metrolax
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Sure, I'm stealing a title from an SI article from a few years ago, but I think its time for all Gopher fans to
embrace the new reality of Gopher Football. I think if we do, and rally behind it, it could make being a
Gopher fan a little less painful than it is right now.
First, Jerry Kill is a solid football coach. His staff and he share the exact same vision for success, the exact
same methodologies to get the program there, and the track record to prove it. He believes not in gimmicks
(run & shoot, sara spread, etc) but in good, no-nonsense, fundamental football. He believes in holding everyone
in the program accountable to one another- without exception. He believes a football team needs to be disciplined
and is willing to enforce that. We have the coaching staff in place for success, despite the rough times.
The team, though, is EXACTLY as he described in his latest presser. It is laden with freshmen and redshirt
freshmen, and as he said, they once had 8 freshmen on offense vs Michigan at certain times. EIGHT! What's
the old riddle, "What's the best thing about a freshmen? A: They become sophomores".
This is a team that has lots of freshmen and redshirt freshmen getting lots of playing time in a tough league.
It has very few seniors contributing in a meaningful way, and not a lot in-between. Those that have been
here have had so many different situations thrown at them since they arrived that they really haven't
been able to "grow" as football players normally do. Hence, the hyper-reliance on freshmen.
In the Big Ten, that spells roadkill....today.
However, by looking at it rationally, we can watch these freshmen play and develop. We can figure that
the mistakes they make are correctable, which they are, and that the great plays they make will be
more commonplace as time goes by. That could be exciting.
We all need to simply look at this team through a different prism, that's all.
Here's an analogy that is not too different......
When Bear Bryant first took the job at Texas A&M, he had already proven he could turn programs around
at places like Kentucky and Maryland. He was hired to do the same thing at A&M. He loaded up 3 buses
and took the team to Junction, where he came back with just one. That team had about 27 players
with which to start the season. Needless to say, they didn't win a game.
However, a couple years later they went undefeated.
Kill has a similar situation with the limitations he has with numbers. Nobody is expecting him to load up the
buses and take the team to Crookston or wherever for a death camp, but he works his team as hard
as anyone in the college game, and probably harder than most.
Give this thing time. Watch these young kids make their mistakes but grow in the system.
Something tells me that these teams we're getting beat by had better get their licks in now, because
in a couple years, I wouldn't be surprised if the tables turn on some of them.
embrace the new reality of Gopher Football. I think if we do, and rally behind it, it could make being a
Gopher fan a little less painful than it is right now.
First, Jerry Kill is a solid football coach. His staff and he share the exact same vision for success, the exact
same methodologies to get the program there, and the track record to prove it. He believes not in gimmicks
(run & shoot, sara spread, etc) but in good, no-nonsense, fundamental football. He believes in holding everyone
in the program accountable to one another- without exception. He believes a football team needs to be disciplined
and is willing to enforce that. We have the coaching staff in place for success, despite the rough times.
The team, though, is EXACTLY as he described in his latest presser. It is laden with freshmen and redshirt
freshmen, and as he said, they once had 8 freshmen on offense vs Michigan at certain times. EIGHT! What's
the old riddle, "What's the best thing about a freshmen? A: They become sophomores".
This is a team that has lots of freshmen and redshirt freshmen getting lots of playing time in a tough league.
It has very few seniors contributing in a meaningful way, and not a lot in-between. Those that have been
here have had so many different situations thrown at them since they arrived that they really haven't
been able to "grow" as football players normally do. Hence, the hyper-reliance on freshmen.
In the Big Ten, that spells roadkill....today.
However, by looking at it rationally, we can watch these freshmen play and develop. We can figure that
the mistakes they make are correctable, which they are, and that the great plays they make will be
more commonplace as time goes by. That could be exciting.
We all need to simply look at this team through a different prism, that's all.
Here's an analogy that is not too different......
When Bear Bryant first took the job at Texas A&M, he had already proven he could turn programs around
at places like Kentucky and Maryland. He was hired to do the same thing at A&M. He loaded up 3 buses
and took the team to Junction, where he came back with just one. That team had about 27 players
with which to start the season. Needless to say, they didn't win a game.
However, a couple years later they went undefeated.
Kill has a similar situation with the limitations he has with numbers. Nobody is expecting him to load up the
buses and take the team to Crookston or wherever for a death camp, but he works his team as hard
as anyone in the college game, and probably harder than most.
Give this thing time. Watch these young kids make their mistakes but grow in the system.
Something tells me that these teams we're getting beat by had better get their licks in now, because
in a couple years, I wouldn't be surprised if the tables turn on some of them.
