Golden Nugz - 08.23.10 - a TDG announcement

Before we get to the Monday AM Nugz we have an announcement to make.  TDG has added a couple new authors.  Jeff from Gopher Football Blog and Jeremy from the same blog and Off Tackle Empire (formerly known as RivalryEsq) are joining us here at TDG.  This is exciting for us as we now have five us who are going to be writing giving you varying perspectives to all things Gopher football (then we hopefully get PJS back on a semi-regular basis during basketball).  This is good timing as football is oh so close and you can expect a big increase in content starting today.

On to some Gopher Nugz!

Tom Powers has my favorite Gopher article of the year so far.  He writes a piece on Sunday that is equal parts optimism and reality.  He rightfully points out that Brewster's current freshmen is actually a pretty solid class in spite of not landing any monster recruits.  He reports how Brewster will evaluate Saturday's scrimmage.

He said his players would be graded on three fronts: smart play, technique and the ability to finish a play. The first one, he said, is most important, adding that his players appeared to be very heads-up on Saturday.

"If a guy makes mental mistakes, I can't play him," he noted.

I hope Brewster sticks to that.  And finally Powers wonders why everything is looking up wondering why the sky is falling?

After a disastrous 1-11 campaign in 2007, Brewster's teams have gone 13-13 the past two seasons. That may not be great, but I'm not sure why so many people are predicting the end of the world this season. The Gophers aren't even getting credit for being mediocre.

I don't know how good the Gophers will be, but that is my favorite line of the year so far.

• Marcus talks with John Butler about who is going to be starting at LB.
  

  Linebackers coach John Butler had an easy decision to make a year ago after training camp.

   

  He had three seniors who were locks at the top of the depth chart at linebacker. And they started every game for the University of Minnesota football team last season.

   

  Things aren't as clear this time for Butler. He expects sophomore Mike Rallis to start at strong-side linebacker. But middle linebacker and weak-side linebacker are still open.

  "There's a group of five kids battling for the next spots," Butler said about Gary Tinsley, Spencer Reeves, Keanon Cooper, Aaron Hill and Brent Singleton

  Should be interesting.

   

• Here is a good article on SBN and an interview with SBN's CEO, Jim Bankoff.  For those of you who may wonder about TDG's bosses, this gives you a little background.
  
• Here is a video interview of one of the Gopher's strength and conditioning coach Cal Dietz.  the interview is conducted by former Gopher Darrel Reid.
• Detroit News is also predicting the demise of the Golden Gophers.
• Now I can say, our own JDMill has the Closing Arguments for the Gophers over at Off Tackle Empire.
• Eric Decker had 5 catches and 66 yards on Saturday.  Garrett Brown had a tackle for loss.