Dominik London was the only recruit at practice. He and his brother Marcus spent a lot of time with Billy Glasscock.
Mark Coyle was at practice, and Richard Pitino may have been at some of practice early on, too. Pitino was in the Rod Wallace Indoor Field shortly before practice started.
Although I didn’t see them, two people behind me at one point said that the Lions and Panthers both had scouts in attendance.
Cody Poock was in an orange jersey, signaling an injury. He was working out with trainers using resistance bands and didn’t seem to be too restricted with his movement. Others in orange jerseys were Garrison Wright, Coney Durr, Matt Morse, and Alex Starks. Durr overextended his knee and will be back to practice in a few days. Wright’s injury is unknown to me at this time, but Tracy Claeys said after practice that Wright would be back soon, as well. I didn’t see either Brandon Lingen or Shannon Brooks at practice. Lingen is out with a shoulder injury, but the injury isn’t serious. Brooks has a foot injury and will be seen by a doctor today. Claeys said he’d update the media on Brooks’ foot on Saturday. His tone did not indicate that the injury was all that serious.
There was more hitting today than any practice I’ve ever been to. Players were in pads the whole time and were full-on tackling (other than the quarterbacks) for most of practice.
Claeys was more vocal than he was at any of the spring practices.
One quick note about the environment: they’ve definitely changed up the music, and it’s kind of funny. Lots of throwback dance hits that made it feel like it was the playlist for a middle school dance or roller rink.
Lastly, before I dig into notes on different players and positions, know that I can’t really comment on personnel groupings and formations. The front seven showed several different looks, but that’s not something I’m allowed to be specific about.
Mitch Leidner and Demry Croft looked very good during the drill portion when I watched, but less accurate during the scrimmage portion (although I don’t mean to imply they played poorly; they did fine). Leidner threw two or three great balls to the flats in pretty narrow windows to Colton Beebe. With a healthy left foot, he’s now able to push off of it without pain, and it shows. He does a good job stepping into his throws and his balls were mostly tight and on a rope. His best throw that I saw was about 30 yards down field to Eric Carter in what would have been a touchdown. Both Leidner and Croft in the scrimmage portion had to evade some pretty heavy pressure in the pocket, and they did well to find space and find a receiver in those situations. Croft also had two nice scrambles. His passes always had a tight spiral and an appropriate amount of velocity. Almost all the quarterbacks forced passes at times.
I didn’t see a lot of Seth Green’s reps and he really didn’t get a lot of reps in the scrimmage portion. His motion doesn’t seem to have changed that much and he still throws the ball closer to his helmet (maybe he has a lower release point?) than most. He made a couple great throws, but was fairly inconsistent and was inaccurate when feeling rushed.
DeMarcus Williams moves very well and is very agile. He was inconsistent throwing the ball, though. The first throw of his I saw was very wobbly and didn’t get to the intended target. He seemed to be underthrowing receivers quite a bit in the drill portion, while Croft was overthrowing receivers every now and then. Johnson will have to work with Williams on his mechanics, as he just doesn’t appear to throw the ball naturally as other QBs. He did look better throwing the ball later in the day and a really good 20-yard completion down the middle. I hope and don’t mean to come off as overly harsh on Williams. He’s an excellent athlete and I really didn’t see a whole lot of him. He only got a few snaps, maybe just one series, in the scrimmage portion. Almost all the snaps went to Leidner, Croft, and Rhoda.
Rodney Smith had a couple nice runs, but never broke anything big. As always, he’s a trusty blocker in the backfield. Kobe McCrary also had a standout moment pass blocking. He pushed back a linebacker about three or four yards that was blitzing. McCrary got some reps with the first team, as I’m sure the staff wants to keep Smith healthy. McCrary really doesn’t look 235 pounds at all. He’s more comfortable going North-South than East-West, which is fine as running downhill will be his role.
Jonathan Femi-Cole has always impressed physically, and this spring I was impressed with his lateral movement, as the knock on him has been that he’s a little stiff. Today, there were a couple runs where he showed some quickness and good change of direction behind the line of scrimmage but also a play or two where it seemed as if he doesn’t change direction fluidly and struggles to turn the corner. Sometimes he looks great, sometimes stiff. He always runs hard, though, and is strong and pretty fast in a straight-line sense.
The first team wide receiver group was Drew Wolitarsky, Eric Carter, and Rashad Still. Brian Smith Jr. and Melvin Holland Jr. received the most reps with the second unit. Carter and Still both had drops that should have been easily made, especially Carter’s drop. Melvin Holland also dropped a deep ball that would have been a touchdown.
Hunter Register mid-air extended pretty far back to make a nice catch, on a pass that was thrown by Croft. To me, it was the catch of the day. He picked up a few yards in the open field and then Antoine Winfield Jr. took him down with a big hit.
Tyler Johnson and someone on the defense (I missed who) got into a scuffle at one point.
With Brandon Lingen out, Colton Beebe got some time with the first team in the skeleton and had a couple nice grabs. He’s so built and compact that he’ll be a great blocker, and if he catch passes like he showed today, he’s going to be an excellent tight end and fullback for the Gophers in a couple years, and I think he’ll play right away, as well. Nate Wozniak spent the most time with the ones and looked great blocking. Bryce Witham got some time with the second team, with Lingen out.
At times they struggled to create push, but for the most part the offensive line looked good, both in pass protection and in opening up holes for Rodney Smith. With Garrison Wright out, Chad Fahning was the first team left tackle, but I also saw Fahning at left guard at one point. Vincent Calhoun was excellent, although he has a tendency to get his hands up near his opponent’s face. Tyler Moore and Connor Mayes, as expected, both did very well.
As has been talked about by fans and coaches alike, the offensive line’s depth is a little bit of a concern this year. The second and third team offensive line struggled a bit today. During the scrimmage portion of practice, there was a time when it was 4th and 2, and the second team offense didn’t convert. Claeys was very frustrated and made them keep replaying the down. “Not good enough” was heard several times by everyone in attendance. It took seven tries, and it was a nice scamper by James Johannesson up the middle that got the first down and drew applause from the crowd.
Sam Schlueter has a great frame and will be able to add more weight.
Nick Connelly was hurt towards the end of spring practice. I didn’t see what happened exactly, but he was carted off after practice ended. Marcus Fuller thought it might have been a concussion.
I was impressed with the defensive line, particularly in run defense. Gaelin Elmore played with the first team at defensive end quite a bit, but also got a series or two at defensive tackle. He had the first “sack” (in quotations because they can’t hit QBs) when the lineman were competing against one another. Merrick Jackson, Andrew Stelter, Scott Ekpe, and Steven Richardson all rotated in with the first team at defensive tackle. Elmore, as noted above, also played some DT. Richardson actually played quite a bit with the second team, but I wouldn’t necessarily read into that. He did well and blew up the entire interior line at one point. Gary Moore also looked very good and had success against the second team offensive line. I remember Moore totally blowing up Quinn Oseland, and then a couple series later, Matt Leidner. In the drill portion, he drove Connor Olson to the ground. I think Olson bends at the waist right now, and also lacks some sheer strength because of his youth. Defensive tackle is very deep and will definitely be the strength of the defensive line.
Jerry Gibson looked great rushing the passer and got pressure on the quarterback several times. He looks bigger, and even taller, than last year. He can add more weight, but he doesn't look out of place with the defensive ends at all. He’s quick off the edge.
Tamarion Johnson is very skinny and will need to add weight. He has the frame to do so. He’s quick, and that led to beating Quinn Oseland and forcing a rushed pass once. Taiyon Devers has definitely added weight since this spring.
The second and third teams as a whole struggled at times, but Jared Weyler stuck out to me twice as a lineman who was getting good push or sustaining his block against a pass rusher for a lengthy amount of time. Ted Stieber did very well before the scrimmage portion holding his own against Merrick Jackson when I watched during the drill portion.
With Poock out, it was Rallis who filled his place on the first team.
Jack Lynn had a big hit on Rodney Smith in the backfield. He was pretty vocal on the field, as well.
Kamal Martin impressed me in drills with just how fluid of an athlete he is. During the drill portion, he rushed the passer off the edge. Thomas Barber bends a lot better than I expected him to. He’s compact, already filled out, and a thumper, but he’s not stiff. Carter Coughlin got some run with the first team early on in practice, and really impressed. I definitely think we’ll see him get meaningful playing time on defense against Oregon State. He beat Chad Fahning and others blitzing around the edge. He’s quick and good with his hands, although he could work on staying lower when pass rushing.
Blake Cashman moved from safety to outside linebacker in the spring. He’s added weight and certainly looks big enough to play there. Cashman’s a good athlete and was getting some time with the second team. I could see him earning a scholarship down the road. He was a good special teams player last year.
Julian Huff played middle linebacker a little bit. He showed great closing speed today, and of course, loves to hit.
KiAnte Hardin worked with the first team opposite of Jalen Myrick early in practice, and Ray Buford was opposite of Myrick later. I thought both did well. Buford got hurt when the team was practicing kickoff coverage but returned later and appeared to be completely fine.
KiAnte is thin but isn’t afraid to get physical. He really jammed Hunter Register at the line of scrimmage once. Buford’s size lets him be pretty physical too, and he totally threw off Rashad Still’s route once, which caused Leidner’s pass to Still to fall 15 yards away from Still.
Kunle Ayinde was usually the safety opposite of Damarius Travis with the first team.
Dior Johnson’s size was talked up when he was a recruit, but he also has really good feet. He’s quick in and out of his breaks. Zo Craighton also appears to be back at corner, after moving from corner to safety before. He looked good and played with the first team on a couple series. He looked Eric Amoako is built and probably the most compact corner on the team.
Returning punts were Jalen Myrick, KiAnte Hardin, Phillip Howard, and Drew Wolitarsky. The group back to return kicks were Rodney Smith, Jalen Myrick, Phillip Howard, KiAnte Hardin, Antonio Shenault, and Kiondre Thomas. Hardin had a great return.
Ryan Santoso didn’t kick and worked a lot on punting. I think that’s where he’s needed most and will be his spot moving forward.
TLDR: The quarterbacks were okay throughout, but more accurate earlier in the day. Brandon Lingen (shoulder), Shannon Brooks (foot), Coney Durr (knee), Cody Poock Garrison Wright, and Matt Morse all didn’t practice because of injuries. Nick Connelly was hurt at the end of practice. The first team offensive line was solid, while the second unit struggled. The Gophers are deep at defensive tackle, and Merrick Jackson and Gary Moore both made some nice plays. Carter Coughlin spent some time with the first team at the start of the scrimmage portion. Ray Buford spent the most time opposite of Jalen Myrick, followed by KiAnte Hardin and Zo Craighton. Kunle Ayinde spent the most time opposite of Damarius Travis. Ryan Santoso will punt this year.
