FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[AO]

Hello all, I follow this board quite frequently during the season and am a current SJU student. I follow the football program very closely, yes some students do still care, and wanted to get some feedback. Feel free to talk me down from this lofty perch...but I truly believe Jackson Erdmann is one of the most talented QB's from the state of Minnesota in some time. I posted his highlight video from this season below and the throws he is able to make, often right on the money, are simply incredible.

Now of course there are any number of reasons why my statement could be dead wrong. DIII football is not DI by any means. The difference between watching the Stagg Bowl and even a team like NDSU shows immense speed differences. That I cannot deny. I also could be extremely biased since I just witnessed an incredible Gagliardi Trophy season first hand. With that in mind, I ask when is the last time you saw a Gopher quarterback make those throws? Or a Wisconsin QB? The DI game is obviously much quicker and the DBs are very talented, but I think Erdmann has more arm talent and better ball placement than a lot of DI quarterbacks I've seen in the last 10 years. I know Gopher fans should agree that Jerdy can spin it better than say...Mitch Leidner?

And it makes sense too. James Franklin's staff at Penn State saw enough in him to give him a PWO. That alone says he's probably a DI talent. Injuries and the bouts with acute cerebellar ataxia may have cooled the recruiting trail otherwise maybe he gets more offers. All I know is that I'm grateful that my Johnnies have him for another season and I can't wait to see what records he breaks in 2019. And who knows? If Joe Callahan can pick up an NFL look a few years ago I don't see why Jackson couldn't get a rookie minicamp look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiF1QzFu87o&t=0s

I've said before on this board that I'd have taken Perra and Erdmann over any of of the Gopher QBs last year (Rhoda/Croft) but I don't think Jackson would have beaten out Mitch Leidner or Philip Nelson for any starting jobs.  If the Johnnies brought in Seth Green at the same time as Erdmann, you'd have trouble not giving the ball to Green.  I think Jackson is a great QB but a portion of the Gagliardi trophy is absolutely owed to the fact that his offensive line and receivers often out-played their opponents. 

Would certainly be a lot of fun to see Jackson make an NFL team even as a practice squad player.

[Bspratt2]

Hello all, I follow this board quite frequently during the season and am a current SJU student. I follow the football program very closely, yes some students do still care, and wanted to get some feedback. Feel free to talk me down from this lofty perch...but I truly believe Jackson Erdmann is one of the most talented QB's from the state of Minnesota in some time. I posted his highlight video from this season below and the throws he is able to make, often right on the money, are simply incredible.

Now of course there are any number of reasons why my statement could be dead wrong. DIII football is not DI by any means. The difference between watching the Stagg Bowl and even a team like NDSU shows immense speed differences. That I cannot deny. I also could be extremely biased since I just witnessed an incredible Gagliardi Trophy season first hand. With that in mind, I ask when is the last time you saw a Gopher quarterback make those throws? Or a Wisconsin QB? The DI game is obviously much quicker and the DBs are very talented, but I think Erdmann has more arm talent and better ball placement than a lot of DI quarterbacks I've seen in the last 10 years. I know Gopher fans should agree that Jerdy can spin it better than say...Mitch Leidner?

And it makes sense too. James Franklin's staff at Penn State saw enough in him to give him a PWO. That alone says he's probably a DI talent. Injuries and the bouts with acute cerebellar ataxia may have cooled the recruiting trail otherwise maybe he gets more offers. All I know is that I'm grateful that my Johnnies have him for another season and I can't wait to see what records he breaks in 2019. And who knows? If Joe Callahan can pick up an NFL look a few years ago I don't see why Jackson couldn't get a rookie minicamp look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiF1QzFu87o&t=0s

Thanks for this vid.  I really enjoyed watching when it was first posted to youtube.

Do you post all the vids on the gojohnniesdotcom youtube channel?  If so, thanks bigly.  Very much appreciated.  If not, could you share my thanks with your colleagues?

Oz,

While I do work in the athletic offices I am not the one responsible for making the vids. Whoever does them does an awesome job though.

[Bspratt2]

Hello all, I follow this board quite frequently during the season and am a current SJU student. I follow the football program very closely, yes some students do still care, and wanted to get some feedback. Feel free to talk me down from this lofty perch...but I truly believe Jackson Erdmann is one of the most talented QB's from the state of Minnesota in some time. I posted his highlight video from this season below and the throws he is able to make, often right on the money, are simply incredible.

Now of course there are any number of reasons why my statement could be dead wrong. DIII football is not DI by any means. The difference between watching the Stagg Bowl and even a team like NDSU shows immense speed differences. That I cannot deny. I also could be extremely biased since I just witnessed an incredible Gagliardi Trophy season first hand. With that in mind, I ask when is the last time you saw a Gopher quarterback make those throws? Or a Wisconsin QB? The DI game is obviously much quicker and the DBs are very talented, but I think Erdmann has more arm talent and better ball placement than a lot of DI quarterbacks I've seen in the last 10 years. I know Gopher fans should agree that Jerdy can spin it better than say...Mitch Leidner?

And it makes sense too. James Franklin's staff at Penn State saw enough in him to give him a PWO. That alone says he's probably a DI talent. Injuries and the bouts with acute cerebellar ataxia may have cooled the recruiting trail otherwise maybe he gets more offers. All I know is that I'm grateful that my Johnnies have him for another season and I can't wait to see what records he breaks in 2019. And who knows? If Joe Callahan can pick up an NFL look a few years ago I don't see why Jackson couldn't get a rookie minicamp look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiF1QzFu87o&t=0s

Erdmann is clearly a very nice QB. I will admit before the playoffs I was wondering how he could be a serious finalist for the Gagliardi Award when Mount Union and UMHB have so many good players that deserve consideration. After watching some of the playoffs and the Stagg Bowl and the UMU and UMHB players it is clear to me; Erdmann deserved the award.

As far as comparing him to a D1 QB there are so many things a QB needs to do on that level, maybe he can handle a D1 pounding but we just don't know. Those D1 defenders are so big, TALL, fast and strong and the QB has to be super tough to take the hits and stay on the field. Additionally, reading a defense at the D1 level is complicated and while I think Erdmann is probably capable in that department we just don't know if he can handle a Pro Style role at that level.

The Gophers have struggled big time to land a good QB for so many years. Some say Adam Weber fits the bill and yes he was good but I have to go back to Tony Dungy to find someone who I really like. I will say this about current starter Tanner Morgan, he is not going to impress you physically or with incredible arm strength but he is very smart and super tough. I have watched him take some big time hits when he takes off running in Ciarrocca's RPO and he gets up and comes back for more. He has that grit and competitive spirit that is hard to find. I don't see Erdmann as physically able to handle that level of pounding. I liked his toughness as he played in the Stagg with one arm though. A new recruit from Rockwall TX who will sign a NLI on Wednesday named Jacob Clark will be that new level of QB for the Gophers. I don't think Erdmann is better than Clark who is coming in as a 4 star. Erdmann who had no star rating out of high school that I can find could possibly compete with Annexstad or Morgan who are the QB's now but as soon as Clark gets his feet wet in January all of that will change.

As a huge Gopher fan myself I can totally see your point. And I'm glad you brought up Annexstad and Morgan because part of me also thought that Erdmann could at least be in the same ballpark as them. Totally agree on Jacob Clark too, he could be the QB that takes the offense to the next level. Row the Boat, Ski-U-Mah, and Go Gophers! (Sorry wrong board??)

[USTBench]

As most know I'm a Tommie Fan. After thinking about it a bit I don't think the Erdmann take is outlandish. MN hasn't exactly had a bumper crop of QB talent to point to in the last 10-12 years, especially "true" pocket passing QB's. Maybe I'm forgetting a standout DII guy since I don't follow it closely, but nothing DI or DIII jumps out. Adam Weber or a Mankato QB?? No one else jumps out. The Dakota's and Western WI have produced better QB talent (Wentz, Stanley). That's pretty sad. Mauer was a generational QB talent, but that's going back a ways, and he chose the baseball path.

At a DIII level the only comparable QB's I have seen are Aaron Boehme from Linfield and Alex Tanney from Monmouth. There were other guys out there over the years that were dynamic, but when looking at what the NFK truly covets, those two + Erdmann jump out. Matt Blanchard from UWW had a similar journeyman NFL career to Tanney, but I can't say I saw him play enough to judge.

I think what's kind of shocking about the amount of QB talent North Dakota has produced is that they've done it despite the fact some of the largest schools in the Fargo metro area were still utilizing antiquated offenses like the triple-option up to about 5 or 6 years ago. If Griffin Neal got to play a pro-style or spread offense at Fargo South like Wentz and the other QBs from Bismarck high schools got to play, he would have played at NDSU or UND as opposed to Concordia.

I will say this however, Fargo has an incredible amount of HS football talent and its area high schools were able to keep pace with the larger Bismarck schools because of that, and now that the area HS coaches from the old Bison glory days (option football) are getting replaced with coaches from the Bison's most recent run of success (pro-style offense), HS football in Fargo has now joined the 21st century (or at least the latter half of the 20th century) and you're likely to see more QB talent out of that region.

It's funny, because I've heard more than a few metro area college coaches say they don't spend much time recruiting North Dakota/Western Minnesota because there's not a lot of talent there, but if you take a look at the NDSU roster it's not all guys from the Twin Cities, it's a ton of small town guys from rural Minnesota and North Dakota. I often think college coaches spend way too much time looking at where the kid came from as opposed to what the kid is able to do. It should be glaringly obvious, even if the kid is playing 9-man, whether or not he can hang at the next level. I think the Bison always understood that because they had no choice 30 years ago, and now kids are seeking them out, and they still haven't changed their recruiting philosophy, which has yielded 8 straight wins against FBS teams (including the Gophers, Kansas State and #13 Iowa) and 6 out of the last 7 FCS championships (on their way to another in a few weeks).

I really think the Twin Cities metro area colleges spend way too much time fixating on a 30 mile radius around the metro. In some respects I think SJU has an advantage in that there is metro proximity but it's on its own island and has the self awareness to go to central and western Minnesota. Concordia has been successful with awful facilities, while running an outdated offense with a DII school literally down the road just by the mere fact it exists in the F-M area.

I'm not saying UST has to or should spend a lot of time recruiting North Dakota or western Minnesota, I'm just saying it's a 3 hour drive and you can introduce yourself to the coaches at Fargo Shanley, Fargo Davies, Fargo South, West Fargo Sheyenne, West Fargo, Fargo North, Moorhead and Oak Grove, and most of those schools are comparable in size to 5A or 6A schools in the metro (with the exception of Shanley and Oak Grove)

[miac952]

Good thoughts Bench. Interesting how little talent has filtered down to the cities from there. For UST you see the kids from Western WI, Milwaukee, Chicago come in along with the MSP metro talent. Even some kids from FL and AZ too. But I couldn't name a kid who has made an impact from ND or SD. The windshield time isn't that bad to Fargo, Grand Forks, and Sioux Falls.

[retagent]

But they have to pass SJU to get to the Cities. And no one, NO ONE, can pass up the smell of Johnnie bread, the serenity of the campus, and the high quality of education and people that reside there.

[OldAuggie]

Augsburg hockey draws kids from Fargo Moorhead. No problem drawing them down 94 and excellent hockey players they are, indeed.

[OzJohnnie]

My only thoughts on Erdmann are that he showed incredible growth as the year progressed.  His (and those around him, and us) expectations for next year will be astronomical.  Almost unachievable.  I hope he's able to stay balanced because the opportunity for really spectacular play is there.

[USTBench]

Good thoughts Bench. Interesting how little talent has filtered down to the cities from there. For UST you see the kids from Western WI, Milwaukee, Chicago come in along with the MSP metro talent. Even some kids from FL and AZ too. But I couldn't name a kid who has made an impact from ND or SD. The windshield time isn't that bad to Fargo, Grand Forks, and Sioux Falls.

Pete Fitzsimmons was from Jefferson, SD and played HS ball in Sioux City, IA. Currently, UST has a freshman two-time all-state TE from St. Mary's HS in Bismarck named John Nordstrom. He's seen some action in a few games this year. Unless you count my negative impact as an impact, but that was 15+ years ago now.

Honestly, there's a lot of big Catholics and Lutherans playing ball on I-94 in Bismarck and Fargo. One trip, over two days, and you could hit up most of the big (AAA) high schools in ND that are known for football. Bismarck Legacy, Bismarck Century, Bismarck High, Mandan, St. Mary's, Shiloh Christian in Bismarck/Mandan plus all of the Fargo schools I previously mentioned. Worth every bit you'd get out of a trip to Chicago, IMO. Both Bismarck and Fargo have produced many collegiate All-Americans or guys talented enough to get to the NFL. Recently, Dan Arnold, who went to Fargo Shanley (Catholic school) was named a DIII All-American with UW-P and is now catching TDs from Drew Brees. 

[Mr.MIAC]

Okay, so let's hear some after-action reports. SJ2's offensive scheme caught UST totally unawares (and that's being kind to our guys). We beat Carleton and St. Olaf handily, but those outcomes were never really in doubt. We probably should have lost to Gustavus. Then we did lose to a talented (and underrated) Bethel team. Long story short, it seems like UST pretty much fell apart in the second half of the season. What happened?

[jamtod]

Okay, so let's hear some after-action reports. SJ2's offensive scheme caught UST totally unawares (and that's being kind to our guys). We beat Carleton and St. Olaf handily, but those outcomes were never really in doubt. We probably should have lost to Gustavus. Then we did lose to a talented (and underrated) Bethel team. Long story short, it seems like UST pretty much fell apart in the second half of the season. What happened?

Don't know but somebody needs to be fired for it.

[OzJohnnie]

Okay, so let's hear some after-action reports. SJ2's offensive scheme caught UST totally unawares (and that's being kind to our guys). We beat Carleton and St. Olaf handily, but those outcomes were never really in doubt. We probably should have lost to Gustavus. Then we did lose to a talented (and underrated) Bethel team. Long story short, it seems like UST pretty much fell apart in the second half of the season. What happened?

My view from 9,441 miles away is that A. St Thomas got caught out stuck in a "bully ball" mindset (bigger, faster, stronger), and B. They were mentally unprepared for the challenge of SJU so almost dropped to GAC as well and then got done by BU.

So, unfortunately, I think UST will come out next year better prepared to play ball both in game plan and attitude.  I expect Oct 19 at Allianz to be the hardest played regular season game in 2019 in the country.  Unless some Oshkosh/UWW type game appears then there will be no two conference rivals that will match this.

A very, very close second will be UST v BU.  I think UST will be on the warpath looking for revenge.

SJU v BU happens a week earlier than the SJU v UST game.  Third toughest game.

EDIT:  The conference champ next year will be a very, very good team.  They will have to work very hard to stand on top of the hill with everyone well aware of how good these teams can be.  Good fun.  Only 264 days to go.

[USTBench]

Okay, so let's hear some after-action reports. SJ2's offensive scheme caught UST totally unawares (and that's being kind to our guys). We beat Carleton and St. Olaf handily, but those outcomes were never really in doubt. We probably should have lost to Gustavus. Then we did lose to a talented (and underrated) Bethel team. Long story short, it seems like UST pretty much fell apart in the second half of the season. What happened?

I could point to a few things, but I think UST needs more play-makers in their secondary and in their WR corps. Going back to the Stout game in 2017, UST has struggled to get open against athletic secondaries, which certainly has the ability to affect Perra's feet and decision making. I think our WRs (and TEs especially), benefit a lot from play-action because we've typically always been able to run the ball effectively, but I'd like some guys that can hit a homerun on first down in the first quarter.

Additionally, I thought Mark Dowdle did a good job as a CB on an island the last few years, but once they decided to utilize him more as a LB this year it exposed some kids who weren't quite ready for the amount of action they were seeing. I understand the decision, with Dowdle's size, speed and length, getting him around the ball more frequently probably paid dividends, but if they didn't get home to the QB on 3rd down, I was always holding my breath.

[SagatagSam]

It's likely I've completely missed the boat on this one, but it looks like there was no Gagliardi Trophy ceremony this year.  What gives?

[Pat Coleman]

It's likely I've completely missed the boat on this one, but it looks like there was no Gagliardi Trophy ceremony this year.  What gives?

Discussed many, many times on our podcast, but not really appropriate to take website space to say the Shenandoah folks did not really want to host the Gagliardi Trophy ceremony. The J-Club did what it could to change minds on that without success.