The Gophers might be working on a 10 wins season two years from now, according to J Leman. The former Illinois linebacker is a Big Ten Network sideline reporter and admires Gophers coach Jerry Kill.
Before Leman committed to Illinois, Kill tried to recruit him at Southern Illinois where he was then head coach. Leman has known about Kill not only for his work in turning around a horrible Southern Illinois program but also his success with other teams.
“I think he’s won everywhere he’s went,” Leman told Sports Headliners prior to last Saturday’s Minnesota win over Purdue. “I don’t think coach Kill is flashy but he’s blue-collar and he will win football games. That’s the way he wants it.
“Frankly, I think most college football fans are sick of flashy. They just want wins, and that’s what coach Kill does.”
The Gophers are 5-3 this season and 1-3 in Big Ten games. This is Kill’s second year coaching Minnesota and Leman described the program as making “sold progression” with a chance to qualify for a bowl game.
“I think next year seven or eight wins is definitely not out of the question, and I think in year four you’re going to see a team that is competing in the upper echelon of the Big Ten (Conference). I think eight to 10 wins during that year—year four—is not out of reach with the amount of freshmen and sophomores they have playing right now.”
Worth Noting
Redshirt freshman Jon Christenson started the season as a reserve but the former walk-on became a starter at guard and now is the Gophers center. He’s earned praise from coach Jerry Kill and new starting quarterback Philip Nelson.
“He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever met,” Nelson said. “In the hotel (last) Friday night he’s snapping to me, making sure his snaps are perfect, exactly wherever I want them. He didn’t have any bad snaps throughout that whole game (Purdue last Saturday).”
Nelson expects the extra time spent snapping the ball at a hotel on Friday nights will continue. “John loves feeling confident the night before,” Nelson said. “I can see why. He wants to make sure he’s perfect and that’s something we all want to do. He cares so much that he’s always finding me trying to get more snaps in, and that’s a great thing as a quarterback.”
Nelson, a true freshman, makes his third start for the Gophers tomorrow at TCF Bank Stadium against Michigan. If Nelson were injured, MarQueis Gray told Sports Headliners he could switch from wide receiver to quarterback. “I feel like I am good enough health wise to go out there and play quarterback again,” Gray said.
Would Gray, who was the Gophers starter at quarterback before missing games because of a high ankle sprain and knee injury, be asked to replace Nelson? Or would the replacement be sophomore Max Shortell, leaving Gray at wide receiver?
“I really don’t know,” Gray said. “Most likely be Max—probably because he’s the No. 2 and I am strictly the receiver, but who knows? Time comes, and they need me to play quarterback, I’ll be ready.”
Gray was optimistic about beating Michigan for the first time in Minneapolis since 1977 and claiming the Little Brown Jug: “I know that’s going to be good for us—and plus, the alumni who hasn’t won it.”
Gophers senior Troy Stoudermire entered this season needing only 315 more kickoff return yards to set the NCAA record for total yardage. But with four games remaining, he is 129 yards short of the 315. “I feel I will crack it open,” said Stoudermire. He made it clear, though, that seeing the Gophers play in a bowl game is more important to him.
Here are Sports Headliners’ weekly Big Ten power rankings: Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois.
St. Thomas, 6-0 in the MIAC standings, heads to Concordia, Moorhead this morning for a game tomorrow afternoon against the 5-1 Cobbers. Concordia and Bethel are tied for second place in the league football standings.
The first place Tommies also have a game remaining against 4-2 St. Olaf. “It seems like every week is a big game,” St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso told Sports Headliners. “We know we get everybody’s ‘A’ game.”
Concordia sophomore quarterback Griffin Neal had almost 300 yards in total offense last week and accounted for five touchdowns in a 51-27 win over Carleton. “We knew he was good,” Caruso said. “We recruited him as well. He’s a nice combination passer and runner.”
Caruso likes the Cobbers’ defensive experience. “They return 10 starters and seven are seniors,” he said.
St. Thomas has been hit by injuries, particularly on offense where eight backups have stepped in as starters over the course of the season (five on defense). “It’s been a tumultuous year for injuries. We finished with our third string quarterback last Saturday,” Caruso said.
But the Tommies keep winning with amazing personnel balance. No St.Thomas player has more than 500 rushing or receiving yards. No Tommie is averaging more than five receptions per game. (See the St. Thomas football website for a more complete description of how so many players have contributed to the team’s success.)
Although the trip to Moorhead is the longest of the year, Caruso enjoys the outing. He met his wife in Fargo and the couple still has friends in the area. With a nationally ranked Division III team, and friends to see, not even the prospect of gloomy weather in the North Country can deter the coach’s enthusiasm.
Caruso has been checking weather forecasts since Sunday and has steadily seen predicted temps for Saturday go down and skies darken. Saturday could be a high of 36 degrees with snow. “I look at the weather about eight times per day,” he said. “I should stop looking.”
The American Hockey League announced yesterday that Aeros center Mikael Granlund is the CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month for October. The 20-year-old Granlund, the Wild’s No. 1 draft pick in 2010, had three goals and seven assists in seven games, along with a plus-five rating.
Maybe Adam Wilcox can record a second career shutout tonight at Mariucci Arena or Saturday evening in Mankato. The Gopher freshman shutout Canisius 1-0 last Sunday and could win the job as Minnesota’s regular goalie. Minnesota hosts Minnesota State, Mankato tonight before playing on the Mavericks’ home ice Saturday. The No. 2 ranked Gophers have 15 players on the roster who have been drafted by NHL teams.
USA Today columnist Michael Hiestand reported in Monday’s edition that the seven lowest television ratings for the World Series are the last seven years. Multiple sources reported the 2012 World Series drew record-low ratings.
If Twins manager Ron Gardenhire resigned or was fired next season, a guess is the leading candidates to replace him will be minor league manager Gene Glynn or Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.
Minnesotan Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and New York Times columnist, was in Minneapolis this week. Friedman said he and WCCO TV’s Mark Rosen attended journalism class together at St. Louis Park High School.
David Jones will speak to the C.O.R.E.S. group at a noon luncheon on Thursday, November 8 in Bloomington. Jones is known for his presentations on historical figures and will talk to C.O.R.E.S. about factors influencing ongoing discussion and debate of President John Kennedy’s assassination. Anyone interested in further information can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.