Mr. Ed
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CHICAGO — Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck was nearly 55 minutes into his hour-long, question-and-answer session at Big Ten media days when he offered Monday’s biggest Minnesota-related news.
“Hopefully, we are able to use Shannon creatively for four games — possibly,” Fleck said from a podium inside the Chicago Marriott Downtown.
Before spring practice in March, Fleck revealed running back Shannon Brooks would miss the 2018 season with a leg injury. It was a blow for a Minnesota offense that was going to rely on the experience of Brooks and fellow running mate Rodney Smith as the U started fresh again with two new and raw quarterbacks competing for that starting job this fall.
Then in June, the NCAA Division I Council approved a rule allowing football players to compete in up to four games without losing a redshirt, or season of eligibility. Since Brooks played as a true freshman in 2015 and through 2017, his redshirt year remains intact.
During spring practice, Smith, a redshirt senior, lamented not being able to finish his Gophers career alongside Brooks. Now, the friends could play together again and help ease some of the pressure on incoming QBs Tanner Morgan and Zack Annexstad.
“Ever since I’ve been playing, he’s been playing, so it’s exciting to think that he could be out there with me,” Smith said Monday.
When Brooks could be available to play is based, first and foremost, on where he is in his rehab process. Then, there’s also the to-be-determined strategic element of when it would be most advantageous for Fleck to use him.
Do they try to spring Brooks on an unsuspecting opponent in, say, the Big Ten opener against Maryland on Sept. 22 or against rival Iowa on Oct. 6? Or do they need to wait until he’s 100 percent healthy later in the season? Maybe Brooks can help lead them to a sixth win and bowl eligibility after a year hiatus?
“If his rehab process goes as planned and he keeps progressing as quick as it is and he does play in those games, it would be an honor to step on the field with him again,” Smith said.
In the meantime, the workload falls on Smith and could be shared with a few promising prospects.
“(Smith is) going to look around him and see freshmen again,” Fleck said. “Nolan Edmonds, Bryce Williams, Mohamed Ibrahim. Those are all freshmen, so he’s really going to have to carry the load, but we also have to make sure we don’t run him into the ground.”
Based on Smith’s reviews of his backmates, that trio could help out sooner. Ibrahim redshirted last year and was named scout team player of the year. Edmonds and Williams are true freshmen and might have their redshirts removed entirely or could be used sparingly under the same four-game rule considered for Brooks.
“You need some others to help,” Fleck said. “What (Smith is) going to have to do is transition those guys into the role they are going to have.”
Smith has first-hand first impressions of Williams and Edmonds from summer workouts.
“Bryce is very athletically gifted,” Smith said. “He will be a monster one day, I believe. He is a beast.
“Nolan is very smart and will outwork anybody; that’s what I like about Nolan,” Smith added. “The freshmen have their regimen because they haven’t been working out how we (upperclassmen) work out, so they come in and their program is a little different, but he insists on staying in with the older guys and running extra.
“Mohamed has gotten a lot stronger and a lot faster this offseason, too,” Smith said. “I’m proud of the spring that he had.”
Even if none of the young running backs step up to spell Smith, you won’t find him stepping out of bounds to avoid contact. Unless it’s used to manage the clock, a runner willfully going out of bounds is against Minnesota’s unwritten rules.
“Running out of bounds is like stepping in pee,” Smith relayed with a smile.
QB COMPETITION
Fleck said sophomore quarterback Vic Viramontes transferred away from Minnesota in May after one semester because he found himself third in the competition with Morgan and Annextsad after spring practice finished in mid-April.
“You are going to start to see competition across multiple positions, and when you start to see, ‘That guy is ahead of me, that guy is ahead of me,’ people are going to leave, and I think that is OK,” Fleck said. “I encourage that, if that is something where you don’t want to compete in that part, then I encourage you to go find a place where you can go play and compete. I am very honest with our players: ‘Here is where you are and this is where you are going to be.’ ”
Similar to last year with the way Fleck handled dueling inexperienced quarterbacks Demry Croft and Conor Rhoda, he again envisions a scenario where he plays both Annexstad, a true freshman, and Morgan, a redshirt freshman, this season. They need experience before anything else, he said.
Plus, the new redshirt rule can help Annexstad get on the field for some playing time while still maintaining four more years of eligibility. “I can protect Zack’s (redshirt) if he doesn’t win it,” Fleck said. “They are going to have to win the team. Whoever wins the team is going to play the most.”
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