Loeffler Spring Presser

Scot Loeffler did his presser yesterday for the start of spring practice.  Wearing a suit coat and a very open collar shirt, he looked a little bit like a guy running a disco in Paris.

Here's what he had to say:

The big news--though I swear he mentioned it on a podcast during the winter--was that Matt McDonald had surgery on his shoulder in January.  Loeffler says it "probably" should have been done before the season but he gutted it out.

Loeffler said he has had "candid" conversations with McDonald that he has to play better.  Yes, there were issues--like the supporting cast, the injury--but he has to play better.

Just to illustrate, McDonald's QB rating was 85.  Grant Loy, the year before, was 104.  Doege the year before that was 139.  Knapke in 2014 was 114.

McDonald won't be in spring practice.  So Loeffler saw this coming...Keller, Melton, Guenther and Davis will get the reps this spring.  The top of those would battle McDonald over the summer for the starting job.  Coach envisions a competition.

Other news.

We did have some training interruptions with COVID.  Even so, Coach says our strength and size gains were "exceptional."  He said they were very tough on the players this winter, but the team stuck together and made it through.

He predicts a healthy roster by 2022

There was a little talk about the portal.  Loeffler reiterated his concern that there are thousands of players in the portal but only about 150 open scholarships.  Also, if a young man transfers it shouldn't count against your initial counters.

Coach said that if a young man transfers for a lateral move, he doesn't think that makes sense, but if there's an opportunity to play at a bigger football school, he can support that.  Most of the BG players who have left (he said) have graduated and been here through some tough years.

In other news, Caleb Biggers has landed at Boise, Jerry Roberts at Arizona and Andrew Clair at Northwestern.  Wishing them all well.  Who knew we had P5 guys on last year's team?  (OK, Boise isn't P5).

If a kid wants to transfer to a same type of school, he disagrees.  If he can play at a larger school, that's a different subject.