Keep calm: Gophers QB Leidner knows he needs to find way to ease nerves
MINNEAPOLIS -- Run a mile.
That was Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover's solution -- jokingly, perhaps -- to solving the pregame jitters that plagued quarterback Mitch Leidner before last Thursday's season opener against Eastern Illinois. Leidner admitted after the game that he indeed had some nerves, and it showed early on as the passing game struggled.
Leidner had waited months for that moment since he ascended to No. 1 on Minnesota's depth chart. He was no longer splitting reps with another quarterback. He was the guy.
But being the guy at a Big Ten school brings great responsibility. All eyes are almost always on the starting quarterback, and expectations in the Twin Cities were high that the Gophers' passing game -- which was the worst in the conference a year ago -- would be better in 2014. So when Leidner opened his first game as the unquestioned starter with a pair of incompletions that yielded a punt, it was evident that the Lakeville native hadn't settled into a groove yet.
"He was wound pretty tight when the game started, which we were hoping wouldn't be the case, but ended up being the case," Limegrover said. "He's such a competitive kid. I think he wanted to go out and win the Super Bowl on his first five throws."
When the Gophers host Middle Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon at TCF Bank Stadium, Leidner anticipates he'll be much calmer than he was when the nerves and anticipation go the best of him early against Eastern Illinois. He said it was a running play that helped him get into the game last Thursday, so Leidner hopes for a similar play call early Saturday to help get things rolling.
As for his coordinator's suggestion of running a mile around the stadium before the game? Leidner didn't sound too keen on that idea.
"Hopefully I'll get a run called early on, too, get a hit early on to help calm me down," Leidner said. "I'm pretty critical of myself. That first quarter, obviously I didn't think I played well that first quarter. But once we got settled in, things started to turn around for us and things started happening the way I thought they would."
Slow starts have been a problem for Minnesota's offense in recent years. Last season, the Gophers had seven games in which they failed to score a first-quarter touchdown. Three of the five times Minnesota found the end zone in the first quarter of games last year came via Leidner (two throws, one run).
The Gophers eventually scored a first-quarter touchdown Thursday against the Panthers, but not until their fourth drive of the game with 1:53 remaining in the quarter. Given Minnesota's recent inability to get out to quick starts, it appeared as if Leidner was trying to force something to happen early.
"It's one of those things where I think sometimes we forget, this is really his first start as a starting quarterback without somebody getting injured," said Gophers head coach Jerry Kill. "I judge quarterbacks if they can move the chains and win. Got to keep winning, moving chains. I've seen a lot of fantastic quarterbacks do everything, but they don't win. I think winning is a big part of that. His progression is there."
Once Leidner got into a rhythm, he looked a bit more poised. While he didn't put up eye-popping numbers, he did help lead Minnesota's offense to 42 points thanks to 9-of-17 passing for 144 yards and three total touchdowns -- and the all-important win. The Gophers admitted earlier this week that they'd like to get several players more involved in the passing game, including wide receiver KJ Maye and tight end Maxx Williams. Leidner will also have a healthy Drew Wolitarsky on Saturday after the sophomore receiver missed the opener.
Regardless of the weapons around him, though, Leidner knows he needs to calm the nerves. If you see someone with a No. 7 jersey running laps around TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday morning, you'll know why.
"No matter how you try and deflect it, there's a lot of pressure on the young man. He's the guy. We've stated that. Everybody knows that," Limegrover said. "Any time you're a competitive kid, you're in that situation, I think you're going to want to go out and do everything exactly right. So it's been a good learning experience for him."
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