Spring Practice Questions: Minnesota Gophers

One of the laughingstocks of the Big Ten (football-wise, at least) is out to no longer be a laughingstock.

And, yes, I do fully understand that the Minnesota Gophers have seen their fair share of bowl games. They seemed to have hit a glass ceiling under Glen Mason, however, and their penchant for beating up on the Florida Atlantics of the world for the sole purpose of getting a bowl bid created a chuckle or two.

You see, schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue, and even Northwestern have scheduled some bad non-conference opponents over the years. But, they have created some separation from the Minnesota program by not only scheduling some tough non-conference opponents, but by occasionally beating them to create the possibility of a New Year's Day bowl appearance. When the Sun Bowl is the closest you've come to a New Year's Day bowl, you've not come very close, Goldy.

Not only that, but they play in a stale, off-campus environment that is more inviting to opposing teams' fans than it is their own. Crowds of 60,000 at the Metrodome often mean that the other team brought 35,000 fans to the game. I'm guessing that this isn't the best atmosphere to show off to potential recruits, but it's better than the crowds of 30,000 that Minnesota is lucky to draw when Temple comes calling.

Anyway, I'm babbling. The Gophers have started a new era of football. Tim Brewster is the new coach, and he's already made it very clear that his first and most important mission is to keep the top Minnesota high school players in Minnesota. He's tired of seeing his top prep stars signing on at Iowa, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, or wherever.

Frankly, this is a good thing. Brewster has already built up some goodwill among high school coaches in Minnesota, and he's also assembled a solid coaching staff, led by offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar, whom Brewster hired away from California.

And they're getting a new stadium. The new digs are set to open in 2009, so Brewster actually has an on-campus stadium to sell to potential recruits. For his sake, here's hoping that it makes a difference.

Now, for the on-field stuff. The Gophers are in a state of transition, and in recognition of that, Brewster wiped the depth chart clean entering the spring. Every job is open, and there are plenty of questions. We'll tackle the top three after the jump.1. Can Ernie Wheelwright regain his 2005 form?

Wheelwright has never struck me as much of a short-passing game guy. He's always looked like more of a vertical receiver because of his size and strength, along with his maddening inconsistency when it comes to catching the ball in traffic. After bursting on the scene as a freshman with seven touchdowns (and over 21 yards per catch) in 2004, Wheelwright has caught just 63 passes for a shade over 1,000 yards the last two years. The Gophers need him to step up and be a big-time threat in the new offense, because they are limited in experience at wide receiver with the departure of Logan Payne and Matt Spaeth.

2. Who will get the keys to the shiny new offense?

It looks like it will be either Adam Weber or Tony Mortensen running Dunbar's spread offense. Neither has much of any playing experience at Minnesota, with Mortensen being the only one of the two to actually start a game (a 2005 loss to Wisconsin where the Gophers ran for like 800 yards but lost on a blocked punt with 30 seconds left).

More notably, neither has ever run Dunbar's offense before. With Brewster wiping the depth chart clean for the spring, this competition is wide open. Both players are expected to get snaps in the spring, and it will probably be August before a starter is named unless one of them knocks the proverbial socks off the offensive coaches.

Whoever gets the job will have a solid running game to work with, if the past is any indication. The Gophers actually return their leading rusher, with Amir Pinnix (above, right) coming off a 1,200-yard season where he found the end zone ten times. One of the misconceptions about the spread offense is that the base of the offense is built around the passing game. Yes, Dunbar will have the Gophers lined up in three- and four-wideout sets most of the time, and the quarterback will work out of the shotgun in almost all situations. However, it's worth noting that the spread offense has produced some sick rushing totals over the years, and there's no reason to think Dunbar will run things any differently at Minnesota, where the offense has been built around the running game for many years.

3. Can Brewster and his coaches develop the attitude they want on defense?

In Glen Mason's final years, there was a lot of chatter about building a swagger on the defense at Minnesota. While the 2006 team was better defensively than many of Mason's teams were, it still was far from par in the Big Ten (dead-last in pass defense, 8th in rush defense, 6th in scoring defense). Brewster knows that this has to be a priority, because the Gophers proved in the Insight Bowl that you can't just score a bunch of points and expect to win if your defense takes even a single quarter off.

If things are going to go well, it might be up to senior linebackers Mike Sherels and John Shevlin. The pair are solid players, and they are also good leaders. Minnesota has to be tougher, and they need more than these two to play better than they did in 2006. But Sherels and Shevlin are good role models for the youngsters the Gophers are going to field on defense. New coordinator Everett Withers has his work cut out for him, and it will be interesting to see how the coaches try to line this team up for their opener in September.