Covering various topics in today’s column including Adrian Peterson’s first week back with the Vikings, news about the Gophers and prep basketball, and a lot more.
Peterson returned to the team this week and Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph believes the impact of the All-Pro running back is evident. Rudolph said Peterson’s work ethic can make others more dedicated. “It always seems to make guys around him work harder. Just in the three days that he’s been here our practices have been pretty crisp, a little bit more upbeat, and that’s what great players do. Great players come in and they elevate the game of not only themselves but the guys around him.”
Peterson, 30, didn’t play at all in the team’s four preseason games last year. Head coach Mike Zimmer decided not to risk injury to the veteran running back. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner was asked if he sees more of the same in 2015.
“That’s coach Zimmer’s call,” Turner said. “To me, if you’re getting everything you need to get done in practices, then you’d probably shy away from doing that. If you feel like you haven’t gotten done what you need to get in practice, I am sure coach Zimmer would consider giving him a few carries. But based on what we did a year ago, I would think that’s probably more of what we do (not using him in preseason).”
Blake Weber, an outstanding football player at Prior Lake High School in 2013 and at Rochester Community and Technical College last fall, is enrolled at Minnesota and will participate next week in the Gophers’ strength and conditioning program as a preferred walk-on playing linebacker. Weber played multiple positions for RCTC including safety and outside linebacker. He wanted to join the Gophers as a preferred walk-on out of high school but had to improve his academic work. He will be a sophomore in eligibility next season.
Jim Dutcher said former Gophers basketball player Tommy Davis needs 19 credits to graduate from Minnesota and is enrolled in summer school. Davis, who played for Dutcher from 1981-1985, is utilizing a program by the Gophers Athletic Department that pays tuition for former athletes who want to complete their school work and earn degrees.
Davis, a shooting guard, still holds the Gophers’ record for consecutive field goals made in one game with 15. He played and coached in France for many years but now is living here. The former All-Big Ten player speaks six languages including French, Dutcher said.
Both Davis and Darryl Mitchell, another former Gophers All-Big Ten guard, have recently relocated to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Dutcher now has 10 former players from his 1982 Big Ten championship living in this community. “We could have a reunion of the ’82 championship team and make all local (phone) calls,” Dutcher said.
Minnesota prep basketball made history this week with the announcement Apple Valley High School players Gary Trent Jr. and Tre Jones are on the USA Basketball Men’s Under-16 roster. It’s the first time two Minnesotans have been selected for the team at the same time, and with Trent and Jones being from the same high school the achievement is more distinct.
Trent, the son of former Timberwolves player Gary Trent, is a shooting guard or wing who will be a junior at Apple Valley next season. He’s a key recruiting target of the Gophers but the competition will be intense with Trent’s long list of offers including national power Kansas, according to Rivals.com.
Jones, the younger brother of former Duke star Tyus Jones, is a point guard who will be a sophomore at Apple Valley next season where the Eagles return the key players from their 2015 Class 4A title team. Jones, at 6-2, is already taller than 6-1 Tyus and like his older brother is on a clear path to be nationally coveted by colleges. His skills include exceptional on-ball defense.
The Under-16 roster includes players from various parts of the country but Trent and Jones are the only twosome from the same high school. The team is practicing this week in Colorado Springs before playing next week in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship tournament in Argentina. USA’s first game is next Wednesday against Puerto Rico.
Prior to this year Tyus Jones was the only Minnesotan to play for the Under-16 team. He played in 2011.
Former Gophers Nick Bjugstad, Ricky Foggie, Seth Helgeson and Darrell Thompson will be among those participating in the Bruce Smith Golf Classic at Faribault Golf Club on June 15. The fundraising event benefits three Faribault schools and honors Bruce Smith who won the 1941 Heisman Trophy playing for the Gophers. More information about participating in the golf event and attending the dinner is available by e-mailing Bruce Krinke, contact@fctv10.org.
The opening of the new St. Paul Saints ballpark this spring prompts discussion about an ongoing topic involving the Twins. Local baseball fans have long wondered if the Saints could some day be a Twins minor league affiliate. It’s an attractive possibility to die-hard fans from the metro area who like the idea of being able to “scout” Twins prospects without driving long distances.
The Saints have been an ongoing popular attraction in the Twin Cities and perhaps more so now with their state-of-the-art minor league ballpark seating about 7,000 fans. The Saints’ independent league status, though, is an obstacle to something happening with the Twins. The Saints are members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball and those teams have no affiliation with major league franchises. MLB teams operate affiliated clubs at various levels of competition in towns throughout the minor leagues.
Establishing an affiliated team in St. Paul at CHS Field isn’t on the Twins to-do list right now. “It’s not something we’re working on,” Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners. “It’s not something that there is a master plan for. Could it happen some day? Yes, I think it probably could. But it’s many, many years down the road.”
While St. Peter sees the possibility of a Twins team in St. Paul as “intriguing” (including from a marketing perspective), the only way it could happen, he said, would be for an affiliated minor league team (like a Triple-A or Class A club) to move to St. Paul and for the Saints’ independent league franchise to relocate. There are challenges with that scenario including determination of what class of baseball the club would be in and how expensive travel costs would be.
“The other thing is, I can’t imagine the Twins would ever pursue that without ownership of the team,” St. Peter said. “At the end of the day the Twins would need to own the team in St. Paul. I can’t imagine that we would provide affiliation to another group of owners.”
With this being boom times for the Saints owners in their new ballpark, it’s also difficult to foresee them having interest in selling or operating the ballclub elsewhere.
The Lynx, who open the WNBA regular season tonight at home against Tulsa, are the most likely team to win the league championship. That is according to a survey of the WNBA’s general managers who also voted Maya Moore of the Lynx most likely to be the 2015 league MVP. The Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve received the most votes as best coach and Target Center was the winner of “best home-court advantage.”
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