Author: David Shama

The Sporting News college football magazine lists incoming Gopher frosh Harold Howell as one of its four “newcomers to watch” in the Big Ten Conference.  The speedster from Florida is a potential big time play maker for the Gophers as a return man and wide receiver. 

When the Gophers open their new on-campus football stadium in 2009 they will have the newest stadium in the Big Ten Conference.  The Metrodome is the newest stadium currently. Indiana’s Memorial Stadium, opened in 1960, is the second newest. 

Local dentist Dr. John Williams reports that approximately 35 of his former teammates from the 1967 football Gophers will be in Canton, Ohio on August 4 to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the team’s Big Ten Conference championship and see Charlie Sanders inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Sanders, who enjoyed an outstanding pro career as a tight end with Detroit, played wide receiver, tight end and defensive end for the Gophers from 1965-1967.  Williams said ex-Gophers headed to the celebration include Bob Stein, former all-America defensive end and Minnesota Timberwolves president, and McKinley Boston, former defensive tackle and Gopher athletic director. 

Long shot:  undrafted Minneapolis native Kammron Taylor is trying to make the NBA by first impressing as a member of the Timberwolves summer league team playing in Las Vegas.  Although he was a point guard in college at Wisconsin, he averaged more rebounds per game than assists.  His career averages: 10 points per game, 2.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists.  Senior year averages: 13.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He made a team best 68 three-pointers. 

Long balls: Kevin Slowey, demoted to the minors last week, gave up 13 home runs in just 37 innings while pitching for the Twins.  His record: 3-0, with a 5.84 ERA.   

Any future pro tennis exhibition in this area should include Rochester native and former Gustavus Adolphus star Eric Butorac.  Ticket buyers from Rochester and St. Peter will help boost sales for a tennis card that would still need a headliner other than Butorac who is making a name for himself in doubles.  He and partner James Murray made it to the third round at Wimbledon last week.

High on the fretting list for Twins fans is the contract status of several key players.  Who knows how many passionate followers are losing sleep over whether center fielder Torii Hunter and second baseman Luis Castillo will be back after this season, or whether pitchers Johan Santana and Joe Nathan are gone at the end of 2008?  First baseman Justin Morneau and outfielder Michael Cuddyer, are free agents following the 2009 season. 

I asked team president Dave St. Peter to offer fans advice about the challenge the organization faces in retaining most of its best players as expiring contracts approach. “Be patient,” St. Peter said.  “Things have a way of sorting their way out.  I think this organization has proven that over time we can maintain a competitive team.  …There’s no question we have very difficult decisions to make.  Our players will have difficult decisions to make.  It takes two to certainly make these things go but at the end of the day I think there’s a rush to judgment and people tend to panic. 

“One thing that I think that the Pohlads deserve a lot of credit for is they make sure the leaders of their businesses don’t make decisions until they have to make those decisions.  We’ll address those (decisions) as they come.    

“Certainly we believe that the future of this organization is very bright and that we will find ways to maintain the nucleus.  Does that mean everybody will be here?  I don’t know.  I am not saying that.  But there’s been a lot of good players that have gone on to play for other organizations over the last several years.  Yet the Twins have found ways to continue to be competitive and I expect that will still be the case here as we move into the new ballpark.” 

The Twins begin play in their new warehouse district ballpark in 2010 and club revenues will expand.  St. Peter said the increased revenue, though, won’t have a significant impact on budgeting for the years leading up to 2010 because the Twins will still be playing in the Metrodome.     

“Our payroll has probably increased as much as any team in baseball over the course of the last five or six years,” St. Peter said. …“We’re still playing in the Metrodome, probably the worst revenue facility in major league baseball and yet we’ve got a payroll now that’s north of $70 million.  If you had told me that five years ago I would have told you, you were crazy but we’ve been able to drive the payroll really thanks to ownership.” 

St. Peter expects to have a payroll in 2010 that is average compared with other major league teams.  “Payroll has never really been the driving force here for the Twins,” he said.  “It’s all about making good baseball decisions.  If that means the payroll is going to go up, it’s going to go up.  If it means we can stay competitive where we’re at, we’ll stay where we’re at.  The roster will dictate the payroll, versus the payroll dictating the roster.  We’re trying to put players out there to be in a position to help us win.  We’ve proven we can certainly do that with a payroll well below the league average.”

With so many contracts to be addressed and mega money involved, only the most optimistic observers think the Twins will retain all their star players.  All are capable of strong production in the future, making them attractive to other teams on the open market, and two of them, Santana and Morneau, could negotiate some of the biggest money in baseball’s free agency market.  Talk is commonplace that Santana’s next contract will total over $100 million.

Gopher coach Tim Brewster’s goal is to have a “top 20” college football recruiting class for 2008.  Brewster and his assistant coaches have devoted extraordinary time and energy the last several months to making their first recruiting group one of the best in school history.

“We will be very, very disappointed if we don’t have a top 20 recruiting class in the country,” Brewster told Sports Headliners.  “…Obviously, if we’re in the top 20 in the country, then…we’ll be in the upper end of the Big Ten (Conference) which is where we need to be, which is where we should be.”

Beyond 2008?  Brewster expects to set the goal at top 15 or better in recruiting rankings.  “Each and every year I think we’ll take steps of re-establishing ourselves as one of the elite programs in college football,” he said.  “Without question that’s going to be accomplished. … 

“I couldn’t be any more excited about how the (recruiting) process is evolving to this point.  We’ve made tremendous inroads in the state of Minnesota and in the country in areas in which we targeted. … California, Texas, Florida where we’re going to go get dynamic football players that can help us win a championship.   

“And then obviously it’s got to translate on the field.  We’ve gotta win.  More than anything that’s what’s going to help us in recruiting, when kids see our style of play.  When they see a brand new on-campus football stadium it’s going to be huge in allowing us to return to greatness.” 

Brewster won’t know the complete recruiting results until signing day in February but the bar has been set high and is going higher.  A verbal commitment in the fall from one or more high school superstars will add further evidence of Gopher progress.  No potential commitment looms larger than that of Cretin-Derham Hall wide receiver Michael Floyd, considered one of the elite school boy players in the country.  Another barometer will be Brewster’s son Nolan, a consensus choice as a top safety, who currently is committed to Texas.