FSUViking
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Minnesota RB Barber III to enter draft
January 15, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - Minnesota's record-setting running back duo of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney is being split apart.
Barber, a junior, has declared for the NFL draft, the Golden Gophers announced on their web site Saturday.
Barber and Maroney, who just completed his sophomore season, became the first teammates in NCAA history to each rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back campaigns.
Barber, whose father also played for the Gophers, ranks third all-time in school history with 3,276 rushing yards and second with 35 rushing touchdowns. He gained 1,269 yards with 11 TDs this season, then rushed for 187 yards and a score in a 20-16 Music Bowl victory over Alabama.
"I would like to thank you all for your support, and as coach (Glen) Mason said, we have been going through a very informative process," Barber said. "We have gone through all the various scenarios to help me decide what I am going to do. I have decided that I do want to enter myself into the NFL draft for the coming year.
"Coming to the university was like a home inside a home," Barber added. "It was just a family-based environment that I liked being a part of. I am thankful for the opportunity to come here. I was not a highly-recruited player, but coach Mason and the staff gave me an opportunity."
Mason had to convince the school to even offer Barber a scholarship.
"It is with mixed emotions that I stand here today because we are losing a great player, but more importantly to us, we are losing a great person," he said. "He is what is good about college football and college athletics and about football in general. He backs up his abilities by how he plays and not by how he talks. He has always been a gentleman and is fun to be around, and that is what I am going to miss about him the most."
<span style='color:yellow'>Muroney is now a legit Heisman candidate.</span>
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01-15-2005 08:09 PM |
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MichiFan
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I think Maroney is going to have trouble as the feature back now that everybody is keying on him, alone.
Some RBs (including Mike Hart) can handle it, but others (Frank Gore, Iowa RBs this year, Anthony Davis, Walter Reyes, TA McLendon) are susceptible to injury b/c they can't handle it.
And it doesn't help that Minnesota's passing game isn't doing all that much.
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01-15-2005 11:12 PM |
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FSUViking
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<span style='color:yellow'>When has our passing attack EVER done anything? We have been a top 5 rushing team in the nation for the last 5 years.
Muroney will do just fine.</span>
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01-16-2005 02:23 AM |
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MichiFan
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Well, next year the Gophers are going to have to really prove themselves with Illinois and Northwestern off schedule.
Your 2ndary coach, Lockwood, went to HS where I currently go, and he was honored by the FB booster club of my school at the FB banquet last week with the first alumni award ever given out (he wasn't there b/c he was on recruiting business since he's your recruiting coordinator, too)....... I hear that he might be Minnesota's new DC....... I wish good luck to him except when they visit the Big House (last year's Minnesota was actually my first game-time visit to Ann Arbor, and it was a very exciting game, and I do distinctly remember Maroney's 80-yd TD. :frown: But I think that this year Henne and Hart will do a good job controlling the clock and the field position battle when we don't score.
It's also good to see that your basketball team is finally playing well w/o any egotistical players on your roster (Rickert, Humphries)...... should be a good game in Crisler.
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01-16-2005 01:17 PM |
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FSUViking
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<span style='color:yellow'>Yeah, our schedule next year is tougher by a lot. At least Michigan and Ohio State come here next year though.
The b-ball team is a pleasent surprise this year. NIT this year, NCAA next year, hopefully. Very young team, lead by stud Rico Tucker. They don't have any superstar players, they just play good solid team basketball.</span>
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01-17-2005 04:16 PM |
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MichiFan
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The Gophers come back to the Big House, again, next year, b/c Michigan went to the MetroDome two years in a row in 02 and 03.
Your schedule is:
9/3 @Tulsa
9/10 TBA
9/17 Colorado State
9/24 Purdue
10/1 @Penn State
10/8 @Michigan
10/15 Wisconsin
10/29 Ohio State
11/5 @Indiana
11/12 Michigan State
11/19 @Iowa
Obviously the TBA will be a home game against a bad team........ Minnesota might have to schedule a 1AA at this point, and if that's the case then Minnesota will have to win 7 games to be bowl-eligible b/c you can only count a 1AA win towards bowl-eligibility once every 4 years, and you had to do that last year, so you better hope that Maturi can find a 1A opponent for that game.......
Going 3-3 against Purdue, Penn State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan State will be critical, b/c I think the Gophers are assured of going 3-0 OOC, but the likelihood of winning in the Big House or Kinnick is obviously quite small.
I think the Gopher BB team will get into the tourney this year, though, if only as a 9 or 10 seed.
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01-17-2005 04:46 PM |
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cbfranchise3
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I don't think this hurts Muroney at all, it will hurt Minnesota though. Quick defenses will be able to shut the Gophers down next year.
I was surprised Barber left, it will be interesting to see where he falls in the draft. Still a very raw player, he could have used another year in college.
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01-17-2005 07:27 PM |
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FSUViking
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[QUOTE]I don't think this hurts Muroney at all, it will hurt Minnesota though. Quick defenses will be able to shut the Gophers down next year.[QUOTE]
<span style='color:yellow'>How so? Last year's offensive output wasn't just a flash in the pan. It's been consistant for the last half decade, before Muroney OR Barber came here.
BTW, that TBA game is reportedly going to be Kent State. It's being finalized right now.</span>
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01-22-2005 02:18 AM |
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cbfranchise3
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I will say that their running game will be consistent next year, but it will definitely not be what it was this past year. Anytime you lose a player like Barber, you will suffer a bit. I didn't say they would suck, I just said that they will fall a little. Opposing defensive coordinators only have one RB to prepare for now.
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01-22-2005 01:45 PM |
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