With just two practices left until the spring game, the team did much more scrimmaging than I anticipated, but that being said, key guys such as RaShede, Wells, Kirkwood were held back on the number of snaps they saw since the staff knows what they can do and doesn't want to risk injury.
After practice, Kill said that he still plans to field a typical spring game, casual 15 minute quarters.
Injury wise, TE Duke Anyanwu is out with a broken wrist he suffered last week and will hopefully we ready for fall camp. WR Devin Crawford Tufts sidelined w/ ankle injury these last couple of practices, may play in spring game.
After Kill was done talking with the team, he hadseveral alumni members talk to team such as Ernie Wheelwright, Tyrone Carter, Justin Conzemius, Darrell Thompson. It was neat to see a coach being back many past favroite Gophers.
I again watched the top two quarterbacks in Philip Nelson and Mitch Leidner, and here are my thoughts. Nelson throwing the ball up to 20 yards from the line of scrimmage is spot on. He's completing easily 90% of those throws on point, right into receivers hands, giving them the chance to be athletes and run up field. He completed very good balls to Derrick Engel twice up the seam, right over the hands of Derrick Wells who was covering the slot. If it's farther than 20 yards, it gets dicey. He overthrew Engel once and then Fruechte when they had a step on the defender, each time it was just a step or two far, but for this offense to have a great play-action game, he needs to start completing those more consistently.
As for Mitch, I think his body type is much more suited to take a beating like the Gophers run game will have come Big Ten season as opposed to Nelson. He's 6'4 225ish, and I keep telling you guys this, the kid can run much better than you expect. His deep ball is much more accurate than Nelson at this point, and he completes a fair percentage on the underneath stuff. The separation between the two right now is in decision making in my opinion. Nelson will complete the sure fire route that gets you 6 yards to the check down or tight end rather than take a chance on a deeper route. Leidner is not that way and likes to throw that ball into coverage and because of that, gets picked at least once a practice. An example from today was when Leidner overthrow a Y-seam over the middle and Damarius Travis made a nice pick on the ball, but none the less, he forced it into coverage when he didn't need to. The more I watch Mitch though, the more comfortable I am as him as the #2 QB than Shortell.
Other notes from today is that junior CB Briean Boddy had a great day. During one on ones, he was the best CB out there in that drill. An example would be when it was Boddy vs. Fruechte I believe on a fade, Boddy kept his eyes on his hip until he saw Fruechte's eyes and put up his hands, snapped his head and got a pass defensed. On his next rep, he on the same play, snapped his head around earlier and became an athlete, high pointed the ball, and got a pick. Sawvel was very pleased with his performance today. I think Boddy is definitely pushing for playing time as a nickel guy against Baltazar and Shabazz.
On goal line today, Rodrick Williams was met at the point of attack by Nick Rallis and Rodrick just bowled him over for an extra five yards. Rallis was shakin up after and I can tell you Rodrick felt nothing. I'm excited to see Williams excel in short yard situations and around the goal line because he rarely, if ever, goes down at first contact.
Field goal kicking today was 1-2 for Chris Hawthorne, good from 41 and wide left from 51.
Aaron Hill had a great series on the goal line, stuffing David Cobb on two different plays. Jack Lynn also rocked Cobb on at the 1 yard line drawing some hootin and rollering from his teammates. I think Lynn, Wilson and Hill have been the best linebackers on this team this spring and after that, it's WIDE OPEN. I wonder how the staff will try to rotate Wilson and Lynn in as they've both been very good this spring.
Other than that guys, I'm looking for suggestions for the last practice Thursday as it'll be the last practice of the spring. If you attended today and saw something I missed, please post below. If you got any questions that you think I can answer, please post below as well.
After practice, Kill said that he still plans to field a typical spring game, casual 15 minute quarters.
Injury wise, TE Duke Anyanwu is out with a broken wrist he suffered last week and will hopefully we ready for fall camp. WR Devin Crawford Tufts sidelined w/ ankle injury these last couple of practices, may play in spring game.
After Kill was done talking with the team, he hadseveral alumni members talk to team such as Ernie Wheelwright, Tyrone Carter, Justin Conzemius, Darrell Thompson. It was neat to see a coach being back many past favroite Gophers.
I again watched the top two quarterbacks in Philip Nelson and Mitch Leidner, and here are my thoughts. Nelson throwing the ball up to 20 yards from the line of scrimmage is spot on. He's completing easily 90% of those throws on point, right into receivers hands, giving them the chance to be athletes and run up field. He completed very good balls to Derrick Engel twice up the seam, right over the hands of Derrick Wells who was covering the slot. If it's farther than 20 yards, it gets dicey. He overthrew Engel once and then Fruechte when they had a step on the defender, each time it was just a step or two far, but for this offense to have a great play-action game, he needs to start completing those more consistently.
As for Mitch, I think his body type is much more suited to take a beating like the Gophers run game will have come Big Ten season as opposed to Nelson. He's 6'4 225ish, and I keep telling you guys this, the kid can run much better than you expect. His deep ball is much more accurate than Nelson at this point, and he completes a fair percentage on the underneath stuff. The separation between the two right now is in decision making in my opinion. Nelson will complete the sure fire route that gets you 6 yards to the check down or tight end rather than take a chance on a deeper route. Leidner is not that way and likes to throw that ball into coverage and because of that, gets picked at least once a practice. An example from today was when Leidner overthrow a Y-seam over the middle and Damarius Travis made a nice pick on the ball, but none the less, he forced it into coverage when he didn't need to. The more I watch Mitch though, the more comfortable I am as him as the #2 QB than Shortell.
Other notes from today is that junior CB Briean Boddy had a great day. During one on ones, he was the best CB out there in that drill. An example would be when it was Boddy vs. Fruechte I believe on a fade, Boddy kept his eyes on his hip until he saw Fruechte's eyes and put up his hands, snapped his head and got a pass defensed. On his next rep, he on the same play, snapped his head around earlier and became an athlete, high pointed the ball, and got a pick. Sawvel was very pleased with his performance today. I think Boddy is definitely pushing for playing time as a nickel guy against Baltazar and Shabazz.
On goal line today, Rodrick Williams was met at the point of attack by Nick Rallis and Rodrick just bowled him over for an extra five yards. Rallis was shakin up after and I can tell you Rodrick felt nothing. I'm excited to see Williams excel in short yard situations and around the goal line because he rarely, if ever, goes down at first contact.
Field goal kicking today was 1-2 for Chris Hawthorne, good from 41 and wide left from 51.
Aaron Hill had a great series on the goal line, stuffing David Cobb on two different plays. Jack Lynn also rocked Cobb on at the 1 yard line drawing some hootin and rollering from his teammates. I think Lynn, Wilson and Hill have been the best linebackers on this team this spring and after that, it's WIDE OPEN. I wonder how the staff will try to rotate Wilson and Lynn in as they've both been very good this spring.
Other than that guys, I'm looking for suggestions for the last practice Thursday as it'll be the last practice of the spring. If you attended today and saw something I missed, please post below. If you got any questions that you think I can answer, please post below as well.
