To say the Gophers have a lot of work to do between now and the Aug. 30 opener is a major understatement.

I know the team was without a handful of key players tonight, but their performance was less than stellar, to put it kindly.

The offense was not good at all. Not having Eric Decker, Jack Simmons and Jay Thomas obviously hurts. But the players were clearly not happy with their performance.

Tim Brewster praised his defense, but it’s hard to get any kind of accurate gauge at this point. I still think six recruits who are not yet on campus will end up starting.

– I think Marcus Sherels will play in the secondary and can be a valuable special teams player as a gunner and kick returner.

– Kicker Joel Monroe missed three field-goal attempts (38, 38, 52 yards), but Brewster said the line had some breakdowns in protection.

– Here was the first-team offensive line from left to right (Dom Alford, Ned Tavale, Jeff Tow-Arnett, Ryan Wynn and Jason Meinke.) Brewster said the line remains in a work in progress and could change by the opener.

– QB Clint Brewster did some nice things with his feet late in the game, but Tim Brewster said the competition for No. 2 spot is ongoing.

– I focused my game story tomorrow on Adam Weber, who has become more of a vocal leader, according to coaches and teammates. Weber completed 10 of 14 passes for 65 yards and accounted for both TDs.

– Incoming recruits at the game: Simoni Lawrence, Sam Maresh, MarQueis Gray, John Nance, Shady Salamon.

– DT Eric Small played fullback in goal-line situation.

That’s it for now.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 8:47 pm and is filed under All, Gophers football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.