Gophers Football – Page 231 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Perra Pushing for U No. 2 QB Spot

Posted on April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 by David Shama

As the Gophers move through their practices toward the April 11 Spring Game who is their No. 2 quarterback?

“If it was tomorrow it would be Chris (Streveler) because of the experience factor, but I think Chris would be the first one to tell you he’s gotta continue to perform,” offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said last week. “It’s no secret that…Jacques Perra from Roseville really opened some eyes with some things he did—just being around the program and now in the spring. There’s a pretty good competition that’s developing there. I think Chris is still the No. 2 but I think Jacques is getting bigger and bigger in his rearview mirror.”

Mitch Leidner is a lock as the team’s No. 1 quarterback but injury or illness could force him to the sidelines during Minnesota’s 12-game schedule in 2015. Last fall Streveler, then a redshirt freshman, filled in for an injured Leidner. Streveler started the San Jose State game, rushing for 161 yards (third most ever for a Gophers quarterback) while completing one of seven passes.

Perra joined the program as a non-scholarship quarterback last year but didn’t play as a redshirt freshman. He did impress the coaches, and Limegrover described Perra as a more “natural thrower” than Streveler who is a gifted runner.

In spring practices so far Leidner has received more work with the team’s better offensive players. Not playing with a superior supporting group in practice makes it more difficult to fairly evaluate Streveler and Perra, Limegrover said. But Limegrover expects that to change as the Gophers move through their last six spring sessions.

Limegrover will then have a better report card on Streveler and Perra, but he already believes both can be starting Big Ten quarterbacks. Leidner will be a redshirt junior next season so he is one class ahead of Streveler and two in front of Perra. The future Gophers starting quarterback could be one of the two current backups.

Streveler is a scholarship player who was All-State his senior season at Marian Catholic in Woodstock, Illinois. His straight ahead speed is impressive and the best among the Gophers quarterbacks. Streveler, who in 2014 was Academic All-Big Ten, can make explosive gains on designed runs and scrambles from the pocket. While fans saw an unpolished passer last fall, he has made some good throws this spring and is a fierce competitor who will work to improve. Streveler is a leader, too, and last summer he and Leidner got players together for volunteer practices—something that impressed Limegrover.

Perra was All-State and the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year at Roseville High School where in his senior season he threw for over 3,100 yards and 35 touchdowns. “The great thing about Jacques is that I don’t know if he has a bad day.” Limegrover said. “There isn’t a whole lot that bothers him. Not a whole lot that phases him.”

If an observer just watched Perra, and didn’t see all the other things happening on a particular play, the person probably wouldn’t know what happened because the 19-year-old quarterback is so under control. “I think that part of his makeup is fantastic,” Limegrover said. “…This kid was put on this earth to play quarterback.”

Limegrover said incoming freshman Demry Croft could figure in the plan to determine the No. 2 quarterback. The Gophers tell all their new players not to assume they will redshirt and Limegrover is enthusiastic about the 6-5 quarterback from Boylan High School in Rockford, Illinois.

“We feel like the sky’s the limit for him,” Limegrover said. “We feel like he’s a kid that at some point might overtake these two (Streveler and Perra). That’s what you try and do every year. You’re trying to recruit to beat out the ones that you already have in the program—and that’s how you go from 3-9, to 6-6 (records). If you get to that point, where you’re doing that every year, that’s when special things happen.”

Why does Limegrover talk about Croft having so much potential?”

“We saw that he had a lot of athletic ability when we saw his film as a junior,” the coach said. “Then being able to see him live at camp and watch him throw the football, and how he approached camp and being coached, and how he went about his business, and his physical tools.

“There’s a maturity there. He’s not your typical dimply faced 17-year-old kid. There was kind of a presence about him, which you really like in your quarterback.”

Comments Welcome

Dubnyk and Wild Look at Big Stage

Posted on March 30, 2015March 30, 2015 by David Shama

What an interesting spring this will be for the Wild and “Superman” goalie Devan Dubnyk.

The Wild has six regular season games remaining before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. A franchise with shaky playoff ambitions a few months ago, the Wild has made a remarkable recovery since acquiring Dubnyk in a trade. The man wearing a “Wild cape” has won 26 times in 34 games for Minnesota. The NHL’s hottest team and hottest goalie look like they will not only play in the postseason, but be a favorite for a deep run.

In the playoffs a superb goalie can be even more valuable than during the regular season. With a short series, it’s win or start relaxing on the golf course. The Wild and their fans hope they see the same goalie in the playoffs they’ve watched with awe in January, February and March.

That’s not a guarantee, though. Despite Dubnyk’s superhero performance so far he is (as far as we know) human. In his NHL career with three other clubs he didn’t win or compile the same impressive goals against average (1.70) and save percentages (.939) as with the Wild. A change in goaltending technique that better helps him track the puck receives at least partial credit for the upgrade that puts Dubnyk among the league’s best goalies now.

Dubnyk’s salary, reportedly at $800,000, certainly doesn’t place him among the NHL’s top paid goalies. At 28, with five previous seasons in the league, he is a journeyman who has found sudden success, almost like a character in a Broadway play. Dubnyk turns 29 on May 4 and if the Wild are still in the playoffs and toying with the possibility of winning Minnesota’s first Stanley Cup ever, it will be a great script for the 6-foot-6 Canadian.

Dubnyk, who has led the Wild to five straight wins and 10 in a row on the road, is an unrestricted free agent after this season and unless he flops in the coming weeks he will command a huge pay upgrade. Not as much compensation as Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s $8.5 million per season (per Spotrac.com) but perhaps in the $4 million to $5 million range.

Those numbers are much more likely if Dubnyk doesn’t lose his kryptonite and the Wild at least make the Western Conference Finals, if not the Stanley Cup finals. An NHL title is a no-brainer for a long-term deal at major money.

Dubnyk is in his prime career years and 2015 could be his best and last chance to secure a max deal. Lundqvist is the league’s top paid goalie and six others make $6 million or more, according to Spotrac’s 2014 goalie salary rankings. If Dubynk is wowing the NHL as summer approaches, Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher will have competition in re-signing the goalie he aced with his trade last January, giving up a third round draft choice to the Coyotes.

If Dubnyk has the Wild in a bidding war, the team’s fans can feel some confidence about owner Craig Leipold’s willingness to open his wallet. Leipold wants to win and he puts that in writing every time he signs the checks of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, two players he signed to long-term $98 million deals in July of 2012.

The challenge for the Wild, though, is how to fit all the salaries on their roster together and stay near the league’s expected payroll cap of about $73 million. Part of the puzzle and challenge is there are other free agents beyond Dubnyk. One helpful move could be to buyout the contract of backup goalie Niklas Backstrom who reportedly is due $4 million for next season.

The summer of 2012 was interesting. This spring will have its own drama.

Worth Noting

In Sports Illustrated’s baseball preview issue last week the magazine included a story on Byron Buxton, saying he can “hit to all fields like Kirby Puckett, possesses the arm of Russell Wilson” and “is nearly as fast as Bo Jackson.” The 21- year-old center fielder is ranked No. 1 by Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com, according to the magazine, and the publication reports the much-hyped Twins prospect threw a 98 miles per hour fast ball in high school and has been timed in 3.9 seconds from home plate to first base.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association has honored the O’Brien family including Gophers senior associate athletic director Dan O’Brien and his 15-year-old son Casey O’Brien with its Cal Stoll Award. Casey has recovered from bone cancer after an ordeal that included a seven hour operation and 24 rounds of chemotherapy. His support group includes his family and Gophers coach Jerry Kill who has praised the young man for his courage. The award is named after Stoll, the former Gophers football coach, and is given to someone who has overcome adversity.

The MFCA honored Dwight Lundeen, the only coach in Becker High School football history, as its Man of the Year on Saturday night. Lundeen coached Becker to 13 consecutive wins last year including the 4A state title.

The MFCA’s Minnesota Football Clinic had a record 1,263 registrations and 67 vendors last week. The clinic dates next year are March 31, April 1 and 2.

Joe Haeg, the 6-6, 300-pound former Brainerd High School player who walked on at North Dakota State and is now an All-American, has the interest of pro scouts and might be selected as an offensive tackle in the early rounds of the 2016 NFL Draft. He will be a senior for the Bison this fall.

Greg Kleven reported in the March 26 Eden Prairie Sun Current that Eden Prairie High School safety and linebacker Blake Cashman will be a preferred walk-on with the Gophers this summer. Kleven wrote that Cashman turned down Division I offers from Iowa State and North Dakota State, hoping to earn a scholarship at Minnesota.

Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino signed four recruits late last year for his 2015 incoming class this summer. He has three more scholarships available, although not all of them maybe used this spring. “We believe we will have a top-25 recruiting class when it’s all said and done,” Pitino wrote on his Gophersports.com blog last week.

Big Ten women’s basketball drew a record total of more than 869,000 fans for the home games of its 14 conference teams this past season. The Gophers, with an average of 3,846, finished 10th in average home attendance.

The women’s WCHA is represented by 40 current or former players at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships that started last Saturday and continues through April 4 in Malmö, Sweden. Seventeen of the women played during the 2014-15 season, while 23 are WCHA alumnae. The list includes three Gophers from the 2015 national championship team: Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi and Lee Stecklein.

Comments Welcome

Carter Coughlin Firm on U Commitment

Posted on March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers’ football fans with long memories might be a little concerned about whether Carter Coughlin will keep his verbal commitment to play for coach Jerry Kill.

The fans most worried will recall that in 2004 James Laurinaitis changed his mind about Minnesota and accepted a scholarship to play for Ohio State. Laurinaitis was a junior linebacker for Wayzata High School and a Rivals three-star recruit who gave a verbal commitment to the Gophers in early 2004 before he flipped that decision in December. Coughlin is a junior linebacker at Eden Prairie High School and Rivals.com ranks him as a three-star prospect.

Laurinaitis became a rare three-time college All-American and is the most decorated linebacker in Buckeyes history. He played on four Big Ten championship teams, with OSU winning two outright and sharing two others. He was the kind of home state defensive force the Gophers needed from 2005-2008 when they slogged their way through a cumulative conference record of 10 wins and 22 losses.

Laurinaitis was recruited by Ohio State assistant coach Luke Fickell. The Buckeyes co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach also recruited Coughlin and made a very favorable impression on him.

But this looks like payback time for Gophers fans because Coughlin insists his college decision is final even though Ohio State was tempting. “I am set in Maroon and Gold,” Coughlin told Sports Headliners. “There’s no question.”

Ohio State is college football’s defending national champ and will be a heavy favorite to repeat next year. What if the Buckeyes keep calling Coughlin and the Gophers have a bad season? “I am going to help build the program brick by brick,” Coughlin said. “I am completely invested in Minnesota and that’s my final decision.”

Coughlin, who could be the state’s top prep football recruit next fall, admitted it was “50-50” between Minnesota and Ohio State before he decided on the Gophers and announced his decision March 12. His mom, Jennie Coughlin, said her son “really had not let on yet” the big news was coming that Thursday.

That same day Carter had long distance phone work to do. “He was real close to coach Fickell,” Jennie said. “That was a tough phone call for him to make. …It was pretty emotional for him. He said it was probably the hardest thing he’s ever had to do…to tell coach Fick what his situation was.”

Coughlin is personable and admits to being a “people pleaser” so the call to the Buckeyes coach was understandably difficult. But when he went to Minnesota’s campus and told the coaches there of his decision he saw smiles on their faces and it removed the “pain” he was feeling about Fickell.

“I can’t even explain how excited I am about this (Gophers) coaching staff,” Coughlin said. “Looking at what coach Kill has done with every single program that he’s had—every single program just keeps getting better and better. Minnesota has gotten so much better in the past couple years and it’s just going to keep continuing to grow.”

Last fall Kill led the Gophers to a 5-3 record in the Big Ten, the first time Minnesota has been over .500 in conference games since 2003. In Kill’s first two seasons his overall record was 9-16 but in the last two it is 16-10. Minnesotans, including the Coughlin family, are impressed.

“He has tremendous respect for the man,” Jennie said. “It’s exciting to see what’s happening with the Minnesota Gophers and how much they’re growing and building, and he wants to be a part of that. I think it’s been his dream as a young boy to play for the Gophers. Dream come true, really.”

Coughlin, who said his decision to choose Minnesota was his and not the family’s, has deep Gopher roots. His grandfather, Tom Moe, was a starting end for Minnesota in the late 1950s. Although he built a law career in Minneapolis, Moe also served as the Gophers athletic director after an academic fraud scandal hit the basketball program in 1998. Jennie played No. 1 singles and doubles for the Gophers women’s tennis team and her husband, Bob Coughlin, was a starting defensive lineman on the U football team.

Carter acknowledged he values family and it was a major factor in thinking about his college choice. “That’s one of the most important things in my life, and I’d say that was a big thing at the end (of the decision making process) for me.”

Schools can’t talk about high school players until they sign National Letters of Intent as seniors but if the Gophers coaches could discuss Coughlin publicly they no doubt would rave about him. The first attribute out of the mouth of Kill or linebackers coach Mike Sherels would likely be speed. (Sherels also made a big impression on Coughlin during recruiting).

Coughlin has been timed at 4.44 in the 40-yard dash, and that’s moving for a high school linebacker, or even a running back. He is almost 6-foot-4 and plans to increase his weight from 205 to 220 for his senior season at Eden Prairie where the Eagles are defending state 6A champions.

Many prep prospects don’t finalize college choices 11 months before they can sign National Letters of Intent like Coughlin, but he wanted to make the decision and focus on high school including another state championship. “It also allows me to be able to recruit other kids in the state—and out of the state—and try to keep building up the 2016 group,” he said.

Sounds like Coughlin—who will be a business major and describes the Carlson School of Management as “incredible”—is sold on Minnesota.

1 comment