Golden Gophers – Page 222 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Smith Era Helped Rebuild Twins

Posted on August 30, 2017August 30, 2017 by David Shama

A Wednesday notes column leading off with the Twins who could qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

Bill Smith is often criticized for his tenure as general manager from 2007-2011 but it was during that time the Twins signed right fielder Max Kepler, left fielder Eddie Rosario, shortstop Jorge Polanco and third baseman Miguel Sano. Those four represent half of the usual starting lineup in the field, and along with center fielder Byron Buxton form the nucleus of the franchise’s future among position players.

The Twins acquired Kepler, Polanco and Sano as undrafted amateur free agents in 2009, committing millions to sign them. Rosario was acquired as an amateur in the fourth round of the 2010 First Year Player Draft. That’s impressive results from Smith and his staff to find, evaluate and sign these four players who are all from outside the United States.

Max Kepler (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins).

Kepler, Polanco and Sano are all 24 years old, while Rosario is 25. This season the young group has accounted for 82 percent of the team’s home runs, and 68 percent of the runs batted in.

Smith was fired after the 2011 season when the Twins lost 99 games and won 63. His era, though, had its highlights including a Central Division title in 2010, and key player signings as referenced above.

It will be interesting to see who the Vikings cut from their roster after Thursday night’s final preseason game. A guess is that among the surprise cuts by Saturday’s NFL deadline to downsize the roster to 53 players could be third-year offensive lineman T.J. Clemmings. A starter last season in 14 games at tackle, Clemmings didn’t enter last Sunday’s game with the 49ers until late in the second half. He hasn’t been in the mix this summer among top contenders for playing time in the line.

Another surprise cut might be defensive lineman Datone Jones, who the Vikings signed as a free agent last spring following three seasons with the Packers. He was a No. 1 draft choice by the Packers in 2013 and played mostly as a reserve with Green Bay.

The Vikings could have rookie starters with Dalvin Cook at running back, Pat Elflein at center and Ben Gedeon at linebacker. Cook, Elflein and Gedeon were second, third and fourth round draft choices. Eric Wilson, an undrafted free agent from Cincinnati, has impressed the Vikings in preseason practices and could make the final roster of 53 players.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer told NBC TV’s Michele Tafoya during Sunday night’s 49ers exhibition game he has decided who his starting center will be, but didn’t provide a name. Elflein, though, has impressed with his mobility and seems a good fit for the offense’s zone-blocking scheme requiring linemen to move quickly and block linebackers.

Marshall Koehn did the field goal and extra point work in Sunday’s game. He had a 58-yard field goal, was three-for-three on extra points and kicked off. The 25-year-old free agent from Iowa could replace Kai Forbath who joined the Vikings last season after the team cut Blair Walsh. Forbath has been used minimally in preseason and didn’t play against the 49ers.

The Vikings will play their first four regular season games without suspended wide receiver Michael Floyd, the 27-year-old Minnesota native who the team acquired as a free agent during the offseason. Floyd has played in all three preseason games, catching five passes for 46 yards. None of his receptions have been for more than 12 yards.

But later this season Floyd could become the team’s best wide receiver, according to former Viking Ben Leber. He said Floyd could be that good while providing commentary on the Vikings Radio Network during Sunday night’s game. In three of Floyd’s six seasons with the Cardinals he averaged more than 16 yards per reception and might provide the Vikings with the deep threat they need.

The Vikings first team offense has yet to score a touchdown in the preseason—raising concerns about effectiveness this fall—but the defense could repeat its performance of last season when the unit was at times among the best in the NFL. “The defense can be as good as we want to be,” defensive tackle Linval Joseph told Sports Headliners. “We just have to eliminate mistakes, run to the football and make tackles.”

Brian Robison, who is about to start his 11th season with the Vikings, has yet to play in the preseason and it’s looking more like he will give up his starting job to Danielle Hunter. “I think mentally he’s becoming more in tune with the game,” Robison said about Hunter who has only one career regular season start and is beginning his third pro season. “Physically, he’s got all the attributes you would want out of a defensive end. I think sky’s the limit for him. I just think he’s gotta take another step forward and just keep going in the right direction.”

Robison, 34, has been sidelined with a leg injury. Although he has played 10 NFL seasons, Robison told Sports Headliners he sees no decline in his skills.

The regular season starts September 11, with the Vikings playing five of their first seven games in Minneapolis—almost mandating a winning start to the schedule if the team is to qualify for the playoffs. Four of the last seven are on the road.

Matt Birk, the former Vikings center and now an advisor to the NFL, speaks to the CORES lunch group September 15 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. More information is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

P.J. Fleck coaches his first Gophers game Thursday night against Buffalo at TCF Bank Stadium and it will be interesting to watch his energy on the field. Fleck moves at warp speed in practices. “I mean if he turns it up a little bit more for a game…that’s crazy to even think it could go a little bit higher,” Steven Richardson said.

Richardson, a senior tackle, is among the more proven and talented Gophers going into the season. A surprise contributor on the defensive line, though, might be junior redshirt tack Gary Moore who only played in four games and had two tackles last season.

“I’ve seen him grow so much in this past fall camp,” Richardson said about Moore. “I am excited to see what he is going to do.”

The Big Ten Network celebrates its 10th anniversary today. Revenues from the network given to Big Ten Conference athletic departments have benefitted all but particularly lower tier programs in need of financial assistance.

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U Football Scheduling Needs Makeover

Posted on August 28, 2017August 28, 2017 by David Shama

Thursday night P.J. Fleck makes his debut as the Gophers head football coach but there will be a lot fewer eyeballs on his 2017 team than there should be because the Vikings are also playing their final preseason game. It’s ridiculous that the two teams are playing home games in Minneapolis within a couple miles of one another on the same night.

That was also the reality in 2016—and two years ago the teams again played on the same evening, but at least that time the Vikings were out of town when the Gophers lost to TCU in front of a TCF Bank Stadium record crowd.

The scheduling conflict will happen in the future too, unless Gophers leaders move away from nonconference opening games on Thursday nights. The NFL mandates that its teams play the last of their four preseason games on Thursdays that usually are in late August.

The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Fair authorities made an agreement before TCF Bank Stadium opened in 2009 that created these Thursday night conflicts. The agreement runs through June 30, 2022, and requires that any Gophers home game prior to Labor Day be played on a Thursday evening.

The reason for the agreement is during the State Fair drivers can park their cars for free on the University’s Minneapolis campus and ride free buses to the fairgrounds in nearby Falcon Heights. The Gophers usually play at home on Saturdays but because of larger fair-going crowds on the weekends, U officials agreed to switch games to Thursday evenings.

The Thursday night conflicts don’t work very well for local football fans, and that problem begins with season ticket holders. There are companies and individuals who buy season tickets for both the Gophers and Vikings. That’s a dilemma on Thursday evenings, and it also is for the general football population who want to follow both teams either in person or on TV. There are also high school football games this Thursday evening, causing another conflict.

The U needs to push back on the agreement with fair officials. Why not move future Thursday night games to Friday evenings? There is precedent for the Gophers playing on Friday night when the Metrodome was their home, and doing so in the future eliminates competition with the Vikings regardless of whether they are playing at U.S. Bank Stadium or on the road.

A change to Friday night is just part of a needed upgrade for Minnesota’s nonconference scheduling. This is a big league city with all kinds of sports and entertainment options for the public. The Gophers could fuel interest and maximize ticket sales, while also increasing other revenues such as sponsorships and advertising, with a revised approach to scheduling.

Minnesota and other Big Ten Conference teams play three nonconference games each year, plus nine times against each other. The addition of a ninth game debuted last season and was done to create more interest in conference teams who used to play four nonleague games—many against dreadful opponents with zero box office appeal.

Games against no-name opponents do serve as “tune-up” exhibitions for Big Ten teams and aren’t going away, but at a minimum the Gophers should have a nonconference rivalry game each season. Plus, often in the same year, Minnesota should also play a marquee opponent from the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC conferences.

An annual matchup with North Dakota State could be a rivalry series waiting to happen. The Bison have more than proven they can play against major college teams with six straight road victories against FBS teams including Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas State.

The FCS Bison need big paydays because they don’t have the stadium and TV revenues like Big Ten teams including Minnesota. NDSU already heavily recruits Minnesota and has a fan base that could bring 10,000 people to an annual weekend in Minneapolis against the Gophers. The U could probably make an agreement with NDSU to play a series with no return game in Fargo at the small but raucous Fargodome.

Apparently NDSU is eager to be in this market, playing against the Gophers here in 2006, 2007 and 2011—and in 2019 the Bison will play Butler at Target Field. The Bison won two of the three games against the Gophers, delighting and enraging NDSU and Minnesota fan bases. Can anyone spell R-I-V-A-L-R-Y?

At least every other year the Gophers should schedule a box office heavyweight who can add excitement to the home schedule and value for season ticket holders. Maroon and gold loyalists have been waiting forever to see Notre Dame return to Dinkytown for the first time since 1937. A return engagement from Texas, last here in 1936, sounds good, too. Alabama, Florida State, LSU and Miami are among heavyweights who have never been on the home schedule.

The Gophers do have more recent history with a few football powers including Southern California and TCU. Those teams and the other schools mentioned above can sell out stadiums and create a buzz about Gophers football. That’s not only a winning formula for fans and media but even the players. It seems like there is minimal public anticipation about Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Bulls but two years ago the Gopher players knew there was plenty of public buy-in for TCU because the Horned Frogs were ranked No. 2 in the country.

Skeptics might argue Minnesota isn’t good enough to play elite teams but you don’t just build a winning program by playing patsies. Players and coaches should want to compete against the best competition. Through the years the Gophers and fans have been fed a steady diet of nonconference softies. The fans are still yawning at the schedules and the program has yet to break through with championships or New Year’s Day bowl wins.

Fleck talks a lot about being “elite.” The 36-year-old with a nothing is impossible attitude has an opportunity to lead the Gophers into a new era of scheduling. Let’s see where he and U administrators “row the boat.”

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4-Star Recruits in U Football Future

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

P.J. Fleck’s 2018 recruiting class doesn’t have any four-star players and has been trending down in the team national rankings. Each of the Gophers’ 23 football recruits is a three-star player, according to the 247Sports composite national rankings that has Minnesota No. 34 in the country after flirting with the top 10 early in the year.

Ryan Burns, the recruiting authority from GopherIllustrated.com, offered perspective on the numbers above during an interview with Sports Headliners. He said Tracy Claeys, Fleck’s predecessor as Minnesota head coach, recruited players who were “low threes and twos” regarding star rankings that go as high as five. Burns said those Claeys players were recruits often without offers from major college programs—schools like Louisiana-Lafayette and Western Kentucky.

“Now you look at P.J.’s first true recruiting class here in 2018 and (about) 75 percent of them have a Big Ten offer, and north of 80 percent of them have other Power Five (conference) offers, and they’re all mid to high level three-stars,” Burns said. “P.J. wasn’t going to immediately walk in the door and four-stars were going to want to come and play for him.

“Is that (four-stars) the expectation for 2019? Yes, I think they’ll go from probably one or two four-stars this class to—you’re hoping—they get three or four next class. …If next year they don’t have any (four-stars), then I would start to be a little bit surprised.”

Burns believes there are at least a couple—perhaps up to four—Gopher commits in the class of 2018 who via high school performances this fall could earn their way up to four-star status. Ask him who might be the best player in the class and he mentions dual-threat quarterback Brennan Armstrong from Shelby, Ohio. Burns watched Armstrong during summer workouts in Minnesota.

“He has a lot of great physical tools,” Burns said. “He’s 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. He runs extremely well. He’s a lefty. I think he reminds a lot of people of Kellen Moore, former Boise State quarterback (now a backup with the NFL Cowboys).

“He (Armstrong) really just knows how to be a great leader and knows how to win. He throws a really good ball. I am excited to see what he looks like this spring (2018 with the Gophers).”

Two other players Burns talked about who could move into four-star status are defensive tackle Elijah Teague from Chicago and Eden Prairie cornerback Benny Sapp III. Teague, whose college offers included Oklahoma, will likely be part of a roster next year with depth issues at defensive tackle. “I think he’s a guy that’s going to have to come in and play right away,” Burns said.

Sapp is the son of former Vikings cornerback Benny Sapp. Burns said “from talking with the Eden Prairie coaching staff, they think he is a very, very special player.”

While as of yet the Gophers have no four-stars or even five-stars prospects, they did make an early splash in the national recruiting rankings. They did so by not only receiving verbal commits from good players, but also by doing it early in 2017. The Gophers total of 23 (probably just two or three more commits will be added) ranks among the highest in the nation.

“P.J. likes to get it done early,” Burns said. “He really trusts in their (Fleck and his staff’s) live evaluations throughout the spring and summer. I guess the thing that has impressed me most about P.J.’s recruiting efforts is probably (having) 23 commits—I think everyone has been on campus, and I believe only a handful are from the state of Minnesota. …They all came on their own dime to come up here and see Minnesota. Some of them multiple times.

“That has not happened at Minnesota in quite some time. People want to come up and see Minnesota now because of P.J. Fleck, and that’s why he’s got so many commits right now.”

Burns believes that when the college football recruiting period for the class of 2018 ends next February, Minnesota will finish “somewhere” in the mid-30s of the national rankings. If so, that will be higher than Minnesota has done for several years with previous final rankings in the 40s and above.

Worth Noting

Where do the Gophers rank in 2018 recruiting among Big Ten programs? As of today they are No. 6 in the 247Sports composite rankings.

Recruiting rankings, of course, don’t guarantee success on the field for college teams. Tim Brewster’s 2008 class included seven four-star players led by quarterback MarQueis Gray and finished No. 17 in the Rivals national rankings. Brewster was fired as Gophers head coach during the 2010 season.

The Buffalo Bulls football team the Gophers open their season against at TCF Bank Stadium on August 31 had a 2-10 record last year including 1-7 in the MAC East Division. “Should be a growth season but not in the win-loss column,” said Lindy’s 2017 college football magazine.

The Bulls roster includes Kayode Awosika, a 6-5, 285-pound freshman offensive tackle from Plymouth who attended Maple Grove High School.

Minnesota will honor its 1967 Big Ten championship football team at the home conference opener against Maryland. Among players expected to attend the game will be former defensive lineman Ed Duren who now is without his legs because of diabetes, according to 1967 teammate Jim Carter.

Carter remains close to former Gophers head coaches Jerry Kill and Tracy Claeys. Kill, of course, is the new offensive coordinator at Rutgers, while Claeys is home in his native Kansas but has visited football friends including at Arkansas and Georgia.

With four football teams included, the Big Ten has more schools in the A.P. top 11 than any other conference. SEC powerhouse Alabama is No.1 with Ohio State second, Penn State sixth, Wisconsin ninth and Michigan 11th.

Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, 34, started all 16 regular season games last year but indications this summer are 22 year-old Danielle Hunter might replace him. Robison declined to be specific when asked if the Vikings have officially said Hunter, with two years experience, will now be the starter. Robison said he is “not worried about things I can’t control.”

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen turned 27 on Tuesday. Former Twins owner Carl Pohlad would have been 102 yesterday.

Deepest condolences to my friend Don Gaudette and wife Ann following the recent loss of 24-year-old son Luke Gaudette, a former offensive lineman at Augsburg who grew up in Savage and played high school football at Prior Lake.

The Twins have placed catcher Jason Castro on the seven-day concussion disabled list. They have recalled outfielder Zack Granite.

It will be 55 years ago on Saturday that the Twins Jack Kralick threw the first no-hitter for the Minnesota franchise. There have been four other no-hitters in Twins history, with the most recent by Francisco Liriano in 2011.

Minneapolis restaurateur Wayne Kostroski, who founded the Taste of the NFL in Minneapolis for the 1992 Super Bowl, e-mailed that Minneapolis events featuring former Vikings and other celebrities are planned for September 10 and 11 to benefit Second Harvest Heartland. There will be wine tasting and a reception at Corner Table September 10 (more at EventBrite.com). On September 11 a lunch and auction will be at Mission American Kitchen and Bar (more information at 612-339-1000).

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