Gopher Preview

[1 Huge Bison Fan On 9/24!]

in comparison to 06 and 07 we are further ahead. jerry kill says that to please the hatred of gopher fans in relation to brewster. we will be middle of the road year one 6-7 games im positive of that.

i would say the closest group to a wash is the oline-new system but young highly recruited kids, i will say the current oline will be better

te-matt spaeth is an nfl back up-more of a blocker-eric lair and tyree euree are both more athletically gifted-both will play on sundays imo

wr-wheelwright was a d*ck tease like carlos silva(ex twin) great frame and speed but couldnt catch and was lazy-decker was a freshman and not really anything special yet.
currently i think dajon mcknight is better than both decker and wheelwright in 07. geshun harris and marcus jones in the slot are better in comparison to 2007

qb-gray is a huge upgrade over weber-with grays running ability i think he will take pressure off the oline to make the gophers look better than what they are in the run game as well as in the passing game.

rb-pinnix was a small runner who is equal to deleon eskeridge-which is serviceable but pinnix would have been a sweet 3rd down back not an every down kind of guy. duane bennet will start and donnell kirkwood is our bowling ball with eskeridge coming in for situations which pinnix should have done.

defense
dline i know we only had 9 sacks last season so trash me on that but i think that was due to coaching more than anything. our dline is way bigger, stronger, and faster if you go by the numbers. brandon kirskey is a guy many feel can be an all big ten caliber player. anthony jacobs is comeone kill is pretty high on and everyone knows the expectations that are on the shoulders of hageman. on the ends matt garin and kendall are to be solid pass rushers-garin i believe is a redshirt soph kgm is a also a redshirt soph?

in 07 we had vandesteeg who played with a broken hand most of the season and was really a waste of space. plus he was small at 250lbs

lb
strength of the current defense with a lot of depth and speed. brendan beal a florida transfer is a nfl body linebacker 6-3 245 had some injury problems hopefully thats over-but you dont get a scholarship at florida unless youre talented.
gary tinsley another big fast lineback and rallis who has become a stud. last is our speed guy keanon cooper-everyone in the big ten speaks of his talent-a little undersized for a lb but too big for a safety im excited to see how kill uses him

in 07 we had the slowest worst tackling lb's in all of college football-most d2 schools had better lb's than we did. scherels-too slow, hightower-really fast but couldnt tackle a pee wee football player.

cb
barring any injuries we have 2 good cb's-i guess that depends if micheal carter lives up to expectations. i think if stoudamire stays healthy this team can win 6+ games-he is fast, physical and i expect a big day for him against the bisons weak wr's. if you guys ran the spread i would be concerned because im not sold depth at cb is there at all. im hoping for these two to stay healthy.

in 2007 we had jamal harris-couldnt tackle, couldnt defend the pass, not sure how he started?

safety
this year we have to very good tacklers 6th yr senior kim royston and james manuel not sure how they will do against the pass but we know they can tackle.

in 07 we had barber who was good against the pass but like the rest of his homeboys couldnt tackle ww2 vets at a nursing home.

this is why i feel we are better at every position in comparison to 2007

The post above is one of the most irrational, delusional, reaching straw grasps I have ever seen! Answer me; were you at the spring game or did you watch the replay???

[goldenshower]

The post above is one of the most irrational, delusional, reaching straw grasps I have ever seen! Answer me; were you at the spring game or did you watch the replay???

i was at both the gopher spring game as well as the bison spring game.

i want to know what was irrational/delusional/etc? give me an example!

[goldenshower]

And you have watched more Big 10 football this spring than this guy:

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten

Riiiiiiiiiight! Carry on Mr. 2007 AllOverAgain!

rittneberg wasnt at the minnesota spring game and if i was in his business i to would pick the gophers to rank near the bottom 2-3 teams in the big ten

[344Johnson]

i was at both the gopher spring game as well as the bison spring game.

i want to know what was irrational/delusional/etc? give me an example!

The only thing I know is wrong is the comment about Spaeth. I love the Steelers so I will know all about him. He never has been a blocker. In fact, lots of Steeler fans want to cut him because he can't block at all. He is a big body to throw at in the red zone. When he played for the Gophers I believe he won the Mackey Award for nation's best TE. I'd have a hard time believing the Gophers have a better Tight-end than Matt Spaeth was.

[goldenshower]

The only thing I know is wrong is the comment about Spaeth. I love the Steelers so I will know all about him. He never has been a blocker. In fact, lots of Steeler fans want to cut him because he can't block at all. He is a big body to throw at in the red zone. When he played for the Gophers I believe he won the Mackey Award for nation's best TE. I'd have a hard time believing the Gophers have a better Tight-end than Matt Spaeth was.

in college spaeth was a good run blocker. he averaged about 28 receptions a year

eric lair has started a single season and
his stats
rec yards att td long
39 526 13.5 2 44 43.8

spaeths best season on a better team in the eyes of bisonville
rec yrds att long td
47 564 12.0 48 4

spaeth played on teams with 1000 yard rushers and caught 109 balls in his career. in college he was a very good tight end but was a better blocker in college

lair will have more yards and close to the same amount of receptions as spaeth but in 2 seasons rather than 4

[mnriverbison]

The only thing I know is wrong is the comment about Spaeth. I love the Steelers so I will know all about him. He never has been a blocker. In fact, lots of Steeler fans want to cut him because he can't block at all. He is a big body to throw at in the red zone. When he played for the Gophers I believe he won the Mackey Award for nation's best TE. I'd have a hard time believing the Gophers have a better Tight-end than Matt Spaeth was.

No doubt. And I think McNight is excellent, but in no way is he Decker at this point and the WR core as a whole is at best unproven.

gray is the x-factor. Truly Weber wasn't very accurate long either (despite being bailed out often by Decker) but he was undoubtedly a big ten QB. Gray's ceiling may be higher, but he has shown exactly nothing thus far as a passer. Until proven otherwise, we have to assume that he ain't ready

[EndZoneQB]

I have to agree, Spaeth very much was a blocking tight end. Who was the TE that played before him?

[CAS4127]

No doubt. And I think McNight is excellent, but in no way is he Decker at this point and the WR core as a whole is at best unproven.

gray is the x-factor. Truly Weber wasn't very accurate long either (despite being bailed out often by Decker) but he was undoubtedly a big ten QB. Gray's ceiling may be higher, but he has shown exactly nothing thus far as a passer. Until proven otherwise, we have to assume that he ain't ready

This^^^^^He played receiver last year for C's sake. Crowning him the second coming of Cam Newton at this stage is like stating the Gophers will win the Rose Bowl and Kill will be named coach of the year--that's Brewster-like talk!!

[344Johnson]

in college spaeth was a good run blocker. he averaged about 28 receptions a year

eric lair has started a single season and
his stats
rec yards att td long
39 526 13.5 2 44 43.8

spaeths best season on a better team in the eyes of bisonville
rec yrds att long td
47 564 12.0 48 4

spaeth played on teams with 1000 yard rushers and caught 109 balls in his career. in college he was a very good tight end but was a better blocker in college

lair will have more yards and close to the same amount of receptions as spaeth but in 2 seasons rather than 4

Stats do not matter. But the other guys on here are saying he was a good run blocker so I'll take their word. All I know is in the pro's he is not at all.

[goldenshower]

No doubt. And I think McNight is excellent, but in no way is he Decker at this point and the WR core as a whole is at best unproven.

gray is the x-factor. Truly Weber wasn't very accurate long either (despite being bailed out often by Decker) but he was undoubtedly a big ten QB. Gray's ceiling may be higher, but he has shown exactly nothing thus far as a passer. Until proven otherwise, we have to assume that he ain't ready

eric decker

2006 MIN 13 12 26 378 14.5 39 3
2007 MIN 12 12 68 909 13.6 59 9
2008 MIN 12 12 84 1074 12.8 75 7

in 3 yrs decker who i think is great, started 37 games

da'jon mcknight

2008 9 3 38 12.7 1 22 4.2
2009 13-6 17 311 18.3 0 53 23.9
2010 12-12 48 750 15.6 10 40 62.5

mcknight has started 18 games his 2 yrs of starting with brewster and weber has him with decker-like numbers. decker is special and caught everything, dajon has better speed and similar size.

i think there are some similarities in these 2 guy's careers at minnesota