STrib: Gophers still struggling to find replacements for receivers Tyler Johnson, Rashod Bateman

[BleedGopher]

per Marcus:

Finding the U's next star pass-catcher and developing the new crop of receivers has been a difficult task for Gophers coach P.J. Fleck and Simon this year. Minnesota's passing game has gone from near-first to now last in the Big Ten since 2019.

Entering Saturday's game at Purdue, the Gophers (2-2) have their top receiver Chris Autman-Bell banged up. And a young and inexperienced corps behind him has struggled to help quarterback Tanner Morgan find his rhythm again.

Following Morgan's 59 yards passing in a disappointing 14-10 loss last week against Bowling Green, the Gophers dropped to 14th in the Big Ten with just 135 yards passing per game. Just as surprising is the absence of any U wideouts among the top 20 in the Big Ten in receiving yards through four games.

The Gophers had a top-10 receiver in either receptions or yards per game every season since the last production drought at the position from 2012-14. A youth movement threatens that streak this season at the U with 13 of the 16 receivers on the roster either freshmen or sophomores.

"They need to be mentally locked in and focused," Simon said earlier about his young receivers group. "That's extremely hard to do. But the word for us since training camp with our group was consistency. It's about us being consistent with not just the scheme and the X's and O's. But the fundamentals, the details, and the timing."

Gophers still struggling to find replacements for receivers Tyler Johnson, Rashod Bateman

Developing receivers has been a specialty for the Gophers under coaches P.J. Fleck and Matt Simon.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[GopherPete]

I'd love for someone with the understanding and attention to the small details to be able to break down and provide analysis about what is going on with our passing game this year. Looking at all the aspects of technique, route running, ability to make contested catches, etc. Has our receiver group really dropped that far off? I do understand it'd be hard to analyze this in a vacuum, as there are many critical variables, but would be very interesting nonetheless.