State of the offense/OC for 2024?

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Cobra

Cobra

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Do we have any idea what the state of the offense/OC is for 2024?
Are we going to get more of the same with a new QB and possible other starters?
Are we going to get a revised offense identity post AK era?
Are we getting a new OC?

Finally, who is responsible for the 2023 offense woes?

Fleck, the co OC’s, or the players?
 

The plays were there to be made last year. Players didn't make them. Sometimes painfully didn't make them.

I don't think changing the OC setup AGAIN (would that be 3x in 3 years?) would help.

I'm pretty sure the entire "identity" last year was more more dictated by the poor play we saw at key positions.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
The plays were there to be made last year. Players didn't make them. Sometimes painfully didn't make them.

I don't think changing the OC setup AGAIN (would that be 3x in 3 years?) would help.

I'm pretty sure the entire "identity" last year was more more dictated by the poor play we saw at key positions.
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This.
The play calling was adjusted to fit the results seen on the gameday field. Which is better than trying to pound a square block into a round hole. It also demonstrated a lack of player depth at one position.
 

25 drops in the passing game......and i swear at least half of them would have led to big plays

that and Fleck in the OC's ear all game need to be cleaned up
 

Just watched Wisconsin game again. Jackson drops a potential screen pass which may have gone to the house to bring us to within 7,a perfect play call on a blitz, then he also fumbled after a big catch. AK was AK, wasn't awful but inaccurate at times. It was a microcosm of our season, players did not execute plays.
 


It's not all on the QB, but I can imagine the pass catchers were affected by the very inconsistent ball placement, inappropriate throw velocity, and inaccuracy. Jackson's highlight reel catch against Nebraska was an awful throw to an open receiver and came on the heels of a missed throw earlier in the sequence. Cleaning up the above is going to make the offense much more efficient and I would assume will also help the receivers reach their capabilities as well.
 

Start by hiring a new offensive line coach. Someone who can teach blocking various fronts and how to pick up stunts.
 

Scottsdale Gopher said:
It's not all on the QB, but I can imagine the pass catchers were affected by the very inconsistent ball placement, inappropriate throw velocity, and inaccuracy. Jackson's highlight reel catch against Nebraska was an awful throw to an open receiver and came on the heels of a missed throw earlier in the sequence. Cleaning up the above is going to make the offense much more efficient and I would assume will also help the receivers reach their capabilities as well.
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In the Wisconsin game Nubin made an unbelievable one handed catch on a poorly thrown swing pass and Jackson caught an absolute rocket that didn’t need be. Receivers never knew where the ball was going to be or if it was going to be 90 mph fastball. Pass game should be better next year with Brosmer.
 

Gophs24 said:
25 drops in the passing game......and i swear at least half of them would have led to big plays

that and Fleck in the OC's ear all game need to be cleaned up
Click to expand...
25 drops and that isn’t even counting the missed throws that weren’t close enough to get dropped. Probably left 40-50 good passing plays on the field.
 



I don’t think we’re getting a new OC, but two things:

1) by far where it would matter most is the QB position and our likely starter will be new to the team. So it would t matter to him in the slightest that things the third OC/QC coach in three years.

2) the bulk of the offensive playbook and identity would not change, regardless. Fleck, Simon, and Callahan will all still be here and it’s as much their offense as the OC’s.


It’s going to be a bunch of zone handoffs as it has been. Same route concepts as it has been.

It’s a fine set of offensive plays, just rely heavily on solid execution.
 

My thought is..if there were going to be changes...they would have happened already.
The present OC/QB coach is in the middle of recruiting two great QB candidates...can't see him not being here if even only one of the two QB's makes it to campus. Hopefully, everybody will be here in January.
 

there is almost zero chance of a change at OC.

in fairness to (not the cheater) Harbaugh, we haven't had a chance to evaluate what he can do or might do with a QB who can execute at a higher level. if he is working with a QB who can make more throws, he and the offense might look a lot better.

but it still all goes back to Fleck. is Fleck willing or able to stop micro-managing the offense?

to steal a bit from Mackey and Judd - if I was going to make a "pie chart of blame" for the Gophers' issues on offense, I would assign as much blame to Fleck as to Harbaugh.

FWIW - offensive pie chart of blame ---
AK inconsistency 25%
Fleck micro-managing 20%
conservative play-calling 20%
injuries at RB 15%
dropped passes 10%
OL inconsistency 10%
 

The last game was very telling of what the OC perceived AK capable of. Near zero pass plays down field more than 10-12 yards. All season - Big drop off in accuracy beyond that. Coaches adjusted as much as they could.
 



OC? If we don't get a new Special Teams coordinator, they should shut down the program.
 

I would say the Head coach is the guy responsible, I can’t imagine at the college level that the Coordinator isn’t given parameters to run the offense or defense, and the coach has final say on big downs.
Seems to me like the Coordinators are many times someone to change to protect the coach, like a scapegoat.
 

60's Guy said:
My thought is..if there were going to be changes...they would have happened already.
The present OC/QB coach is in the middle of recruiting two great QB candidates...can't see him not being here if even only one of the two QB's makes it to campus. Hopefully, everybody will be here in January.
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Lots of assistant coaching changes take place after signing day, the bowl season and around the national championship game week.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Lots of assistant coaching changes take place after signing day, the bowl season and around the national championship game week.
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Ya, but not when you just reeled in two new QB's do you switch out the coach who recruited them,
especially when there is only a walk-on left from 22-23 in the room.
 

I was as annoyed with our offense as much as anyone, but I don't think we're at a place where we need wholesale changes.

If we just had an average number of drops, an average number of missed easy throws, and just average health at RB, our offense looks way different.
 

Cobra said:
Do we have any idea what the state of the offense/OC is for 2024?
Are we going to get more of the same with a new QB and possible other starters?
Are we going to get a revised offense identity post AK era?
Are we getting a new OC?

Finally, who is responsible for the 2023 offense woes?

Fleck, the co OC’s, or the players?
Click to expand...
I don't expect there to be an OC change heading to 2024. As others have pointed out it is really tough to fairly judge Harbaugh based on issues the offense faced this year.

I don't see anyway Brosmer is not an upgrade over AK. How much of an upgrade remains to be seen. As for the rest of the starters on O....a healthy Taylor would really help the O. Hopefully they can bring in some WR help to go along with Jackson and Brockington. O-Line should be solid with lots of experience.

In regards to offensive identity have said before that Fleck will do what the talent dictates on that side of the ball. In 2019 we had 2 great WR and a QB playing at a really high level so we were very balanced and successful throwing the ball. 2020-2022 we relied on a strong running game and good defense. 2023 we had an inexperienced QB, a decimated backfield and a WR/TE group that had a really hard time catching the ball. Time will tell what Brosmer will bring to the table but my hope is we have a much more balanced attack in 2024.

I don't think there will be a new OC

As for who was responsible for the offensive woes in 2023 - I hit on that above. Erratic play from the QB, top RBs all hurt leaving a Walk-On as top option, and receivers who dropped a bunch of big plays including multiple Touchdowns (can recall at least 3). It isn't all on the players but the on field execution left a lot to be desired. Improvement has to come from all levels, head coach, offensive coaches and players.....

I'm hopeful that steady play at QB will go a long way towards fixing a lot of the issues we saw this year.
 

Harbaugh has no OC or QB coaching experience, and this season didn't give me confidence in either of those skills, but to be fair to him there may be other confounding factors.

If Max Brosmer can even be middle of the pack as far as big ten QBs, then we may get to see if Harbaugh was partially shackled by AKs performance. PJ also needs to get out of the way. Get up by a couple of scores before slowing the game down offensively, still mix in some passing plays late game to keep the opposing defense on their toes. If this offense looks a fair bit different next year and quite a bit more successful, I'll admit I judged Harbaugh too early.
 

How Fleck hyped this team and offense before the season, it's hard for me to reconcile how different it looked compared to that hype. As many commented out here at the time, it seemed like the first year he had really positive commments like those.
 

60's Guy said:
Ya, but not when you just reeled in two new QB's do you switch out the coach who recruited them,
especially when there is only a walk-on left from 22-23 in the room.
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Our OC isn't going anywhere. I'd be surprised by any changes at the coaching level.
 

PMWinSTP said:
How Fleck hyped this team and offense before the season, it's hard for me to reconcile how different it looked compared to that hype. As many commented out here at the time, it seemed like the first year he had really positive commments like those.
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He hyped them? He said he looked forward to the challenge of the season. He also didn't plan to be on freshmen LB's, 5th RB, and the QB to not improve.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
He hyped them? He said he looked forward to the challenge of the season. He also didn't plan to be on freshmen LB's, 5th RB, and the QB to not improve.
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For Fleck, yes. His preseason comments in the past have always been cautious. Many out here commented about how different his preseason comments were compared to previous years.
 

60's Guy said:
Ya, but not when you just reeled in two new QB's do you switch out the coach who recruited them,
especially when there is only a walk-on left from 22-23 in the room.
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No. You turn your attention to adding receivers.
 

PMWinSTP said:
How Fleck hyped this team and offense before the season, it's hard for me to reconcile how different it looked compared to that hype. As many commented out here at the time, it seemed like the first year he had really positive commments like those.
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No doubt Fleck was as surprised by the performance of his QB and receivers as were observant fans.
 

PMWinSTP said:
For Fleck, yes. His preseason comments in the past have always been cautious. Many out here commented about how different his preseason comments were compared to previous years.
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Because he believed it. He planned to open it up but largely abandoned that as QB inefficiency and drops mounted.
 

Some guy said:
25 drops and that isn’t even counting the missed throws that weren’t close enough to get dropped. Probably left 40-50 good passing plays on the field.
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Literally on the field.
 

Dakota2 said:
Because he believed it. He planned to open it up but largely abandoned that as QB inefficiency and drops mounted.
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Nothing I witnessed hinted that he opened anything up, at all, period. Same super conservative play calling from the past three years. Felt like 2017 all over again.
 


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