FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OzJohnnie]

Does anyone plan on attending SJU's spring game this Saturday?  I won't be able to attend.

Too far for me.
Attended a funeral for a 92 year old friend of mine yesterday. During lunch I was talking to a Katie '57 and the subject of John came up. I started to explain to another lady sitting next to me who we were talking about and she said she knew exactly who we were talking about since she grew up with that rascal in Trinidad. 
Small world.

Ha.  It is a small world.  You would think the chances of that happening are next to zero but the stories seem very frequent.

My condolences for your friend's funeral, 57.

[OzJohnnie]

Does anyone plan on attending SJU's spring game this Saturday?  I won't be able to attend.

I plan to attend. I will see if I can get any more information the the latest SJU signings,you can follow me on Twitter 

Hopefully, you can relay some sort of scouting report.  I hope the QB to WR connection has a few memorable moments.

[DuffMan]

Hopefully, you can relay some sort of scouting report.  I hope the QB to WR connection has a few memorable moments.

No Stretch Internet stream or at least VOJ on the radio???

[57Johnnie]

Oz,
Denver Broncos pick Aussie Rules player Adam Gotsis in second round

[OzJohnnie]

Oz,
Denver Broncos pick Aussie Rules player Adam Gotsis in second round

Thanks for the tip. I just checked out an article and he's the highest drafted Aussie ever.  It seems he's from Abbotsford, a Melbourne suburb about 20 minutes from where I live.

[57Johnnie]

Oz,
Denver Broncos pick Aussie Rules player Adam Gotsis in second round

Thanks for the tip. I just checked out an article and he's the highest drafted Aussie ever.  It seems he's from Abbotsford, a Melbourne suburb about 20 minutes from where I live.

At 6 foot 5, 20 stone, isn't he rather puny for Aussie rules 

[carletonknights]

Does it look like anyone from D3 will be selected today?  I read the below article about Aaron Karlen out of UW-SP, sounds like he's going to go undrafted.

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/04/27/aaron-karlen-hoping-nfl-call/83563754/

[carletonknights]

I forgot about our own Matt Boyce out of Gustavus! I doubt he'll hear his name called but my old friend, a former Gustie, seems to think it's a sure thing.

[Pat Coleman]

Our estimation is that nobody gets drafted. One scouting service I saw had Boyce listed fourth or fifth just among D-III receivers.

http://www.d3football.com/notables/2016/04/d3-draft-chances

[MadRedFan]

Have returned from the SJU scrimmage.  A few thoughts:

Cripes sake, you could see the blue sky and sunshine and puffy white clouds just out of reach, couldn't have been more than 25 miles away.   So close, yet so far.  Not a bad day, but I did put my gloves on.  Breezy.  Resisted putting my hood up so as not to look to "weak".   

I would guess a couple hundred people in attendance?  I may be a bad estimator, didn't seem like 1000 for sure.  No one really on the visitor side.

Public apology - I griped a few times last year about Gunnar Anderson not getting any PT while the senior backup got almost all of the time behind Martin.  Based on today's performance (and understanding there's a lot that goes into a spring game performance), it would appear Gunnar probably got the time he earned last year.

At QB, Jackson Erdmann, the Penn St. transfer, looked pretty good, as good as could be expected with only a couple months in the program.  I thought both Ben Alvord from St. Cloud Apollo and Matt Miedtke from Osseo looked very promising.

At RB, I was surprised the returning guys I thought would be "sure things" - Antoine Taylor and Brice Johnston - we just so-so.  I thought sophomores Robbie Skiba and Sam Marshall looked very good, well worth some PT.  Adam Essler got a lot of playing time and has some shifty moves.  Freshman Ryan LaCasse from Washington state also looked very promising (how do you get to be a freshman in the spring game - a January grad?).  Sundly was solid in his role, and Nick Suardi and Ben Buening were also good big backs for blocking and inside work.

Receivers, TE Jason Streit was very good.  Matt Miller very good.  Dan Harrington good as usual.  Soph WR's Malik Mills and Will Gillach looked pretty good.

Was harder for me to follow the D, but names I heard a lot of were DL's Soph Mitch Niehaus, Naufahu Anitoni (actually he was pretty impressive and got an interception too!), Mitch Messman, Ted Kalina.  LB's who stood out were of course Carter Hanson and Parker Anderson, but also Jr. David Franta, Jack Pietruszewski (who maybe spent most of his time up front at DE), Jr. Darrian Borboa from San Diego (good size too at 225 lbs.).  In the secondary, I won't try to list all - lots of guys played and played pretty well.

A pretty low scoring game, supporting the theory that the D is always ahead of the O at this point, and hard to play against your own guys.  But also might indicate this will be a pretty solid Johnnie D again.  They have a lot of talent to run out there.

Several returning guys didn't play, and I read where guys in other spring sports weren't going to play, so I'm not sure how that affected things.  Am hoping especially Kai Barber is still with the team - he didn't play.  Others I missed included WR Brett Watercott, Dusty Krueger at RB, Peyton Thiry, Trevor Dittberner  and Nathan Brinker on DL.

Was fun to get out and see the game. 

[OzJohnnie]

Spectacular report, MRF. +k

[DuffMan]

Barber and Thiry (maybe others) are competing in track.

[sjusection105]

Barber and Thiry (maybe others) are competing in track.

Many other.... Evan Clark, Dusty Krueger (I think track) several others in baseball. I saw several others in the press box, nursing various aliments.

There didn't appear to be "1st teams, 2nd team" as players were mixed & matched. I'm sure the trip to Canada will be a little more focused with projected 1st team playing together.

[faunch]

Have returned from the SJU scrimmage.  A few thoughts:

Cripes sake, you could see the blue sky and sunshine and puffy white clouds just out of reach, couldn't have been more than 25 miles away.   So close, yet so far.  Not a bad day, but I did put my gloves on.  Breezy.  Resisted putting my hood up so as not to look to "weak".   

I would guess a couple hundred people in attendance?  I may be a bad estimator, didn't seem like 1000 for sure.  No one really on the visitor side.

Public apology - I griped a few times last year about Gunnar Anderson not getting any PT while the senior backup got almost all of the time behind Martin.  Based on today's performance (and understanding there's a lot that goes into a spring game performance), it would appear Gunnar probably got the time he earned last year.

At QB, Jackson Erdmann, the Penn St. transfer, looked pretty good, as good as could be expected with only a couple months in the program.  I thought both Ben Alvord from St. Cloud Apollo and Matt Miedtke from Osseo looked very promising.

At RB, I was surprised the returning guys I thought would be "sure things" - Antoine Taylor and Brice Johnston - we just so-so.  I thought sophomores Robbie Skiba and Sam Marshall looked very good, well worth some PT.  Adam Essler got a lot of playing time and has some shifty moves.  Freshman Ryan LaCasse from Washington state also looked very promising (how do you get to be a freshman in the spring game - a January grad?).  Sundly was solid in his role, and Nick Suardi and Ben Buening were also good big backs for blocking and inside work.

Receivers, TE Jason Streit was very good.  Matt Miller very good.  Dan Harrington good as usual.  Soph WR's Malik Mills and Will Gillach looked pretty good.

Was harder for me to follow the D, but names I heard a lot of were DL's Soph Mitch Niehaus, Naufahu Anitoni (actually he was pretty impressive and got an interception too!), Mitch Messman, Ted Kalina.  LB's who stood out were of course Carter Hanson and Parker Anderson, but also Jr. David Franta, Jack Pietruszewski (who maybe spent most of his time up front at DE), Jr. Darrian Borboa from San Diego (good size too at 225 lbs.).  In the secondary, I won't try to list all - lots of guys played and played pretty well.

A pretty low scoring game, supporting the theory that the D is always ahead of the O at this point, and hard to play against your own guys.  But also might indicate this will be a pretty solid Johnnie D again.  They have a lot of talent to run out there.

Several returning guys didn't play, and I read where guys in other spring sports weren't going to play, so I'm not sure how that affected things.  Am hoping especially Kai Barber is still with the team - he didn't play.  Others I missed included WR Brett Watercott, Dusty Krueger at RB, Peyton Thiry, Trevor Dittberner  and Nathan Brinker on DL.

Was fun to get out and see the game.

Filling in the gaping hole left by Sura at running back is going to be the biggest challenge for the Johnnies.  Sam might have been one of five best ever at SJU.  I don't believe there will be anyone on the team this fall that will even comes close to his level of play.

[sjusection105]

Adding to faunch's point,depending on how the O-line comes along, I could see Sundly & Barber in the backfield together in certain situations. They can both block & they can both catch. That could be a very productive 3rd down tandem.