Author: David Shama

High School All-American wide receiver Michael Floyd who said no to the Gophers and will enroll at Notre Dame this summer told Sports Headliners on Sunday that he will recruit his Cretin-Derham Hall teammate Seantrel Henderson for the Irish.

Henderson is an offensive tackle, about 6-7, 300 pounds.  National recruiting guru Tom Lemming has identified Henderson as the No. 1 junior prep prospect in the country for next season.

“He’s just a natural athlete,” Floyd said.  “The more we work with him, the more the coaches work with him, get him more disciplined; he’ll turn into a great player.”

Floyd didn’t hesitate when asked whether he will recruit Henderson to join him at Notre Dame.  “Yes, definitely,” he said. “They’re already starting to recruit him, and they want me to try and talk to him but I…kind of basically made my own decision (choosing a college), and that’s something he will have to do, too. So don’t let anybody else dictate where you go to.”

What will he tell Henderson?  “Notre Dame is a great school,” Floyd answered.  “I would love for him to come there but it’s basically up to him.”

Floyd said Henderson hasn’t visited Notre Dame and doesn’t know as much about the South Bend school as he will.  The recruiting process for highly sought players like Floyd and Henderson is complex.  Floyd said part of what Henderson will need to do is sort out who is “real and fake.”

If Floyd hadn’t chosen Notre Dame, his second choice was Ohio State (the “guys were cool”).  Michigan was his third choice and beyond that Floyd couldn’t specify a fourth or fifth favorite.

Floyd hopes to become a starter at Notre Dame as a freshman.  If his college career is successful, would he leave for the NFL after his junior season?  He said he “didn’t really know” and made the point that his mother has stressed education.  He’s undecided about his major at Notre Dame, although business interests him.

Conversations about the Vikings, whether it involves fans or media, keep coming back to Tarvaris Jackson.  The acquisition of defensive end Jared Allen, the NFL sack leader last season while playing for Kansas City, has stirred talk about the Vikings having one of the league’s best defenses in 2008.  Adrian Peterson, last year’s NFL rookie of the year and NFC leading rusher, can be a thrill a minute guy whose presence gives fans a rush.  But the question about 2008 team success always seems to include Jackson’s name in the answer.

Former Vikings’ assistant coach Dean Dalton, who now analyzes the NFL in the media, refers to the Super Bowl as the “Promised Land.”  In a recent interview with Sports Headliners about the 25-year-old Jackson, Dalton first talked about the impact of Allen whose pass rushing skills are seen as an ideal complement to the already dominant Vikings rushing defense.  A better defense creating more three and outs, more turnovers and better field position translates into increased opportunities for the offense, Dalton said.

“It is a help to a young quarterback to take a little bit of the pressure off him, but to get to the ‘Promised Land’ (the Super Bowl) it still comes down to the trigger man,” Dalton added.  “It comes down to the quarterback’s play, and so with the pressure taken off of him he can be more of an offensive manager and not have to be the playmaker.  So they still need to continue to surround him with playmakers so that he can just manage the offense and continue to mature his game.”

Dalton expects Jackson to play next season with more consistency than in the past. To perform more like he did during the last half of the season when he minimized mistakes and at times was an impressive playmaker.  Jackson doesn’t have to be spectacular, just manage the game and not make errors.

Dalton said last year he saw “signs of maturity” in Jackson who became the team’s starter in his second season as a pro.  He likes Jackson’s work ethic, study habits and athleticism.  Last season injuries diminished his playing time but he was 8-4 in games he started.  Although he threw 12 interceptions and only nine touchdown passes, he completed 58 percent of his passes.  What sometimes gets lost in the evaluation of Jackson is that many quarterbacks who became NFL success stories were mediocre or worse during their first couple of years in the league.

Dalton wants to see Jackson and the Vikings improve the deep passing game.  “If they can have a vertical threat and he can have some accuracy, that puts the defensive secondaries on their heels,” Dalton said.  “And it gets that extra safety out of the box which opens things up for Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor.  So if they can stretch the field vertically their running game will continue to be the best in the league and that’s one of the things I think they will emphasize as an offense.”

There’s no certainty in predicting how Jackson will play in 2008 but there’s  agreement that his success has everything to do with the Vikings’ fate.  Super Bowl?  That’s a lot of improvement in one season.

Former Twin Torii Hunter, now with the Los Angeles Angels, is the best defensive player in the major leagues, according to a Sports Illustrated players’ poll in the May 5 issue of the magazine.

Sportsmanship got a badly needed boost last week in a softball game between two universities, Western Oregon and Central Washington.  A Western player hit a home run but injured her knee rounding the bases.  Central Washington players carried her so she could touch all the bases and make the home run count.  The home run allowed Western to win the game and ended Central Washington’s pursuit of a conference title and playoffs, according to news reports.

The Minnesota Wild announced on Wednesday that five of its players will participate in the 2008 Men’s World Hockey Championships in Quebec City, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Based on preliminary roster submissions, defenseman Brent Burns will represent Canada, center Morten Madsen (fourth round pick in 2005, played for Houston Aeros last season) will play for Denmark, goalie Niklas Backstrom and center Mikko Koivu will compete for Finland, and right wing Julien Sprunger (fourth round pick in 2004, played for HC Fribourg-Gotteron in Swiss League last season) will represent Switzerland.  The World Championships begin today (Friday).

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee hosts its annual banquet tonight at 317 on Rice Park in St. Paul. The banquet will honor the University of Michigan’s Kevin Porter, the 2008 winner of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.  Also honored will be legendary Dartmouth College coach Eddie Jeremiah who will receive the 2008 Hobey Baker Legend of College Hockey award.  Ticket information is available at www.hobeybaker.com.

General manager Djorn Bucholz of the Minnesota Thunder said forward Ricardo Sanchez has played “fantastic” in the team’s first two games.  He scored on a penalty kick at Vancouver in the Thunder’s 1-0 win on April 26.  Bucholz likes Sanchez’s steadiness with the ball.  Bucholz said other key players for the Thunder, 1-1 on the season, are goalie Nicolas Platter, defender and midfielder Stephen deRoux and forward Alen Marcina.

The Thunder opens the home schedule on Sunday night at James Griffin Stadium in St. Paul.  Tickets will be available at the stadium prior to the 5:05 p.m. game time, Buchholz said.

Sportscaster Randy Shaver said his annual golf tournament set for June 2 at Rush Creek has filled its available inventory for players and sponsors.  He expects the tourney to raise about $390,000 for the Randy Shaver Cancer Research Fund.  He said over the years the tournament has generated more than $3 million for the fund which then distributes it for cancer research.