My thoughts on the CrAB and the Gophers moving forward.

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NoelarBear

NoelarBear

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As you are aware, surgery is scheduled for Chris Autman-Bell this Wednesday and coach Fleck mentioned how Chris is anxious to get the surgery done and start rehab ASAP. Minnesota will apply for a medical redshirt, which is typically done by universities in which a player suffers a season-ending injury in the first few games of the season. Fleck said they will apply for the redshirt, but it will be up to Chris to decide on whether or not he will come back.

Will Chris come back if the redshirt is granted?
Right now, I think he does. One big reason why he came back this year was because he wasn’t 100% all season long last year. Due to that, he really couldn’t have the year he wanted to get him to the next level. Now, he is in the same situation. Heartbreaking for sure. Will he be an older prospect? Sure. I just think he wants a full year healthy at the U to showcase his talents to NFL scouts. I may be wrong, but this is what I’m thinking now.

What happens now?

No offense to Chris, but it’s time now for the most athletic wideout to step up. It’s Dylan Wright's time. Chris is hands down the most complete wideout on the team, but it’s Dylan that has all the tools to be make himself a star. Consistency is the issue; he has improved greatly in his route running in the offseason and has gotten stronger. I hope Spann-Ford gets more involved, too. He is the best pass catching tight end since Maxx Williams for Minnesota. I didn’t like the drop last week that led into the interception, but you still have to go to him. Daniel Jackson was on a pitch count last week but seems to be good to go for Michigan State. Let him lose! He will be counted on as well. Michael Brown-Stephens will be needed as well. How about Clay Geary!? He has been at the U for 10 years; he had a great catch last week. I think he could fit in too.

Michigan State is horrible at defending the pass. Washington tore them up. Time to take advantage. The reality is, most teams are going to stack the box and force us to pass. Not the worst strategy. Tanner’s decision making and mobility in the pocket has improved. I trust that Kirk and Tanner will RPO teams to death.

Been talking to a Michigan State contributor for my Five Questions. Hope to have that up by Thursday. Planning on doing a mailbag soon as well.

Just wanted to post some thoughts. Would love to hear your feedback. Go Gophers!
 

I think one of the young guys might have to make some plays…White or Brockington. Wright is for sure. They don’t need to be dominate in the passing game. They have plenty of talent there with Jackson, MBS, Wright.
 


I think Gophs have plenty of other receiving options, especially with KC mixing on the TEs a lot more.
 

Going to miss Chris for his big body and sticky hands especially for 3rd down conversions. I feel really bad for him as he has given a lot to this program and I have thought that he had the potential to play at the next level.
So I'm wondering which guy will become the go to comfort sport on third downs? Maybe BSF?
 


WorkingMyTailOff said:
Going to miss Chris for his big body and sticky hands especially for 3rd down conversions. I feel really bad for him as he has given a lot to this program and I have thought that he had the potential to play at the next level.
So I'm wondering which guy will become the go to comfort sport on third downs? Maybe BSF?
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TEs tend to be huge targets on third down. BSF is perfect for that role.
 

Losing CrAB is a big deal. I agree Wright (and maybe others) are more athletic but nobody on the roster has CrAB's mix of size, hands, consistency, and ability to win in 50/50 situations. I have always been a huge fan of CrAB, but I also thought it was disappoinitng that he was coming in to his 2nd season as our clear no.1 WR where he was a no.3 or even no.4 in 2019. When Fleck talks about building the program and improving the talent year by year, the WR spot has been a miss for awhile now. If CrAB is more of no.2 in terms of talent, then Wright is your prototypical no.3 or no.4 with a bunch of natural gifts but struggles with consistency (there are a lot of those guys across the country) who you hope can put it all together. MBS and Daniel Jackson are Big Ten level players, but they haven't shown anything to suggest a coordinator worry about leaving them 1 on 1.

Who is going to catch those early passes that both get Tanner in a rhythm and convince Fleck to let coach Roc continue to throw the ball and not go in to a run the ball shell? Who do we go to on that 3rd and 5 late where we need the conversion to run out the clock? These are places where I am dialing up CrAB every time and I am pretty scared of trusting an MBS (as an example) to execute.

CrAB is in a tough spot if he wants to continue playing football beyond college. He was already unlikely to be drafted, but now the injury calls in to question whether he can even get in to a training camp considering he won't be able to do much of anything in mini camp. Asking him to be full go in late July/early August to try to win a spot on an NFL practice squad is also a long shot. That said, a 7th year in college (if granted) is far from ideal though the Bears just drafted a 25 year old WR this past April so anything is possible.
 

The guy that needs to become the go to WR is Wright.

Wright appears to be most athletic and skilled WR remaining. Time for him to step up.
 

I think we have talent behind CRAB. They definitely will need to step up, but I also trust KC to put them all in the best position to shine. I could not say the same last year.
 



said this on another thread- WR's are not interchangeable.

Wright is a different type of WR compared to CrAB. He doesn't have the same skill set. just like Bateman and Tyler Johnson had different skill sets. both really good - but different.

Wright may be able to make up some of the production, but he is probably not going to be running the same routes or filling the same role as CrAB. Wright is a downfield threat. I don't see him running the crossing routes, drag routes, etc that CrAB excelled at.

So the question is this:

do the Gophers ask another receiver to run the same routes as CrAB, or do they drop those routes from the game plan and adjust the passing attack to fit the strengths (and avoid the weaknesses) of the other WR's?

and - who becomes the go-to guy on 3rd downs?

because, we all know that Morgan was looking for CrAB first in those situations. Now, who does he look for?

and can the Gophers make the needed adjustments and corrections in one week?
 


Taji34 said:
I think we have talent behind CRAB. They definitely will need to step up, but I also trust KC to put them all in the best position to shine. I could not say the same last year.
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Last year we were faced with relying on RBs four and five, a RS freshman and a true freshman. They came through.

Receivers develop a little slower than RBs, but some can play early. A lot of young guys are working hard in practice this week.
 

Dakota2 said:
Last year we were faced with relying on RBs four and five, a RS freshman and a true freshman. They came through.

Receivers develop a little slower than RBs, but some can play early. A lot of young guys are working hard in practice this week.
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WR and RB are two spots in college football where young guys can step in pretty quickly and be productive. Will be interesting to see who steps up and takes advantage of this opportunity. Someone will have to and I feel confident someone on the roster will.

I would also expect BSF to become an even bigger factor in the passing game, especially on third down.
 



Lots of moving parts. Autman-Bell was clearly Morgan's most-trusted WR and it will be incumbent on Morgan to get past that and find ways to be effective in Autman-Bell's absence. I see that as the biggest challenge. I have no doubt that Ciarrocca can come up with ways to maximize the talents of the remaining WRs and it's probably going to be a mixed bag. But these other WRs do have talent.

The key to our passing game is to prevent seeing the opposing defense crowd the box. Ciarrocca has shown the ability to counter that strategy in ways Sanford couldn't. It's going to take some creativity from Ciarrocca and adjustments from Morgan, but I think we can get it done.
 

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