Some media members continue to criticize Mitch Leidner, despite the fact he has started 18 college football games and has a 11-7 record — the first Gophers quarterback with a better-than-.500 winning percentage in some time. Coach Jerry Kill made it clear the former Lakeville South star is going to be the team's starting quarterback going forward.
The last Gophers quarterback to have a winning record over two seasons was Bryan Cupito, who went 20-17 over three seasons from 2004-2006 under Glen Mason.
"It's just like anything, we have to keep him healthy and he needs to continue to improve," Kill said. "I think that he did a great job of bringing us back [in the Gophers' 23-20 overtime victory over Colorado State on Saturday]. We don't win the game if he doesn't take us down the field and score. It's one of those things, you look at eight or nine plays in the game that you wish you had made and then nobody is saying anything, and the other thing is he's thrown the ball 150 or 160 times without an interception.
"He's doing some good things. But people are critical of that position, just like they're critical of me. I get e-mails all the time that I need to do this and I'm not very good at this and they need to hire somebody else as a coach when we don't do very well. That's just part of being a quarterback. Our whole football team on offense has to continue to improve and the offense reflects him."
Leidner has completed 42 of 80 passes on the season for 430 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also has rushed 23 times for 70 yards.
Kill was asked why he wants Leidner as his starter.
"Right now, first of all, he's getting some experience," Kill said. "He didn't play a lot as a [redshirt] freshman, he played last year and he's got knowledge of the game. He's a tough, hard-nosed kid, and the kids follow him. They believe in him. They want a mentally tough quarterback, and he's a good leader. So I mean that's what makes him, probably why the kids follow him. I mean, he played with an MCL [injury]. Nobody does that at quarterback, put a brace on.
"I mean, he's been beat up from running the ball, saw him this past week get hit good and just gets up and keeps playing. I think his mental toughness rubs off on the kids. That's his biggest strength. He knows he has to continue to get better at throwing the ball, but you know frankly, when we've gone no-huddle and in the two-minute offense, we don't win the [Colorado State] game if he doesn't take us 80 yards or whatever it was, boom-boom-boom down the field. You judge a quarterback by wins and losses, and if we start getting our butts kicked we'll need to think about it, but right now we've played two very tough teams. If you look at our schedule, it's just like people said, for back-to-back games there's nobody that played a tougher schedule than we have."
