and 3 nice looking recruits coming in in Bauducco, Westerhaus, and Matilus. This could be a position of strength for 2 or 3 years

Bearish:
1. DL - Hide your wives, hide your children, and hide your husbands because everyone gettin' some unwanted lovin in this unit. They were pathetic last year and I see very little reason for optimism in the future. There are some decent parts but the returning players on last year's team all regressed and the newbies really underwhelmed. Ugh.
2. DB - Maybe it's a byproduct of the horrific pass rush but this unit got abused last year. I'm a bit more optimistic than the DL but if you have a poor rush, you better have some above-average cover guys and I just don't see it.
3. WR - There's McKnight and everyone else. I see our pass game deteriorating, part new scheme, part new QB with possible accuracy problems, part WRs with very little experience other than McKnight (Green is an unknown because of injury). That mixture leaves me to believe next year might be ugly on the pass offense side of things.

Hold:
1. RB - I like what's returning and the consistency and I think they'll play better with an improved OL but the 2 seniors really aren't ground-and-pound RBs. Kirkwood might be that, and maybe Edwards is as well. There's some nice pieces here. Wish they brought in at least 1 RB in this class.
2. TE/HB - I think Lair was underutilized last year. He's the best pass-catcher returning not named McKnight (or Gray for that matter). This position's future was partially addressed with the addition or Rabe, Goodger, and Heifort. Not entirely impressed with the talent behind Lair but I'm not worried that this will be a liability in the future either.
Click to expand...

I agree with much of what you wrote. I am especially optimistic about the future of our offensive line.

I would upgrade the DBs to a hold. I'm encouraged that we get Royston back, and Carter has too much talent to be as bad as he appeared last season. We also have some freshman who should only improve as sophs. This isn't an area of strength, but I expect it to be improved next season. Particularly because I believe the new staff will find some way -- any way -- to put SOME pressure on the quarterback.

I would downgrade the RBs. With our lack of WRs, we are going to be dependent on a strong rushing game. Our backs are average at best. I liked the little I saw of Kirkwood last season, but he didn't last long. I'll have to see more of him and something out of Edwards before I get too excited.

I do think the pieces are there for a better 2011 that we had in 2010.
 

Hates Monikers said:
I agree with much of what you wrote. I am especially optimistic about the future of our offensive line.

I would upgrade the DBs to a hold. I'm encouraged that we get Royston back, and Carter has too much talent to be as bad as he appeared last season. We also have some freshman who should only improve as sophs. This isn't an area of strength, but I expect it to be improved next season. Particularly because I believe the new staff will find some way -- any way -- to put SOME pressure on the quarterback.

I would downgrade the RBs. With our lack of WRs, we are going to be dependent on a strong rushing game. Our backs are average at best. I liked the little I saw of Kirkwood last season, but he didn't last long. I'll have to see more of him and something out of Edwards before I get too excited.

I do think the pieces are there for a better 2011 that we had in 2010.
Click to expand...

I kinda feel the opposite of you with the RBs. I think we have to keep it a hold because there is some uncertainty with the young guys but I would put it as an "optimistic hold" if that makes sense. Eskridge and Bennett will be average but I think at least one of the young guys will really show something this year. We'll have to see though.
 

OL-couldn't agree more, there's talent and depth here for the next 4-5, now the kids need to compete and prove it.

QB-Gray will be good in this O, we'll enjoy the next 2 years of his career.
Honestly I feel good about one of Alipate, Parrish, and Shortell working out eventually, don't know which one, but my bet would be Shortell taking over in 2 years.

LB-Agree, love the versatility and depth here, was more impressed with Westerhaus at H-Back, but he's got good athleticism, bulk him up and see how he works out. Remember that the younger Rallis could be in this group too, already committed to next year's class.

DL-Gonna be green and has been underwhelming, BUT to be honest i think the scheme change will help. No more clogging and holding point, it's going to be a more penetrating and attacking style, Cosgrove had them basically hold up the O line and contain the QB which = no pressure and lackluster results. Wilhite/Kirksey are better at getting through and into the backfield than playing solid and holding point. Still a concerning group, the fact that Claeys mentioned playing Amaefula early shows this.

DB-I feel better now that Royston is back and Manuel/Lewis/Stoudemire/Henderson/Vereen are no longer completely green, 0 experience for all of those combined going into last year.
Montgomery is a player to watch, could be M. Carterlike as a freshman, speaking of Carter, I really hope the coaches can get him squared away, he DOES have talent.

WR-Mcknight is a stud, beyond that who knows. New scheme will have to be learned quickly.
Marcus Jones and Harris are probably your day 1 Slot and #2 starters, Keise/Brandon/Green/Gardner/Trucilla will fill in beyond that with the youngsters getting opportunities earlier than they probably should/would if we had developed/recruited guys properly. The losses of Allen and Hill will sting for a year or so. Marcus Jones ran a timed 4.33 at an ESPN camp and he's already enrolled, he's got serious slot potential.

RB-Bennett and Eskridge will play the good soldiers and fill in with solid and smart play, but I wouldn't expect either to finally become gamebreakers, PLEASE prove me wrong.
Kirkwood will probably become the main runner by the end of the season, he's got the acceleration and toughness to be a workhorse in this O with the jet sweeps and QB runs as the lightning to his thunder. Edwards and Wright sound good, but for now they are just as Coach Kill says, "Paper tigers"

TE-Hback- I imagine Lair will be split out more this year to help cover the lack of WR depth, if Rabe, Eure, and Heifort/Bush/Goodger can hold down the fort on the line Lair can be utilized properly as a true passing threat, I expect recruiting for big WR's in 2012 to help fill the Hback role going forward. Nick Rengel would have helped alot.

K/P-Solid IMO, Hawthone is game tested already and Orseske seemed really more mentally screwed up than physically, he can still boom them if the coaches can clean up his mental issues.
Love the fact that we are getting solid walkons for both P and K positions this year.
 

Buy, sell or hold.

OL--Bullish with the emergence of many young players and good coaching.
WR--Hold with too little depth but Gophers may not pass that much.
TE/HB--Bullish with Kill's system making especially good use of Lair.
RB--Bullish with two veterans returning and solid RS in the wings.
QB--Hold with position to important to not know much about how four year starter's successor will do learning a new offense and so forth.

Special teams--Bullish with Kill's teams famous for blocking punts plus great return man coming back.

DL--Hold because players will be a year older and Kill's work with defensive ends will pay off.
LB--Bullish due to talent and depth.
DB--Bearish because almost all college defensive backfields are terrible and none have been more so than Minnesota over many years. This unit will improve over the year but will also badly need to do so.
 



need Kirksey and the DL to step or doesn't matter how good our LB's are. Hoping Kirksey is the leader and has changed his attitude. Go DL.
 

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