bright, hot, shiny day to contrast with Saturday's overcast affair. If nothing else these Gophers will be ready for all weather conditions.
Minnesota focused on a lot of situational stuff today including a significant chunk of time devoted to red zone or near red zone work in WR/DB one on one's, pass skeleton and team. It was the largest point of emphasis in practice.
You can see a theme forming here. On Saturday it was all about 3rd down execution while today was all about red zone opportunities. Fleck organized each practice around a crucial area of the game and then tested the players in different elements of that theme in rapid fire drills throughout practice. As fleck has said in interviews, he's trying to simulate the game experience as much as possible on the practice field.
What struck me is that both days of practice favored the D and stacked the deck against the O. As Fleck said Saturday, teams fail 70% of the time on 3rd down. Smith threw out a couple exotic blitzes Saturday as well, which I forgot to mention in my previous report.
As for today, it's much tougher to play offense in the red zone than it is anywhere else as the DBs and LBs only have to cover to the back of the end zone.
Music was more laid back today. Less modern. A little less hip hop and a little more chill, poppy, borderline folky stuff from 20 years ago.
Today felt a little more intense than Saturday. IMO, that's due to the fact that 3 whole position groups played with an increased intensity today.
The OLine got abused Saturday, and you could tell right from the jump it was still on their minds. Early in practice there was a run centric version of team near midfield. On the first play Shannon Brooks broke through an enormous hole on an inside zone and was virtually untouched en route to 6. A couple plays later it was Rodney's turn to break one to the promised land. McRary had a couple nice runs as well. Kobe is much quicker and more decisive this year, and while I hope Rodney and Shannon stay healthy, Mcrary is a legit Big 10 RB.
After that early flurry by the the offense the D clamped down a bit, with several stops on the LOS, including a play where Thomas barber knifed into the backfield from the backside of the play so quickly he was able to split the tackle with the play side DE.
Poock got a lot more reps with the 1s today and looked good, but Barber still got some first team reps, and remember Barber got just about all the 1st team reps Saturday.
Poock might be your starter in game 1, but Thomas Barber isn't going away and is gonna challenge for that spot going forward. Barber is too good to keep off the field.
The other position group that stepped it up a notch today was the secondary.
Huff had a fantastic practice at safety. In one on one's he had back to back pass breakups on fade routes including one where he timed his jump perfectly to negate Still's height. Sadly, a common theme of the practice was Still getting pushed around by smaller DBs. Directly after in red zone pas skeleton Huff continued his hot streak, breaking up a sure TD pass.
Back to one on one's, which occurred from the 5-10 yard line going in. They did multiple situations here. The first was a pass from the middle of the field to a WR running a crossing route at the back of the end zone. Croft was significantly better than Rhoda during this portion. Rhoda kept either throwing behind receivers or leading them out of bounds. Croft did a nice job leading them across the back of the end zone, but still allowing them to make a play inbounds. During this portion Fleck would randomly act as a safety and give support to the DB when the DB was out of position, which some of the younger DBs often were. Fleck lectured the receivers multiple times about the importance of 'fighting to stay 2 yards away from out of bounds' explaining otherwise you 'aren't gonna be able to get a foot in'
After this the QBs lined up at one of the hash marks, although it seemed they favored the left hash for some reason. The WR had the option to either go to the fade or the slant. As far as I could tell, it was up to the QB and WR to read the DB to figure out which route to run.
At first, the WRs kept going fade every time, which made it tough on the QBs. Several times Croft and also Rhoda put the ball right on the money, but the DBs were not having it. Like I said, the situations were set up for the D to have success, and the DBs repeatedly rose to the occasion. After awhile, WRs started mixing in the post and had more success. Hmelewski had a rep where he faked the fade and went smoothly to the slant. DB was all over him, but Hmelewski managed to haul in a rocket from Demry Croft. After Hmelewski made the catch, Fleck yelled 'thattaboy Drew', and he went on praising drew for 10-15 seconds. Fleck really knows how to love guys up or call them out, and he does plenty of both.
Croft and Rhoda both did pretty well in one on one's, but the DBs were the story.
Next was red zone pass Skeleton, and the offense came out hot. Croft hit Tyler Johnson on a seam route for a score. Right after he hit another receiver on the same route but the DB got a hand in which tipped the ball up, but the WR managed to haul it in and get his toes down for a great catch. Sadly, I didn't see which receiver it was.
Winfield dominated this drill and caught my attention in the process due to where he lined up.
During red zone pass skeleton, the #1 D featured Huff at the high safety and Winfield primarily at the true CB spot. He also played some in the nickel, but was mostly at outside CB. And from that outside CB spot he wreaked havoc. Rashad Still tried to work inside out, but Winfield jammed him so hard he knocked him off his route completely to the point still was nowhere near Croft's pass. Craighton and Shenault had big days as well. Between Winfield, Craighton, and Shenault they had Still totally flummoxed and off his game. Thomas looked good but was rarely tested. Shenault is playing with a lot of confidence. McGhee looked good just didn't have as many chances to make plays as he got Saturday.
The defense won this drill, but the offense did have some success, particularly on seam passes to WRs and delayed out routes to TEs.
The TEs also played really well today. Both Lingen and Wozniak made some big plays. After Lingen took a pass for a TD Fleck was calling out to praise him, 'thattaway 86!'.
After this pass skeleton the team did a bunch of specialized drills. DTs and their interior guys focused on fumble recovery, making sure to stay on all 4s and 'save' the fumble if it's gonna roll out of bounds.
The DEs, LBs, and DBs did a drill where they lined up outside and executed an unopposed, times outside rush attacking where the QB would be after his drop back. A couple coaches timed the players' efforts on stop watches.
I was impressed with Jerry Gibson'a acceleration in this drill. He has a much quicker first step than I thought he did. Gibson has made a handful of nice plays over the past couple Practices. Am interested to see what kind of role, if any, he carves out on this team.
During the break Lingquist was getting on his guys about technique. He said they always have 3 adjustments they can make, although I won't share them because he defined them by their actual call signs.
Warriner was animated during the break. Guy coaches with a lot of energy. Paup is the most serene coach--rarely raises his voice and doesn't run around as much as the other guys. I suppose when you've been Defensive MVP of the NFL, you already have their attention.
During the final team portion Fleck was hollering a lot. Lots of 'The ball is the Program' calls throughout practice yesterday. Fleck at one point called out Still, saying 'body language, 88. Body language'.
Also, to begin the last section of team Fleck called for 1s against 1s. Fleck immediately got upset and yellled at celestin to hustle into position. Said his name 2 or 3 times in a row.
Croft consistently got first shot with the 1s yesterday, and in team it was no different. Croft led them down the field completing a couple nice passes, one to Tyler Johnson in traffic. D got a big stop on a 3rd and short, offense went on 4th and converted. The offense got inside the 10 and once again faced 4th down. This time the D stuffed Mcrary behind the LOS and the defensive sideline exploded.
Rhoda came in, completed his first pass to Douglas on a square in, but then promptly went 3 and out, even throwing the ball away on 3rd down.
Gary Moore had a fantastic play where he exploded into the backfield and emphatically slapped a Connor Rhoda slant out of the air. Moore looks leaner than in the past and has some explosion for a big fella.
On the first the play of one of Croft's possessions, he hit Wozniak on a 10-15 down and out, and Wozniak did a great job pulling it and turning upfield on his way to the end zone. The offensive players' sideline went absolutely ballistic when Wozniak scored jumping up and down, hooting, hollering, and celebrating for a few minutes. Fleck could be heard repeatedly saying, 'defense, RESPOND. Respond. How do you respond?'
Croft won the team period decisively, but Rhoda had his moments. He hit Demetrius Douglas on 2 separate passes 10-12 yards downfield within about 3 plays at own point. The WRs weren't great today, but Douglas was really impressive, as was Tyler Johnson. Holland also looks good and I think can play a role. Philip Howard has obvious athleticism, but has mostly caught short passes as I think he still has a ways to go to learn the nuances of the position.
The absolute highlight of the team period, was a play where the Gophers were near the left hash, and Croft, leading the 2s, threw a fade route to to the opposite field corner of the end zone which walk on Matt Morse did a great job pulling down in traffic.
There are fade routes and there are fade routes, this was the latter. Sometimes guys put just enough on a pass to complete it if the coverage isn't there. That wasn't the case here.
The only way I can describe this pass is Louisville era Teddy Bridgewater-esque, Croft threw this impossibly high arcing golden snitch godball dropped out of the sky into Morse's hands. It was awe inspiring and the offense went crazy afterward.
I've been so impressed with how Croft takes care of the ball. Even when he misses guys, he never puts it where the D has a good shot at a pick. Rhoda threw sooooo many picks or near picks Saturday, so was good to see him take better care of the ball today as well.
After today, I think Johnson will be our top WR this year. He's more consistent than Still, more explosive than Carter, and more experienced than the frosh. Johnson is really quick and is a bouncy athlete. I have high hopes for what he can do the next 3 years. You can hear the confidence Fleck has in Johnson when he talks to him or about him.
After team, Fleck yelled out, 'everybody on the wall' and all the players ran to the opposite side of the field and either sat or stood against the wall. Once they arrived the players started shouting and making noise. Lingquist threw a foam blocking pad at a couple players but then patted them on the head to show it was in good fun. Warriner was the best---stalking up and down the sideline pumping both arms into the air yelling for the players to make more noise. Players were yelling, clapping, some slammed the dummies into the ground, Fleck pushed them to yell louder, and eventually the cacophony rose to a high enough level that Fleck signaled and then ended with a big group yell.
The players did a couple sideline to sideline sprints after that. A defensive player wearing 17 won the first sprint, but wasn't listed in the program so I don't know whom it was.
After a couple sprints fleck had staffers try to return punts. First an undergrad dude assistant whiffed badly at 2 punts. The players ran. Then Fleck called out a young undergrad woman assistant, who was similarly unable to corral the ball. Players ran a little more. Then fleck brought out an older support staff guy. This time santoso punted it so accurately the guy didn't even need to move and caught it. He had a much easier shot than the other 2, who were forced to chase punts.
At this point the players brought it in and started yelling again, which ended with another loud breakdown.
In his post practice address to the players, Fleck made it clear that he wasn't satisfied, and that he needed the players to push even harder than they had been pushing. This struck me, as yesterday the intensity was even higher than saturday, IMO.
Fleck is pushing these guys hard---putting them in tough practice situations at high tempo, and after practice telling them they need to push harder. You can see he's trying to put as much stress on the players as he possibly can.
Minnesota focused on a lot of situational stuff today including a significant chunk of time devoted to red zone or near red zone work in WR/DB one on one's, pass skeleton and team. It was the largest point of emphasis in practice.
You can see a theme forming here. On Saturday it was all about 3rd down execution while today was all about red zone opportunities. Fleck organized each practice around a crucial area of the game and then tested the players in different elements of that theme in rapid fire drills throughout practice. As fleck has said in interviews, he's trying to simulate the game experience as much as possible on the practice field.
What struck me is that both days of practice favored the D and stacked the deck against the O. As Fleck said Saturday, teams fail 70% of the time on 3rd down. Smith threw out a couple exotic blitzes Saturday as well, which I forgot to mention in my previous report.
As for today, it's much tougher to play offense in the red zone than it is anywhere else as the DBs and LBs only have to cover to the back of the end zone.
Music was more laid back today. Less modern. A little less hip hop and a little more chill, poppy, borderline folky stuff from 20 years ago.
Today felt a little more intense than Saturday. IMO, that's due to the fact that 3 whole position groups played with an increased intensity today.
The OLine got abused Saturday, and you could tell right from the jump it was still on their minds. Early in practice there was a run centric version of team near midfield. On the first play Shannon Brooks broke through an enormous hole on an inside zone and was virtually untouched en route to 6. A couple plays later it was Rodney's turn to break one to the promised land. McRary had a couple nice runs as well. Kobe is much quicker and more decisive this year, and while I hope Rodney and Shannon stay healthy, Mcrary is a legit Big 10 RB.
After that early flurry by the the offense the D clamped down a bit, with several stops on the LOS, including a play where Thomas barber knifed into the backfield from the backside of the play so quickly he was able to split the tackle with the play side DE.
Poock got a lot more reps with the 1s today and looked good, but Barber still got some first team reps, and remember Barber got just about all the 1st team reps Saturday.
Poock might be your starter in game 1, but Thomas Barber isn't going away and is gonna challenge for that spot going forward. Barber is too good to keep off the field.
The other position group that stepped it up a notch today was the secondary.
Huff had a fantastic practice at safety. In one on one's he had back to back pass breakups on fade routes including one where he timed his jump perfectly to negate Still's height. Sadly, a common theme of the practice was Still getting pushed around by smaller DBs. Directly after in red zone pas skeleton Huff continued his hot streak, breaking up a sure TD pass.
Back to one on one's, which occurred from the 5-10 yard line going in. They did multiple situations here. The first was a pass from the middle of the field to a WR running a crossing route at the back of the end zone. Croft was significantly better than Rhoda during this portion. Rhoda kept either throwing behind receivers or leading them out of bounds. Croft did a nice job leading them across the back of the end zone, but still allowing them to make a play inbounds. During this portion Fleck would randomly act as a safety and give support to the DB when the DB was out of position, which some of the younger DBs often were. Fleck lectured the receivers multiple times about the importance of 'fighting to stay 2 yards away from out of bounds' explaining otherwise you 'aren't gonna be able to get a foot in'
After this the QBs lined up at one of the hash marks, although it seemed they favored the left hash for some reason. The WR had the option to either go to the fade or the slant. As far as I could tell, it was up to the QB and WR to read the DB to figure out which route to run.
At first, the WRs kept going fade every time, which made it tough on the QBs. Several times Croft and also Rhoda put the ball right on the money, but the DBs were not having it. Like I said, the situations were set up for the D to have success, and the DBs repeatedly rose to the occasion. After awhile, WRs started mixing in the post and had more success. Hmelewski had a rep where he faked the fade and went smoothly to the slant. DB was all over him, but Hmelewski managed to haul in a rocket from Demry Croft. After Hmelewski made the catch, Fleck yelled 'thattaboy Drew', and he went on praising drew for 10-15 seconds. Fleck really knows how to love guys up or call them out, and he does plenty of both.
Croft and Rhoda both did pretty well in one on one's, but the DBs were the story.
Next was red zone pass Skeleton, and the offense came out hot. Croft hit Tyler Johnson on a seam route for a score. Right after he hit another receiver on the same route but the DB got a hand in which tipped the ball up, but the WR managed to haul it in and get his toes down for a great catch. Sadly, I didn't see which receiver it was.
Winfield dominated this drill and caught my attention in the process due to where he lined up.
During red zone pass skeleton, the #1 D featured Huff at the high safety and Winfield primarily at the true CB spot. He also played some in the nickel, but was mostly at outside CB. And from that outside CB spot he wreaked havoc. Rashad Still tried to work inside out, but Winfield jammed him so hard he knocked him off his route completely to the point still was nowhere near Croft's pass. Craighton and Shenault had big days as well. Between Winfield, Craighton, and Shenault they had Still totally flummoxed and off his game. Thomas looked good but was rarely tested. Shenault is playing with a lot of confidence. McGhee looked good just didn't have as many chances to make plays as he got Saturday.
The defense won this drill, but the offense did have some success, particularly on seam passes to WRs and delayed out routes to TEs.
The TEs also played really well today. Both Lingen and Wozniak made some big plays. After Lingen took a pass for a TD Fleck was calling out to praise him, 'thattaway 86!'.
After this pass skeleton the team did a bunch of specialized drills. DTs and their interior guys focused on fumble recovery, making sure to stay on all 4s and 'save' the fumble if it's gonna roll out of bounds.
The DEs, LBs, and DBs did a drill where they lined up outside and executed an unopposed, times outside rush attacking where the QB would be after his drop back. A couple coaches timed the players' efforts on stop watches.
I was impressed with Jerry Gibson'a acceleration in this drill. He has a much quicker first step than I thought he did. Gibson has made a handful of nice plays over the past couple Practices. Am interested to see what kind of role, if any, he carves out on this team.
During the break Lingquist was getting on his guys about technique. He said they always have 3 adjustments they can make, although I won't share them because he defined them by their actual call signs.
Warriner was animated during the break. Guy coaches with a lot of energy. Paup is the most serene coach--rarely raises his voice and doesn't run around as much as the other guys. I suppose when you've been Defensive MVP of the NFL, you already have their attention.
During the final team portion Fleck was hollering a lot. Lots of 'The ball is the Program' calls throughout practice yesterday. Fleck at one point called out Still, saying 'body language, 88. Body language'.
Also, to begin the last section of team Fleck called for 1s against 1s. Fleck immediately got upset and yellled at celestin to hustle into position. Said his name 2 or 3 times in a row.
Croft consistently got first shot with the 1s yesterday, and in team it was no different. Croft led them down the field completing a couple nice passes, one to Tyler Johnson in traffic. D got a big stop on a 3rd and short, offense went on 4th and converted. The offense got inside the 10 and once again faced 4th down. This time the D stuffed Mcrary behind the LOS and the defensive sideline exploded.
Rhoda came in, completed his first pass to Douglas on a square in, but then promptly went 3 and out, even throwing the ball away on 3rd down.
Gary Moore had a fantastic play where he exploded into the backfield and emphatically slapped a Connor Rhoda slant out of the air. Moore looks leaner than in the past and has some explosion for a big fella.
On the first the play of one of Croft's possessions, he hit Wozniak on a 10-15 down and out, and Wozniak did a great job pulling it and turning upfield on his way to the end zone. The offensive players' sideline went absolutely ballistic when Wozniak scored jumping up and down, hooting, hollering, and celebrating for a few minutes. Fleck could be heard repeatedly saying, 'defense, RESPOND. Respond. How do you respond?'
Croft won the team period decisively, but Rhoda had his moments. He hit Demetrius Douglas on 2 separate passes 10-12 yards downfield within about 3 plays at own point. The WRs weren't great today, but Douglas was really impressive, as was Tyler Johnson. Holland also looks good and I think can play a role. Philip Howard has obvious athleticism, but has mostly caught short passes as I think he still has a ways to go to learn the nuances of the position.
The absolute highlight of the team period, was a play where the Gophers were near the left hash, and Croft, leading the 2s, threw a fade route to to the opposite field corner of the end zone which walk on Matt Morse did a great job pulling down in traffic.
There are fade routes and there are fade routes, this was the latter. Sometimes guys put just enough on a pass to complete it if the coverage isn't there. That wasn't the case here.
The only way I can describe this pass is Louisville era Teddy Bridgewater-esque, Croft threw this impossibly high arcing golden snitch godball dropped out of the sky into Morse's hands. It was awe inspiring and the offense went crazy afterward.
I've been so impressed with how Croft takes care of the ball. Even when he misses guys, he never puts it where the D has a good shot at a pick. Rhoda threw sooooo many picks or near picks Saturday, so was good to see him take better care of the ball today as well.
After today, I think Johnson will be our top WR this year. He's more consistent than Still, more explosive than Carter, and more experienced than the frosh. Johnson is really quick and is a bouncy athlete. I have high hopes for what he can do the next 3 years. You can hear the confidence Fleck has in Johnson when he talks to him or about him.
After team, Fleck yelled out, 'everybody on the wall' and all the players ran to the opposite side of the field and either sat or stood against the wall. Once they arrived the players started shouting and making noise. Lingquist threw a foam blocking pad at a couple players but then patted them on the head to show it was in good fun. Warriner was the best---stalking up and down the sideline pumping both arms into the air yelling for the players to make more noise. Players were yelling, clapping, some slammed the dummies into the ground, Fleck pushed them to yell louder, and eventually the cacophony rose to a high enough level that Fleck signaled and then ended with a big group yell.
The players did a couple sideline to sideline sprints after that. A defensive player wearing 17 won the first sprint, but wasn't listed in the program so I don't know whom it was.
After a couple sprints fleck had staffers try to return punts. First an undergrad dude assistant whiffed badly at 2 punts. The players ran. Then Fleck called out a young undergrad woman assistant, who was similarly unable to corral the ball. Players ran a little more. Then fleck brought out an older support staff guy. This time santoso punted it so accurately the guy didn't even need to move and caught it. He had a much easier shot than the other 2, who were forced to chase punts.
At this point the players brought it in and started yelling again, which ended with another loud breakdown.
In his post practice address to the players, Fleck made it clear that he wasn't satisfied, and that he needed the players to push even harder than they had been pushing. This struck me, as yesterday the intensity was even higher than saturday, IMO.
Fleck is pushing these guys hard---putting them in tough practice situations at high tempo, and after practice telling them they need to push harder. You can see he's trying to put as much stress on the players as he possibly can.
Last edited:
