Jim French Stepstool

I wasn't at the red-white scrimmage on Sunday but saw some footage from it & comments from a couple people who were there. While focusing mostly on the newbies, Just a few things I gleaned: If the season started tomorrow McGee is definitely the starter at PG. There may be times when Klesmit or Blackwell help out there but I think it's still a competition between him, Freitag & Hunter (although it looks to me like Hunter may be best suited for off the ball). John Tonje looks like someone that can score in a variety of ways. Uses his body & strength really well. And can knock down a jump shot. A couple Minnesota kids who aren't headliners played very well. If they maintain health I don't see a lot of opportunities for Jack Robison this season, but he looked comfortable playing within the offense, was very active & can shoot it. Jack Janicki is a walkon who redshirted last season. He had a couple D-1 offers so isn't a typical walkon, and showed it yesterday--very good floor presence, had some impressive finds to open teammates & shot the ball very well. Like Robison I find it hard to see minutes for him right now but he impressed.

The team knew that this was the final year of Adames' contract, knew for quite some time that the chances of him re-upping here were slim & none, and also knew that Joey Ortiz is an excellent replacement defensively at SS. In spite of all this, Tyler Black barely played 3B this past year (six games IIRC). If he was a viable option at 3B he would've seen more time there. And I'm far from giving up on Dunn, but he needs a year in AAA IMO. Martinez IS kinda intriguing. But I see him in AAA in the spring of '25 as well.

Great post. Identity, consistency, discipline to be sure. There was an 'all over the map' look to this team in the '23 season & first 3-4 games of this year & I really didn't know if the change to a different way of doing things was a legit reason for it. It now appears like maybe it was. I'm not sure how they'll fare in the next three games but at least you get the sense that they now understand what needs to be done & how to best accomplish it.

Both Army & Navy are ranked in the top 25 this week & I'm pretty sure they were last week as well. The last time they were both ranked was 1960. I think that's pretty cool.

And generally speaking, when you're defending as well as we were today I have zero issue with pinning a team back. It worked to perfection late in the 1st half when they punted rather than roll the dice on the 4th & 1. Plus, Bertrams had a terrific day with the situational punting.

The home field & the fact that it's a night game may factor in, but -10 more or less sounds like a good guess. It would be nice if the Lions get caught looking ahead to OSU, but we catch them after a bye week so I doubt it.

The opposition hasn't been good the last three weeks, but allowing 16 points-and one TD- in three games is impressive regardless. The trick next week IMO will be to continue to be sound defensively, make PSU earn whatever yards/points they accumulate (no short fields), and at the same time find a way to create 2-3 takeaways (something we haven't done much of this year). They can give people fits defensively when they get even a little production out of the D-line & surprisingly that's been happening. I'm close to saying that Elijah Hills is becoming a revelation, and Ben Barten & Curt Neal seem to be getting more solid each week.

As long as they aren't both on the floor together I don't think the lack of offense will be a big issue. It's not like last season when you had Wahl on the floor with one of those two & the defense could do some major sagging. You're spot-on about their defense, experience & soundness. Especially in the case of McGee I wouldn't be surprised if he's one of the top 8-9 all season.

I never met Tony, but I was fortunate enough to once get into a brief conversation with his dad. While they aren't carbon copies of each other I suspect the apple hasn't fallen all that far from the tree. I really believe the changes in college sports the last couple years have had a large impact on Tonys' decision. It IS odd that he went a handful of days into practice before making the decision, but his comments alluded to not liking the direction of the game & I buy that as the main reason.

I agree with both of the above comments. Also, you're getting more for a year of DW then you would for 2-3 months.

I thought Rengifo put up really nice ABs vs the Brewers when the teams met. And he hit thirty-some HRs in the two previous seasons which is alright with me power-wise. If his having one year left on his deal results in the cost being modest, yeah, I say throw him in the possibility hopper.

I'd also kick the tires on Hayes if he was available & the cost was less than what I'd expect it to be. But even with his subpar season & the back issues I suspect he's not in the bargain bin just yet.

You never know about Colorados' front office. They seem to be a little squirrely at times. But I'd certainly like McMahon if he was made available, and the cost you suggested would be reasonable to me. Maybe throw in one of the excess BP pieces not named Devin Williams if need be.

I think he's a really talented guy. But I too wouldn't miss him due to the fact that he's gone as often as he is. Kinda reminds me of the 80s when it was "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" but it seemed like the guy was barely there.

Since practice has started awhile ago & we aren't all that far from the start of the regular season I thought I'd give a little synopsis of how I view the team so far. POINT GUARD Daniel Freitag, Camren Hunter & Kamari McGee seem to have gotten the most work. Freitag is obviously the clubhouse leader talent-wise but so much depends on the game slowing down for him as a freshman, making good decisions, consistency. It wouldn't surprise me if he started there in game one, nor would I be surprised if he came off the bench. He's also seen a little work at 2-guard. Hunter was a scorer at Central Arkansas, not a particularly adept 3PT shooter but relies more on strength & a mid range game. Very good FT shooter. His history suggests he turns it over a little more than you'd like from a PG. Has gotten a little more comfortable on the floor in recent days. McGee was, at times, great off the bench last year & a defensive sparkplug. Many think he won't shoot well enough to get a lot of minutes, but if there are four other shooters out there he'll be fine. Tyler Wahl is gone & Carter Gilmore SHOULD get fewer minutes so that won't be the problem it was last year. Honestly, any of these three could start at PG when the season opens, but if it isn't Freitag it will be eventually. WING John Blackwell, assuming health, IMO would be hard pressed not to be the teams' scoring leader. He's athletic & can score at all three levels similar to (I DIDN'T SAY AS GOOD AS, I SAID SIMILAR TO) Mike Finley or Johnny Davis. And when active, he's a guy that can get to the line ten times a game, too. Max Klesmit is a little banged up right now, but has made himself into more than a 3PT shooter. Team leader. Might even play a little PG if needed. And both these guys are effective defenders. John Tonje is an interesting cat. Has a lot of experience, and at 6'5" & 220 he looks like a guy who'd score in the paint & get some double-doubles at the mid-major level, but he actually shot more than acceptably from 3PT range at Colorado State. He's a physical guy who in his career has drawn a lot of fouls, on both ends of the floor. Another good FT shooter. Hunter may wind up playing quite a bit off the ball, too. Jack Robison is a freshman who I see being behind some folks this time around. POST The most interesting thing here to me, is the rumors of Nolan Winter being tried at the 4. I didn't think there was much chance of that, but it's happening. I just don't see how he can defend some of the more athletic 4s he'd face. We'll see. Xavier Amos is a 4 that can step out & shoot--culture shock after Tyler Wahl (who I nevertheless liked) manning the position. Amos is athletic as well, but strength & board work are ?'s heading into the season. Supposedly he never did much weight work in the past & has added some good pounds so hopefully he'll hold up. Steven Crowl isn't & probably never will be a game-changer protecting the rim, but his offense can make up for it as long as he doesn't pull the occasional disappearing acts that sometimes plagued him. When you're in a good spot & have a size edge, DEMAND THE BALL. If things work out as planned, Carter Gilmore is the 'fourth' big--a role someone with his experience & work ethic should fill just fine. Markus Ilver will once again challenge him for PT. He inched ahead of him last season but his reputation as a shooter never materialized & Gilmore inched back ahead. In closing, the transfers are pretty critical to whatever success the team has. How long it takes those three, along with Winter & Freitag, to learn Gards' defensive rules & concepts should be telling. Best case scenario, it's a team with more than enough talent & experienced depth. Let's see how the pieces fit.

What's the number of wrestlers that's doled out over? Just curious.

Interesting re the west coast wrestling programs. Wouldn't have expected that. A relative of mine received a partial ride for softball a few years ago. The biggest detriment to that, in her case, was it made it easier for her to quit after one year☹️.

Not to step on @BrewerFan's toes as he probably knows more about it than I do, but it was my understanding that many of the non-revenue (or lesser-revenue) sports had X number of schollies available & the total number wouldn't cover the # of athletes in the sport, so it would be divided up into partials with maybe fulls going to a limited number of participants. I think this would be the case among the west coast entrants as well. I worked with someone whose son wrestled at UW, but that was a long enough time ago that I'm not sure how or if it's changed for the grapplers. One thing appears certain--if you aren't a BB, FB or hockey player the money may be drying up soon, and most of the other sports might someday take on a club-type model.

I under$tand the rea$on$ behind it, but for a traditional college fan that liked the game because of the differences between it and the professionals it sucks. I guess conferences making no geographic sense isn't a huge deal with air travel. But I find that unpalatable too. For those who are fine viewing it as a mini-NFL with an extra game day to get in their betting jollies I guess it's no big deal.

I'm fine with any of the west coast teams beating Minnesota. The Gophers eked one out tonight, in the final minute, against a 1-5 UCLA team. I suspect PJ Fleck will be ordering team rings for everyone inscribed with "Winners of (*) The Rose Bowl" * --a regular season game scheduled in--

Kekahuna is deceptively strong for a kid his size, too.

IMO the progress they've shown has to continue, week-to-week, for them to win at Iowa. But yeah, I wouldn't put Iowa quite at the level of PSU or the Ducks.

Even in those two games.......they hung in vs a much better team (Alabama) for almost two full quarters despite mistakes, then wore down. Vs USC they played a mostly terrific half of football, then the offense lost continuity & defensively the 'SC receivers & QB are just elite talents that stepped up their game in the 2nd half. Couldn't get off the field on 3rd down. So I think the improvement somewhat started before Purdue, but now vs avg-to-less competition it's really more noticeable. Maybe learning what it takes to compete for 4 quarters, too.

What I liked about today was that last week they were much more physical against a Purdue team that you SHOULD dominate, and today they continued it against a team that had more of a physical reputation, and did it on the road. Despite a few dumb, 2023-type mistakes the offensive line continues to progress. Last year in the run game I felt their best hope was to get some kind of initial push & pick up 3-5 yards. Now along with a deeper, more healthy stable of backs I see some linemen (and a receiver or two) actually firing out into the 2nd level & getting a piece of a defender downfield. But as I said before, stay healthy. Depth still a ?. Dupree looks comfortable both running & catching the ball, and runs hard. Officially 'not a freshman anymore'. Kekahuna, size be damned, the kid is just talented. I loved the defensive philosophy. I don't know if this is the specific reason why they did it, but mostly just rushing 3 or 4 & making Kaliakmanis make decisions in the passing game, rather than giving him chances to beat you with his feet, worked brilliantly. His receivers didn't help him much, but I've seen the guy enough to feel good about forcing him to complete a drive by throwing the ball, especially when they weren't running it consistently. Other than the option play where you don't know whether he's pulling it out of the RBs' belly, there was nothing that really hurt us repeatedly. And among the DL & LBs it's not so much about one or two guys dominating, but everyone getting a little better, a little more assignment-sure. Gratifying. The bad decisions by Locke seem to be getting a little fewer each week. For a #2 QB who doesn't have the running instincts you'd like to have in this offense that's about all you can ask for. That, and continue to diminish the bad stuff, like the other units. Another challenge awaits as NU usually isn't the most talented group but more often than not schemes well & refuses to beat themselves. Looking forward to seeing how they react to going into Stadiums-R-Us, or whatever that thing is they put together with their Tinkertoys down in Evanston.

It's been my belief that at least one of them gets looked at as a 1B at some point. With Burke & Martinez at least in the organizational conversation, that leaves you with a lot of numbers to throw at the corners in the AA-AAA levels (I suspect they'll also want to find a lot of AAA ABs for Dunn). I see 2025 as an intriguing year in N'ville & Biloxi.