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Minnesota football: PJ Fleck’s boat running out of gas in 2018?

By Patrick Mayhorn

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 21: The Minnesota Golden Gophers celebrate a touchdown by teammate Jonathan Celestin #13 after an interception against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the fourth quarter of the game on October 21, 2017 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Golden Gophers defeated the Fighting Illini 24-17. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 21: The Minnesota Golden Gophers celebrate a touchdown by teammate Jonathan Celestin #13 after an interception against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the fourth quarter of the game on October 21, 2017 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Golden Gophers defeated the Fighting Illini 24-17. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

Offense

Minnesota’s offense can’t be much worse than they were last year. They couldn’t pass, were ineffective running, and had no real consistency. The good news is that everywhere but the quarterback should be better. Unfortunately, the quarterback is the most important position of the field.

Co-starters Conor Rhoda and Demry Croft are both gone. While neither was very good, that means that Fleck once again has to start over at quarterback.

The answer will probably be Tanner Morgan. The redshirt freshman is the only scholarship quarterback on the roster. Freshman Zack Annexstad is a preferred walk-on. That’s, well, not great.

Morgan seems like he’ll be serviceable, but he’s still going to hold the offense back. He was never meant to play this early, and throwing him into the fire at 19 years old is a recipe for struggles. Especially in Fleck’s system, that relies on reads and options.

More: Who starts at quarterback for Minnesota in 2018?

With so many questions at quarterback, a lot of weight will be put on the running game. Rodney Smith should be able to shoulder a lot of that. He was pretty good last year, and he’s been doing this for a long time. The senior will never be elite, but he’s good enough to lead this offense.

Smith has some exciting young backups too, in Mohamed Ibrahim, Nolan Edmonds, Dominik London and Bryce Williams. They won’t see a ton of touches, but they’ll be good enough to fill in when Smith needs a breather.

The receivers should also be exciting and good. They were extremely young last year, and almost all of them are back. Tyler Johnson and Phillip Howard lead the group, and both put up pretty decent numbers last year. Johnson is unquestionably the best receiver on the team.

They should be pretty solid up front too. Both starting guards are gone, but the depth is there for them to survive. Both Donnell Greene and Sam Schlueter were pretty good at tackle last year. Jared Weyler and Conner Olson were solid at center. The two deep is packed with talent, and it shouldn’t be too hard to fill gaps. Oh, and they have a 6-foot-9, 400-pound freshman in Daniel Faalele. That’s fun.

Picking up the slack

If Minnesota moves the ball in the air this year, it’ll be because of the receivers. I like Morgan, but he’s not going to be ready this year. He needs all the help he can get, and luckily, this receiver room has a ton of potential.

After Johnson and Howard, Demetrius Douglas, Ko Kieft, and Chris Autman-Bell are all super young, but could be awesome. There are targets to spread around this year, and any of those guys could be ready to step up. Minnesota needs them to be.

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