Matt Johnson Cleared for Spring Practice

[MarkL]

Since the topics came up ...
- Morgan will most certainly redshirt unless he ends up in the top two of the depth chart or a lot of injuries happen
- Callaway may redshirt also given the depth we have. Again, unless he ends up top two in the depth chart or the injury bug strikes again
- Knapke won't change positions
... - I really feel like Knapke took too much criticism compared the the credit he deserves. In a way I'd say he is the incumbent, not Johnson
... - He was recruited for a different system, then had to become the starter in week 2 when the star QB was injured, and all he did was ...
...... - quickly learn a new system
...... - beat the first big team (who beat us by 32 the previous year!!) since Sheehan beat Pitt in 2008
...... - lead the team to an east title
...... - lead the team to undefeated east record
...... - lead the team to the first bowl win in a decade
- I've not once seen Nicholas throw. I've heard good things about him
... - He was recruited for a similar system which we play and spent a couple years there. He could be farther along than anybody thinks
- I have a tendency to think Johnson will beat out everybody else to be the starter. He just has that "it" factor, so to speak

[Flipper]

Knapke isn't going to move. I don't think Nicholas has taken a snap in a game since his sr year of HS in 2011 so I don't know if he's going to be of much help early on. I would expect Johnson to start with Nicholas and Knapke as back ups and Callaway and Morgan getting RS years

[Redwingtom]

Isn't it unusual to redshirt a guy who has already played a full season? Is it even allowed?

[MarkL]

Isn't it unusual to redshirt a guy who has already played a full season? Is it even allowed?

Yes. It is absolutely allowed. It is uncommon but it is allowed. As I remember, Dan Macon, a running back / receiver iin 06-07, redshirted in 05 because Coach Brandon saw the impending lack of depth at running backs. Macon did not redshirt as a freshman in 03, so he redshirted in 05 and took over as the starter in 06.

[Flipper]

Five years to play four...slice them up any way you want...

[BGSU33]

Isn't it unusual to redshirt a guy who has already played a full season? Is it even allowed?

It happens across the country more often than you might think. Being Johnson is a senior I think redshirting Callaway this year would be a very smart move if that's what he wants to do.

[Falconfreak90]

Good Post Mark. Knapke did a very good job this past season. Sure he had some ups and downs but all things considered, he did well.

[kdog27]

In my opinion Knapke was handcuffed by piss poor play calling. He was capable of a much bigger play book than he was given the last half of the season. That play calling gave them zero chance to beat anyone with a pulse. They let him take some chances in the bowl game and it paid off. Not saying he is great or anything but I don't think they did him or the team any favors by running the same 5 pass plays all of November.

[Schadenfreude]

In my opinion Knapke was handcuffed by piss poor play calling.

We will probably find out one way or the other this year. If Matt Johnson is the guy and he stinks up the joint given all the talent he has around him, I would have to wonder about the play calling. We know the guy is talented.

How does our offensive line look? Are we in good shape there?

[Class of 61]

In my opinion Knapke was handcuffed by piss poor play calling.

We will probably find out one way or the other this year. If Matt Johnson is the guy and he stinks up the joint given all the talent he has around him, I would have to wonder about the play calling. We know the guy is talented.

How does our offensive line look? Are we in good shape there?

All 5 starters return, most of which are still underclassmen.. Also have several backups available, in case of injury.

[BGSU33]

Isn't it unusual to redshirt a guy who has already played a full season? Is it even allowed?

It looks like Mike Minns did this last year. He played in 2012 as a true Freshman, played in 2013 as a Sophomore, did not play in 2014 and is now listed as a red-shirt Junior for 2015. He'll have one more year in 2016.

[CBD2032]

Question on the redshirt thing.

Do you have to declare to redshirt player at whatever point it may be, or can it just be that if a player meets the redshirt requirements that it is just taken that he was in fact redshirted.

Another way to ask this I guess would be do we have to say we are redshirting a player (and obviously you can pull that if needed) or is it just if they meet the requirements that they would be considered redshirted and granted another year (obviously if applicable, since you can't redshirt a player twice other than a medical waiver)?

[Schadenfreude]

I've always assumed the player can automatically claim a redshirt so long as he or she did not enter live action for the season. Typically, I think, this is the product of planning between the coach and player. It would surprise me if the NCAA required notifications about this.

[Redwingtom]

In my opinion Knapke was handcuffed by piss poor play calling. He was capable of a much bigger play book than he was given the last half of the season. That play calling gave them zero chance to beat anyone with a pulse. They let him take some chances in the bowl game and it paid off. Not saying he is great or anything but I don't think they did him or the team any favors by running the same 5 pass plays all of November.

Yeah...but I watched the Toledo game. If Knapke could have completed a couple of those wide open TD's he missed with horrible overthrows and if he wouldn't have run Lewis out of bounds with another bad throw, we win that game going away. I hate losing to Toledo...especially when we should have won.

Sure, he did fine all things considered...but the bar was pretty low having to replace Johnson so unexpectedly and so early.

[BGSU33]

I would say Knapke did a relatively decent job overall. Did he look great everytime he played out there? No. Was he frustrating at times with his inconsistency? Yes. That said, we did accomplish three big things with him at the helm that he had a big part of.

One, beating a Power Five school. Yes, I know it was Indiana and not Ohio State, but it was still a Big Ten team and a game we could have lost but he played big it in and made some big throws.

Two, winning some close games. We won almost all of our one-score games this year which had been something that has haunted us in past years going the other way. He played a role in that.

Three, he guided us to a bowl win. It had been over a decade since our last one and again, he made some big plays including a huge one (to Lewis) at the end.

I would say in the end, we did pretty well with him all things considered because when we lost to Western Kentucky in the opener and lost Johnson for the season, things looked extremely bleak. In the end, they turned out at least decently all things considered.