Winning the bowl game was fantastic with this young of a team... We had a lot of guys step up when it counted at the end of the year.. We trended UPWARD towards the end of the year which has not always been the case in this program.
But these are JUST SOME OF my "perspectives" that weigh on my thinking to be proud this year.
QBs - Realize we had 2 FRESHMAN QBs who were not 5 star guys that led us to victory against ranked or significant opponents. (Annexstad against Fresno State and Morgan against Purdue, Wisconsin, and the bowl win)
RBs - we went deep to the bench to get a guy that had over 1000 yards rushing.. He would have been at least 3rd string or lower had everyone been healthy, in all probability. Look at the list for next year. (Smith, Brooks, Ibrahim, Bryan Williams, Nolan Edmonds, Williamson, Wiley, and Potts as freshmen). That is 8 TAILBACKS.
WR - Tyler Johnson is deluxe but he has a partner to draw coverage away in Rashod Batemen. Chris Autman Bell as well.. They block excellent
TE - Guys sacrificed in stats to be another blocker essentially, in this offense.. I am going to miss Beebe for sure.
Offensive line - Faalele and Andries look like future bookends... Thought losing Greene would be bad but we did not skip a beat when Andries went to tackle and Dunlap came in at guard. Once we get DEVELOPED depth at these positions, we should be competitive with anyone in the west division of the Big Ten, year in and year out.
D-line - Guys worked their tails off, especially when Rossi was named coordinator. Lots of different bodies helped
LB - Cashman and Martin were studs this year. Barber and Huff showed fantastic in the bowl game/
DBs - Terrell Smith has a big time future and we played well as a unit.
Special teams was very good again.
TO END THIS, THINK ABOUT THIS YEAR COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARS... A freshman with no experience starting at QB, top 2 RBs hurt, our best defensive player(Winfield) was out for most of the season, Our top LB Cashman was out for the bowl game... IN YEARS PAST, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AS MENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE AS LOSING THEM PHYSICALLY.. Our guys are resilient and CANT BE PROUDER TO CALL THEM "MY GOPHERS"!!! Ski-U-Mah BABY!!! RTB
But these are JUST SOME OF my "perspectives" that weigh on my thinking to be proud this year.
QBs - Realize we had 2 FRESHMAN QBs who were not 5 star guys that led us to victory against ranked or significant opponents. (Annexstad against Fresno State and Morgan against Purdue, Wisconsin, and the bowl win)
RBs - we went deep to the bench to get a guy that had over 1000 yards rushing.. He would have been at least 3rd string or lower had everyone been healthy, in all probability. Look at the list for next year. (Smith, Brooks, Ibrahim, Bryan Williams, Nolan Edmonds, Williamson, Wiley, and Potts as freshmen). That is 8 TAILBACKS.
WR - Tyler Johnson is deluxe but he has a partner to draw coverage away in Rashod Batemen. Chris Autman Bell as well.. They block excellent
TE - Guys sacrificed in stats to be another blocker essentially, in this offense.. I am going to miss Beebe for sure.
Offensive line - Faalele and Andries look like future bookends... Thought losing Greene would be bad but we did not skip a beat when Andries went to tackle and Dunlap came in at guard. Once we get DEVELOPED depth at these positions, we should be competitive with anyone in the west division of the Big Ten, year in and year out.
D-line - Guys worked their tails off, especially when Rossi was named coordinator. Lots of different bodies helped
LB - Cashman and Martin were studs this year. Barber and Huff showed fantastic in the bowl game/
DBs - Terrell Smith has a big time future and we played well as a unit.
Special teams was very good again.
TO END THIS, THINK ABOUT THIS YEAR COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARS... A freshman with no experience starting at QB, top 2 RBs hurt, our best defensive player(Winfield) was out for most of the season, Our top LB Cashman was out for the bowl game... IN YEARS PAST, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AS MENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE AS LOSING THEM PHYSICALLY.. Our guys are resilient and CANT BE PROUDER TO CALL THEM "MY GOPHERS"!!! Ski-U-Mah BABY!!! RTB
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