Wolitarsky

• Getting healthy and focusing on schoolwork over the bye week has been pretty beneficial.
• Will play both outside and the slot this season.
• Mitch is different this year on and off the field. Everyone looks up to him.
• Tyler Johnson was so excited in the games that he'd watch the replays of himself on the jumbotron and his teammates would have to remind him he had a game to play.
• Not putting in brand new plays every single game. Sticking to what we know and just adding motions.

Leidner

• A lot of success in the redzone in practice has led to redzone success in games.
• Also rep a lot of third down situations in practice and that's paid off.
• Colorado State is physical and can hit you in the mouth.
• What's changed? Feel really comfortable with the offense.
• Rhoda has one of the strongest arms among the QBs. He's stayed the course and had a really solid camp.
• A lot more comfortable in week two making pre-snap reads. That's been a point of emphasis under Jay Johnson.
• Femi-Cole and Johannesson have been doing good things. The running backs are a competitive group.

Lynn

• Colorado State's freshman QB can really sling it.
• Colorado State's line has some bruisers and their running backs run hard.
• Bye week now isn't necessarily bad because you get in a groove when you're always playing.
• Emmit Carpenter's confidence has grown and will continue to grow.

inferiority complex about the Twin Cities

http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/...wa-hawkeyes-north-dakota-state-bison#comments

The scroll down to the comments where in one breath the Hawkeyes claim superiority to the Gophers, and in the next they fret about how Minnesota is a 'sleeping giant' and how it's 'lucky they have the worst athletic department in the country'.

I didn't even claim that Minnesota has better talent than Iowa. I said that the talent on the 2 squads is comparable, and the last few years of Big 10 play and NFL drafts bear that out. That made the Squawks lose their collective mind.

Now, as Gopher fans we know that used to be entirely true. But between TCF bank stadium, the rebuilding of the Kill/Claeys era, and now the building of our $190 million or whatever facilities project, we're not going back to the days of having to recruit guys to play in the Dome.

I really hope the Gophers pound these losers so that I can go back in a few weeks and gloat.

Check it out, they talk about improvement from week to week, the early bye week, and much more.

https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/wolitarsky-and-leidner-address-the-media

Back this week for some reps to get ready for penn st?

Link: Jack Lynn talks bye week, Colorado St prep

Kind of a crazy situation. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out. My guess is it was one crazy guy but people are screaming terrorism. The police chief said they know the guy and have had contact with in before. The other interesting part of it is he was shot by an off duty cop from somewhere else who was shopping there.

Mississippi State safety commit Jaquarius Landrews of Copiah-Lincoln CC tells me he'll take an official visit to Minnesota this weekend. As a JUCO at a position of need, you can bet Landrews is a top target. My understanding is that he's a two for two guy.

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Kendrick Green is visiting as well. We previewed his visit and recapped his recruitment a couple days ago here.

Penn St. lost some good players on Defense to graduation/NFL including most of their defensive line. There was hopes that a solid core of experienced linebackers returning would hold the D together. They have been a leaky D so far, and now lost senior lb Nyeem Wartman-White for the year, while the other two projected starters have been out. Currently also showing 2 other defensive starters currently injured. They may heal up some for our game, or they may feel the Gopher-injury pain some more after facing a physical Michigan team. In any event, this game will be big to open the conference season.

In looking at U of M website, looks like RVs are allowed only in "Gateway" lot which is reserved for U of M season ticket holders. Would like to buy a pass for this game if anyone selling. Or are there other options? Thank you in advance! Email is insguydr@aol.com

Mark Coyle

mcoyle@umn.edu
Phone: (612) 624-4497

I placed a call to the AD's office and left a message stating that if the players are guilty, by all means punish them and kick them off the team.

But, the word on the street is that the players are not guilty, and if that is the case I want to see them reinstated ASAP because we need them going forward.

Can't hurt reminding Coyle he's got an impatient fanbase to please.

Link: Gophers in the Pros: Week 2

The last 5 Young has followed on Twitter are Syracuse basketball accounts. Probably not a good sign. Syracuse should want him. He knows everyone in New York. He knows all the families of New Heights kids since he was the Director and coached many of the New Heights AAU players. This is just an observation on Twitter and not reported.

Link: Claeys talks Colorado State, suspensions, DBs, and more

Took in Ohio va Tennessee and I came away with a newfound repect for our Gophers. TN has a bunch of 4* and 5* recruits and they were not impressive. Dobbs their QB had more bouncers than Leidner ever has in a game. Their OL and DL are super soft. The OL got little to no push against Ohio's DL and were often times letting rushers through untouched.

Ohio on the other wasn't fancy, but they were effective. Conservative for most of the game and took 4 deep shots, connecting on 3. On D they didn't allow anything deep, clogged the middle and harassed the QB. If not for settling for 4 short first half FGs, they should have won the game.

Ohio reminded me of the Gophs on offense and defense. Watching Cobb for TN gave me a greater appreciation for Mitch and how far he has come. TN has better WRs and RBs, but not if they don't see the holes, get holes or catch the ball.

Fine line between TN and us. IMO it comes down to coaching, execution, discipline and a little luck. If not for a 3rd and 9 back foot prayer completion, Ohio gets the ball with a chance to go ahead late in the game.

Take a look at how several Gophers commits and top targets performed in their games this past weekend!

https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/fnl-big-games-from-croslen-glover-holmes-and-ryerse

Anybody know what the deal was with that? Was this the Sports Huddle's mistake, or Coach Claeys'?

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Minnesota offered safety Jordan Ulmer today. Ulmer apparently is about as soft of a commit as they come, so I'd look for him to take official visits to Minnesota and likely elsewhere. He also holds an offer from Cincinnati.

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I read that 36 players on the NDSU team that beat Iowa yesterday are from Minnesota. It seems that our state has a fairly large number of players coming out of high school that are just a tad shy of being legitimate D1 prospects. As NDSU has proven they can be coached and built up to be some darn good players. What would happen if Minnesota emphasized football like the southern schools do? Things like spring practice, seven on seven leagues in the summer, booster clubs that raise and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for weigh training facilities, travel to play other big time high schools, sponsoring summer camps, etc. I know you can't 'make a silk purse out of a sow's ear', but some of this must result in players down south being more advanced coming out of high school and therefore more ready to produce in a P5 program. It has long been my contention that a state with the population of Minnesota should have forty to fifty D1 level players a year coming our of high school on average every year instead of eight or ten. Winning here, over the years, has been virtually impossible. When a good players from Florida, Texas, Ohio, or California have to fly over five or ten other choices (see Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, etc.) just to get to our campus it makes it tough. Wouldn't it be nice to have a state like Texas that produces over two hundred D1 players a year next door (I've wintered in Texas for about fifteen years and read the local players after signing day when they list all the kids and where they're going). It's amazing.
Well, I'll end my rant here, but wonder how others feel about this issue.

Smoked the pole. It came up in a thread so I researched it and he was bisexual. I guess it is/was common knowledge around Hollywood. (The tread said he was gay but sounds more like he was bi).

Libertarian Johnson's response when asked about it on TV; will be interesting to see the fallout from this blanking. However, I suspect most Americans would respond similarly. Will it have much impact on his chances? I doubt it.

Clemson -11 @ GT
TCU -24.5 @ SMU
Utah -4 vs USC
VT -10.5 vs ECU
Mich -16 vs PSU
Iowa -12.5 @ RU
Minn -14.5 vs Colo St
WVU -4.5 vs BYU
UNC -6.5 vs Pitt
ND -19 vs Duke
Bama -41.5 vs Kent St
TAMU -3.5 vs Ark (Arlington, TX)
Ole Miss -6.5 vs UGA
UK -2 vs SoCar
Tenn -8.5 vs UF
FSU -5 @ USF
Neb -6.5 @ NW
Boise St -13 @ Oregon St
ASU -6.5 vs Cal
Stanford -1.5 @ UCLA
Baylor -10 vs OK St

I think all of us anticipated one guard and one big in recruiting. I would like to ask Pitino some questions.

"In regards to the last scholarship, everybody is anticipating a big. But what is your plans with FITZGERALD?? Are you planning on playing him as a 'stretch 4' or as a wing?? If you have Fitzgerald as a stretch 4 and Murphy as the starter with Curry looking good as a freshman, do you really need another PF?? Though we know that a player like French would bring a different skill to the position. Are you considering Murphy as a wing or would be willing to play 2 of either Murphy, Fitzgerald, or Curry at the same time??"

I am interested to see if the recruitment of Jamir Harris becomes more important.. From MJH article, I think Harris picks Stanford if they offer. I know defense is important but you gotta to be able to have guys consistently put the ball in the hole against good opponents. If Harris can do that, he may be the more important take. That way, you can set the defense easier after made baskets.. So if he is convinced that Harris would benefit the team more in exterior scoring than French would fill a team need, then maybe Harris is the better guy to pursue. Just throwing it out there.

Sweet game time! I am taking my eldest son to the game at Happy Valley on 9/30. We are flying in and out of Pittsburgh so I was hoping it was not going to be an 8ET game....that would get late for a Sunday morning flight. I am starting to get excited for what is the Gopher B1G opener. Go Gophers!!

They aren't the team they were last year. Teams are running on them this year. And their OL isn't getting the protection they had last year. And the defensive line hasn't put the pressure on teams as before. But the big thing yesterday was, they didn't get by with the holding they did last year. Number 46 who held us all the time was finally flagged for it.
They're going down on 10/8.