Offense Struggles In Gophers Spring Game

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It wasn't exactly a great first impression at the Gophers spring game on Saturday.

Demry Croft threw two interceptions. Seth Green struggled too.

But all things considered, some growing pains were kind of expected.

"I like the way they competed," said Gophers head coach Tracy Claeys. "Demry made the one bad decision on the interception, but besides that, we've spent a lot of time on scrambling, I thought he scrambled awfully well, and delivered catchable balls. So I was not displeased with him at all."

"Not really sure, I haven't seen the film yet, so I really can't say too much about it, but I felt good about today, the guys, offensive line did pretty good," Croft said.

The fact is, when you're installing a new offense and you have three pretty young guys running it, the defense is at a pretty big advantage. And that's why Claeys isn't worried.

"You have a pretty good idea that the defense are going to be ahead, but I'd just rather have a game like that than some of these people go and it ends up 72-13 or something like that," Claeys said.

Conor Rhoda only completed half of his passes, but was turnover-free and effective driving the offense.

The running game was the highlight. Freshman James Johannesson looked especially solid, running for 130 yards and a touchdown, leading his team to the win.

"He's just kept getting better and better. He's learned how to get the ball up inside and be patient on some cuts," said Claeys. "Very proud of him, thought he did awfully well today."