The foot injury that Zack Annexstad suffered last week removed all suspense from the Gophers' starting quarterback battle.
With Annexstad out indefinitely, Tanner Morgan is written in as the starter for the Aug. 29 opener against South Dakota State and possibly for the rest of the season.
"Tanner's played a lot of football for us," coach P.J. Fleck said last weekend, adding that both Morgan and Annexstad are starting caliber. "Tanner's won some huge games for us."
Morgan opened last year as the backup but started the final six games when injuries forced Annexstad to the sideline. Morgan went 4-2, including big victories at Wisconsin and in the Quick Lane Bowl against Georgia Tech. He completed 58.6% of his passes for 1,401 yards, with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2018.
At Saturday's practice, Morgan took the first-team reps, with freshmen Jacob Clark and Cole Kramer also taking significant snaps.
"We've got to be able to get everybody else ready," Fleck said. "Jacob Clark had a really good day [Saturday]. You can see him and Kramer are getting a lot of a reps with … our young guys, and they both did a tremendous job. But they've got to grow up really fast."
Fleck said it can be difficult to speed up the development of young quarterbacks, since they learn best in a "trial-by-fire" atmosphere, as Morgan and Annexstad did last year. Fleck and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca met the night of Annexstad's injury to divide reps and brainstorm how to handle the quarterback position, now that there isn't a tested backup.
Clark, at 6-5, 220 pounds, played his high school football in Rockwall, Texas. Rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, he threw the longest pass of the spring game, a 62-yard bomb to receiver Rashod Bateman.
Kramer, at 6-1, 195 pounds, helped Eden Prairie reach the Prep Bowl three times and is a cousin of Gophers senior defensive end Carter Coughlin. A three-star recruit, Kramer is more of a dual-threat option than Clark, who has superior pocket-passing skills.
Morgan brings more mobility to the position than Annexstad. He rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Nebraska, for example, and he said he worked on improving on the read-option through the offseason.
"Once you run a couple times, you feel more comfortable and more confident in yourself," he said.
Wildcat quarterback Seth Green can also help in that area, as the junior receiver had eight rushing touchdowns last year.
Morgan said he hopes his focus on small details will improve his consistency, something Fleck also wants. But while last year was about learning the Gophers' system as well as opposing defenses, now Morgan will have to master both.
At least he's already ahead of the game on one important aspect: Team chemistry.
"It's not something that just happens in a day or two or in a week; it happens in an entire offseason," Morgan said.
"So when you're grinding in January at 5:30 [a.m.] workouts in here, you grow closer together. When you're hanging out with each other more off the field … you grow closer. And this is an incredibly close football team."
