Gopher Skill Players: Top 10 for 2015

Everyone loves a countdown, right?  Except when it’s one of those bleacher report style click-bait things.  Screw that noise.

For 2015, the Gophers start the year with a huge question. How do they replace the production of  David Cobb and Maxx Williams on offense?  

For this countdown, I'm excluding the quarterback from offensive "skill positions" because we know we’ll have Mitch Leidner back .  Manning Camp Mitch is going to have even more weight on his shoulders coming into this year as he and the staff search to find the guy(s) who should get the ball.  The good news is there are many candidates.

As usual, Kill plays it pretty close to the vest.  Throughout the spring and into the summer we've heard him praise a number of different players in classic Jerry Kill generalities:  "Did a nice job", "Had a good day",  "Really playing well", "I like him a lot," etc. 

We’ve also seen that those at the top of the proverbial depth chart pre-season may not be who we find starting to close out the year.  To recap, here’s what the Gophers are losing from 2014 as far as receiving and rushing goes:

That’s 1728 of 2813 rushing yards (61.4%) and 1285 of 1844 (69.7%) of receiving yardage. 

I’m going to use a proprietary blend of dynamic-ness/upside-ness and playing time.  It’s all very scientific and totally on the level, trust me:

10.  (5-way tie!) Lincoln Plsek /Jerry Gibson/Duke Anyanwu /Brandon Lingen/Nate Wozniak, TEs -  So, right from the start I’m cheating.  This is a hugely important position in the Limgrover offense, but I haven't a clue who gets the bulk of the catches.

With Anyanwu (RSSo.) and Plsek (Sr.) both recovering from knee and back injuries respectively, the door cracks open a little bit more for someone else to step up.  At this point, it appears Plsek is in risk of missing the opener, but Anyanwu is out just a couple of weeks. Plsek is more of a classic blocking tight end with Anyanwu with more speed and athleticism. 

Gibson may or may not be ready for prime time yet as a redshirt freshman.  He's a heck of an athlete though and next to Lingen and Anyanwu may be the most likely to be that receiving tight end.  “Six-foot-Ten” Nate Wozniak deserves a special shout-out because Kill mentioned him at Big Ten Media days and again after the scrimmage.  It’s hard to believe Wozniak can play every down – I would expect more of a specialist with his length.  Lingen also getting a lot of praise and had a decent amount of run as a true freshman last year  Maybe he’s the guy? It’ll probably end up being one of the other nine tight ends on the roster.   ¯\(°_o)/¯

9.  Eric Carter, WR – The redshirt sophomore had just one catch last year, but it wasn’t too long ago that many were high on his prospects.  He made a nice 12 yard catch on third down on the first drive of the gopher fall scrimmage.  He's not a starter yet, but with only two returning receivers with 10+ catches, anyone can make the jump.

8.  Berkley Edwards, RB – Edwards is one of the running backs in the hunt for carries and looks like an option for a change-of-pace runner at 5’9” 195lbs.  He had 30 carries for 140 yards and 2 TDs in 2014 as a redshirt freshman in 2014 and really showed so flashes of being the lightning to someone's thunder.

7.  Melvin Holland Jr., WR -  Jerry Kill calls him gunpowder!  Holland caught a 56 yard pass in the scrimmage from a slant pass against the first team defense.  The RS freshman has a lot of skill and Leidner has said that he has “taken the most strides.”  I really like him as a possession guy that can generate yards after the catch with his elusiveness.

6.  Rodney Smith, RB – The redshirt freshman got the second drive of the fall scrimmage and is in the hunt for major carries this season if Williams doesn’t carry the bulk of the load.  He did get stuffed by Everett Williams on said second drive because the dreads have eyes. 

Everett Williams

5.  Drew Wolitarsky, WR – Wolitarsky at times has shown the ability to find openings in a defense.  Coming off a 10 catch year as a sophomore, he is a likely starter outside.  As important as catching passes, his 6’3”, 220lb frame may need to replace some of the blocking that Isaac Freuchte brought to the squad in 2014. 

4.  Isaiah Gentry, WR – I’m going out on a limb with Gentry in the 4 spot.  He’s 6’4”, can run well and goes up in the air to catch the ball.  A big part of Maxx’s ability to have success was to get those jump balls and I think Gentry can mimic that effect.  When was the last time we had a receiver with size that could go deep?

3.  KJ Maye, WR – KJ is the odds-on favorite to be the leading receiver and also happens to be the returning receiver with the most receptions.  He also jet-sweeped (jetswept?) the Hawkeyes to death last November, which was terrific.  He’s an undersized receiver at 5’10”, but could be very valuable working underneath with some of the younger and bigger players “taking the top off” of defenses.

2.  Rodrick Williams, RB – Nugget seems to be the favorite to replace a lot of the Cobb production.  He committed himself in the off-season and got in better shape anticipating a heavier workload.  In my opinion, he doesn’t have as much of that one-cut ability that Cobb showed, but I like him to be a grinder and break some tackles. I expect him to lead the team in rushing attempts and touchdowns this season.

1.  Jeff Jones, RB/WR – The redshirt freshman has been moved to the slot wide receiver position to catch passes and maybe run some jet sweeps.  The Under Armor All America MVP has come in with a lot of hype out of Washburn Hs and will finally get a chance to show what he can do this year.  I expect him to get some carries from the backfield as well.  By the end of the year, he could be getting a lot of touches per game both on the ground and through the air.  He has all of the talent and skills to be our biggest impact player.

Honorable Mention:  Shannon Brooks (RB), Chris Streveler (QB/WR?), “Six foot Five” Rashad Still (WR), Desmond Gant, WR

What do you think?  Who comes through and shines as a play maker for the Gophers this season?  Who did your buddy TRE miss?  Which one of those tight ends comes through?

Time to Get Down with the Blues Streveler

Is that an airplane bottle of Grey Goose in his sock?

Is it time to get on board with Chris Streveler?


Its early, certainly, but I think I may have already seen enough.  Sure, we haven't really seen him throw at all and his only start has come against a San Jose St squad that wasn't ready for the for the crushing running game (again); but aren't you a little excited?

I'll be the first to admit I felt the same exact level of excitement last season when Mitch Leidner romped all over SJSU to the tune of 151 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Leidner even passed the ball better (not exactly well) in that game going 7-12.

However, watching Streveler run the read option was a thing of beauty.  When he saw he could take the edge he just exploded out there like flippin' rocketship.  He's got speed and power and has shown the ability to make good decisions on the run.  He was named co-Big Ten freshman of the week with his 161 yards on the ground and now finds himself 3rd all-time for a Gopher single game rushing by a quarterback.

The passing obviously wasn't anything to write home about, but I have a few thoughts.  First of all, how many times have we all heard the old cliches about getting your quarterback a few completions early to get into the flow of the game?  Especially in big games like the Superbowl you'll hear about getting the quarterback a short completion or two just to ease the nerves.  I imagine Strev's nerves were at about an 11 for this game, and with only throwing the ball 7 times and just twice in the first half, it's hard to expect much at all.

That being said, the deep ball he threw was on target and certainly could have been caught, but the WRs are probably as cold as the QB is on plays like this.  There was another play that looked a little interference-y to me too.  It also seemed to me that Streveler was either making the right reads or his number one targets were getting open, which is good.  His release seemed quick, but a couple of the throws it looked like he threw them a tick too late and by the time the ball got there the receiver was no longer quite as open.  The good news on those types of things is that the arm is there, the release is there, its just getting a feel for the speed on the field.

We've also gotten a heavy dose of Streveler's personality in the past week.  His celebration on a monster run (which my drunken memory believes was called back, but who cares) was epic and he had this to say about it on twitter:

This is me wondering why I haven't completed a pass yet #gophers pic.twitter.com/c18W2lIMkW
— Chris Streveler (@cstrevy) September 21, 2014

He also was quoted in Marcus Fuller's blog comparing his game against SJSU to Leidner's from a year ago:

“Mitch and I were talking before the game on the similarities,” Streveler said. “I wasn’t really expecting to do anything like that, I was just trying to help the team to be honest. We were more talking about the passing game. I think he had 71 yards (last year vs. San Jose State) I had like seven, so he got me there. The rushing, I got him.”

That's good self-deprecation right there.  CStrevy has the funny.

For all of you saying you can't give up on Mitch Leidner yet, you're right.  However, we've seen much more of him throwing the ball and I'm starting to get a little worried it might not get better.  There's still plenty of time of course and when Mitch gets healthy I'll welcome him back.  For now, I hope Kill resists the urge to bring him back too soon and that his coy comments this week are typical gamesmanship.

When Mitch does return I would support playing both quarterbacks.  Let's keep getting Streveler touches (drives?) and let him be a the spark plug that he's shown to be so far.  All bets are off though if Streveler unleashes some bombs on Michigan in the Big House.

#TBT to when I fought in the civil war pic.twitter.com/W1gVmmQfl3
— Chris Streveler (@cstrevy) July 25, 2014

Gophers Preview: BIG SLINGERS

So did you make it through all of the defensive previews?  You did?  No way! Color me impressed.  To the hundreds (dozens?) of you that are still here we have a special treat.  And to our repeated Ukrainian visitors that keep making their way here, let me say:

Привіт і спасибі за відвідування. Нехай усі ваші вороги вмирають у вогні

Allow those of us at SGH to introduce a new bit we're calling Gopher Numerology!!!  Watch as we confuse and bend numbers to our will in order to receive the outcomes we desire!  Be amazed at the mystic powers of Frothy and TRE as they accurately predict* the future!  Seriously, this is totally happening and you are not on purple drank stumbling around Block E.

In 2014 the quarterback position is as clear as hill people moonshine.  Mitch Leidner is the quarterback and the only way he loses the job is if he suffers from spontaneous combustion, or you know, another injury.  He will not fall on this face as other somewhat-hyped Gopher QBs have.  How do we know?  Freaking Numerology, son.

While we saw some moments from Leidner in 2013, especially on the run, we were left wanting more.  As I was consulting star charts and contemplating the color green I thought to myself:

How many quarterbacks started as a freshman or sophomore and had similar numbers to Leidner?  And self, how did those quarterbacks fare in their second year and how did their last season at quarterback go?

To the googles and sports-reference.com I went.  They have this neat CFB search engine where I looked up 2000-2013 Quarterbacks with similar stats to Leidner.  I used the following thresholds: from 2000 to 2013, requiring Pass Attempts <= 150 and Passing Yards >= 400 and Rushing Yards >= 300 and Rush Attempts <= 150, sorted by descending Passing Efficiency Rating.

I threw out the military schools where they never pass as well as recent QBs that haven't finished their career yet.  I threw out position changes (except Colter) and players that lost their job (the mystics say Leidner will play the next three years). 

Using that list and those assumptions, we're left with a pretty small and interesting list. 

Looking at Leidner's peers here, only Colter and Lovecchio were not drafted by the NFL.  We have a Heisman winner and a finalist in Smith and Young.  Now granted, Leidner is last in passing yards and 3rd to last in rushing yards out of this group, but these are the thresholds that I randomly chose and he didn't play full time in 2013 with Phillip Nelson appearing in 11 games.

Some of these players are elite runners at the quarterback position, and I don't think we'll ever say that about Leidner.

Let's look at how these players performed in their second year:

Lovecchio lost his job to Carlyle Holiday and we'll see him in the final table as a member of the Indiana Hoosiers.  Counting numbers are up across the board with amazing rushing totals and touchdowns.  Smith and Harris clear the 2000 passing yard mark, but passer rating on average goes down as more INTs are thrown. Completion percentage is slightly up despite throwing nearly twice as often. 

Let's skip ahead to each QB's final year:

First, Kain Colter was kind of crazy productive, no?  I mean, this doesn't even count his 63 receptions at Northwestern.  Other than Lovecchio, this group ended up being very, very good.  Tyrod Taylor goes from 2:7 TD:INT ratio as a sophomore to 24:5 as a senior.  VY and Smith are insanely good obviously, with Smith going almost all pocket passing.  White and Harris were monster dual thread guys that really improved their passing numbers as well.  Look at the average, nearly 3000 combined rushing and passing yards and 28 touchdowns.  Sign me up for some of that!  The last Gopher QB to get 2800 combined yards and 25 combined TDs was Adam Weber in 2007... but he also threw 19 interceptions.  Prior to that it was Billy Cockerham in 1999.


I don't think we're sitting on the next Vince Young (but they are the same size!), or Troy Smith,  However, I do think there's evidence that quarterbacks have had a less than overwhelming start to their career and have really progressed, especially as a passer.  Can Leidner become an even better runner and do more damage through the air this year?

TRE's Grade

Rubric: Marc Trestman - F

I'm using Marc Trestman because when I was delving into sports-reference.com I found myself checking out and being somewhat underwhelmed by Tony Dungy's stats as a Gopher QB.  It was a different era and stuff though, I get that.  In doing so, however, I came across the glory that is Marc Trestman's college football career.  Trestman of course has coached at a number of stops including some assistant work with the Vikings and is the current head coach of the Chicago Bears.  He's known as an offensive minded head coach and last year with the Bears he led them to break several offensive records including total yards.

At Minnesota, Trestman backed up Dungy for a couple of years and then Wendell Avery (who also ended up in coaching for awhile).

Trestman's career stats passing:  10-40, 151 yards, 0 TDs, 3 INTs
That's good for a 47.1 passer rating.  He did score a TD on the ground (32 carries for 31 yards career!).

It must have taken some amazing perseverance to stay in football after a career like that.  Oh wait, he WROTE A BOOK ON PERSEVERENCE!

:blowsout:  So anyway, we're certainly in better shape than that at quarterback with Leidner.  I'm cautiously optimistic about his growth as a passer and we already know he can do some damage with his legs.  Until I see more, hopefully a lot more, I'm giving the QB position a C grade.  If Leidner goes down by the way, hide yo wife and hide yo kids and go to the triple option.

Frothy's Grade

Rubric: Billy Cockerham - B-

Billy was the quarterback during my most formative years as a Gopher fan. And by that I mean I became booze legal during the Cockerham era. The realization that likker effectively numbed the pain of Gopher fandom was a critical finding and one I've wholeheartedly embraced in the subsequent years. Oh, Billy, thank you for being on the field while I walked the path to Robitussin-induced numbness for the first time.

Cockerham had a nice little career with the Gophers. He got some very limited run in his freshmen and sophomore years, split time with Andy Persby during his junior year and was the big man on campus for his senior year. Regarded as one of the better running quarterbacks in Gopher history, he had a decent passing season in the 1999 season, where the Gophers finished with a winning record in the B1G for the first time since Noah built that big boat.

I chose Billy because I think his senior year campaign is what we can expect to see from Leidner this year. Since this is our first run at GOPHER NUMEROLOGY, I figured I'd better include some stats:

My gut feeling is that Leidner 2014 and Cockerham 1999 are fairly comparable: both are oriented in a run-first offense (Thomas Hamner had 1,426 rushing yards in 1999), both are effectively entering their second seasons as contributors and first as full-time starters and both will rely on an opportunistic defense led by a strong secondary. I think Cockerham was a better pure runner than Leidner, but Mitch probably has better passing credentials than Cockerham did.

People have been speculating that, given our lack of experienced depth at QB (we won't be doing a depth chart in this post because the abyss, it is dark) Leidner won't be running very much. I'm not so sure that's the case. The offense is kind of the offense at this point, and I doubt the coaches are going to radically modify their philosophy to accommodate depth concerns at quarterback. In terms of percentage of total plays from scrimmage, I'd expect Leidner to rush less; but that's more of a function of him only passing on 29.7% of the plays. He won't be running on 70% the time, but he's still going to get a healthy share of carries. Begin purchase of Pepto Bismol now.

With regard to passing, I think Cockerham's numbers are at the high end of what we can hope for from Leidner. The completion percentage isn't where we'd like to see it, but I'd be happy with 2,000 yards passing and a 1.5-1 TD-to-INT ratio. Who knows, maybe there's some upside and I just need to believe in the dream? Grade: B-.

(Frothy's starting word count: 12,442; Finishing word count: 12,899)

*Predictions not guaranteed to be accurate.