Official Gopher 2-Deep (FINALLY)

Practice has begun today and at Brewster's 1 pm news conference the official depth chart was revealed. What is remarkable is that only seven players on the first or second string are seniors. I'll help you out with the math. 7/44 = 15.9% of the relevant roster are seniors meaning 84.1% will be returning next year. I know we thought we were young last year and this year would see some improvement but we are a VERY inexperienced team. 10 are true or redshirted freshmen with more not listed who many think will contribute in 2008 (Tate and Jacobs come to mind)

First of all click HERE for a very quick clip of Brewster's press conference.

Let us remember that there has not been a practice yet so this will surely change over the next 3-4 weeks. There are plenty of young players and newcomers who will likely have a chance to move up the list.

First year players in maroon.

OFFENSE			DEFENSE
QB	Adam Weber		DE	Willie VanDeSteeg
	Tony Mortenson			Derrick Onwuachi
RB	Duane Bennett		DT	Eric Small
	Jay Thomas			Jewhan Edwards
WR	Eric Decker		DT	Garrett Brown
	Xavier Brandon			Barrett Moen
WR	Ralph Spry		DE	Cedrick McKinley
	Broderick Smith			Lee Campbell
WR	Brandon Green		LB	Simoni Lawrence
	Ben Kuznia			Kevin Manion
TE	Jack Simmons		LB	Deon Hightower
	Nick Tow-Arnett			Rex Sharpe
RT	Chris Bunders (rFR)		LB	Steve Davis
	Ryan Ruckdashel			Nate Triplett
RG	Ryan Wynn (rFR)		CB	Marcus Sherels
	Jason Meinke			Ryan Collado
C	Jeff Tow-Arnett		FS	Tramaine Brock
	Trey Davis (rFR)			Tim Dandridge
LG	DJ Burris		SS	Kyle Theret
	Ned Tevale			Keanon Cooper
LT	Dominic Alford		CB	Traye Simmons
	Ryan Orton (rFR)			Troy Stoudermire

SURPRISES...

No David Pittman - but my assumption he is #3 at WR, CB, QB, C, LS, LT and DT (maybe I should have listed with / instead of ,)

Redshirted Freshmen missing - Anthony Jacobs and Andre Tate are not on the 2-deep and personally I was hopeful to see their names, time will tell if they contribute much this season.

Offensive Line - most notable was Ned Tevale backing up LG when many thought he'd be starting at RG. Looks like the entire right side of the line is up for grabs but currently has two freshmen starting while the left side and center are locked down.

Defensive Backfield - the big shocker is Marcus Sherels starting at CB over returning starter Ryan Collado. Sherels was hyped coming out of spring ball but I'll still be shocked to see him starting in week 1. Maybe he was made for corner and it just took some time for him to find a home. Of the top eight players in the defensive backfield 3 are new starters and 3 backups are new to the program. Looks like a wholesale effort to get that pass defense turned around.

Defensive Starters - FOUR starters who were not a part of the program in 2007 (five if you count Sherels who moved from WR to CB) and five back ups who are new to Gopher football. The battles will be fun to watch from a distance and be sure to have your roster handy for week 1 vs. Northern Illinois.

That, Gopher faithful, is your 2008 Golden Gopher initial depth chart.