Golden Gophers – Page 187 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Give U Credit for Impressive Opener

Posted on August 31, 2018August 31, 2018 by David Shama

Here’s what was learned from Minnesota’s 48-10 season opening win over New Mexico State last night at TCF Bank Stadium:

The Golden Gophers were impressive. Don’t be lazy in evaluating this game by dismissing Minnesota’s performance because it came against a poor team. After two games, including a 29-7 loss last Saturday to Wyoming in Las Cruces, the Aggies are living up to their reputation as a college football bottom-feeder, but there was still a lot to like about how the Gophers played.

Start with the effort. The Gophers were motivated for four quarters. Offense, defense and special teams were mentally sharp. Instead of buying into the nonchalance the fan base had about the Aggies, the Gophers came to play and avoided mental lapses in effort and execution.

Second-year coach P.J. Fleck preaches “the ball is the program.” Quarterbacks Zack Annexstad and Tanner Morgan, playing in their first college games, didn’t throw one interception. Minnesota had one fumble, a first half miscue by Annexstad, that set up a short drive and lone touchdown in the game by the Aggies.

Annexstad was 16 of 33, with two touchdown passes. He threw with occasional accuracy and played with poise in his debut as a true freshman and walk-on quarterback. Fleck even said after the game that Annexstad reassured him on the sideline things would be okay after the quarterback fumbled the ball.

Minnesota had 227 yards passing last night—rare air compared to the failed passing attack in 2017. Annexstad’s touchdown passes were to junior wide receiver Tyler Johnson who showed an elusiveness that could put him in consideration for All-Big Ten honors this fall.

Encouraging also was the pass catching performance of true freshman wide receiver Rashod Bateman, who could be the best of a boatload of newcomers on offense, defense and special teams. He had five receptions in the game as did Johnson who totaled a team-leading 100 yards in catches. Redshirt freshman Chris Autman-Bell had four receptions and showed Minnesota has potential depth and quality with its wide receivers roster.

It’s difficult to judge an offensive line’s performance during live game action. After coaches study film, evaluations become much more precise, but Minnesota’s unit must have been doing more than a little right because the Aggies didn’t have a single sack and the Gophers rushed for over 300 yards led by Rodney Smith’s 156 on 24 carries.

Redshirt freshman right guard Blaise Andries pancaked an Aggie tackler on Minnesota’s second touchdown of the game. Andries helped create a nice lane for Seth Green to run nine yards into the end zone in the second quarter sending Minnesota ahead 14-10.

The use of Green showed creativity by Fleck and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. If the Gophers have a category labeled “utility players” then the redshirt sophomore from Woodbury is near the top of the list. He is a former quarterback converted this year to tight end and then to wide receiver. Last night near the goal line Fleck twice sent him in the game to replace Annexstad and both times he ran for touchdowns.

Zack Annexstad photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications

Look for more Green in the running quarterback role throughout the season. It probably won’t be long before in spot situations he will be told to pass the ball, too. But make no mistake, Fleck is committed to Annexstad as his No. 1 QB.

Giving Antoine Winfield Jr. the punt return job is another move by the coaching staff to be creative and place playmakers in situations where they can contribute. Winfield, who hadn’t returned punts since high school, not only looked confident all game making the right decisions but in the second quarter he broke several tackles in returning a punt 76 yards for a touchdown.

Winfield is a difference-maker at his safety position, too. He is part of a secondary that could be better than anticipated, partly because of true freshman cornerback Terell Smith who impressed last night. The Aggies picked on him without much success.

Smith had eight tackles, tied for the team high with senior linebacker Blake Cashman who could be headed for a special season. Cashman contributed one of the defense’s four sacks—not an insignificant total for a team that struggled last season to put pressure on quarterbacks.

Defensive tackle Sam Renner, a redshirt junior, blocked a punt in the third quarter that was recovered by the Gophers and led to a field goal. The blocked punt and Winfield’s punt return for a score were only part of an impressive night by special teams.

Redshirt senior Emmit Carpenter kicked field goals of 27 and 24 yards and showed a strong leg on kickoffs. Redshirt junior punter Jacob Herbers averaged 41 yards per punt, with a high of 51.

The Gophers were sharp on punt and kickoff coverage. One reason was the speed of Minnesota’s players. Fleck and his staff have improved the overall speed on offense, defense and special teams. The Gophers can run and that’s one of the prerequisites for winning in today’s college football.

After the game Fleck let it be known there was much about how his team played that he viewed as positive. He also sets a high bar for his team. “It’s very, very difficult to exceed my expectations because the minute you’re getting close…they immediately go up,” he said.

The Gophers have 11 more games to go and the opposition will become more difficult. That starts with the September 8 game against Fresno State, one of the best teams from the Mountain West Conference and led by an exceptional coach in Jeff Tedford. But for one game the Gophers started the right way, delivering a performance exceeding expectations based on the team’s inexperience.

The Gophers have 113 players on their roster and 60 of them—or 53.1 percent—are true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Those are the highest numbers in the country among major college football programs.

Youth wasn’t the storyline last night. How well the Gophers played was.

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Vikings Kicker Carlson on Spot Thursday

Posted on August 28, 2018August 28, 2018 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column on the Vikings, Gophers and Twins.

No Viking will probably be more closely watched in the team’s Thursday night final preseason game than placekicker Daniel Carlson. The rookie fifth round draft choice missed two field goal attempts in last week’s win against the Seahawks and he prompted the displeasure of coach Mike Zimmer.

Zimmer was upset enough to call for a two-point conversion attempt after a touchdown rather than have Carlson kick the extra point. Carlson’s rough evening against the Seahawks came days after the Vikings released veteran Kai Forbath.

While Zimmer apparently is playing head games with his promising 23-year-old kicker, this might be a moment for a slice (no pun intended) of levity. If the Vikings want to consider options other than Carlson before their September 9 regular season opener against the 49ers, they need look no further than a couple of Purple alums.

Last time we checked, Forbath—the man who struggled to make extra points with Minnesota—was available on the NFL labor market. Blair Walsh, who missed the infamous playoff field goal attempt against the Seahawks in January of 2016, was replaced by Forbath later that year and is also now a free agent.

Retired kicker Ryan Longwell, the third leading scorer in Vikings history, just turned 44 years old this month. The Seahawks employ 40-year-old Sebastian Janikowski, and 45-year-old Adam Vinatieri is still kicking for the Colts. Why not a Longwell comeback even if the Packers, another of his former NFL teams, just inducted him into their Hall of Fame?

Okay, back to reality. Zimmer, burned by kicking failures in past seasons, will turn up the “heat” again on Carlson to determine whether he has a specialist with a long future in Minnesota. Perhaps as soon as Thursday night in Nashville against the Titans.

Kirk Cousins posted on Twitter last Saturday that trying to find parking at the State Fair was such a challenge he had to take a “rain check.” The Vikings quarterback wrote he is still hoping to try a “fried Twinkie.”

The Vikings’ new headquarters and practice facility in Eagan has opened this year with raves from not only the organization and media but also fans of Minnesota’s NFL team who attended training camp. Since the franchise’s inception in 1961, the organization has done business, including its training camps, in various places in the Twin Cities and state.

Minneapolis attorney Marshall Tanick, writing an August 7 article on Hometownsource.com, recalled the Vikings once looked at a site in Golden Valley before choosing Eden Prairie and developing Winter Park where the team made its football headquarters for more than three decades before moving to Eagan.

“In the late 1970s, the Vikings were looking for a new consolidated business operations and practice site,” Tanick wrote. “By then, it had outgrown its meager corporate facility on France Avenue in Edina and sought to build its own indoor field in order to shed its nomadic ways of practicing at different venues around the Twin Cities with no dedicated practice facility.

“The campus of what was then Golden Valley High School, immediately east of Highway 100 to the north of Glenwood Avenue, became available. The school district had closed due to declining enrollment, merging in 1981 with the Hopkins District. The Vikings closely eyed the facility for its business offices, along with its already existing adjacent football field, which could be converted easily into a covered site.”

The Vikings, though, couldn’t close a deal with Golden Valley authorities. Instead, they moved on to Eden Prairie and left behind their practice facility at Midway Stadium in St. Paul. As for the Golden Valley site, it became and still remains the home of Breck High School.

The New Mexico State team the Gophers open against at TCF Bank Stadium on Thursday night looked awful offensively in its August 25 game with Wyoming. The Aggies had one first down in the first half on their way to a 29-7 loss to Wyoming, a team with an outstanding defense.

Although the Aggies were coming off their first bowl game last season since 1960, there were lots of empty seats for their home game in Las Cruces. Yet some tickets were priced as low as $3 each.

The Minnesota Athletic Department has been selling tickets starting at $1 for Lindsay Whalen’s first game as Gopher women’s basketball coach on November 9 against New Hampshire.

Minnesota’s roster of four quarterbacks consists of one true freshman and three redshirt freshmen. The Gophers are the least experienced team in the country at quarterback.

Zack Annexstad wil start Thursday night, the first time the Gophers have begun the season with a true freshman quarterback since Tim Salem in 1980. Salem completed 13 of 16 passes and threw one touchdown pass in Minnesota’s 38-14 over Ohio.

It looks like Gophers special team headliners will include kickoff returner Rodney Smith, punt returner Antoine Winfield Jr., placekicker Emmitt Carpenter and punter Jacob Herbers.

Punting could be a concern for Minnesota. The now departed Ryan Santoso punted 66 times last season, while Herbers punted once. Head coach P.J. Fleck said SMU transfer Alex Melvin will also have opportunities in games.

The Gophers were No. 1 nationally in both fewest total penalties and yards penalized last season. The year before Minnesota ranked 91st in fewest penalty yards and 86th in yards penalized.

Barry Mayer, who is a former running back for the Gophers and three-year letter winner from 1968-70, is a certified paid trainer with the Positive Coaching Alliance in Minnesota. The organization provides various resources, including workshops, to help youth and high school athletes enjoy positive experiences in athletics. PCA’s motto is “Making Better Athletes Better People.”

Mayer’s son Adam was a wide receiver for the Gophers in 2015 and 2016. After lettering in 2016, he gave up football because of chronic hamstring injuries but is still in school and plans to graduate from Minnesota next spring with a degree in business.

“…When Adam told me he was thinking about stepping away from football, he knew it was going to disappoint me,” Barry said in an email. “I told him that sports are a means to an end, never the end in itself. My goal for him participating was to gain and understand the many life lessons sports offers and carry those on into one’s adult life. I truly believed he had done that, and apparently it was time to move on to his life’s next chapter. I couldn’t be more proud of the young man he is becoming.”

The Twins were a Wild Card team last year and expectations this spring were they could qualify for the postseason in 2018. Instead, the Twins are a good bet to finish under .500 and not even come close to earning a Central Division title, or Wild Card entry.

Twins president Dave St. Peter, who often talks about playing “meaningful games” late in the season, was asked if expectations were too high for his club. “I think we had realistic expectations based on what took place last season. Second half of last season we were the best team offensively in the American League, one of the better teams offensively in baseball. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t play out that way. We never really had our entire lineup on the field. …”

The suspension for about three months of shortstop Jorge Polanco and serious injuries to other frontline players impacted the club. Players have also underperformed. St. Peter, though, likes the “young core” of players on the roster and is optimistic about the talent in the club’s farm system.

The great Ted Williams, who played for the minor league Minneapolis Millers before his MLB career with the Red Sox, would be 100 years old tomorrow if still alive.

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‘Chip on Shoulder’ May Define U QB

Posted on August 26, 2018August 26, 2018 by David Shama

A year ago most University of Minnesota football fans had never heard of Zack Annexstad. Even six months ago he was hardly a household name in the state of Minnesota. But Thursday night when the Golden Gophers offense takes the field he will be the focus of fans sitting in TCF Bank Stadium and in front of TV sets.

Annexstad is a true freshman and not on scholarship. He plays the most demanding of positions in Big Ten football—less than a year after being in high school. Because of all that he is one of the best debut stories in recent Gopher football history.

Fleck chose Annexstad over redshirt freshman and scholarship quarterback Tanner Morgan. The coach said last week he was making a commitment to Annexstad and his intentions aren’t to alternate the quarterbacks during games.

News that Fleck named the Norseland, Minnesota native the starter got the attention of both local and national media. The decision surprised a lot of people outside the program but not Kevin Wright. “No, not at all,” said the IMG Academy football coach from Bradenton, Florida. “He’s a tremendous leader.”

Wright is all-in on Annexstad and his brother Brock, a redshirt sophomore wide receiver for the Gophers who could play Thursday night when Minnesota opens its season against New Mexico State. Brock is a former walk-on who Fleck put on scholarship this month.

“You’ve got two walk-on kids that all they ever dreamed about was going to the University of Minnesota, who are able to make that dream come true,” Wright told Sports Headliners. “It’s exciting for us (at IMG) and definitely we’re very excited for those guys and their family.”

It was during the 2015-2016 school year that Wright, who coaches one of the elite prep football programs in the country, first met the Annexstad family—including Brock and Zack’s mom and dad. They talked in the lobby of a hotel in San Antonio, Texas and the conversation impressed Wright.

“This is a tough (competitive) place (IMG football),” Wright said. “They (Brock and Zack) understood what they were getting into. They understood they would have to leave home and go hundreds of miles to try and even compete and get on the field. I think it was something that drove them, excited them, and something they were looking for. That type of challenge.”

In Zack’s first season at IMG, the summer and fall of 2016, he showed Wright he could contribute. The junior competed for playing time behind senior Kellen Mond and even started one game. Mond was a true freshman at Texas A&M last season and started most of the Aggies’ games.

In early 2017 another talented quarterback arrived in Bradenton to compete with Annexstad. Artur Sitkowski, from New Jersey, earned the starting job at IMG early in the season. “I don’t know that it was a head and shoulders decision (between the two),” Wright said. “We always knew that Zack could play. He handled it (the decision) just like a pro. He could have pouted, could have had a negative reaction. Just decided he was going to battle (to get on the field).“

Sitkowski was a four-star recruit as a prep. The University of Miami wanted him before he flipped his commitment to home-state Rutgers. Now the true freshman has won the starting quarterback job for the Scarlet Knights.

The high profile Sitkowski is also the guy Annexstad eventually beat out for the quarterback job at IMG. Early in the 2017 season the offense wasn’t as efficient as Wright wanted. “We just felt like we needed a little bit of a spark,” Wright said. “I think the third game or so of the season, (we) put Zack in and then he remained the starter the rest of the way.”

It wasn’t just any season, either. Playing a schedule considered perhaps the most demanding in all of high school football, Annexstad helped lead the Ascenders to an undefeated season. In 2017 he threw for 940 yards and 10 touchdowns.

As a freshman Annexstad isn’t allowed yet to talk with the media, but by now you get the idea the young quarterback responds to challenges in a big way. His former coach says Annexstad embraces the underdog role and plays with a “chip on his shoulder.”

Wright likens that characteristic to Baker Mayfield, the former walk-on quarterback at Oklahoma who went on to win the Heisman Trophy. “You need somebody like that who has that chip, who has that confidence,” Wright said. “Not arrogance, but has that confidence that they can go in and get the job done.

“That’s really, ultimately, I think what you’re looking for when you’re trying to build a program. You’re trying to look for a guy that first and foremost is a leader and that other kids buy into. At our place that was very, very obvious that everybody bought into Zack. He was a guy that could make other people better around him. He was a kid that everybody liked.”

IMG offensive linemen Curtis Dunlap Jr. and Daniel Faalele liked Annexstad enough that he influenced their decisions on where to play college football. Dunlap was committed to the University of Florida before he switched to the Gophers. Faalele’s last three recruiting visits were to Alabama, Georgia and LSU.

“When you’ve got the ability to bring those guys with you and bring those guys in, now you’re able to start to build,” Wright said. “You need that guy (like Annexstad). You just gotta go out and perform now.”

Fleck was 2-7 in Big Ten games during his first season as Minnesota’s coach last season. From day one he has talked about culture and leadership at a program that hasn’t won a Big Ten championship since 1967. Part of his quest to find leadership led him to Annexstad who was labeled by 247Sports as a three-star recruit at IMG, a school expected to have three of its alums (add in Shea Patterson at Michigan) starting for Big Ten teams this fall. Annexstad had a few Division I scholarship offers but he wanted so badly to play for the Gophers he was willing to head north as a walk-on—a status likely to change early next year.

What do the Gophers have in the quarterback who beat out Morgan and in spring practice helped discourage junior college transfer Vic Viramontes from staying at Minnesota? The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Annexstad is described as a pro-style quarterback, known for his throwing accuracy, and with the physical strength to run and make a gain out of a broken play.

Annexstad has been at Minnesota since January. He has become, as coaches like to say, “bigger, stronger and faster.” Yet ask Wright about Annexstad’s college future and those aren’t the words that initially come out of his mouth.

“I think first and foremost…he has the potential to be known as a guy that’s a winner,” Wright said. “…Every college coach in America is looking for that guy that can win football games for him. They can find a way. I think he’ll be known as that guy.

“If they (the Gophers) can win seven or eight games, get to a bowl, that’s a huge step for them and the program. …There are a lot of guys that played in the NFL that are similar to Zack in that they didn’t have a lot of accolades coming out of high school necessarily. They weren’t really highly recruited, but that internal motivation to work, to prove people wrong, to be the best you can be, that’s something you can’t gauge. The mark he leaves is obviously yet to be seen.”

It will be just a beginning but Annexstad will leave a mark Thursday night.

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