The Daily Gopher - Gophers’ Ghosts of Quarterbacks PastYour online home for Minnesota Golden Gophers football, basketball and hockey.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49211/daily-gopher-fave.png2018-07-06T07:05:02-05:00http://www.thedailygopher.com/rss/stream/172571712018-07-06T07:05:02-05:002018-07-06T07:05:02-05:00Chris Streveler was a quarterback playing wide receiver
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<img alt="Minnesota v TCU" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eiodP9luZISimOrcF1EqO-HgG7A=/0x187:2001x1521/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60175647/455394924.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The one who got away... and became a finalist for the Walter Payton Award</p> <p id="jkBAMr">No position group has bedeviled the <a href="https://www.thedailygopher.com/"><strong>Minnesota Golden Gophers</strong></a> over the last decade quite like the signal callers under center. This fall, the team’s fate would seems to rest in the inexperienced hands of redshirt freshman Tanner Morgan. Should he turn out to be competent, it will have been a long and strange road, riddled with the unfulfilled potential of countless Gopher quarterbacks.</p>
<p id="R9bU5f">Today we turn the spotlight to: <span><strong>Chris Streveler</strong></span>.</p>
<h3 id="S7rIN8"><strong>As a Prospect</strong></h3>
<p id="RZlX25"><strong>247 Sports Composite Rating</strong>: <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Chris-Streveler-21997//high-school-34764">.8117</a><br><strong>Scholarship Offers</strong>: None</p>
<p id="5Y3qYN"><span>Streveler</span> had a stellar high school career at Marian Central Catholic High School in Illinois, leading his team to identical 11-1 records and conference championships as both a junior and a senior. Both teams also advanced to the state quarterfinals. As a junior, Streveler passed for 2,456 yards and 26 touchdowns, in addition to rushing for 970 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was named first-team All-State as a senior, when he finished the season 172-of-250 (68.8%) for 2,662 passing yards and 26 touchdowns, to go along with 1,276 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.</p>
<h3 id="qa2WPi"><strong>As a Gopher</strong></h3>
<p id="ZPqhnU">As a redshirt freshman, Streveler served as back-up to <span>Mitch Leidner</span>, who won the starting role after <span>Philip Nelson</span> opted to transfer in January. But in the third game of the season, Leidner left the game in the fourth quarter after suffering a knee injury. Streveler was inserted for the rest of the game and then tabbed as the starter the following week against San Jose State.</p>
<p id="gQyorH">It was a bizarre game.</p>
<p id="ZJ2s0C">The Gophers bested the Spartans 24-7 behind an impressive 207-yard rushing performance from running back <span>David Cobb</span> and 161 rushing yards and one touchdown from Streveler, who was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his efforts.</p>
<p id="f8zYf7">But Minnesota only attempted seven passes all game and completed just one of them, which came on a seven-yard pass to <span>Drew Wolitarsky</span> late in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p id="MeviiL">The game was also suspended for an hour in the fourth quarter due to lightning.</p>
<p id="n6fPvs">After that, he only saw action at quarterback in three games during the rest of his career at Minnesota, and none of the snaps were meaningful.</p>
<p id="lIgtgW">Streveler followed a familiar path that had been tread before. <span>MarQueis Gray</span> came in a quarterback under Tim Brewster and left a wide receiver under Kill. Donovahn Jones was recruited by Kill as a quarterback and almost immediately transitioned to wide receiver. For some reason, Kill and co. were fixated on recruiting quarterbacks with “positional flexibility.” In the case of Streveler, the staff for some reason seemed confident he was never going to see the field as a quarterback, so the switch to wide receiver was to get him on the field.</p>
<p id="FWLMfJ">Except that it didn’t. When it became clear in the spring after his redshirt sophomore season that he was not going to be near the top of the depth chart at wide receiver, Streveler transferred.</p>
<h3 id="0idky9"><strong>Where is he now?</strong></h3>
<p id="vuf3XE"><a href="https://www.thedailygopher.com/2018/6/15/17467752/minnesota-football-chris-streveler-drew-wolitarsky-touchdown-cfl-winnipeg">Throwing touchdown passes</a> to former Gophers wide receiver <span>Drew Wolitarsky</span> as the starting quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. When he earned the starting nod for their season opener last month, Streveler became the first quarterback to start a CFL game coming out of college since 1994.</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Bombers strike again! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFLKickoff?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CFLKickoff</a> <a href="https://t.co/7pv9zxCGVC">pic.twitter.com/7pv9zxCGVC</a></p>— TSN (@TSN_Sports) <a href="https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1007491122296512512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h3 id="1McDJY"><strong>Final Word</strong></h3>
<p id="HfmMWp">In two seasons at South Dakota, Streveler passed for 6,081 passing yards and 54 touchdowns. He was even named MVFC Offensive Player of the Year as a senior and selected as a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, which is awarded annually to the top offensive player in the FCS.</p>
<div id="bGKn40"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k1aJGJjwWxA?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="Z59PGQ">This is the same quarterback who was 4-for-11 for 37 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception in the two seasons he spent at Minnesota.</p>
<p id="u4gNnF">It’s baffling to me that Kill, offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski either didn’t recognize what Streveler was capable of as a quarterback or that none of them were capable of developing it. I mean, it’s not <em>that</em> surprising when you consider their track record at the quarterback position at Minnesota, but it’s frustrating and disappointing, to say the least. Especially when you consider that his chief competition, <span>Mitch Leidner</span>, struggled mightily.</p>
<p id="f1hUdQ">But I’ll get into that more in our next post.</p>
<div id="qI2N8V"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Po1AzA63MwM?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="QjwK3N">Next: <strong>Mitch Leidner</strong>.</p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2018/7/6/17501884/minnesota-football-chris-streveler-gopher-quarterbackBlake Ruane2018-07-03T07:05:01-05:002018-07-03T07:05:01-05:00The ugly end of the Philip Nelson era
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<img alt="Minnesota v Michigan State" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EQmxvPj4RNw9IQvz9l7Zgjur9-U=/0x110:2620x1857/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60208999/452633273.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Mark A. Cunningham/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The quarterback of a future that never came to pass</p> <p id="jkBAMr">No position group has bedeviled the <a href="https://www.thedailygopher.com/"><strong>Minnesota Golden Gophers</strong></a> over the last decade quite like the signal callers under center. This fall, the team’s fate would seems to rest in the inexperienced hands of redshirt freshman Tanner Morgan. Should he turn out to be competent, it will have been a long and strange road, riddled with the unfulfilled potential of countless Gopher quarterbacks.</p>
<p id="R9bU5f">Today we turn the spotlight to: <span><strong>Philip Nelson</strong></span>.</p>
<h3 id="TtWo8W"><strong>As a Prospect</strong></h3>
<p id="PmPt0n"><strong>247 Sports Composite Rating</strong>: <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Philip-Nelson-8697//high-school-11340">.8624</a><br><strong>Scholarship Offers</strong>: None</p>
<p id="f9cPQM">As a quarterback at Mankato West High School, <span>Nelson</span> finished his high school career 490-of-801 for 7,561 career passing yards with 94 touchdown passes. As a senior, he led the team to an 11-1 record and a trip to the state semifinals, passing for 2,784 yards and 35 touchdowns and rushing for 1,243 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also set state records for single-season total touchdowns (55) and career touchdowns (135).</p>
<p id="oSalZM">Nelson received his first scholarship offer from then Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill in December 2010 and committed to the Gophers two months later.</p>
<p id="gRP8yn">As a highly-touted in-state quarterback — and the recipient of the Minnesota Mr. Football award as a senior — Nelson was tabbed the Gophers’ quarterback of the future.</p>
<h3 id="bPo2KK"><strong>As a Gopher</strong></h3>
<p id="U3rg3s">The plan was for Nelson to redshirt as a freshman, but injuries to <span>MarQueis Gray</span> and Max Shortell forced the coaching staff to burn his redshirt. Six games into the season, Nelson was named the starting quarterback against Wisconsin, a game that also represented the first game action of his college career. The Gophers lost, but Nelson was a solid 13-of-24 for 149 passing yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed for 67 yards on 16 attempts.</p>
<p id="bY9vaW">He started the final seven games of the season, during which the Gophers went 2-5. The highlight for both Nelson and the Gophers over that stretch was undoubtedly a 44-28 victory over Purdue. He threw for 246 passing yards and three touchdowns. In the five games after that, Nelson would throw more interceptions (6) than touchdowns (3). But even through his struggles as a true freshman, the starting spot seemed to be Nelson’s to lose.</p>
<div id="4IggfL"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ncrOL8jBwuQ?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="k1Jb6f">Nelson was the starter to open the season as a sophomore and led the Gophers to a 3-0 record before being sidelined with a bad hamstring. <span>Mitch Leidner</span> started in his place against San Jose State, helping Minnesota emerge from their non-conference slate unscathed. Nelson returned against Iowa the following week, but the Hawkeyes exposed the Gophers’ offensive shortcomings and limited them to a single touchdown, forcing two interceptions.</p>
<p id="xOsDb0">Nelson sat out again the following week against Michigan, another loss and a game in which the Gophers were without Jerry Kill, who suffered a seizure prior to the game that would sideline him the rest of the season. Even though Leidner was tabbed as the starter against Northwestern, Nelson was inserted after three failed possessions to open the game and immediately led a scoring drive, helping the Gophers to a 20-17 victory over the Wildcats.</p>
<p id="5jjij5">Thus began the best four-game stretch of Nelson’s career at Minnesota.</p>
<p id="KXmqy9">The Gophers’ next game offered Nelson the signature game of his tenure, as Minnesota upset No. 24-ranked Nebraska behind one passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns from their quarterback. It ended a sixteen-game losing streak to the Cornhuskers and represented the program’s first win over Nebraska since 1960.</p>
<div id="bfuiIS"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u48EP-gd5C0?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="u1SnOO">Nelson followed that up with four touchdown passes on the road against Indiana, including the game-winner to Maxx Williams. He contributed one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown against Penn State, helping the Gophers reclaim the coveted Governor’s Victory Bell. But then Nelson and the offense suffocated in the final two games of the regular season, scoring a combined 10 points against Wisconsin and Michigan State.</p>
<p id="TTdW9v">The Texas Bowl against Syracuse was a disaster for Nelson. He was pulled in favor of <span>Mitch Leidner</span> after the first two offensive possessions of the game, during which he was 2-of-7 for 18 passing yards. Some of his errant throws were not even close to his intended target. Leidner finished the rest of the game, completing 50 percent of his passes but throwing two touchdowns. The Gophers appeared primed for a quarterback battle in the offseason.</p>
<p id="qjr4kb">Until Nelson decided to transfer in January. The popular (but, as far as I know, unconfirmed) rumor was that Nelson asked Kill for assurances that he would be the starting quarterback next season and Kill balked, leading Nelson to take his talents elsewhere.</p>
<p id="Fw2BNd">His career statistics from two seasons at Minnesota:</p>
<p id="QXjkfh"><strong>2012</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="BVuR7d">75-for-152 (49.3%), 873 passing yards, 8 TD, 8 INT</li>
<li id="HC3aQU">69 rushing attempts, 184 yards</li>
</ul>
<p id="SIm6ZF"><strong>2013</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="aVr42E">94-for-186 (50.5%), 1,306 passing yards, 9 TD, 6 INT</li>
<li id="8tirrS">93 rushing attempts, 364 yards, 6 TD</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="BDZ2nj"><strong>Where is he now?</strong></h3>
<p id="kABLrM">Nelson transferred to Rutgers, where he was to redshirt in the fall and then compete for the starting quarterback position with two years of eligibility left.</p>
<p id="6GpYfP">That didn’t happen.</p>
<p id="l49Rko">Nelson’s tenure with the Scarlet Knights was cut short when he was kicked off the team that same spring after being arrested and charged with two counts of assault. The arrest and charges stemmed from a fight outside a bar in Minnesota, during which he allegedly kicked Isaac Kolstad, a former Minnesota State Mankato football player, in the head. The altercation left Kolstad with a fractured skull and permanent brain damage.</p>
<p id="uoQBDu">Ten months after the incident, Nelson pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to a $300 fine and 100 hours of community service.</p>
<p id="oMHZp1">He was able to continue his college education and football career at East Carolina, where joined the team as a walk-on in 2015. He was named the Pirates’ starting quarterback the following season, when he led them to a 3-9 record. In his lone season as starter, Nelson was 237-for-349 for 2,621 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also rushed for 349 yards on 237 attempts with 16 touchdowns.</p>
<p id="cyzBvJ">Nelson signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League last October, but was released from the team a month later.</p>
<h3 id="lx2D4d"><strong>Final Word</strong></h3>
<p id="XRnB8O">Talk about a roller coaster.</p>
<p id="YkxGxb">To be honest, I’m not quite sure what to make of Nelson’s short career at Minnesota. Would it have helped his development if he had been able to redshirt as a freshman? Then again, with that coaching staff’s track record at quarterback, would it really have made much of a difference?</p>
<p id="cRPtiP">The talent was there, but his potential was unfulfilled. I’ll always remember his performances against Nebraska and Indiana, but I’ll also never be able to forget the Texas Bowl where I too often found myself trying to figure out to whom he was throwing the ball.</p>
<p id="xfzANK">Obviously there are those who will question his character, based on the circumstances of his departure from Minnesota and subsequent arrest, but it’s impossible to know for sure what kind of person he was or is when judging from a distance.</p>
<p id="sGTvZt">On the field, his Gopher career was a series of peaks and valleys. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) climb his way up from the valley that led him out of Minnesota.</p>
<p id="q1jYDR">Next: <span><strong>Chris Streveler</strong></span>.</p>
<p id="ks0l2X"></p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2018/7/3/17494858/minnesota-football-philip-nelson-gopher-quarterbackBlake Ruane2018-06-28T07:05:01-05:002018-06-28T07:05:01-05:00Max Shortell was a casualty of the quarterback carousel
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<img alt="Minnesota v Michigan" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/p6ZM1_9lDzQ2vxw9yFP-7rQahk0=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60172111/127772132.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Shortell found himself the middle man between the end of one quarterback and the beginning of another</p> <p id="jkBAMr">No position group has bedeviled the <a href="https://www.thedailygopher.com/">Minnesota Golden Gophers</a> over the last decade quite like the signal callers under center. This fall, the team’s fate would seems to rest in the inexperienced hands of redshirt freshman Tanner Morgan. Should he turn out to be competent, it will have been a long and strange road, riddled with the unfulfilled potential of countless Gopher quarterbacks.</p>
<p id="R9bU5f">Today we turn the spotlight to: <strong>Max Shortell</strong>.</p>
<h3 id="S7rIN8"><strong>As a Prospect</strong></h3>
<p id="RZlX25"><strong>247 Sports Composite Rating</strong>: <a href="https://247sports.com/player/max-shortell-1978">.8447</a><br><strong>Scholarship Offers</strong>: None</p>
<p id="HOspp1">Shortell was a three-sport athlete at Bishop Miege High School in Kansas. As a junior, he completed 144-of-250 passes (57.6%) for 2,524 yards with 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, leading his squad to the 2009 Kansas Class 4A State Championship. As a senior, Shortell was 147-of-277 (53.1%) for 2,643 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions.</p>
<h3 id="9Y7BOA"><strong>As a Gopher</strong></h3>
<p id="PZs1N0">It didn’t take long for Shortell to see the field as a Golden Gopher. In his first game as a true freshman, Shortell was inserted in the fourth quarter against USC when starting quarterback <span>MarQueis Gray</span> went down with leg cramps. He led a nine-play scoring drive — converting on 4th and 7 with a 12-yard pass to Da’Jon McKnight to keep it alive — and connected with wide receiver <span>Brandon Green</span> for a 12-yard touchdown to pass to cut the deficit to 19-17. But on their next offensive possession, Shortell was intercepted and the Trojans were able to run out the clock.</p>
<p id="A2wujH">Four weeks later, Shortell earned the starting nod on the road against Michigan, with Gray sidelined due to a toe injury. It did not go well. He was sacked three times and the Gophers failed to convert a single third down. Shortell finished the game 11-of-22 for 104 passing yards. The Wolverines prevailed 58-0. He would only see limited action in two games the rest of the season, which was the first under then head coach Jerry Kill.</p>
<p id="zZaR2T">As a sophomore, Shortell was brought in for mop-up duty against New Hampshire, but found himself under center the following week when Gray went down (again) with a sprained ankle in the second quarter against Western Michigan. The Gophers trailed 10-7, but two touchdown passes to <span>A.J. Barker</span> (remember him?) in the final two minutes of the half allowed Minnesota to take a 21-10 halftime lead. Shortell was 10-of-17 for 188 passing yards with three touchdowns and one interception in a 28-23 Gopher victory over the Broncos.</p>
<p id="Z1jo6r">Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there for Shortell.</p>
<p id="t7KV3m">He was, for the most part, ineffective in a 17-10 win over Syracuse, in which Minnesota rode running back <span>Donnell Kirkwood</span> in a close contest. But the wheels came off a week later in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes. The Gopher defense couldn’t figure out how to tackle Iowa running back <span>Mark Weisman</span>, and Shortell did them no favors with three interceptions, including a pick six near the end of the game. He started again the following week versus Northwestern, but left the game in the first quarter after injuring his left hand.</p>
<p id="Q3D8kL">Gray replaced Shortell in the Northwestern game, but was hobbled when he re-injured his left ankle in the third quarter. Neither Gray nor Shortell were believed to be 100 percent after that game, so Kill and co. had a tough decision to make.</p>
<p id="riDGQC">At the time, true freshman <span>Philip Nelson</span> was believed to be the Gophers’ quarterback of the future. Kill had hoped to redshirt Nelson, but with six games left in the season and his top two quarterbacks sidelined with injuries, he decided to grit his teeth and burn his redshirt. Nelson struggled for the most part the rest of the season, but the writing was on the wall and Shortell announced in December that he intended to transfer.</p>
<p id="kG2chv">He would end up at Jacksonville State.</p>
<p id="WzGLdo">His career statistics from two seasons at Minnesota:</p>
<p id="LZW83V"><strong>2011</strong>: 26-for-54 (48.1%), 309 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT <br><strong>2012</strong>: 65-for-116 (56%), 853 yards, 6 TD, 5 INT</p>
<h3 id="9ip3kN"><strong>Where is he now?</strong></h3>
<p id="LprpNG">In Switzerland, apparently, hoping to catch on with a European <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/teams/american">American</a> football team.</p>
<h3 id="f4JzNt"><strong>Final Word</strong></h3>
<p id="Xuh6ry">At Jacksonville State, Shortell was a second-team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection as a junior, completing 102-of-178 passes for 1,435 yards and six touchdowns. He appeared in nine games and started six of them. As a senior, he was supplanted as starting quarterback by redshirt freshman Eli Jenkins. In six games, Shortell started five of them and was 40-of-65 for 463 passing yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions on the year.</p>
<p id="wv05le">At Minnesota, he ultimately amounted to a stop-gap between Gray and Nelson. He had two quarterback battles with Gray, but failed to win either of them. Had he not injured his hand as a sophomore, I imagine that Kill and co. would have rode him the rest of the season, allowing Nelson to redshirt and setting up another quarterback battle for the fall. But even under those circumstances, I have doubts that the end result would have been much different. Based on how he fared at Jacksonville State, I’m not sure he was cut out to quarterback in the Big Ten.</p>
<p id="BUzvBL">Next: <span><strong>Philip Nelson</strong></span>.</p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2018/6/28/17494734/minnesota-football-max-shortell-gopher-quarterbackBlake Ruane2018-06-25T07:05:02-05:002018-06-25T07:05:02-05:00MarQueis Gray was a wide receiver playing quarterback
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<img alt="Minnesota v Michigan State" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3Q02BWk9E7yQFSglyfRMWryidDk=/0x0:3442x2295/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60154097/131546044.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Mark A. Cunningham/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And now he is a tight end in the NFL.</p> <p id="jkBAMr">No position group has bedeviled the <a href="https://www.thedailygopher.com/">Minnesota Golden Gophers</a> over the last decade quite like the signal callers under center. This fall, the team’s fate would seems to rest in the inexperienced hands of redshirt freshman Tanner Morgan. Should he turn out to be competent, it will have been a long and strange road, riddled with the unfulfilled potential of countless Gopher quarterbacks.</p>
<p id="R9bU5f">Today we turn the spotlight to: <strong>MarQueis Gray</strong>.</p>
<h3 id="S7rIN8"><strong>As a Prospect</strong></h3>
<p id="RZlX25"><strong>247 Sports Composite Rating</strong>: <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/MarQueis-Gray-24343/high-school-39052">.9143</a><br><strong>Scholarship Offers</strong>: Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan State, Oregon, and Purdue</p>
<p id="aHUWbs">Gray was a three-year starter at Ben Davis High School in Indiana. As a junior, he completed 73-of-140 passes for 1,113 yards and 12 touchdowns, while rushing for 603 yards and seven touchdowns on 127 carries. He missed most of his senior season with a broken bone in his non-throwing arm. In the five games in which he was able to participate, Gray connected on 26-of-41 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for 302 yards on 64 carries with four touchdowns, and caught five passes for 86 yards and a score.</p>
<p id="r7F6JK">He was selected to participate in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, where he completed 3-of-7 passes for 56 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 41 yards and a touchdown.</p>
<div id="GUHqYu"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 75.0019%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sj0TdzGvsD0?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="ukUGuy">Gray was considered the crown jewel of Tim Brewster’s first full recruiting class, which ranked 5th in the Big Ten and 26th nationally, according to 247 Sports.</p>
<h3 id="9Y7BOA"><strong>As a Gopher</strong></h3>
<p id="FImX5Y">Gray was forced to sit out his freshman year at Minnesota due to his ACT score being ruled “invalid.” After retaking the test, he was able to return to the team in the spring.</p>
<p id="4Ixk0G">In his first season with the team, Gray saw limited action at both quarterback — Adam Weber was entrenched as the starter — and wide receiver, throwing his first career touchdown pass against Ohio State and catching his first career receiving touchdown against Cal. He finished the season 6-of-15 for 62 yards with one touchdown and one interception, to go along with 265 rushing yards on 47 carries and six receptions for 58 yards with one touchdown.</p>
<p id="xHZCEJ">He saw even less action at quarterback as a sophomore, but finished the season as the team’s second-leading receiver, with 42 receptions for 587 yards and five touchdowns. That was the final year of the Tim Brewster experiment, with co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeff Horton taking over as interim head coach at midseason once Brewster had been fired.</p>
<p id="lMwQoA">Gray started 10 games at quarterback as a junior, missing one game due to a toe injury and coming off the bench the following week. This was the first season with new head coach Jerry Kill at the helm. The Gophers finished with a less than stellar record of 3-9, and Gray was 108-of-213 for 1,495 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 199 carries for 966 rushing yards and six touchdowns.</p>
<p id="LBCdPl">As a senior, Gray started the first three games of the season at quarterback before suffering a high ankle sprain. He missed the next two games, but when he returned he was relegated to wide receiver for the rest of the year, as the coaching staff opted to first turn to Max Shortell and then Philip Nelson under center. In the final season of his career at Minnesota, Gray was 34-of-59 for 472 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions, in addition to 72 carries for 390 rushing yards with five touchdowns and 12 receptions for 121 receiving yards.</p>
<p id="f65JZz"><strong>2009</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="ZSHmig">6-for-15 (40%), 62 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT</li>
<li id="kF9VWZ">47 attempts, 265 rushing yards</li>
<li id="CTK0BA">6 receptions, 58 receiving yards, 1 TD</li>
</ul>
<p id="gY87RD"><strong>2010</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="WCbcEw">2-for-8 (25%), 24 passing yards</li>
<li id="6R2iVj">23 attempts, 110 rushing yards, 1 TD</li>
<li id="5jFOTR">42 receptions, 587 receiving yards, 5 TD</li>
</ul>
<p id="RdwsCo"><strong>2011</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="LJLN3r">108-for-213 (50.7%), 1,495 passing yards, 8 TD, 8 INT</li>
<li id="Lra731">199 attempts, 966 rushing yards, 6 TD</li>
</ul>
<p id="KO7hc1"><strong>2012</strong></p>
<ul>
<li id="pBSQVe">34-for-59 (57.6%), 472 passing yards, 5 TD, 2 INT</li>
<li id="oBBa1I">72 attempts, 390 rushing yards, 5 TD</li>
<li id="0jPf7G">12 receptions, 121 receiving yards</li>
</ul>
<div id="ns3E5O"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 75.0019%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/53tsKuwrNJo?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<h3 id="9ip3kN"><strong>Where is he now?</strong></h3>
<p id="HIW974">Gray was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent. He has played tight end for a number of different NFL teams since then, including the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings, the Buffalo Bills, and currently the Miami Dolphins.</p>
<h3 id="f4JzNt"><strong>Final Word</strong></h3>
<p id="XBBSk1">One thing is for certain: Gray was (and is) a phenomenal athlete. It’s less certain that he had the skills to succeed as a quarterback. At best, he was inconsistent. His legs were always more reliable than his arm, and he struggled to be an accurate passer. Gray did have a promising start to his senior season, before a high ankle sprain allowed Kill and co. to turn the reins over to Shortell and Nelson and let Gray finish out his career at wide receiver.</p>
<p id="vPsASE">Like his predecessor, Gray suffered through a revolving door of offensive coordinators in his two seasons under Brewster, and then found himself at ground zero of Jerry Kill’s rebuild. Neither regime seemed capable of quarterback development, so it’s possible Gray could have honed his game in better hands. He was a solid if not spectacular wide receiver, and he has parlayed that success into an NFL career at tight end. Perhaps that was where he belonged all along.</p>
<div id="qaiSPR"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iQ75LGvBJj0?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="9P8Iap">Next: <strong>Max Shortell</strong>.</p>
<p id="jaw8Db"></p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2018/6/25/17493300/minnesota-football-marqueis-gray-gopher-quarterbackBlake Ruane2018-06-22T10:17:28-05:002018-06-22T10:17:28-05:00Adam Weber’s career was a missed opportunity
<figure>
<img alt="Montana State v Minnesota" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cV-39GUqkMI76oHo4aL7WbW8X8g=/0x213:2336x1770/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60150019/84143456.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Weber’s legacy, through no fault of his own, will be as the defining quarterback of the Tim Brewster era</p> <p id="rcSkoC">No position group has bedeviled the <a href="https://www.thedailygopher.com/">Minnesota Golden Gophers</a> over the last decade quite like the signal callers under center. This fall, the team’s fate would seems to rest in the inexperienced hands of redshirt freshman Tanner Morgan. Should he turn out to be competent, it will have been a long and strange road, riddled with the unfulfilled potential of countless Gopher quarterbacks.</p>
<p id="iZyccc">First up: <span><strong>Adam Weber</strong></span>.</p>
<h3 id="S7rIN8"><strong>As a Prospect</strong></h3>
<p id="RZlX25"><strong>247 Sports Composite Rating</strong>: <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Adam-Weber-39811/high-school-65465">.8417</a><br><strong>Scholarship Offers</strong>: Miami (Ohio), Western Michigan, and Wisconsin</p>
<p id="9Y7BOA">As quarterback for Mounds View High School in Minnesota, <span>Weber</span> was 320-for-598 in his career with 4,771 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,519 yards and 28 touchdowns over that same span. <span>Weber</span> was a three-time all-state and all-conference selection.</p>
<h3 id="JZByNQ"><strong>As a Gopher</strong></h3>
<p id="Q1tZuL">Recruited by Glen Mason, Weber redshirted his first season at Minnesota. Then Mason was fired after the 2006 Insight Bowl debacle, and athletic director Joel Maturi hired the coach that Weber would spend the rest of his college career playing for: Tim Brewster.</p>
<p id="B3mZtF">As a redshirt freshman, Weber beat out redshirt junior Tony Mortensen for the starting quarterback position and never looked back. He started 50 games over four seasons for the Gophers, which is a record at Minnesota. In fact, he holds a number of school records:</p>
<ul>
<li id="YtM4Lh">Passing yards in a career (10,917)</li>
<li id="XC3rKw">Touchdowns in a single season (24, 2007)</li>
<li id="lpcM2f">Touchdowns in a career (72)</li>
<li id="YOt3yI">Pass attempts in a single season (449, 2007)</li>
<li id="dAlNAr">Completions in a single season (258, 2007)</li>
<li id="2Tojh7">Completions in a career (909)</li>
<li id="5pSxko">Games of 250 passing yards or more (14)</li>
</ul>
<p id="gdvX1E">Here are his stats from each individual season:</p>
<p id="4PjSqI"><strong>2007</strong>: 258-for-449 (57.5%), 2,895 yards, 24 TD, 19 INT <br><strong>2008</strong>: 255-for-410 (62.2%), 2,761 yards, 15 TD, 8 INT<br><strong>2009</strong>: 191-for-367 (52%), 2,582 yards, 13 TD, 15 INT<br><strong>2010</strong>: 205-for-368 (55.7%), 2,679 yards, 20 TD, 9 INT</p>
<p id="H4h249">He also rushed for a combined 873 yards on 398 attempts with 10 touchdowns.</p>
<p id="6TOEMI">Weber did have the benefit of Eric Decker for three seasons, which certainly helped. The former Gopher wide receiver accounted for 28 percent of Weber’s completions, 33 percent of his passing yards, and 40 percent of his passing touchdowns over that span.</p>
<p id="HmvLXJ">Unfortunately, as I previously mentioned, Weber spent all four years of his college playing career with Tim Brewster at the helm. His overall record at Minnesota was 17-33, with just one winning season and two trips to the Insight Bowl.</p>
<h3 id="9ip3kN"><strong>Where is he now?</strong></h3>
<p id="HIW974">After graduating from Minnesota, Weber went undrafted but was signed by the Denver Broncos. He was waived during the preseason and ended up signing to the practice squad shortly thereafter. Weber was signed to the active roster when Brady Quinn’s contract expired, but his tenure with the Broncos was short-lived. He spent the following season on the practice squad with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was waived a year later.</p>
<p id="QYRiMq">Weber signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League in April 2014 but was released from the team a few months later.</p>
<p id="FDgucN">In 2015, Weber returned to Minnesota as a graduate assistant for two seasons. When head coach Tracy Claeys and his coaching staff were fired, Weber was not retained. He ended up taking a position as an analyst for one season at UCLA under his former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Jedd Fisch.</p>
<p id="o9AZRI">His current employment status is unknown.</p>
<h3 id="f4JzNt"><strong>Final Word</strong></h3>
<p id="XBBSk1">One thing that undoubtedly hampered Weber’s development was the revolving door at offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. As a true freshman, he played under offensive coordinator Mitch Browning and quarterbacks coach Tony Petersen. Weber then spent the following two years with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Dunbar, before he resigned and was replaced by Jedd Fisch and his phonebook-sized playbook. Fisch bailed after one season, leaving Weber to spend his senior season playing under co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeff Horton, who would eventually take over as interim head coach once Brewster was fired.</p>
<p id="wpCUck">The complete lack of continuity — and the amount of success that Weber had in spite of it — makes we wonder what Weber could have done in a less turbulent coaching tenure.</p>
<p id="ER2nM9">He is, without question, the program’s best quarterback from the last 10 years, which is ironic considering his career was tied to arguably the program’s worst head coach.</p>
<div id="rD4adJ"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 75.0019%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lb8dXN-OCpk?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="9P8Iap">Next: <span><strong>MarQueis Gray</strong></span>.</p>
https://www.thedailygopher.com/2018/6/22/17492594/minnesota-football-adam-weber-gopher-quarterbackBlake Ruane