Golden Gophers – Page 221 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U After USA Player of Year Candidate

Posted on October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 by David Shama

Gopher football fans may want to cross their collective fingers hoping head coach P.J. Fleck and his staff can hang on to Georgia prep football wide receiver Rashod Bateman who is a national player of the year candidate.

Bateman is one of 10 candidates for the American Family All-USA Offensive Player of the Year award reported on this fall in USA Today. The 6-foot-1 Tifton, Georgia star has so far this season caught 55 passes in nine games for 1,198 yards and 15 touchdowns, according to stats from Maxpreps.com. Bateman is averaging 21 yards per reception and verbally committed in June to Minnesota’s 2018 recruiting class.

Early this year most major college football programs considered Bateman a basketball-first guy and weren’t in pursuit of him. Ryan Burns, the recruiting authority and publisher of GopherIllustrated.com, said Bateman had basketball offers from Virginia Tech and Penn State, but Fleck and his staff recognized Bateman’s football talent before others did.

Bateman is listed as a three-star prospect in the 247Sports rankings on GopherIllustrated, but Burns said Bateman’s senior tape will be evaluated after the season and the new ranking will be four-star. The Gophers did their homework on Bateman, a dominant receiver who gets separation on defenders and runs by them.

“Rashod Bateman is an immediate impact player once he steps on (the field) at Minnesota,” Burns said.

Bateman’s profile is rising rapidly and the question now is whether the Gophers can keep him away from other schools and actually sign him to a Letter of Intent in either the early signing period in December, or later in February. Ole Miss has now offered Bateman and Burns expects other SEC offers are coming for Bateman.

“I am not really concerned about most of them right now because he is very firm to Minnesota,” Burns said. “He has even taken an unofficial visit up here during the season.”

The potential scholarship offer of most concern could be Bateman’s home state Georgia Bulldogs, another SEC team and ranked No. 3 nationally in the Associated Press poll this week. Burns concedes the Bulldogs could be too much competition for the Gophers, but also counters with “every kid is different,” and Fleck’s relationship with Bateman might be strong enough to bring the explosive Georgian to Minneapolis.

Matt Simon, Minnesota’s outstanding wide receivers coach, is a big plus for the Gophers, too. Simon, 31, played a major role at Western Michigan in developing wide receiver Corey Davis into a top five NFL draft choice. Simon has already turned heads at Minnesota including for the work he has done with leading receiver Tyler Johnson, who came to the Gophers as a quarterback and is a potential All-Big Ten talent. Johnson has 27 receptions for 499 yards and seven touchdowns in seven games.

If Bateman chooses Minnesota his teammates could include a quarterback with a lot of national hype, too. For the class of 2019 the Gophers are pursuing two top 10 nationally ranked quarterbacks, according to 247Sports rankings. Both are interested in Minnesota and Burns believes the Gophers might receive a verbal commitment from one or the other in the coming months.

Hank Bachmeier from Murrieta, California is the No. 4 overall quarterback. If the Gophers land him he will be the highest ranked quarterback ever at Minnesota since recruiting rankings began in 1998. Alabama, California, LSU, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and UCLA are among schools that have offered scholarships, according to 247Sports.

Burns said Bachmeier has a relative living in Minnesota and Bachmeier’s parents are favorable toward the Gophers. Burns also said Bachmeier visited Boise State last weekend and is likely to make a college choice before Christmas time.

Max Duggan, from Council Bluffs, Iowa is the No. 10 ranked quarterback nationally in the class of 2019. He has offers from Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Wisconsin and others, according to 247Sports. Burns said in-state schools Iowa and Iowa State (both have offered scholarships) are “trying their hardest” to interest Duggan who Burns thinks may announce his college choice after January 1 of next year.

The Gophers aren’t likely to receive commitments from both Duggan and Bachmeier. Both of them will want “to be the guy” at Minnesota or whever they go. Burns said the two coveted quarterbacks are interested in the Gophers because they see the potential to play early in their careers, and like other high school recruits they are drawn to Fleck’s energy and vision for the program.

Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Demry Croft is trying to claim the job as Minnesota’s starting quarterback now. He made his first career start last Saturday against Illinois and was nervous. He completed of 5 of 15 passes, throwing one touchdown pass and two interceptions in the win over the Illini. On Minnesota’s last scoring drive the Gopher coaches didn’t call one pass play.

It will be interesting to see who Fleck starts at quarterback on Saturday at Iowa. Redshirt senior Conor Rhoda, who started the first six games of the season, has thrown for 839 yards and five touchdowns. Croft is a superior scrambler and running threat on option plays. Rhoda has 11 yards net rushing yards this season while Croft has 159 yards despite starting only one game.

Minnesota, 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten, will be at least a seven point underdog in the Iowa game that starts at the unusual time of 5:30 p.m. Iowa, also 4-3 and 1-3, has defeated the Gophers seven consecutive times in Iowa City, with the last Minnesota win coming in 1999. The Hawkeyes also retained Floyd of Rosedale in Minneapolis last season with a 14-7 win.

The Gophers have lost two straight to Iowa but that’s a lot better than the record against Minnesota’s other border rival, Wisconsin. The Badgers have won 13 consecutive games against the Gophers.

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Rethinking 2014 Draft & Bridgewater

Posted on October 19, 2017October 19, 2017 by David Shama

A Thursday notes column focusing on the Vikings and Gophers.

While the Vikings wait to see when—or even if—injured quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater will play again, some observers might be looking back to a decision Minnesota made in the 2014 draft.

The Vikings used the 32nd pick in the first round to choose Bridgewater and four selections into the second round the Raiders took Derek Carr. Both young quarterbacks became starters during their rookie seasons, with Carr throwing 21 touchdown passes for 3,270 yards and Bridgewater at 14 TD throws and 2,919 yards.

Carr increased his numbers to 32 and 3,987 yards in 2015, while Bridgewater had 14 TD passes for 3,231 yards. Last year Bridgewater missed the entire season because of a devastating late summer knee injury. Carr started 15 games in 2016 until he broke his leg, and he threw 28 touchdown passes for 3,937 yards. He also had a career high 96.7 passer rating.

Bridgewater’s career rating is 87 and he has thrown 28 touchdown passes for 6,150 yards with 21 interceptions. Carr’s career numbers are a rating of 88.4, with 89 touchdowns, 12,118 yards and 35 interceptions.

Teddy Bridgewater (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Statistics are often not conclusive, including when comparing young players. Since 2014 Carr has been give more opportunities to produce impressive numbers than Bridgewater who just this week has been able to practice with the team for the first time in over a year. However, before this season Carr was ranked No. 11 on the NFL Network’s top 100 players list. In 2016 Bridgewater was No. 96 on the same list. Partly because of his upbeat personality, Bridgewater is popular with Vikings fans and teammates but few NFL teams, if any, would likely select him before Carr if there was a 2014 draft-do-over.

With Bradford sidelined with his own knee issues, the Vikings may decide to ride out this season with backup Case Keenum who has played effectively as their starting quarterback. Then they will decide whether to make a commitment to Bradford or Bridgewater in 2018. The next few seasons should for certain answer the question of whether the Vikings made a mistake in selecting Bridgewater instead of Carr.

Right now if Keenum was injured and couldn’t play, rookie Kyle Sloter would replace him. Offensive tackle Cedrick Lang was with Sloter in Denver earlier this year including during preseason. Lang doesn’t expect his teammate to be nervous when he plays in his first NFL regular season game.

“He can play. He’s got a lot of confidence,” Lang said about the first-year QB who was in four preseason games with the Broncos and threw three touchdown passes.

The Vikings leave for London next Wednesday night, arriving on Thursday morning. The team will head for the hotel and start making preparations for the Sunday, October 29 game against the Browns.

Linebacker Eric Wilson said players have been told to set time devices to London time about eight hours before arriving there. To minimize exposure to light and cope with jet lag, players will wear dark glasses. While there will be no formal team sightseeing, players are expected to go off on their own but have been told to stay in groups.

The Gophers have played in five consecutive bowl games but the streak is in doubt halfway through this season. Minnesota is 3-3 overall and 0-3 in conference games. To get the prerequisite six wins for bowl eligibility, the Gophers will almost certainly need to win Saturday against Illinois. After that Minnesota could be an underdog in its five remaining games.

Postseason games are a well deserved reward for players and coaches. Yet Gophers coach P.J. Fleck is mum on them with his team. “I don’t mention it until you’re bowl eligible, and then you probably mention it for about ten seconds, then you move on,” Fleck said.

Fleck’s focus is on the day-to-day process of building the program and achieving his vision for Gophers football. “It’s been 50 years since we’ve won a Big Ten championship, and that’s why I came here. There’s different avenues of that happening. There’s a process and progress to that—and every day that’s all I know how to do is get better than the day…before.”

Illinois, 2-4 and 0-3 in Big Ten games, has started 14 true freshmen, the most in the country. The Illini also appear to be the worst team in the Big Ten. They have a three point win over Ball State and 13 point victory against Western Kentucky. Big Ten losses include an 11 point defeat against Rutgers, probably the conference’s second worst team. The Illini rank 117th nationally in total offense and 94th in total defense. They do lead major college teams in forced fumbles with 12.

Fleck and his coaches, including wide receivers coach Matt Simon who is originally from Farmington, developed Corey Davis into a first round NFL Draft choice at Western Michigan. In the staff’s first season at Minnesota the wide receivers, including sophomore Tyler Johnson, redshirt freshmen Phillip Howard and Mark Williams, and true freshman Demetrius Douglas have impressed.

Fleck said the staff has a “strategic” way of developing the hands of pass receivers including hockey goalie drills for eye-hand coordination. “We have over 120 different ball drills that our players can choose from to use in different aspects of where they’re at in their development,” he said.

Fleck wasn’t publicly committing earlier this week as to who his starting quarterback will be on Saturday. It’s interesting, though, that on the depth chart where Demry Croft and Conor Rhoda are listed as alternate starters, true freshman Tanner Morgan has moved ahead of redshirt freshman Seth Green. Morgan was first listed ahead of Green prior to last week’s game against Michigan State.

The Gophers game at Iowa on October 28 will start at the unusual time of 5:30 p.m. FS1 has the rights to the telecast and chose the time.

Carter Coughlin, the Gophers sophomore defensive end who has started all six games this season, is listed at 240 pounds on the depth chart but weighs 225. “I am on a new weight program to help get my weight up, but at least I haven’t been dipping,” he said.

The former Eden Prairie all-stater is a speed rusher. He started one game last season, while participating in 11 total, and he is an improved player since his freshman year.

“I can remember the first couple games last year I was like shaking, I was all over the place,” Coughlin said. “It felt like it wasn’t even football. It was like just mind blowing.

“Now it’s just like every single time I go out there I feel poised. I am super confident that I know what I am doing. Super confident in my ability, so that’s allowed me to play a lot better I think.”

A media panel included Gophers Nate Mason and Amir Coffey on its 10-player preseason All-Big Ten basketball team announced today. Mason made All-Big Ten last season as a junior, while Coffey was selected to the conference’s All-Freshman team.

Beginning with the 2018-19 Big Ten season, the men’s basketball schedule will increase to 20 conference games per team and the women’s basketball schedule will expand to 18 league games. Men’s teams will play seven opponents twice and six teams once (three home, three away). The women’s format will have teams playing five opponents twice and eight teams once (four home, four away) each season. For the 2017-2018 seasons, men’s teams are playing 18 league games, while women have 16.

Minikahda Club teaching pro Jeff Sorenson shot a six under 66 last week to set a new course record at the Sand Valley Resort in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. He and five others qualified for the Taylormade National Championship at Pebble Beach next March.

Minnesota Football Coaches Association members have until Sunday to nominate players for the all-star football game December 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium. More at Allstarfootball.org.

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Griffen Praying for Rodgers’ Recovery

Posted on October 15, 2017October 15, 2017 by David Shama

A Sunday night notes column kicking off with the Vikings, following Minnesota’s 23-10 win over Green Bay.

Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr knocked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers out of today’s game with a hard hit in the first quarter. After getting up off the turf, Rodgers appeared to have words for Barr while heading toward the sidelines—perhaps describing what he thought was a late hit.

After the game Barr wasn’t available to reporters because he suffered a concussion during the game but two of his defensive teammates didn’t find fault with the play that broke Rodgers’ collarbone. “We play as hard as we can to the whistle,” linebacker Eric Kendricks said. “I didn’t see a flag (penalty) on the play so it was clean.”

Defensive end Everson Griffen said he didn’t hear what Rodgers said, or to whom. “I didn’t hear nothing,” Griffen told Sports Headliners. “I am here to play ball. I want to compete against Rodgers all day. I wish him a speedy recovery—the best quarterback in the league, in my opinion. I pray for him. I hope he heals up well.”

Sam Bradford (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

While Rodgers could be out for a long time, the Vikings might be getting former starter Teddy Bridgewater back later this season. Bridgewater may receive medical clearance to begin practice with the team this week, and in three weeks the Vikings could take him off the physically-unable-to-perform list and activate him. Although Bridgewater presumably will be rusty after not playing in a regular season game since 2015, he could be an asset to the quarterback roster that is using backup Case Keenum while starter Sam Bradford is sidelined with his ongoing left knee issue.

Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was chosen as honorary captain for Michigan State last night. The Spartans defeated the Gophers, 30-27, at TCF Bank Stadium. Shurmur was a captain and All-Big Ten center for the Spartans in the 1980s.

When Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle had the same job at Syracuse he hired Dino Babers as the school’s football coach, and Friday night the Orange stunned the nation defeating No. 2 ranked and defending national champion Clemson.

As of October 5, total men’s Gopher hockey season tickets for the public and students were down slightly from a year ago on that date, according to figures provided by the University of Minnesota. The comparative public totals were 5,511 for 2017-2018 public season tickets, versus 5,941 in 2016-2017. The student numbers were 2,483 versus 2,690. The University reported 89.2 percent of public accounts renewed for this season versus 80.4 a year ago.

The Gophers, who have already opened their home schedule at 3M Arena at Mariucci, sold 183 new public season tickets for 2017-2018. The total as of October 5 a year ago was 227. There was no increase in pricing for either public or student season tickets from last year to this.

Mariucci, with a capacity of almost 10,000, opened in 1993. The all-time single game attendance record is 10,587 set on November 6, 2004 for a Minnesota-Wisconsin game. The Gophers were defending NCAA national champions going into that game.

The Gophers, who won a sixth consecutive regular season conference title in 2017, averaged 9,595 fans per game last season at home. The averages the two prior seasons were 9,847 and 9,982.

WCHA Men’s Commissioner Bill Robertson thinks all five Division 1 men’s hockey schools in the state will for the first time finish the 2017-2018 season ranked among the top 20 teams nationally. In addition to the Gophers from the Big Ten, the other four teams are Minnesota State, Mankato and Bemidji State from the WCHA, and St. Cloud State and UMD from the NCHC.

“The state of Minnesota has never had better overall talent and depth than in 2017-2018 with regard to men’s college hockey,” Robertson said via email. “If all goes well we could potentially see a couple of Minnesota teams make it to the Frozen Four in April at the Xcel Energy Center. It should be a banner year for college hockey in this state leading up to the NCAA Tournament. It will be so exciting for the fans.”

A spokesman for men’s Gophers basketball said about 1,800 new public season tickets have been sold for 2017-2018. The student allotment of about 2,000 tickets is sold out. Single game tickets for the Big Ten season go on sale next month. Multiple sellouts of Gopher conference games at Williams Arena are likely.

Optimism is high about this year’s team, including from observers at fall practice. The Gophers are being ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams by various sources.

The public can attend a free intra-squad scrimmage that begins at 5 p.m. Sunday, October 29 at Williams Arena. There will be an autograph session after the game.

Former Timberwolf player and executive Fred Hoiberg, now the Chicago Bulls head coach, has his 45th birthday today. The Bulls are rebuilding and figure to rank with the NBA’s worst teams this season.

It will be interesting to see how much Brian Dozier is in the local baseball news this offseason. The Twins second baseman, who many observers believe was the club’s MVP during the team’s turnaround season, could be the subject of trade rumors, or given a contract extension. Dozier’s final contract season is in 2018, according to Baseballprospectus.com, which reports the 30-year-old will earn $9 million next season.

Congratulations to high school football coaches Dean Aurich of Mayer Lutheran and Joe Kemp from Wabasso on achieving 200th and 100th career wins respectively earlier this month. Aurich has coached Mayer Lutheran in four state tournaments, while Kemp has had three teams in the tourney including last year.

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