P.J. FLECK – Page 69 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Targets Elite Illinois Recruits

Posted on June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 by David Shama

The football Gophers are making an impact in the state of Illinois recruiting players for the class of 2019 and could end up with commitments from two of the top three prospects, according to Ryan Burns from GopherIllustrated.com.

Defensive end Jason Bargy from Momency, Illinois has already verbally committed to Minnesota. Burns said the top three 2019 prospects in Illinois are Bargy, Crystal Lake offensive tackle Trevor Keegan and Quincy running back Jirehl Brock. All three are four-star recruits and Brock is more likely to verbally commit to the Gophers than Keegan, who is considered the No. 1 prospect in the state.

Brock will make an official visit to Minnesota on June 8. Burns wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually chooses Minnesota, although the recruiting authority acknowledges Iowa is the favorite. Brock, Burns said, has made six visits to Iowa City and that could be interpreted two ways. Likely it shows how interested he is in Iowa, but Burns speculates all those trips may indicate doubts—perhaps searching for a reason not to become a Hawkeye.

The Gophers have 10 commitments for the class of 2019, with three players from the state of Illinois already on board. The three are Bargy, three-star defensive back Tyler Nubin from St. Charles, and three-star offensive tackle J.J. Guedet from Washington. Burns said all three are “in the ear” of Brock to become a Gopher.

Historically the state of Illinois hasn’t been a target for Minnesota recruiting, with the Gophers even pulling more players and big-time contributors over the years from Wisconsin and Michigan among nearby states. That’s changed, though, under second-year coach P.J. Fleck who is an Illinois native, played collegiately at Northern Illinois and recognizes the opportunity in his home state where there are annually many top prospects.

Burns said the Gopher shopping list in Illinois includes other players than those referenced above and when the 2019 class is finalized Minnesota could end up with something like five of the top 15 players from the Land of Lincoln. “So not only are they going into the state of Illinois, and getting quality kids, they’re getting the top echelon,” Burns said.

University of Illinois football is sending out “distress signals” and schools like Minnesota, Iowa and Iowa State are among those trying to capitalize on the opportunity to recruit Illinois prep players skeptical about the Illini’s future under head coach Lovie Smith who is 5-19 in his first two years leading the program. The 60-year-old Smith, who took the Illinois job after many years in the NFL, is 2-16 in Big Ten games.

Burns described the 37-year-old Fleck as “much more of a dynamic recruiter” than Smith. “P.J’s enthusiasm just really resonates with 17 and 18 year old kids,” Burns said. “…P.J. is texting these kids, (and) facetiming them—while I don’t necessarily think Lovie is making sure to make an effort to do that on a daily basis.”

Minnesota offensive line coach Brian Callahan has recruiting responsibilities in Illinois and deserves credit along with Fleck for progress the Gophers have made in the state. “That’s a place where Minnesota wanted to go more last year,” Burns said. “They got some quality kids (class of 2018) from there like Elijah Teague, a defensive tackle who I expect to contribute early on. They signed a middle linebacker named Mariano Sori-Marin from there, but they knew that they wanted to get inroads into this 2019 class and I think you’ve seen that.

“Illinois is consistently producing 25, 30 legitimate BCS kids a year. To get not even into June yet, and you’ve already landed three of the top eight from the state of Illinois, I can tell you Lovie Smith and staff are not very happy with P.J. Fleck because these are kids that Illinois thinks they should be keeping (at) home. But P.J. is going in there and winning some pretty important recruiting battles.”

Worth Noting

Among the Gophers’ other recruiting targets is three-star, pro-style quarterback Jacob Clark from Rockwall, Texas. Burns said Clark’s dad visited Minnesota’s campus this week. Burns predicted a college decision by mid-June with the quarterback choosing either Minnesota or California.

June is an international travel month for the University of St. Thomas football team. Coach Glenn Caruso has arranged a 13-day trip to Ireland and Italy including a game in Rome on Saturday against one of Italy’s top Division I teams. NCAA rules allow teams to take an international trip for competition every three years.

The MIAC announced yesterday that St. Thomas has won the Men’s and Women’s All-Sports Competition for the past school year. It’s the 11th consecutive year the Tommies have been No. 1 in overall MIAC competition for both genders.

Customers at St. Paul Saints games are alert for Bill Murray sightings. The comedian and actor doesn’t live in Minnesota but is sometimes spotted at CHS Field watching the team he is part owner of. Mike Veeck, also a Saints owner, said Murray doesn’t have “handlers” and fans “absolutely love him because he is so approachable and they can get autographs. They feel the relationship with him.”

The Twins, 22-30 on the season, aren’t winning close games. Last night they lost 9-8 to the Central Division first place Indians. Minnesota, 6.5 games behind the Indians, has seen 11 of its last 12 games decided by three runs or fewer, and has a 3-8 record in those games.

Miguel Sano, who hit a game-tying home run in the seventh inning, had three RBI last night—the most he’s had this season.

Cheryl Reeve, the Lynx coach who has led her team to four WNBA titles, was quoted extensively in a May 27 New York Times article while analyzing a Western Conference NBA finals game between the Warriors and Rockets. She is a fan of Golden State forward-center Draymond Green. “There’s just an element to the way he plays,” Reeve told the Times.

Comments Welcome

Age in Footrace with CB Newman

Posted on May 1, 2018May 1, 2018 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column including a former teammate’s perspective on ageless Terence Newman, and speculation about who the state’s most coveted 2019 prep football recruit will choose for college tonight.

That was no golden parachute the Vikings gave the 39-year-old cornerback Newman by re-signing him. He started seven of 16 regular season games last year, and could even be a regular again.

“Oh, for sure,” said Ben Leber. “There’s definitely a little bit of a step that he’s lost, but he’s still better than 80 percent of the rookies and the young guys out there.”

Leber, the retired Vikings’ linebacker who provides analysis during team radio broadcasts, played with Newman at Kansas State where the former Wildcat was also a track star. Leber estimates his former teammate still has “90 percent” of his top football speed.

Newman’s 15 years of experience allows him to mentor other defensive backs, and to use his knowledge most effectively for his own benefit. “His mind is invaluable as far as leadership…(he also) puts himself in the right position,” Leber said. “You watch the way he plays the game now. He’s so precise with his angles. He knows exactly where the receivers are going to end up.”

Newman is returning for his fourth season with Minnesota. He has the most career interceptions (42) among active NFL players and is the oldest active defensive player in the league. He has participated in 47 games with the Vikings, making 33 starts.

It wouldn’t surprise Leber if the Vikings and Newman agree on another contract a year from now. He describes Newman as “a machine,” while acknowledging people may kid the veteran about playing at such an advanced age.

“If you’re 39 going on 40 and you still have sweet hips like he does, no, you’re not old,” Leber said. “It’s fun to rib him about it because it just doesn’t happen in our league. But he’s definitely put himself in position to earn that, keep doing it and to keep collecting checks—and to keep chasing that (first Super Bowl) championship.”

Sounds like Edina’s Quinn Carroll will announce Notre Dame as his college choice tonight on KARE 11. The offensive tackle is among the most sought after prep players in the country for the class of 2019 and he has shown considerable interest in the Golden Gophers, but I will be surprised if Carroll doesn’t verbally commit to the Fighting Irish during the 10 p.m. newscast of the Minneapolis NBC affiliate.

“I would be absolutely flabbergasted if it’s not the Notre Dame Fighting Irish,” said Ryan Burns of GopherIllustrated.com. “They’ve been the consensus favorite here for many months.”

Burns believes Notre Dame’s football prestige and the Catholic focus of the school favors an ultimate commitment for the Irish. “It also doesn’t hurt that Notre Dame just had two offensive linemen go in the top nine picks of the NFL Draft, while Minnesota hasn’t had an offensive lineman drafted since 2006,” Burns said.

Carroll’s dad, Jay, was a tight end for the Gophers and named the team’s Outstanding Offensive Player in 1983. Burns estimates the younger Carroll has visited the Minnesota campus more than 10 times since Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck was hired in January of 2017. “It’s not every day you see a guy keep coming back to campus…and not end up choosing the University of Minnesota,” Burns said about so many unofficial visits.

Burns predicts the Gophers will finish as Carroll’s No. 2 choice. As of late the Gophers have been “bridesmaids” on high profile recruits including Council Bluffs, Iowa quarterback Max Duggan who chose TCU.

Fleck received good news recently when the NCAA granted medical redshirts to two of his more promising young players. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and wide receiver Demetrius Douglas, both 19, have been given additional eligibility following injuries last season. Winfield will be a redshirt sophomore next season, and Douglas a redshirt freshman.

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said at Sunday’s Minnesota Football Honors Awards that coach Mike Zimmer wanted to use the team’s first round draft choice on an offensive tackle but Spielman and the scouting department opted for cornerback Mike Hughes.

Jake Wieneke, the free agent wide receiver from Maple Grove signed after the NFL Draft by the Vikings, prompts comparisons with Adam Thielen but Wieneke had a much more impressive college career. Wieneke was named to All-America teams all four seasons at South Dakota State and is the Missouri Valley Conference’s all-time leader in career receptions and receiving yards. Detroit Lakes native Thielen, who was signed as a free agent by the Vikings in 2013, has become one of the NFL’s better wide receivers but in college at Minnesota State his highest honor was being named All-Northern Sun Conference South Division as a senior.

A source close to the Wild told Sports Headliners there probably isn’t anyone within the organization that will fit the candidate pool to possibly become owner Craig Leipold’s next general manager.

Former North Star and ex-Tampa Bay GM Brian Lawton is interested in the position. He said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” on Sunday that he has spoken with Leipold.

Former Sharks and Kings executive Dean Lombardi, with ties to the old North Stars, might be another name to follow.

While Wild GM Chuck Fletcher was let go last week, it appears head coach Bruce Boudreau will return for a third season. No NHL coaches were fired during the regular season for the first time since the 1960s.

Kevin Gorg, the Fox Sports North reporter on Wild and Twins games, will be sharing his wagering expertise again this year at Canterbury Park which opens for live racing Friday. He’s sold a $2 tip sheet at the Shakopee racetrack for years.

Not a good start for new Twins pitching coach Garvin Alston whose staff has an American League second worst ERA of 5.29. Dating back to last Friday’s first game of the homestand, the Twins have given up 30 runs in four games.

The inaugural Cretin-Derham Hall Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet will be May 17 at the University of St. Thomas. Matt Birk, Joe Mauer and Chris Weinke are among those who will be inducted.

Early birthday wishes: Lynx point guard and Gopher women’s basketball coach Lindsay Whalen turns 36 on May 9.

Comments Welcome

Gopher AD Makes Impact on Staff

Posted on April 15, 2018April 15, 2018 by David Shama

It will be two years ago next month that University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler hired Mark Coyle away from Syracuse to be the Golden Gophers Athletic Director. During his time at Minnesota Coyle has hired several new coaches including in the high profile sports of football, men’s hockey and women’s basketball.

The latest appointment is that of Lindsay Whalen to head the women’s basketball program, even though she has no previous coaching experience. Earlier this spring Coyle hired Bob Motzko as men’s hockey coach and in January of 2017 selected P.J. Fleck to lead the football team.

Mark Coyle (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

It’s evident that when Coyle considers staff hires he places an emphasis on coaches with high potential to recruit skilled student-athletes. Coyle does so with good reason because there’s no doubt football and men’s hockey are significant businesses at the U, and women’s basketball could some day become the first women’s program in the Athletic Department to be profitable.

Coyle knows without talented recruits the Gophers can’t dream of and chase championships in the high profile and revenue producing sports that also includes his men’s basketball program. “No mule ever won the Kentucky Derby,” former Gopher national championship football coach Murray Warmath used to say about the importance of talent.

Whalen, 35, is young enough to relate to high school players and has the platform of still playing for the WNBA champion Lynx. As a recruiter, the competitive Whalen should be able to get into living rooms and make recruiting pitches to outstanding prospects that her U coaching predecessors could only fantasize about.

“Want to some day play women’s pro basketball?” Whalen can ask. “Well, I can show you how to get there.”

The Whalen resume sparkles with accomplishments including leading the Gophers as a player to the 2004 women’s Final Four and becoming one of the WNBA’s best point guards and consistent winners. It’s this kind of background that has Minnesotans enthralled and intrigued by what awaits the Gopher women’s program.

Among those watching is Jerry Noyce, the former Big Ten championship Gopher tennis coach and Minneapolis area business leader, and a man whose name was pushed at least twice to become Minnesota’s athletic director including as successor to the infamous Norwood Teague who resigned in 2015.

“I would not be surprised if Minnesota women’s basketball is able to compete on a very high level—with UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford and all of those teams,” Noyce said. “I would think that she (Whalen) will be able to up the recruiting even more (than it has been). Get more really top players…and I just think she’s going to build a culture of accomplishment that’s going to play well against anybody in the nation.”

Recruiting successfully starts in the state of Minnesota where Marlene Stollings, Whalen’s predecessor, drew criticism. “The next coach needs to make home state relationships and recruiting the first priority!,” a Minneapolis area educator wrote via
email to Sports Headliners after Stollings left for Texas Tech. In his view Stollings didn’t follow that advice and he believes any Gopher women’s basketball coach who effectively recruits even just the metro area will “build a real nice team.”

With the 37-year-old Fleck—the second youngest head coach in college football—Coyle has a skilled recruiter at using social media and TV to build awareness of himself and his program. Fleck understands the culture and speaks the language of teenagers. Coyle knew that when he hired the energetic coach away from Western Michigan where his success prompted reviews from the New York Times and Sports Illustrated.

In late December Fleck announced his 2018 recruiting class, the first group he and his staff had almost a full year to target. The Gophers publicists called the 2018 class the highest ranked ever for Minnesota in the Internet era.

At 57, Motzko is old enough to be Fleck’s, or Whalen’s dad. That doesn’t mean he isn’t expected to recruit with passion and bring blue chip players to Dinkytown. Motzko spent 13 seasons building St. Cloud State into a nationally prominent program and along the way developed recruiting savvy and relationships including with state of Minnesota prep coaches.

Gopher hockey is tradition-rich and the state is loaded with talented high schoolers, but Minnesota hasn’t won a national title since 2003. This year the Gophers didn’t even qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Coyle and everyone else knows Minnesota can do much better.

“This should be a top four program nationally,” said a college hockey authority who asked that his name not be used. “It’s the best job in the country to recruit to.”

If Coyle is spot-on in his coaching hires of Motzko, Whalen and Fleck, the Gophers are on their way to better days on the ice, court and field because of upgrades in their athletes.

Worth Noting

Just speculation but it might be the only way five-star basketball recruit Matthew Hurt from Rochester John Marshall will end up as a Gopher in 2019 is if Minnesota coach Richard Pitino could convince Hurt’s father, Richard, to join his staff as an assistant coach. Richard has been active in high school and AAU coaching for years, and also groomed his son Michael, a Gopher junior next season. Pitino has a staff opening with the departure of another Minnesota native, Ben Johnson to Xavier.

Look for the Timberwolves to alternate Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins and perhaps others in guarding James Harden tonight. The Wolves, in the postseason for the first time since 2004, open the playoffs in Houston against a Rockets team with the NBA’s best regular season record, and led by Harden who averages over 30 points per game and is a favorite for the MVP Award.

The Wolves’ final regular season game last week on Fox Sports North Plus was the highest-rated ever for the NBA team on the regional sports network, generating a 7.5 household rating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. In this market, 17,300 households represent one rating point. The peak rating during Wednesday night’s game at Target Center was 13.1—meaning over 226,000 households watched the dramatic finish of the Wolves’ win that earned the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference. (The previous record rating was 6.5 on April 14, 2004.)

For the season, the Wolves had a 2.6 average household rating on Fox Sports, a 78 percent increase in viewership over 2016-2017, and the highest since 2011-12.

Glen Mason on the Big Ten Network replay of the Gopher spring football game talking about Tyler Johnson who had two touchdown catches: “He’s as good as any wide receiver in the Big Ten.”

Quoting an email from former Gopher football player Jim Brunzell about his impressions of the game: “This team, barring injuries, should be much improved from last year’s squad!”

The Gophers, 5-7 last year, open their season August 30 at home against New Mexico State. The U won’t have the Vikings playing their final preseason game a couple of miles away at U.S. Bank Stadium, as happened in 2017 for the Gophers’ first game. The Vikings will be at Tennessee on August 30 as they close their exhibition season.

Maybe a planner in the Twins’ promotional department was clairvoyant about this spring’s wintry start. Yesterday’s snowstorm cancelled Minnesota’s home game with the White Sox where the first 10,000 fans in attendance were to receive a free Plaid Flap Cap.

The Gopher Big Ten champion baseball teams of 1968-69-70 will have a reunion on May 11-12 with social gatherings planned. Players from those teams will be introduced before the May 12 home game against Michigan State at Siebert Field. Gregg Wong, who was the public address announcer and official scorer for the teams, and Stew Thornley, the bat boy years ago, have also been invited to participate in the celebration.

Minnesota hockey legend Neal Broten will sign memorabilia including hockey cards and sticks (for various fees) on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. as part of the Triple Crown Sports Collectibles show at Southtown Center in Bloomington. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets are available for the August 2 Camden’s Concert at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Jimmy Fortune, the former tenor of the Statler Brothers, is the guest artist for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation benefit named after Dave and Linda Mona’s grandson. The previous eight concerts raised almost $500,000, according to the Facebook page for Camden’s Concert.

Comments Welcome