It is no secret how the Minnesota Gophers are going to win football games this season. They are going to play great defense. They are going to be great in the kicking game. They are going to run the ball and hope they get enough out of their passing game to keep defenses honest. While no one is going to compare this season’s Gophers’ offense with the Oregon Ducks, compared to earlier this week the offense looked like it was coming together – at least in an intra-squad scrimmage kind of way.
The first thing I noticed about the offense was the return of left tackle Josh Campion. I don’t know how long he was out, but earlier this week he missed at least the practice I attended. His presence seemed to help the unit as a whole. The first team offensive line from right to left was Jonah Pirsig, Connor Mayes, Brian Bobek, Jon Christenson and Campion. Although not on the first unit initially Joe Bjorklund ran with the first team a left guard much of the second half of the scrimmage.
Like earlier in the week the ones protected the passer well. Quarterback Mitch Leidner had time to set up on most of his pass drops.
“I had a lot of time back there today,” said Leidner. “It all starts up front. If we can get time to throw the ball it is easy as a quarterback.”
Leidner had a better day today than when I saw him earlier. He moved well, was accurate on his underneath throws and was able to spread the ball around. Despite that, he doesn’t throw a very pretty ball and isn’t as accurate deep as I am sure the coaches would like.
Opposite KJ Maye – at least in the ‘starting’ line up - was Eric Carter. Brandon Lingen was the first tight end on the field. Carter made a great leaping catch of a ten yard out on the sidelines on a ball thrown by Leidner. Later he caught another short pass on the sidelines that had his 5’11” frame stretched to the limit. Melvin Holland Jr. and Drew Wolitarsky both spent time running with the first team at wide receiver as they added wide outs and rotated guys in with the ones. One of Leidner’s best balls was a slant to Holland. Leidner hit Holland in stride, the freshman cut up field and fifty yards later he was being brought down inside the ten. Late in the scrimmage Wolitarsky caught a pass on a deep crossing route.
“We were more confident today,” Leidner said. “We are starting to get the progressions and the reads down. I feel more confident out there and I think the receivers are feeling better out there. It was nice to get the ball in their hands and let them make some moves with it.”
“(Holland) looked good,” continued Leidner. “On that play if it goes one high you read one side. If it goes two high it goes to the other side. They went one high, the guy jumped out to the flat route and we hit the slant right behind. (Holland) is a fast, explosive player.”
“I thought Mitch played real well,” head coach Jerry Kill said. “He threw the ball away when he needed to, he didn’t take sacks. I am pleased with what he did.”
Freshman quarterback Demry Croft’s best moment was a twenty five yard completion to EJ Sardinha. Croft stepped up in the pocket and delivered a strike to Sardinha. That combination would hook up again a few plays later for another big play.
“He’s just an instinctive guy,” said head coach Jerry Kill. “It is kind of like watching Teddy Bridgewater. He doesn’t get excited about anything – nothing rattles the kid. He’s got an extreme amount of talent.”
Roderick Williams Jr. was in the backfield for most of the snaps with the first team offense.
The runningback who was most impressive – against the twos and threes defensively - was Shannon Brooks. The freshman repeatedly cut back when there was no hole and used his speed to get to the outside. He was also the most physical runner of the day, bouncing off tacklers, driving forward for an extra yard and forcing defenders to gang tackle him before going to the ground. Even though he was not going against the top guys, he showed he has a lot of positive attributes as a runner.
“He’s pretty tough isn’t he?” said Kill. “He ran pretty hard. I thought he looked pretty good. I’ve got to look at the film to see if he can block anybody or not, but he ran the ball well. He is hard to tackle. I like the way he ran the football.”
The second team offense as a whole didn’t get off to a very good start. The interception, combined with a pre-snap penalty and a poor attempt at a run had Kill ordering the second team offense off the field a couple of plays early.
Defensively, linebacker Everett Williams made a couple of nice plays early against the run.
Linebacker Cody Poock undercut a route, picked off a pass and ran untouched into the end zone.
Jalen Myrick almost made a spectacular interception when he dove in front of an out route. The ball was under thrown, but Myrick nearly got his hands under the ball for a pick. Later, during a fourth and short the offense tried to throw a shallow crossing route. Maye caught the pass, but was immediately brought down by Myrick. The junior topped off his day with an interception.
“We’ve got to be strong in the secondary because of the teams we’re going to play we’ve got to be deep in the secondary,” Kill said. “We feel good about the secondary and the depth we have there.”
“We’ve got three guys who are good in man coverage,” Myrick said. “With three live corners there is a lot we can do on the back end.”
Theiran Cockran showed off his pass rushing ability with what would have been a sack and safety and he also got up in the air to knock down a pass. Gaelin Elmore and Steven Richardson were also solid on the defensive line. Elmore was in the backfield often and on one instance knifed right through the offensive line to force a run out wide – allowing teammates to clean up. Richardson was tough inside against the run – especially late in the scrimmage.
The offensive play of the day was made by Rashard Still. Quarterback Conor Rhoda threw a deep ball down the right side and Still, the 6’5” freshman, out jumped the defender for the catch and touchdown. Still was not done, he made another nice catch on the sidelines.
The most encouraging thing I saw was how impressive the young wide receivers looked. Still and Carter made some tough catches and more importantly didn’t drop many – if any balls.
“They looked good,” said Myrick. “They get better in practice every day. We go against those guys one-on-one all the time so with them going against us it is making them better every day. We aren’t slouches – at all.”
The starting defensive backs were the most impressive group on the field. They forced Leidner to run, force a ball into a tight space that they were able to defend or forced him to throw the ball away often. Their best stretch was when they were running a two minute drill. The result was three straight drop backs by Leidner and three straight plays where he had to throw the ball away or scramble for whatever he could get on the ground. Eric Murray wasn’t tested much, but later in the scrimmage he came up big by breaking up a pass in the back of the end zone.
“Coach Kill emphasizes don’t take a sack,” Leidner said. “Sometimes those guys are going to be covered up. Being able to throw the ball away and still stay in field goal range. (Because of the solid defensive backs) you learn your reads and progressions better. You see the coverages they do. They are tough. They disguise them well. Going against them every day – some of the best athletes in the Big Ten are in our secondary so it is helpful to go against those guys.”
The first thing I noticed about the offense was the return of left tackle Josh Campion. I don’t know how long he was out, but earlier this week he missed at least the practice I attended. His presence seemed to help the unit as a whole. The first team offensive line from right to left was Jonah Pirsig, Connor Mayes, Brian Bobek, Jon Christenson and Campion. Although not on the first unit initially Joe Bjorklund ran with the first team a left guard much of the second half of the scrimmage.
Like earlier in the week the ones protected the passer well. Quarterback Mitch Leidner had time to set up on most of his pass drops.
“I had a lot of time back there today,” said Leidner. “It all starts up front. If we can get time to throw the ball it is easy as a quarterback.”
Leidner had a better day today than when I saw him earlier. He moved well, was accurate on his underneath throws and was able to spread the ball around. Despite that, he doesn’t throw a very pretty ball and isn’t as accurate deep as I am sure the coaches would like.
Opposite KJ Maye – at least in the ‘starting’ line up - was Eric Carter. Brandon Lingen was the first tight end on the field. Carter made a great leaping catch of a ten yard out on the sidelines on a ball thrown by Leidner. Later he caught another short pass on the sidelines that had his 5’11” frame stretched to the limit. Melvin Holland Jr. and Drew Wolitarsky both spent time running with the first team at wide receiver as they added wide outs and rotated guys in with the ones. One of Leidner’s best balls was a slant to Holland. Leidner hit Holland in stride, the freshman cut up field and fifty yards later he was being brought down inside the ten. Late in the scrimmage Wolitarsky caught a pass on a deep crossing route.
“We were more confident today,” Leidner said. “We are starting to get the progressions and the reads down. I feel more confident out there and I think the receivers are feeling better out there. It was nice to get the ball in their hands and let them make some moves with it.”
“(Holland) looked good,” continued Leidner. “On that play if it goes one high you read one side. If it goes two high it goes to the other side. They went one high, the guy jumped out to the flat route and we hit the slant right behind. (Holland) is a fast, explosive player.”
“I thought Mitch played real well,” head coach Jerry Kill said. “He threw the ball away when he needed to, he didn’t take sacks. I am pleased with what he did.”
Freshman quarterback Demry Croft’s best moment was a twenty five yard completion to EJ Sardinha. Croft stepped up in the pocket and delivered a strike to Sardinha. That combination would hook up again a few plays later for another big play.
“He’s just an instinctive guy,” said head coach Jerry Kill. “It is kind of like watching Teddy Bridgewater. He doesn’t get excited about anything – nothing rattles the kid. He’s got an extreme amount of talent.”
Roderick Williams Jr. was in the backfield for most of the snaps with the first team offense.
The runningback who was most impressive – against the twos and threes defensively - was Shannon Brooks. The freshman repeatedly cut back when there was no hole and used his speed to get to the outside. He was also the most physical runner of the day, bouncing off tacklers, driving forward for an extra yard and forcing defenders to gang tackle him before going to the ground. Even though he was not going against the top guys, he showed he has a lot of positive attributes as a runner.
“He’s pretty tough isn’t he?” said Kill. “He ran pretty hard. I thought he looked pretty good. I’ve got to look at the film to see if he can block anybody or not, but he ran the ball well. He is hard to tackle. I like the way he ran the football.”
The second team offense as a whole didn’t get off to a very good start. The interception, combined with a pre-snap penalty and a poor attempt at a run had Kill ordering the second team offense off the field a couple of plays early.
Defensively, linebacker Everett Williams made a couple of nice plays early against the run.
Linebacker Cody Poock undercut a route, picked off a pass and ran untouched into the end zone.
Jalen Myrick almost made a spectacular interception when he dove in front of an out route. The ball was under thrown, but Myrick nearly got his hands under the ball for a pick. Later, during a fourth and short the offense tried to throw a shallow crossing route. Maye caught the pass, but was immediately brought down by Myrick. The junior topped off his day with an interception.
“We’ve got to be strong in the secondary because of the teams we’re going to play we’ve got to be deep in the secondary,” Kill said. “We feel good about the secondary and the depth we have there.”
“We’ve got three guys who are good in man coverage,” Myrick said. “With three live corners there is a lot we can do on the back end.”
Theiran Cockran showed off his pass rushing ability with what would have been a sack and safety and he also got up in the air to knock down a pass. Gaelin Elmore and Steven Richardson were also solid on the defensive line. Elmore was in the backfield often and on one instance knifed right through the offensive line to force a run out wide – allowing teammates to clean up. Richardson was tough inside against the run – especially late in the scrimmage.
The offensive play of the day was made by Rashard Still. Quarterback Conor Rhoda threw a deep ball down the right side and Still, the 6’5” freshman, out jumped the defender for the catch and touchdown. Still was not done, he made another nice catch on the sidelines.
The most encouraging thing I saw was how impressive the young wide receivers looked. Still and Carter made some tough catches and more importantly didn’t drop many – if any balls.
“They looked good,” said Myrick. “They get better in practice every day. We go against those guys one-on-one all the time so with them going against us it is making them better every day. We aren’t slouches – at all.”
The starting defensive backs were the most impressive group on the field. They forced Leidner to run, force a ball into a tight space that they were able to defend or forced him to throw the ball away often. Their best stretch was when they were running a two minute drill. The result was three straight drop backs by Leidner and three straight plays where he had to throw the ball away or scramble for whatever he could get on the ground. Eric Murray wasn’t tested much, but later in the scrimmage he came up big by breaking up a pass in the back of the end zone.
“Coach Kill emphasizes don’t take a sack,” Leidner said. “Sometimes those guys are going to be covered up. Being able to throw the ball away and still stay in field goal range. (Because of the solid defensive backs) you learn your reads and progressions better. You see the coverages they do. They are tough. They disguise them well. Going against them every day – some of the best athletes in the Big Ten are in our secondary so it is helpful to go against those guys.”
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