Speed in football is relative.

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LonelyIowaGopher

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When Jerry Kill talks about Minnesota's apparent lack of speed, I think he is doing so in the context of the kind of defenses Gary Patterson has put together at TCU. Until Kill gets the kind of defensive ends and cornerbacks he wants to anchor his defenses, he won't be happy with team speed at Minnesota.
The game of football changes over time. What Gary Patterson has done with defenses at TCU may be changing the game nationally. TCU really, really opened some eyes with the way they played Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. The Badgers came in as the ultimate power offense in college football with a huge size advantage over TCU. Speed on defense killed Wisconsin in that game.
Finally, NUI under Kill gave Wisconsin all they wanted on defense a while back in Madison.
 

Really sick of hearing about Gary Patterson, Brewster came up under Mack Brown and Mike Shanahan, how'd that work out.
 

LonelyIowaGopher said:
When Jerry Kill talks about Minnesota's apparent lack of speed, I think he is doing so in the context of the kind of defenses Gary Patterson has put together at TCU. Until Kill gets the kind of defensive ends and cornerbacks he wants to anchor his defenses, he won't be happy with team speed at Minnesota.
The game of football changes over time. What Gary Patterson has done with defenses at TCU may be changing the game nationally. TCU really, really opened some eyes with the way they played Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. The Badgers came in as the ultimate power offense in college football with a huge size advantage over TCU. Speed on defense killed Wisconsin in that game.
Finally, NUI under Kill gave Wisconsin all they wanted on defense a while back in Madison.
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The thing that killed Wisconsin was having weak corners and only one good D-Lineman that TCU ran the option off. TCU actually had a bigger front than Iowa did. The Badgers O only had seven possessions and they were forced to go almost the whole length of the field in all of their possesions. The missed a field goal on one of them and dropped a pass on the two on another. TCU's speed on defense also comes from the fact that they play a 4-2-5 defense so they have one less LB on the field and one more S.
 

iksnimak said:
The thing that killed Wisconsin was having weak corners and only one good D-Lineman that TCU ran the option off. TCU actually had a bigger front than Iowa did. The Badgers O only had seven possessions and they were forced to go almost the whole length of the field in all of their possesions. The missed a field goal on one of them and dropped a pass on the two on another. TCU's speed on defense also comes from the fact that they play a 4-2-5 defense so they have one less LB on the field and one more S.
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I would agree with this, but I also agree that speed had something to do with it. I think the most glaring speed issue was UW's WRs against TCUs corners. They had a hard time gaining any sort of separation in the passing game. RBs Ball and White had enough speed to play against that defense, but overall TCU had the faster team. The Badgers did run for 225 and put up 385 yards, but a missed kick, some mistakes, and it just wasn't meant to be I guess.
 

I watched

all the gopher games televised out here in Oregon and Kill is right. The goph's have little team speed. The DB's are fine but LB's and DL are plodding at best. RB's are slow and WR's have no burst. I am glad to hear Kill say it, because then he'll do something about it. I look forward to next years class after he has a year to really get after it.
 


GoldenHerbs said:
Really sick of hearing about Gary Patterson, Brewster came up under Mack Brown and Mike Shanahan, how'd that work out.
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This.

I hope he succeeds as I am a lifelong gopher fan. But I ain't gonna crown him just yet.

If the gophers are sub .500 the next two years, his aw shucks attitude will be as annoying as Brewsters Rah Rah stuff.
 

GoldenHerbs said:
Really sick of hearing about Gary Patterson, Brewster came up under Mack Brown and Mike Shanahan, how'd that work out.
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Coach Kill and Gary Patterson seem to share some philosophies. Mack Brown and Mike Shanahan certainly have their own philosophies. Brewster's glaring problem was that he had a new philosophy every year.

LonelyIowaGopher does talk about Gary Patterson a lot, but I understand what he's driving at.
 

positively4thstreet said:
Coach Kill and Gary Patterson seem to share some philosophies. Mack Brown and Mike Shanahan certainly have their own philosophies. Brewster's glaring problem was that he had a new philosophy every year.

LonelyIowaGopher does talk about Gary Patterson a lot, but I understand what he's driving at.
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I think for anyone trying to understand how Jerry Kill coaches, looking at Gary Patterson's coaching is a good reference of what may be possible here.
 

GoldenHerbs said:
Really sick of hearing about Gary Patterson, Brewster came up under Mack Brown and Mike Shanahan, how'd that work out.
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Apples and Oranges. Brewster was brought up under two different systems as a position coach and recruiter. Kill has been a HC for 17 years and has been at the same level of Patterson for many years and they have a lot of the same systems.
 



There's straight-line speed, football speed, and football speed within a particular offensive or defensive system. I think it's important that one discern between those elements.

I get what Kill is saying. A 4.4 40 time doesn't mean that much if a guy has an average first-step or doesn't know where he is supposed to be going. Football has really become less about the size/speed specs of players and more about the compendium of qualities that fit within a system. Players still have to possess a requisite level of physical ability (You don't see a lot of 5'8", 140 pound, players who run a 5.2 40 and bench 110 pounds), but it's a more about matching athletes with systems than anything else. Hopefully, Kill can do that.
 

50PoundHead said:
A 4.4 40 time doesn't mean that much if a guy has an average first-step or doesn't know where he is supposed to be going.
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Plus the fact that there are maybe 5-10 prospects per year in the entire nation who legitimately run that fast.
 


dpodoll68 said:
Plus the fact that there are maybe 5-10 prospects per year in the entire nation who legitimately run that fast.
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This. I really wish they'd start measuring guys' speed in the context of pads and helmets. Some guys are able to adjust to running with equipment better than others.
 



Kill said that his DE's need to be able to run a 4.6 or better or he won't consider them.
 

Jeshurun said:
Kill said that his DE's need to be able to run a 4.6 or better or he won't consider them.
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I saw that article. That is NFL speed for defensive ends and would mean alot of pressure on QB's.:clap:
 

The speed issue is one I am excited to see Kill follow through on.
Defensively we haven't seen a speed rusher on the gophers squad at DE for many year, maybe since Karon Riley?
I think Marcus Jones is a good representative of the type of guys Kill will target.
He's smaller, but plays tough, and he's got speed to burn (4.33 at an ESPN camp in NC)

I think once the roster settles out we'll see a few position changes to accommodate the speed issue. Manuel to LB?, KGM to DT?, I can see recruiting next year include a few speedy LB's, WR's, HB's and for Kill to load up on more secondary and speed DE help. If he's truly ok with giving up size for speed he'll be able to find kids that the higher profile schools overlook.
 

I think "Game speed" is a combination of many things. And they're not just physical things. Good instincts, the "nose for the football," ect play a huge part in how fast a player plays. And some players have good north-south speed, but bad east-west speed. The challenge is to find a player with good speed in the plane that they usually play at. In other words, finding linebackers with good east-west speed and safeties/corners with both directions, ect
 

50PoundHead said:
At least ones who are telling the truth.
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I like to put it in the context of Jeff Demps. He is probably the fastest college football player in at least a decade or two. He is a world-class trackster, and during his regular HS track season, ran a 10.37. When he focused exclusively on track for a couple months, he damn near made the US Olympic team in 2008 and shaved his time down to 10.01, which is the fastest 100 ever ran by a high schooler. He also is the most recent NCAA outdoor 100 champ, when he ran a wind-aided 9.96 last spring. He has allegedly ran as low as a 4.18, but generally runs in the 4.3-4.35 range for 40s. And this is the fastest HS sprinter in the history of Earth. Players who espouse anything even approaching that (especially coming out of HS) were either hand-timed on a fast track with a 30 mph wind at their back, or they're lying. Given the unlikelihood of the former, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're lying.
 

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