Elephant in the room.

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If Shortell gets hurt, do we burn Nelson's RS? I think Kill unequivocally stated that Leidner is rs'ing. Max, please stop lowering the shoulder, although I loved the effort.
 

Thought the same thing when he tried to bulldoze that defender. I think the answer to your question would have to (and should) be yes. Hopefully doesnt come to that.
 

Gray tweeted that he's fine. It's a non-issue.
 




Wonder if he'll be back for Syracuse?
 

afurry91 said:
MarQueis Gray ‏@goldengopherqb5
nothing serious thank you jesus!!

Sure seems like someone who just got some good news from say... a doctor?
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High ankle sprain. I interpret his tweet as being quite relieved it's not more serious. That should still mean he's out for a couple weeks though, maybe longer. Certainly not a "non issue".
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
High ankle sprain. I interpret his tweet as being quite relieved it's not more serious. That should still mean he's out for a couple weeks though, maybe longer. Certainly not a "non issue".
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Anyone see Shorty throw that block on the DE after he handed the ball off to Kirkwood on his 1st or 2nd snap? He popped the DE good (It's awesome if you watch the replay) & the DE didn't appreciate it at all. Gonna have to stop doing that.
 

I think here has been a huge over reaction to the "QB controversy." Gray has played much better than he gets credit from many members on this board. I think we have two starting quality QBs. Check out the 2012 stats. He looked sharp throwing the ball against UNH. If the coaches lacked faith in him Shortell would have started from the get go. I feel good with either one in the game.

The coaches seem to want a run first team that is balanced. The O-line needs a lot of work during our OOC schedule. They have a ways to go in establishing the run. I hope we won't have to establish the pass to open the run game.

We need a healthy Gray.
 



diehard said:
I think here has been a huge over reaction to the "QB controversy." Gray has played much better than he gets credit from many members on this board. I think we have two starting quality QBs. Check out the 2012 stats. He looked sharp throwing the ball against UNH. If the coaches lacked faith in him Shortell would have sated from the get go. I feel good with either one in the game.

The coaches seem to want a run first team that is balanced. The O-line needs a lot of work during our OOC schedule. They have a ways to go in establishing the run. I hope we won't have to establish the pass to open the run game.

We need a healthy Gray.
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Others have stated the same and since mg has been the starter that seems to be true. However I don't think there is an ncaa rule that prohibits the coaches from changing their mind, depending on real game production.

Many teams in college football use their rb's for their run game.
 

I have to say that I had the same initial reaction as the OP (Shortell can't get hurt, better play it safe on his running plays) but as I thought about it, that approach seems contradictory to the staff's philosophy. To their credit, IMHO, they believe their QB's should be part of the run game and should be physical football players. I don't want to see Nelson's RS burned, but I also don't think the staff is going to have Shortell play it safe.
 

diehard said:
I think here has been a huge over reaction to the "QB controversy." Gray has played much better than he gets credit from many members on this board. I think we have two starting quality QBs. Check out the 2012 stats. He looked sharp throwing the ball against UNH. If the coaches lacked faith in him Shortell would have sated from the get go. I feel good with either one in the game.

The coaches seem to want a run first team that is balanced. The O-line needs a lot of work during our OOC schedule. They have a ways to go in establishing the run. I hope we won't have to establish the pass to open the run game.

We need a healthy Gray.
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I agree Gray has not necessarily played poorly enough to warrant losing his starting job if he is healthy but he has been putting the ball on the ground a fair amount and despite what the stats say people who have actually watched the games seem to agree he has not looked great throwing the ball so far this season. His running game is a huge x-factor but for it to really be effective he has to be able to throw the ball enough to keep the defense from stacking the box. WMU was selling out to stop the ground attack so clearly Gray's passing stats from the first two weeks didn't have them overly concerned about him beating them through the air.

If he is healthy and starting he needs to prove to teams he can beat them with his arm. To date he has not done that, he is going to have to before the competition really ramps up with Big Ten defenses coming after him.
 

year of the gopher said:
I have to say that I had the same initial reaction as the OP (Shortell can't get hurt, better play it safe on his running plays) but as I thought about it, that approach seems contradictory to the staff's philosophy. To their credit, IMHO, they believe their QB's should be part of the run game and should be physical football players. I don't want to see Nelson's RS burned, but I also don't think the staff is going to have Shortell play it safe.
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I see that Foreman is still on the roster and listed as a QB. Coming to the season there was some buzz surrounding him but have not really heard anything about him since camp got underway. Anyone know if he would be the potential #3 at this point or would it be Nelson? I would hate to see Nelson's RS burned for limited action.
 



High ankle sprains are iffy. He could be out two weeks, or a month. They'll prepare Foreman and I wouldn't be surprised to KJ running the wildcat formation. The pass he threw was pretty good.
 

It would be Mitch Leidner before Nelson. I would bet Nelson will not lose his Redshirt.
 

Dexter Foreman. He will be "reactivated" this week.
 


Kill would get way to much backlash from the fans and media if he burned Nelson's redshirt. It would just be moronic at this point. He can't afford that controversy at this point in the rebuild.
 

There is no doubt the offense got a spark when Shortell came in. However, the entire gameplan changed. At what point did Gray have a chance to throw the ball around like they gave Shortell?

I think Gray is a better weapon because he can run. Unfortunately at this point in the season, Limegrover hasn't drawn up a gameplan that let's Gray use his arm as much as we saw from Shortell Saturday.
 

The beauty of this thread is that I have complete confidence that this staff will make the right decision if put in that spot. They have a plan and I'm willing to bet this issue has been discussed long before Gray went down.
 


MNVCGUY said:
I see that Foreman is still on the roster and listed as a QB. Coming to the season there was some buzz surrounding him but have not really heard anything about him since camp got underway. Anyone know if he would be the potential #3 at this point or would it be Nelson? I would hate to see Nelson's RS burned for limited action.
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He was dressed in white yesterday without shoulder pads and he did not attend fall camp. I have no idea as to what is going on but maybe they are going to red shirt him this year. That also may be the case wtih David Cobb but who knows?
 

afurry91 said:
Kill would get way to much backlash from the fans and media if he burned Nelson's redshirt. It would just be moronic at this point. He can't afford that controversy at this point in the rebuild.
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If at some point this season the coaches look at the roster and through poor play, injuries, whatever they feel Nelson is the best option I guarantee with 100% certainty they would play him. Coaches don't give a crap what the fans or media think. They will play the person that helps them win.

I think there is a real misconception as to why players are red-shirted. Players get red-shirted because in most cases a kid fresh out of high school is not ready physically or mentally to compete at the Big Ten level. They need at least one year and many times more than one year to get prepared to play and mature enough to hold up to the physical pounding.

Coaches don't look at things 4-5 years down the road they look at the immediate future, the season we are in and maybe 1-2 years down the line. If Kill and his staff don't start winning they won't be around to enjoy Nelson's 4th and 5th years so if they felt he was ready and better then the guys in front of him he would play. This is not just about Nelson but about any player on the roster. I'm not saying coaches don't project the roster out long term because of course they do in order to make sure we are recruiting the right positions I'm just saying they don't really worry about saving a guy for the future if they feel he can help the team win now.
 

Parski1 said:
It would be Mitch Leidner before Nelson. I would bet Nelson will not lose his Redshirt.
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I think it would probably be Nelson. He travels with the team, Leidner doesn't even travel with the team. If we would have been in Vegas and Gray and Shortell went down, Nelson would have went into the game.
 

afurry91 said:
Kill would get way to much backlash from the fans and media if he burned Nelson's redshirt. It would just be moronic at this point. He can't afford that controversy at this point in the rebuild.
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Don't think JK give a sh!t about media backlash or a contrived controversy. I think he's got a little more experience in these matters than we do.

Arbogast said:
I'm not sure exactly what he means by that but FWIW I did see him on the sidelines without pads and the white jersey on.
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I threw that out there to see what Parski would say ;).

I meant that I assume (hope) they will put him back on the game day roster ("reactivated") as the backup. I would hope that Leidner would be a back up before Nelson. But put it this way--if Gray is out for the season and Shortell (god forbid) went down for the rest of the way--would you chuck the whole season or play Nelson? It's a tough call.

I just thought of this. We have a bunch of HS QBs on this team. Could they work KJ Maye or Cedric Thompson in? Ryan Grant? Moses????? Just a thought.
 

Arbogast said:
I'm not sure exactly what he means by that but FWIW I did see him on the sidelines without pads and the white jersey on.
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I think GopherWarrior brought it up, it's pretty likely that it's a 9-hour rule issue.



"9 HOUR RULE (Football Only)
The student-athlete must successfully complete 9 semester hours of academic credit in each full semester. Additionally, the student-athlete must earn the Academic Progress Rate eligibility point, which means being eligible after the fall semester. If the two points are not met, the student athlete shall not be eligible to compete in the first 4 games in the following playing season."

I could certainly be wrong and I don't want to start any rumors because this is just guess work. However, it appears to me that Foreman and Moulton are probably ineligible for the first 4 games because of the 9 hour rule. I came to that conclusion because we haven't heard any injury issues and they aren't even dressing.
 

I would rather burn Liedners and take some losses. But I bet it would be Nelson.

MOSES ALIPATE
 

4 years from now someone as good or better than Nelson will be ready to step in. This is college football.
 

All I want to add is that WHEN Gray is ready to play, I hope the staff doesn't inform anyone beforehand. Don't let the opposition know who is going out there until our offense is trotting out for the first drive.
 

I think the staff has already had the discussion and it will be Nelson.

I'd imagine that they played out this scenario amongst eachother when they set up the travel roster for the UNLV game. It certainly was possible that Shortell and Gray could have been injured in that game, and since Nelson was in Vegas and Leidner in the dorms, it would have been Nelson.

I don't think Nelson went to Vegas to merely take in the sights.

This could obviously all change and if these injuries happen later in the year, I wouldn't be surprised to see the staff make a change to their plan. However, it seems pretty clear that the staff decided it would be Nelson who would play under this circumstance.
 

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