Improving U Pass Offense? Unknowns Still Lingering

 

Spring practice has come and gone for the Golden Gophers football team and while there is reason for cautious optimism about the upcoming 12-game 2024 season, no personnel unit on offense and defense seems so uncertain as the roster of receivers.

Not since 2019 has Minnesota had an elite passing offense.  Ryan Burns pointed out on his GopherIllustrated Website last week that “Minnesota hasn’t ranked nationally higher than 122^nd in pass attempts in the last three seasons, which is how the Gophers averaged a putrid 143 passing yards a game last year.”

Part of the blame was deservedly targeted last season at quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis who is now the presumed starter at Rutgers next fall.  But Gophers receivers had their issues, too, including with route running and dropped passes.  In 2024 Minnesota returns second team All-Big Ten receiver Daniel Jackson but that’s not enough to clear the murky outlook for the receiver room.

In an interview with Sports Headliners, Burns was asked if the receiver roster and production could be good in 2024.   “I don’t think they’re going to have a really good room.  I have a lot of questions about that room,” said Burns who has an extensive fan following because of his recruiting knowledge and analysis of the Gopher football program.

Jackson was third in the Big Ten in receiving yards with 831 yards and also in touchdowns for pass catchers with eight.  “There’s just so much ambiguity behind Daniel Jackson I really don’t know what to expect,” Burns said.  “I think it (the room) has the potential to be better than it has been the last few years, but I would say the bar for that isn’t exactly high considering the inconsistencies we’ve seen at receiver. …”

Burns made his point while talking about specific receivers including Eiljah Spencer, a promising transfer from Charlotte a year ago, who caught only nine passes for the Gophers in 2023 while starting five games.  Spencer has struggled with dropped balls but is a potential starter along with Jackson and Lemeke Brockington who has considerable potential but missed most of last season with an injury.

Kenric Lanier is a former four-star recruit going into his 2024 redshirt freshman season after playing in just one game last season.  His talent reputation is intriguing as is Georgia transfer Tyler Williams, a redshirt freshman who coming out of high school was considered among the elite prep receivers in the country.

Burns looks at Williams and talks about the Gophers polishing “his clay,” noting he believes the Florida native has different skills “than anything in that receiver room.”  Williams played in two games for Georgia last season before deciding to enter the transfer portal, perhaps because of an ankle injury in the spring and prospects of not receiving as much playing time next fall as desired, per Burns.

Raising hopes about an improved passing game is the addition of Minnesota’s FCS transfer quarterback from New Hampshire.  “With Max Brosmer, I think a lot of the national media is sleeping on Max Brosmer,” Ryan said about the graduate student who recently was included on the Senior Bowl watch list for quarterbacks.

In seven seasons at Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck has only once had a quarterback throw for more than 15 touchdown passes, Burns said.  In 2019 Tanner Morgan threw 30 when he had All-Big Ten receivers Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman.

Burns is hoping for a “souped up Tanner Morgan” in Brosmer who was second team FCS All-American at New Hampshire last year.   “Where you can be accurate, where you can be able to put the ball out on time, give your playmakers a chance to make a play, and just do that consistently.  What that does for this Minnesota offense (in improvement).”

Brosmer is expected to throw more accurately than Kaliakmanis including on intermediate passes. He is also one of at least 14 anticipated new starting quarterbacks in the new 18-member Big Ten. Most of the league will be figuring out how their quarterbacks will settle in next fall, with Burns predicting if Brosmer can total 20 touchdown passes and be “under double digits in turnovers,” that will go a long way in Minnesota improving on last season’s 6-7 record including 3-6 in the Big Ten.

The anemic Minnesota passing offense produced just 16 touchdown passes in 13 games while accumulating 1,884 yards.  The rush offense, usually the program’s bread and butter, was challenged by running back injuries and didn’t provide a lot more production with 2048 yards and 13 touchdowns.  But the running game should be rolling in 2024 with lead back Darius Taylor and a refortified roster of quality backups for Taylor who made All-Big Ten honorable mention as a freshman.

Burns thinks the floor on next season’s record is 4-8, with the ceiling 9-3.  The performances of all players and coaches, of course, will all impact outcomes and so will injuries.  But Burns emphasizes (as was seen last season) without “consistent quarterback” play it’s difficult to win games.

What if Brosmer plays poorly, or is injured?  Well, that’s where things become more dicey.  In the spring the Gophers added Virginia Tech quarterback Dylan Wittke.  He redshirted last season and didn’t see game action.  He didn’t arrive here until late April so it’s difficult to assess Wittke, who was an athletic player coming out of high school in Georgia.

With more experience right now in the Gopher system than Wittke is true freshman Drake Lindsey.  “Minnesota is incredibly, incredibly high on that young man after being able to work with him here this spring,” Burns said.

Lindsey, an Arkansas native, comes from a family of Razorback fans.  There’s an impression here and down in Hog country the Razorbacks didn’t push hard enough to recruit the hometown quarterback. Any last minute recruiting rush, Burns said, was apparently negated by all the work and time Fleck and co-offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. had already invested on the three-star quarterback.

This spring Burns saw why Lindsey was a recruiting priority. “Drake Lindsay just looked different to me than other true freshman quarterbacks I’ve seen.  He was very poised.  Nothing really flustered him. Now (it’s true) he was drinking through a fire hose (learning so much). He’d make a great play one time; then the next time would not make a great play but I think his poise DNA ability to make plays is something that excites me.”

That’s good to hear because as recent history shows, the Gophers need help in a lot of places to raise the production of their passing offense.