Jerry Kill will enter his second year as the head coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and this season may look a lot like last year's 3-10 campaign.
Another Big 10 team, and another signal caller who is a better athlete than a passer. MarQueis Gray is a former wide out turned QB, and like many cut from that cloth, he is a better running with the football than throwing it. Whereas that could be an issue for most programs, for Minnesota I am not sure how much it will adversely effect them considering that Gray does not have an abundance of talent around him. JR RB James Gillum transfers to Minneapolis, but I am not all that excited about him. Also, none of the receiving weapons seem all that dangerous either. Event the big boys upfront lack a standout to anchor that line.
Defensively there seems to be a little more promise. Unfortunately for the Gophers, that promise is not with the front four. Looking over this roster, it is difficult to anticipate much of a pass rush, as no one stands out as exceptional at penetrating. There is some talent at linebacker though. SR MLB Mike Rallis is an overall quality player, and backing him up this year is former Florida Gator, JR Brendan Beal. Beal is somewhat typical of a Florida player. He has good speed, good instincts, and good power. The more he gets on the field, the better Minnesota will be. In the secondary, converted wide out, SR Troy Stoudermire is the teams top player. He shows a good nose for the ball, but his technique can still use some improvement. He is opportunistic though, so if the opposing team makes a mistake, he will usually take advantage.
Overall, the 2013 version of the Golden Gophers do not project to be much better than the 2012 version was. Kill needs to hit the recruiting trail, and start landing some better talent if he wants to develop this program into a factor in the Big 10.
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