Gophers Football – Page 275 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Lurtsema Predicts 11-5 Record for Vikes

Posted on July 31, 2013July 31, 2013 by David Shama

Former Viking Bob Lurtsema, who remains close to the team, predicts Minnesota will finish 11-5 this season after a 10-6 record in 2012. Even rosier is Lurtsema’s opinion that before the Metrodome is demolished next winter, the last football event there could be the NFC Championship Game hosted by the Vikings who might need to win more than 11 regular season games to play in Minneapolis.

“That’s very realistic (hosting the title game),” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners. “You gotta realize when they were 6-6 last year they (the players) came together. That’s only the second time in Minnesota Viking history that they won the last four games.”

The Vikings won those regular season games before losing to the Packers in the playoffs, and giving Lurtsema confidence about continued improvement by Minnesota is the attitude of the players. “A lot of times you can preach and preach and nobody listens. But they’re listening now and they came together, and they believe in themselves. …They have that self-motivation.”

Two years ago Lurstema predicted the Vikings would win “five or six” games. They won three. Last July he told Sports Headliners 10-6 was going to be the record and the team’s first playoff appearance in three years was possible.

Now, Lurtsema said, the Vikings could not only finish with an 11-5 or better record but have at least a share of the NFC North title. “Yup. I know I bleed purple…but I am a realist.”

Lurtsema almost gushes about the team’s offense, “There’s not a negative.” He said fans are down on quarterback Christian Ponder but criticism was too harsh last season because “he didn’t have any receivers to throw to.” That situation changes now with a healthy Jerome Simpson and the acquisition of Greg Jennings, both talented veteran wide receivers.

Lurtsema likes the total package of the offense including tight end Kyle Rudolph, running back Adrian Peterson and an offensive line that impressed last season, but on defense he thinks the Vikings are more suspect. He frets about how effective both the defensive line and secondary will be.

Worth Noting

Lurtsema believes it’s time for starting cornerback Chris Cook, now 26 and heading into his fourth NFL season, to reward the Vikings for their patience with him. Two years ago Cook missed much of the season because of domestic violence charges. Although he was later acquitted, the incident was a setback to his career.

“Chris Cook has got to be awful, awful good,” Lurtsema said. “They (the organization) stuck with him. The players didn’t like that a couple years ago, when they paid his salary and (he) took up a roster spot. Players weren’t real happy about that at all. …I think all the coaches saw how good he really is.”

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier joins Steve Forbes, Rudy Giuliani, Larry King and other speakers on August 27 at the Minneapolis Convention Center for the “Success 2013 Minneapolis” motivational event, according to full page ads appearing in the Star Tribune. Frazier’s talk is titled “How to Lead Your Team to Victory.”

As a group the Gophers linebackers roster is inexperienced with only two seniors, one junior and 10 freshmen and sophomores but coach Jerry Kill is “optimistic” about the potential. “Athletically we’re gifted there,” Kill told the media yesterday.

Kill said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” on Sunday that junior college transfer linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who will have three seasons of eligibility with the Gophers, turned down offers from Texas and Kansas State after deciding not to attend Tennessee following a coaching change there last fall.

Kill said yesterday that highly publicized freshman quarterback Chris Streveler will work at wide receiver and QB when practices begin later this week. “Chris is a pretty intelligent guy,” Kill said about learning both positions.

Sophomore quarterback Philip Nelson thinks wide receivers Isaac Fruechte and Derrick Engle could be two of his best targets in the deep passing game. The Gophers’ first practice will be on Friday in preparation for their opening game against UNLV August 29 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Marcus Fuller, the Pioneer Press Gophers basketball writer, said on 1500 ESPN Monday he believes Rashad Vaughn is the most likely to attend Minnesota of the 2014 prep big three of Tyus Jones, Travis Reid and Vaughn. My opinion: there is no better than a 25 percent chance the Gophers will have one of the three commit to Minnesota.

As of now there is no Upper Midwest plan to televise the Gophers game at New Mexico State in Las Cruces on September 7. The game is scheduled to be televised in parts of the Southwest including Comcast in New Mexico and Fox Sports Net Houston.

In its updated rankings of prospects, MLB.com has Twins minor leaguers Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano ranked No. 1 and 3 among all players in major league systems. But Twins fans may want to hold back the enthusiasm for awhile because becoming successful in the big leagues takes time. Before the season Oswaldo Arcia was rated the organization’s fifth best prospect while Aaron Hicks was No. 6. Arcia, after two trials with the Twins, is back at Triple-A Rochester while Hicks is hitting .194 for Minnesota despite being the regular center fielder.

Nice to see Minneapolis receive attention in the 2014 MLB All-Star Game Logo unveiled yesterday depicting the downtown skyline. Hennepin County made the public financing possible to build Target Field.

The economic impact of the All-Star Game was $191.5 million in New York this year and $60 million in Kansas City in 2012, according to Rhett Bollinger’s 2014 logo story yesterday on Mlb.com.

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Quarterbacks Youth Not Concerning Kill

Posted on July 29, 2013July 29, 2013 by David Shama

There are seven quarterbacks listed on the Gophers roster as the team prepares to open practice on Friday and all are freshmen or sophomores. Only one, Philip Nelson, has game experience playing for Minnesota.

Fans might fret about the inexperience and lack of depth but not coach Jerry Kill. “We talk a lot about the quarterback position. That doesn’t concern me right now,” Kill told Sports Headliners.

“I feel good about where we’re at. I feel good about Philip. I feel good about Mitch. They’re young. They’re smart kids. They represent us well and that’s what we need to be successful. Now we gotta build the rest of the team and that’s more of a concern than quarterback is right now.”

Nelson is the starter and Mitch Leidner, a redshirt freshman, is No. 2. Kill, who likes the talent of Nelson, Leidner and other quarterbacks, isn’t discounting the importance of the position in rebuilding a program with only four Big Ten wins in the last two seasons.

“I don’t think anybody can win without a quarterback, no matter what system it is,” Kill said. “You look at the NFL teams that are winning, they’ve got the best quarterbacks. You look at college football, the ones that win they’ve got the best quarterbacks. When Wisconsin (historically great running teams) was really good, they had the best quarterback. …

“They (quarterbacks) come in all shapes and sizes. We’re blessed right now. We got some good young players.”

If not for injuries to other players, Nelson would have redshirted last season. Nelson started the last seven games and while he was inconsistent he did lead the team in total offense with 1,057 yards including eight touchdown passes. Fans didn’t realize the athletic freshman, who rushed for 184 yards during the season, was faster than senior starting quarterback MarQueis Gray.

Kill doesn’t second-guess Nelson losing a season of eligibility because the former Mankato West quarterback couldn’t be redshirted. “I don’t have any regrets whatsoever. It puts him farther ahead. It puts our football team farther ahead, and it helped us in a situation (where) we were injured up in that position at the time. In a lot of ways we didn’t have a choice but I think it worked out very well.”

Kill has started young quarterbacks at other schools where he coached including Southern Illinois. “The only way you can learn is to go out and play. You’re going to make some mistakes and then you’ve got to move on to the next play. We’ve never hesitated (about youth). I started a redshirt freshman when I was as Southern Illinois. Started four straight years. If kids’ got abilities you don’t hold them back.”

Despite the inexperience on the quarterback roster, Kill doesn’t simplify the playbook for his young students who are expected to execute what is given to them. “It’s not that we need to put any more (plays) in and all that stuff. We gotta execute what we’re doing and doing it well.”

Worth Noting

Brad Salem, son of former Gophers head coach Joe Salem, is the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Michigan State. Brad’s recruiting interest includes the state of Wisconsin, and Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio said, “We think we found a little bit of a niche.”

The Spartans’ roster includes former Wayzata High School receiver A.J. Troup, a sophomore who has yet to play a game for MSU. He caught a game winning 46-yard touchdown pass in the spring game but recently suffered a knee injury and is out for the season.

Brad’s brother Tim Salem, a former Gophers quarterback, is the running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Illinois.

Former Viking Bob Lurtsema has said tight end Kyle Rudolph was “the steal” of the 2011 NFL draft. Rudolph impressed in his first two seasons with the Vikings including his Pro Bowl MVP performance last winter, and he can improve more.

“Kyle developed from year one to year two and we are looking for another jump both in the run game and the pass game from Kyle,” said offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave. “From all indication he is poised to do that. He has had a terrific spring, he is a little heavier than he has been, but that is good weight. He is definitely stronger and you know we pride the tight ends to be a big part of the running game and he did that last year. He is ready to do it again.”

Musgrave answering a question about how much better the offensive line might be in 2013 after helping Adrian Peterson almost break the NFL single season rushing record last year: “It would be hard to ask them to be much better in the running game. They (also) did a nice job pass protecting last year. We do want to minimize our sacks and stay out of those long yardage situations.

“It’s a terrific group. It is fun to have (injured center) John Sullivan back; he is really the stabilizer. Matt Kalil (rookie tackle last season) has fewer unknowns than 12 months ago so we are excited about that crew.”

Zach Line is a rookie free agent running back from SMU who is on the Vikings roster trying to make the team, and watching his pursuit of a pro career is writer Jenny Vrentas, according to the July 29 issue of Sports Illustrated. She will stay with the Line story this year even if he is out of football and “working at a CVS,” Peter King reported in the magazine while previewing features for the new Monday Morning Quarterback website that will be “under the Sports Illustrated umbrella.”

King’s tour of NFL training camps will include an August 12 stop in Mankato to view the Vikings. Based on previous dining experience, he praises Jake’s Stadium Pizza in Mankato. “One of the best meals on the camp trip, by far,” he wrote.

The St. Thomas football team, with 15 of 22 starters returning from last year’s school record 14-1 team, is ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls by both D3football.com and the USA Today Magazine Division III preview. The Tommies, winners of 33 consecutive regular season games, are second in the polls to Mount Union. Bethel is No. 8 in the D3football.com poll and ranked No. 6 by USA Today.

The field for the 3M Championship, scheduled now through Sunday at the TPC Twin Cities, will include Champions Tour rookies Rocco Mediate, Colin Montgomerie and Steve Elkington, plus Tom Lehman, Fred Funk, Nick Price and other fan favorites, according to 3mchampionship.com.

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Healthy Kill Ready for Gophers Season

Posted on July 24, 2013July 24, 2013 by David Shama

Coach Jerry Kill told Sports Headliners his health is good as he prepares for the start of practices on August 2 and his third season at Minnesota. “I am fine,” Kill said.

Kill looked trim and was energetic during a night-time interview that is part of a typical week for him where he is working long hours every day. Like other major college football coaches, the demands on Kill’s time aren’t fully understood by most outsiders. In addition to coaching, recruiting, managing his staff, public speaking, working with the media and running summer football camps, Kill knows he and his assistants are responsible for the behavior of more than 100 young men on his roster.

Since taking over at Minnesota Kill has led a remarkable turnaround in the academic performance of his players. Players are attending classes and excelling. After last season, for example, the Gophers had 31 Academic All-Big Ten players, second in the conference only to Northwestern (34), a private school long known for its academic success. Minnesota had 13 more Academic All-Big Ten players than the year prior.

Admiration for Kill among Gophers fans has increased not just based on the coach’s insistence on good citizenship and grades. He has reached out to fans, and also key groups like the state’s high school football coaches with whom he is popular for various reasons including Minnesota’s aggressive approach in encouraging prospects to try out for the team even though they haven’t been offered scholarships. He has travelled the state of Minnesota telling his story about how it took time to rebuild programs at other places he’s coached and that the Gophers will be no different.

But Kill’s commitment to the community goes even further. Probably no coach in Gophers history has been more open to helping others with problems. He tries to do so privately and without asking for attention. In the same evening he might shuttle between a cancer promoted event and a football gathering. Another day he will thoughtfully listen as a friend relates the story of a boy who has experienced 300 seizures per month.

No doubt Kill’s perspective on those who have health issues has been impacted by his own personal history. Despite seizures during his career at Minnesota, Kill has missed only minimal time coaching his team. “I am a cancer survivor,” Kill said. “I developed epilepsy through that. …I see a doctor like anybody else that has a situation and I move forward on it.”

Among those who know Kill best, he is already a winner but the general public in Minnesota will judge him on wins and losses. The Gophers qualified for a bowl game last season after increasing their win total from three in 2011 to six in 2012. The team played better fundamentally last year than in Kill’s first season, a sure sign of good coaching.

Fans wonder if year three at Minnesota can approach the third season success Kill had rebuilding programs at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Coming off mediocre second seasons, Kill’s teams at those schools earned 12-2 and 10-3 records.

There’s a difference, though, between past year threes and the one coming up. Because of a late start in recruiting after taking over as Gophers coach, Kill and staff had only minimal impact on the 2011 recruiting class. That means Kill has only two recruiting classes of his own in place so far.

“It makes a difference,” Kill said. “Somebody was telling me in 2009 here, when it was supposed to be a really good recruiting class, I think there was 20 kids
signed… I think there’s only four that have played. There’s a lot of emptiness in our program that we’ve had to fill in. I am not blaming Tim (Brewster, former coach). I am not blaming the administration. That’s the way it was. …”

“We’re a young team. There may be only four or five seniors (who) start.”

Those young players are expected to include promising sophomore wide receiver Andre McDonald who didn’t participate in spring practice. Despite at least one media report that McDonald wasn’t on the team, Kill said that isn’t correct. “He’s been working hard,” Kill said.

What about players who won’t or maybe will not be ready for the start of practice next month? “Zach Mottla (center) is a young man that won’t play for us this year because of the broken leg situation. Pete Westerhaus (linebacker) has a situation he’s been fighting and I don’t look to him to be in camp. We just want Pete to get well. (Center) Brian Bobek has got a viral infection that we’re waiting on him to get cleared.”

Worth Noting

Gophers coach Jerry Kill will be one of 12 Big Ten coaches doing news conferences and previewing their teams today from Chicago. Kill will speak at 1 p.m. with the Big Ten Network providing coverage.

The Big Ten announced its third annual Players to Watch List this morning but no one from the Gophers including much publicized defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman was among the 10 footballers.

The Gophers’ first practice on August 2 starts at 5:15 p.m. and is open to the public. Practices on August 3 and 4 begin at 10:25 a.m. and also are open to fans. All three practices will be at the Gibson-Nagurski Complex.

The Howard Pulley team that includes Tyus Jones and Reid Travis plays BABC Boston in an AAU Super Showcase game from Disney World that will be televised by ESPNU tonight beginning at 6 p.m.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien e-mailed that Austin High point guard Zach Wessels has a scholarship offer from Minnesota State Moorhead.

Chris Herrmann, the substitute Twins catcher who hit a grand slam home run last night against the Angels to help Minnesota win for the sixth time in seven games, was a sixth round draft choice in 2009 who until this season had never played at a higher level than Double-A. He is hitting .409 in 22 at bats for the Twins.

The Twins announced this morning Joe Mauer is on paternity leave and the club has recalled catcher Drew Butera from Triple-A Rochester.

Steve Nestor will speak to the Gophers football team about the program’s history on a date to be determined. Nestor, a Gophers football historian and former student trainer in the 1960s, will also talk about his relationship with the late John Williams, a 1967 All-American tackle at Minnesota.

Over a year ago Nestor, who owns a radio station in Glenwood, Minnesota, donated a kidney to Williams. Within weeks Williams passed away while out for a walk. “When Barb (John’s wife) called, it just floored me. Up to that point all had been so right,” Nestor said.

Nestor, a white man who grew up in Minnesota, and Williams, an African-American originally from Ohio, had become close friends. Gophers coach Jerry Kill had wanted the two to address the team last year. Now that opportunity to talk about friendships, organ donation and more will be for Nestor alone.

Look for CORES to announce that Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague will speak to the group on Thursday, September 12 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington. Anyone interested in attending the lunch and program can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Canterbury Park’s Extreme Race Day, featuring exhibition racing with camels, ostriches and zebras, drew 20,291 fans last Saturday, the largest crowd at the Shakopee racetrack since 1988. It was the seventh annual Extreme Race Day but the first that included zebras.

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