Minnesota Gophers Football: Spring Game Recap - How Many Points Scored?! Elijah Spencer is a Beast!

I don't know about you but I saw a lot of explosive plays in this spring game and I'm ready for football what we're gonna do here we're just gonna keep rowing your daily podcast on the Minnesota Golden Gopher Returns part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day we're just gonna keep rolling keep rolling and keep rolling [Music] you are listening to locked on Golden Gophers part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day I'm Kane Robb host of the podcast former Collegiate football video coordinator and recruiting assistant here to talk Golden Gophers with you each and every day of the week Monday through Friday but it's Saturday folks we got that extra show going for you today and that is because the Gopher spring game has concluded it played this morning and boy oh boy was there some fireworks to go with that one now before we dive into it all we'll talk offense we'll talk defense we'll talk key takeaways to look towards the future into the fall but I am just so excited and I want you all to know that we are not done talking Gophers football Gophers Sports in general because this show is going to continue to go through the off season so hit that subscribe button over on YouTube Make sure you do not miss any of the content that is to come and if you don't have YouTube you can still join now it's free but you can find us at lockdown Golden Gophers anywhere you find podcasts as well let's talk about this spring game because it was a high high-powered lots of scoring and lots of points on the board now we'll start with the offensive side of ball let's talk about what happened because you know I feel like as gopher fans as Minnesota sports fans we can tend to be a little bit too reactionary right from the jump and if you were watching this one from the jump you were probably like whoa Ethan Kelly McManus is the starting quarterback and we've gone three drives with him as the quarterback and punted punted punted what is happening why isn't there fireworks why isn't this thing going it took them a little bit to get ramped up it happens again we've talked about how this spring session is really feeling things out and getting a feel for it all but it all started to come together as the game went on now you have to feel a little bit good a little bit comfortable about seeing Cole Cramer out there and slinging that thing around accurately as well knowing that we have a high quality backup right there as well two guys that can get it done I would not be surprised now don't don't don't hear what I'm not saying here but I wouldn't be surprised if the Gophers added another quarterback to this room not because they necessarily need one not because those guys didn't get it done but just because there's three scholarship quarterbacks in this room there are scholarships available on this roster and it doesn't hurt to have another mind another body in that room helping with this team now is that guaranteed absolutely not but I did like what I saw from Ethan Kelly McManus as he got more warmed up into the mid second quarter and Beyond I think you started to really see that connection with him and some of these receivers which you love because the connection he was making with some of these receivers that we will dive into were some of the newer guys as well so you definitely love to see that connection that that that chemistry building because it was something I'm not even we're not even gonna try to hold off into this one we're gonna talk about it right away Elijah Spencer Ethan Kelly McManus they found a connection in this game that led to 11 that's right 1 1 11 total receptions for Elijah Spencer in this game now I had talked to you yesterday in our show yesterday about standouts on the offense I mentioned Daniel Jackson I mentioned Elijah Spencer and you saw it firsthand what he can do the talent he has and I talked about how John Vogel a draft analyst had said he popped off the tape over at Charlotte and when he went and watched him as well well you saw it firsthand folks you saw the ability there and you know what a lot of people might be like well a lot of it was just Slants look it is not just easy to just go and get a slant over and over and over if it was everybody would do it but you have to have the footwork you have to have the release you have to have the timing of it and if you can perfect that timing you could perfect the release of the slant you can have that two to three yards of Separation that makes it extremely difficult to stop and that's what we saw from Elijah Spencer in this game over and over and over and you know what we even found him on a uh underneath drag route as well later in the timing between those two you love to see it because this is early on in the process folks we haven't even gotten to the real times of fall camp we haven't even got to the live live game reps but it is connecting and it is looking good and it wasn't just with Elijah Spencer you saw connections with Corey crooms as well in this one that's a lot of potential you look at the other side the other offense of the gold team and you're seeing Cole Cramer drop absolute dimes to lamecky Brockington who ended up winning the MVP of this game had two huge explosive plays both of them I believe over 50 yards one of them ending in a touchdown the other ending on the two yard line that turned into a touchdown if you didn't walk away from this game saying wow the Gophers have some real wide receivers in this one then I don't know what to tell you because I can't just give you my eyes to show you look they can do this thing they can pass the ball it is an exciting time for this team and hopefully we will continue to see that passing carry over into the actual season and I believe we will because if you look at the depth of this team you look at the roster and it's makeup it is built to pass the ball more Now is it going to be 100 passing air raid type offense absolutely not you're going to see a lot of running the ball still but I do think we will see a lot more passing opportunities and we saw that today in the spring game and it came with a lot of success you saw opportunities from Elijah Spencer uh lamecky Brockington and Corey crooms you also saw two or three nice catches from Daniel Jackson before they kind of put him on ice for the rest of the day you have uh Chris ottman Bell coming back as well in the fall look so much talent and that it hasn't even brought up brevin's band forward coming back as well as a tight end that is an absolute threat in the passing game we're gonna pass the ball so sit back relax enjoy it it is going to be a great time on the passing front but we're not just talking about the passing because the running backs are something I want to talk about as well there were huge flashes in this game from Zach Evans from Darius Taylor now Bryce Williams and Sean Tyler both got a little bit of a rest a little bit less work today and Coach Flex said in the presser after the game it's because they're older guys they don't need all these reps they don't need all this extra time because they have a lot of experience in playing time so they wanted to see some of the younger guys back and it was nice to have a full healthy room ready and running and I have said this on the show before Daniel house friend of the show has said this on the show before Zach Evans in the acceleration the speed the second gear you saw it firsthand today folks that 75-yard touchdown run where where he not only breaks into the middle of the field but then he hits the second gear to put on the Jets and then he has the wiggle to get by Coleman Bryson to finish off and cap off a huge long run that's something we haven't seen with this team in quite some time not saying that the running backs we've had aren't talented or they don't have they just don't have that long end speed and we're not used to seeing that but we saw it firsthand today and that should have you excited because not only was it prevalent on the big run but he showed wiggle on the short runs he showed opportunities to find the hole Zach Evans is a very intriguing guy I've said it before but I do truly believe he will end up eventually the lead back of this room in the 2023 season now will it start game one like that I don't know time will tell but I think the intention is to get him a lot of carries this year I could see him in there a lot I could see uh Sean Tyler complimenting him Bryce Williams could compliment at times and Darius Taylor if you did not get excited by Darius Taylor running the ball today I don't know what to tell you but what I can tell you is a fun little something I overheard on the Gold Team Sidelines from Star safety Tyler Newman talking to fellow teammate Darius green and a couple others around him but it was on the the drive where they're heading towards the end zone Darius Taylor is in for the white team he gets a carry he's kind of just Trucking through the middle of it all uh it was probably the loudest hit in the game between uh Darius Taylor and Aidan gowsby both of them make contact and it was absolutely like you heard it wherever you were in the athletes Village you heard that loud bang and you know what everyone was like oh but no it was a great run he runs with great power and Tyler Newman said I'm telling you he runs like Braylon Allen he's he's got that type of style like if that look I I can't put it into words that is what the type of Runner the type of style the type of aggression the type of force that we see from a true freshman that is ready to get down and get in there PJ SEC wow PJ Fleck excuse me said in the presser trying to talk too fast here PJ Fleck said in the presser that those are the things you don't see from True freshmen those are the things that you see slowly come along as they get a feel for it being able to lower the pads and just get in there and take the contact and fight through it and drive their legs but you see that from Darius Taylor from the jump and that has to get you excited then he goes in the next play and he pushes it in for a touchdown I do think I truly do think we're gonna see some Darius Taylor in actual games this season I think this running back room is going to be a combination of the three to four backs and I think it is going to depend on the situation what they need but the offense is exciting there's a lot of things that you can gather from this game and that's not to say it was perfect because there were definitely miscommunications there were some bad balls thrown out there eighth Kelly McManus had a very regrettable interception that he threw out there you can't really get a feel for the offensive line because their mixture of the one ones and the twos and sometimes even the threes on both teams so you're not really getting a full idea of the offensive line game uh because it's all mixed up but there's a lot of excitement and a lot of explosive plays we saw in this thing from the running back side of things from the passing side of things from the receiving side of things this Gophers team can move the field and that should be exciting for Gophers fans but is there worry on defense should we be panicking that this game was a 36 to 34 finish is that too many points going up is this defense still going to be a top 10 unit we're going to address those concerns coming up next but first I want to give a quick mention to our friends over at build bar you can head on over to built.com to get a get your hands on the best protein bar out there power packing 17 grams of protein and it tastes good look sign me up and you can sign up over at built.com save yourself 15 by using locked on 15 as a promo code again that's locked on 15 for 15 off your order choose the best flavor that sounds good to you get that bad boy shipped to your house and you will not regret it it'll tide you over from breakfast to lunch lunch to dinner or it's great for after a workout as well but definitely try it out at built.com now Gophers fans thank you so much for making locked on Golden Gophers your first listen when it comes to gopher's daily Sports and we are not done yet we're going daily even past the spring game we're going to talk about recruiting targets we're going to talk about transfer portal and who could be in there who could be coming out there who has the interest from the Gopher staff and then we're also going to talk about you know some of the things to continue to watch for moving forward we'll also talk about the future of hockey the future of basketball so hit subscribe so you don't miss any of it at all and thank you to all those out there that are every day or so you're tuning in each and every day and I want to hear from you drop a comment in the YouTube comments let me know what you want to hear this off season let me know maybe top five top 10 lists that you want to know you want debated and all of that or what players you want to hear from because I am willing to go out there get in contact with these players get in contact with these uh SIDS to get them on the show and have some fun have the the questions you you want answered here on lockdown Golden Gophers so definitely let me know who you want on here uh what topics you want to hear about this off season we're going all in and it's going to be great but let's talk about the defensive side of things let's talk about should we be concerned after this spring game with all the points that went up and we're so used to this team being such a lockdown team on defense should we hit the panic button is it the the dog sitting in the room on fire this is fine no it is okay this spring game environment this spring game format is not built for the type or style of defense that this team likes to play this team likes to play a type of style that can adjust that can make rapid adjustments that can take the the moments where they're off the field and really hone in on how they can address how they can expose the quarterback how they can create confusion and Chaos this isn't the environment that has that in fact the team was so so short on bodies at the DB position that there were some players that ended up playing both on team gold and on team maroon so there's no need to panic those type of depth questions will be answered in the portal but it was nice to see some adjustments there were sacks being had in this game and again some miscommunications with the offensive line being different guys that maybe don't always play together but still you're also missing an interior presence in Devon East who did not play today for the Gophers still coming back from the injury he suffered back on April 11th but he was a big time player for this defensive unit the defensive line the interior this spring he wasn't in there that's an adjustment on top of that it's just there's no need to freak out coach Rossi will get it done like he has for the past two years now putting together a talented defense that plays to the strengths of his Personnel but you have to remember that Personnel was split into two different teams in this spring game and it's not the same chemistry it's not the same communication across the board so don't freak out in this instance we know that this team on the defensive side of ball hasn't had as much depth this season now there's a lot of Heavy Hitters in there and it is still cleaning up the fundamentals it is still getting the the nitty-gritty details down and that's not just going to be absolutely locked in here in the spring this is one of the hardest working grow first groups according to coach Fleck according to coach Rossi and so there's still work to be done there's a lot of growth that has happened but there's still more that needs to happen so don't freak out now is there room for improvement absolutely I think we're going to need more stepping up from the cornerback position you saw it firsthand Elijah Spencer was Finding so much separation between the cornerbacks that we could attack over and over and over now if we go out and we do that on a Saturday there are going to be teams that continue to do it until you can answer the call but you're also not taking into consideration that Tyler Newman played three snaps in this game maybe five total that's a huge leader of the defense not out there you're not taking into fact that Justin Wally got off the field after a certain amount of snaps even Daniel Jackson got off the field after a certain amount of snaps you're just getting a taste for it all so be happy with the flashes we saw but know there are improvements to come there is no need to panic now one name that I want to bring up on the show today was Colton Gregerson because you know what redshirt freshman hasn't really had a ton of opportunity you don't really hear much about him overall did have two sacks in this game absolutely cooked Ariana the starting left tackle on one play to get a sack on Eighth and Cali Menace now later Ethan really got him to bite hard on another play where Ethan just walked into the end zone for a touchdown to put the team up the white Team Up by 31-24 eventually the game would be tied 34-34 and go on to finish with each team getting an extra point attempt and the uh gold team AKA just the gold team I guess white team was the maroon team little confusion there I get it kind of weird but whatever Athen scores that touchdown they come on they score and tie the game two field goals back and back and then you get two extra point attempts one for each side and the goal old team walks away as the winner lots of things to be excited about in this game lots of things to maybe be like okay we still need some improvements there's still some work to be done but overall I think it was a good successful spring game there were some explosive plays there were some fun there was some action it wasn't boring so I think you should take this spring game walking away with a victory feeling good and ready and excited for football I know I am now I got to tell you so the media section we kind of were all talking before the game happened and we were like you know let's let's do a little friendly call your own shot who's going to be the spring game MVP uh we had two media members who picked Corey crooms myself I took Elijah Spencer one media member said Christian Hoskins lots of love for those receivers out there so you can see where this thing is trending in the passing game but then uh there was another media member who threw out Max Grand and uh eventually Dan Owens he didn't get in it on time but he said if he would have picked he would have picked Zach Evans so he would have won but he wasn't there right there um but Elijah Spencer hung my head on that one proud of him proud of the work he did unfortunately didn't get it done because the white team or the maroon team again confusion didn't come away with the victory but overall a successful spring game lots to be intrigued about but I want to wrap this thing up with three things that we need to look for or look need to improve heading into the fall three things to stress that's how we're gonna close the show coming up next all right Gophers fans here we go the spring game's over we're heading into the fall fall is where it all matters you win the starting job within the first two weeks of fall that's where it happens coach Fleck said that himself today in the pressers so what are the questions we still heavily need addressed heading into the fall well I think answer number one is what is this final roster going to look like answer question number one is who comes out of that transfer portal what players I feel like the team has to add at least one cornerback maybe you add two but I think at least one is going to be added maybe you add one linebacker depth maybe you add one quarterback for depth think it's up in the air I do not think you're gonna see a wide receiver addressed in this portal unless someone hits it but hopefully not this wide receiver room is really special I I don't think you'll see a running back Edition at all maybe you could see an offensive line but I think the Gophers have liked what they've seen from their depth at the offensive line so I'm not too sure on that one but I do think cornerback maybe linebacker and maybe quarterback are kind of those top three positions that you see looked at in this portal we'll keep you posted on what we see here but that is question number one how does this roster fill out question number two how does the running back room break down because we saw a lot of exciting things today we saw Zach Evans uh highlighted we saw Darius Taylor get some moments even Jordan nubin got some great moments today and showed that he can be in there and do what the coaches ask him to do he could be a great piece a great depth piece for this team but how does it all shake out because that's not taking into account Sean Tyler that's not taking into account Bryce Williams and maybe we'll see some some movement over this portal season hopefully not but there's a lot to be understood in this running back room with a team who absolutely loves to run the ball so that is question number two how do we move forward with that but then question number three in my opinion is what does the offensive line look like you kind of have an idea of what the defense is going to be outside of the transfer editions I don't think there's going to be too many impact players outside of maybe a cornerback or so so the defense you're starting to get a solid grasp on it and you want to see how the pass rush goes and all of that jazz but nothing drastic is going to change from now until fall in my opinion but there are three jobs to be one on that offensive line position and I don't know if they're fully locked in yet I don't if I had to take a shot in the dark I'm going Martez Lewis out at the right tackle I'm going Carter shot in at the left Garden I'm going Nathan Beau at the center but Tyler Cooper is still in that battle JJ good day is still in that battle who knows how this thing shakes out so I think the offensive line the running back room knowing the identity of this team in the past those are going to be key things now we see the passing game shifting but still we kind of know what that looks like but we don't with the running back room or the offensive line for certain so those two huge questions and then what additions come to this team to help fill it out those are the three things to focus on this spring or heading into the fall it was a great spring it was an exciting spring game and we've got so much more to talk about this week and more here at lockdown Golden Gophers now for a reminder for y'all of what we're going to talk about next week we're going to talk about are the QB departures that we've seen showing that Ethan is that guy we're going to talk about should transfer departures be a worry this week we're going to talk about the latest recruiting notes and top targets for the Minnesota Gophers and then I have this special topic that I need to address that you are not going to want to miss and that is coming up later this week as well because there's a lot of fan bases that have something to say about Coach Fleck and I want to address that here on this podcast so be sure to hit subscribe be sure to follow wherever you get your podcast and I will see you later this week grow the boat Sky you Ma Go Gophers let's foreign foreign