Golden Gophers – Page 241 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Maybe Walsh Late Entry for Turkey Award

Posted on November 23, 2016November 23, 2016 by David Shama

Just an outsider looking in, but I can’t help anticipating Patrick Reusse’s announcement tomorrow of his Turkey of the Year. The Star Tribune columnist has made his TOY coronation a Thanksgiving tradition for decades by selecting and writing about a prominent Minnesota sports figure that experienced a dismal 12 months.

Reusse and his “committee” must be feverishly sorting through finalists on Thanksgiving Eve. Here on the prairie there are never any shortages of candidates from the professional teams and University of Minnesota. Perhaps compounding the selection process this year is the late entry of Blair Walsh, the woe-begone placekicker who made a matinee thriller out of extra points and was released by the Vikings last week.

It will also be hard to ignore the Twins who lost a franchise record 103 games last season. I could see the TOY gang arguing over whether to bestow the honor on former general manager Terry Ryan, or take a more inclusive approach by naming the entire baseball department.

Joe Mauer could be in contention too after earning $23 million and hitting just .261, with 11 home runs and 49 RBI. Another likely contender is Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino who lost a school record 16 Big Ten games in 2015-2016.

Reusse’s declaration of his 2016 Turkey winner will be part of a day that includes a rare Thanksgiving game by the Vikings. If the club follows past history, fans won’t have to worry about the final score giving them a bad case of heartburn and upset stomach. The Vikings have won five of six times on turkey day since the franchise began in 1961. All have been road games, with Minnesota 3-0 against the Cowboys and 2-1 versus the Lions.

Tomorrow the Vikings play the Lions in Detroit for the first time since 1995. Although both teams are playing on just three days rest since last Sunday, it’s an honor to have a “place at the table” in Detroit. No franchise in professional sports is more identified with a holiday than the Lions who have been playing on Thanksgiving Day since 1934.

After 69 holiday games, the Lions are 33-34-2 against 24 opponents. One of those Detroit wins came in the 1995 game when defense was out and offense was in. Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell threw for 410 yards and four touchdowns in his team’s 44-38 win. Three Lions receivers had over 100 yards in receptions. Vikings quarterback Warren Moon passed for 384 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Jake Reed had 149 yards in receptions including two touchdowns.

Go ahead and wager the best drumstick in town that kind of offensive show won’t happen tomorrow. The Vikings’ defense is too good, ranking among the best in the NFL giving up 306.9 yards per game and 17.6 points (although controlling the run has been a problem of late). The Lions are yielding 358.2 yards and 22.5 points.

You might want to hold off rolling out the turkey and all the fixings until after 3 p.m. Tomorrow’s 11:30 a.m. game is kind of a big deal. The teams are tied for first place in the NFC North with 6-4 records, and the Vikings intend to have a better day than earlier this month when the Lions won, 22-16, in Minneapolis. Quarterback Matthew Stafford rallied the Lions late and they tied the game as time expired. Then Stafford was clutch in overtime and threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate for the winning points.

That game gave indigestion to “Purple People.” Might have even produced a Turkey of the Year candidate, too.

Worth Noting

Vikings defensive end Brian Robison talking about tomorrow’s game with the Lions: “It’s about who wants it more.”

If the Gophers can win Saturday in Madison against the Badgers it will be among the most significant upsets in the rivalry that dates back to 1890. The Badgers are ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll and are close to earning an invitation next month to the four-team College Football Playoffs.

Wisconsin was 0-2 in Big Ten games in mid-October but has now won five consecutive league games. With an overall 9-2 record and 6-2 in the Big Ten, a win against Minnesota sends the Badgers to the conference title game next month in Indianapolis. A victory by the Badgers also would put the all-time series standings against Minnesota at 59-59-8.

But the Gophers, 8-3 and 5-3, would spoil Wisconsin’s CFP hopes with an upset, and that’s just part of how wild things could end in the West Division by Saturday night. Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin could all finish with 6-3 records. The Badgers, though, would be invited to Indianapolis because they have wins over Iowa and Nebraska, and the Gophers lost to both the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers.

Even with an 8-4 final record, the Gophers figure to earn an invitation to one of their better bowl destinations in the last 10 years. At last Saturday’s Minnesota-Northwestern game at TCF Bank Stadium, press box seat assignments were made for representatives of the Fiesta, Foster Farms and Holiday bowls.

Ryan Burns, the high school football authority from GopherIllustrated.com, told Sports Headliners he predicts Totino-Grace will win by seven points over Eden Prairie in the Class 6A state championship game Friday. Burns wonders whether EP has enough “firepower” to win against Totino. A state title win by Totino would be a third consecutive victory over Eden Prairie including a 17-14 win earlier this year. “That would be a hell of an accomplishment,” Burns said about Eden Prairie, a program that has won four of the last five big school state titles.

Asked about the 10 finalists for the 2016 Mr. Football Award, Burns suggested the likely winner will either be Grand Meadow running back/linebacker Christopher Bain, Crosby-Ironton quarterback/linebacker/kicker Noah Gindorff, or Lakeville North running back Wade Sullivan. Among the 10 candidates, Marshall tackle Blaise Andries is the only one with offers from FBS schools. He is verbally committed to the Gophers.

Gindorff has committed to FCS North Dakota State. Alexandria quarterback Jaran Roste, another Mr. Football candidate, has a preferred walk-on invite from the Gophers, Burns said.

The 2016 Mr. Football Award, sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and the Vikings, will be presented on December 4 at the Doubletree by Hilton in St. Louis Park. Candidates for the award, which dates back to 2004, must be high school seniors.

The Rochester Quarterbacks Club that began in 1955 is still meeting on Mondays under the leadership of Ed Rauen, a familiar voice in southern Minnesota for decades on KROC Radio. The club meets at a place called Canadian Honker Catering, features speakers from various sports and has had only two presidents, the late Ben Sternberg and Rauen. “It’s the only club in America that doesn’t have an election,” baseball icon Joe Garagiola once said.

Former Gopher Darrell Thompson, the program’s all-time leading career rusher, turns 49 today.

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Vikings Praise Record-Setter Diggs

Posted on November 18, 2016November 18, 2016 by David Shama

Stefon Diggs has more than documented his improvement the last two Sundays. The Vikings’ second-year wide receiver caught 13 passes in each of the last two games to become the first player in NFL history to accomplish that.

Teammate Zach Line said Diggs, a fifth round draft choice in 2015, has the ability to find openings in the secondary. “He’s got a nose for the ball,” the Vikings fullback told Sports Headliners.

Veteran quarterback Shaun Hill said Diggs has not only improved since his rookie season but is even better than he was in training camp last summer. Hill was asked for an example of that.

“It’s one thing to know what a play looks like on paper. It’s another thing to know the detail how to run that play—how to run that route, versus everything that a defense can bring,” said Hill who is in his 15th NFL season.

Hill predicts more improvement from Diggs who has become the team’s star receiver and already has 10 more receptions in eight games than he had in 13 games last year. “He comes with a worker’s mentality every day, and that’s what you have to do,” Hill said.

Stefon Diggs (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen also praised Diggs’ mental approach to football. “He’s an unbelievable competitor,” Thielen said.

Diggs has 710 yards in receptions after totaling 720 last year. His 710 ranks 11th in the NFL and his 61 receptions are tied for fourth best in the league with the Falcons’ Julio Jones.

Diggs has earned praise from various teammates including another Vikings wide receiver, Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson said the individual stats are nice but he reminded a reporter the 5-4 Vikings are in a losing streak.

“I know he (Diggs) would take all those catches back for two wins the last two weeks,” Patterson said.

Worth Noting

Fox’s lead broadcast crew of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews will be in town to do Sunday’s Vikings game against the Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. The trio is also scheduled to work the February Super Bowl in Houston.

The Vikings, 5-4, are looking for their first win since October 9—week five of the NFL schedule. The Cardinals, 4-4-1, are 3-1-1 dating back to week five.

Injured Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater hasn’t been attending home games, but running back Adrian Peterson, who is also rehabbing, has been on the sidelines.

Tom Moore, 78, is the Cardinals assistant head coach/offense. Moore, from Owatonna, Minnesota, was the Gophers’ offensive coordinator from 1972-73 and 1975-76. Among his best players are Minnesota natives and receivers Larry Fitzgerald, Jr. and Michael Floyd.

The Gophers have 13 seniors/grad students who will be recognized for their final game at TCF Bank Stadium Saturday (2:30 p.m. start against Northwestern). But head coach Tracy Claeys said on his KFAN Radio show Tuesday that another seven—juniors not expected to return in 2017—will be in their final home game, too.

Minnesota’s group of 13 is the third smallest in major college football. Only three of the 13 play on offense, quarterback Mitch Leidner, tackle Jonah Pirsig and wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky. That’s the fewest on any offensive unit in college football.

Leidner is among the winningest senior quarterbacks in the nation with a 22-16 career record. He has an undergraduate degree in kinesiology and is halfway through his master’s in sports management, but he isn’t sure about career plans.

Although he is only 40 years old, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald is the second longest tenured head coach in the Big Ten. Fitzgerald is in his 11th season with the Wildcats, while 61-year-old Kirk Ferentz has 18 seasons as head coach at Iowa.

MarQueis Gray, the former Gophers quarterback, has played in nine games at tight end for the Dolphins. He has started four games, with seven receptions for 109 yards. This is Gray’s fifth NFL season and he’s played with four teams including the Bills, Browns and Vikings.

Glenn Caruso (photo courtesy of University of St. Thomas)

Coach Glenn Caruso and the St. Thomas football team has its opening playoff game tomorrow, with the intent of eventually advancing to the Division III national championship game in Salem, Virginia. The 10-0 Tommies lost in the title game last December but get a new start in the postseason Saturday at home against 9-1 Northwestern-St. Paul.

Northwestern, from the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, and the MIAC’s Tommies had one common opponent during the year. Northwestern defeated Augsburg 14-0, while St. Thomas beat the Auggies, 55-7.

Two Tommie seniors, All-America tackle Will Hilbert and running back-kick returner Nick Waldvogel, have started all 46 games over the last four seasons. The Tommies record is 40-6 during that stretch.

Hilbert, from Milwaukee, has blocked for 28 different 100-yard rushing performances (eight players), and helped St. Thomas achieve 34 games with 200 or more yards passing.

Waldvogel’s older brother, All-America wide receiver Fritz Waldvogel, started all 50 games in his St. Thomas career. In eight years of the nine-season Caruso era, a Waldvogel has been in the St. Thomas lineup every game (all but 2012 season). The two brothers have combined to score 80 touchdowns (Fritz 46, Nick 34).

Nick, a St. Thomas Academy graduate, is averaging 99.5 all-purpose yards per game in his career and has scored 34 touchdowns. He has 177 career receptions for 2,134 yards.

NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullin, now in his second season as St. John’s basketball coach, leads the Red Storm (2-0) against the Gophers (3-0) tonight at Williams Arena. The game is part of the Gavitt Tipoff series this fall between the Big East and Big Ten. Minnesota and St. John’s played once previously, a 70-61 Red Storm win in 2014.

Former Gopher forward Rodney Williams is playing for the Greensboro Swarm in the NBA Development League. The North Carolina-based team is starting its first season and is an affiliate of the NBA Hornets.

Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns is featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s “Tall Ball” issue. The magazine arrived in subscriber’s mailboxes earlier in the week, went online yesterday and is available at newsstands starting today. The article reviews how height has impacted NBA and college basketball.

Towns helped the Wolves to a 110-86 win over the 76ers last night. He scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds. It was his fourth 20 point, 10 rebound game in the last five.

Timberwolves executive Chris Wright is finishing his year as “head coach” of the Twin Cities Dunkers. In that volunteer role, Wright has arranged speakers for the Dunkers organization that dates back to the 1940s.

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Top Hoops Prep Keeps Gophers in Mix

Posted on November 16, 2016November 16, 2016 by David Shama

Race Thompson, the junior forward from Armstrong High School who is among the best prep basketball players in Minnesota, made unofficial recruiting visits to Creighton and Nebraska last weekend. Both schools have offered scholarships, along with Arizona State, Iowa State, Kansas State, North Dakota, Northern Iowa, Marquette and the Gophers.

Thompson said he will probably choose a school after the AAU season ends next summer. If he chose a college now which one would it be?

“I honestly don’t know,” Thompson told Sports Headliners last week.

Race’s dad Darrell is the Gophers all-time career leading rusher and now a radio analyst on Minnesota’s football games. The Thompson family lives in Plymouth, and Darrell is the president of Bolder Options, the Minneapolis-based nonprofit that works with at-risk youth.

Darrell, though, isn’t pushing his son toward a specific college, preferring to let him make his own decisions. Race said the important factors for him in choosing a school are the basketball program’s coach, the players and style of play.

The 17-year-old Thompson, who starts practice with Armstrong later this month, is 6-foot-8 and about 220 pounds after growing an inch and becoming heavier since last season. He was told by a doctor he will grow another inch before reaching his maximum height. He averaged about 16 points last season and is capable of games with a triple-double in scoring, rebounding and assists.

Athletic enough to play both small and power forward for Armstrong, Thompson had a busy summer impressing college coaches while playing AAU basketball. Now the high school season will take up the fall and winter, but Thompson said he also budgets time to relax. “It’s fun to be away from basketball every once in awhile, (and) just be a normal kid and hang out with your friends.”

Worth Noting

The Gophers and Northwestern play Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium, and so far this season the two West Division rivals have only two common opponents, Iowa and Purdue. In early October the Wildcats defeated Iowa 38-31 in Iowa City and the Gophers lost to the Hawkeyes at TCF, 14-7. Minnesota defeated Purdue in Minneapolis, 44-31, on November 5. Northwestern, playing on the road last Saturday, beat Purdue 45-17.

After the Purdue game Northwestern players carried teammate and former Navy SEAL Tom Hruby off the field. Near the end of the game, Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald put the linebacker in at running back near the Purdue goal line. The play was botched, though, and the 34-year-old Hruby didn’t score a touchdown in the game that came one day after Veterans Day.

Gophers football coach Tracy Claeys talking about his wardrobe: “I have one suit. That’s all I got.”

Joe Bjorklund, who a year ago was an offensive lineman for the Gophers, is now working for Mortenson Construction on the Athletes Village project at the University of Minnesota. Bjorklund is a project engineer for the company after majoring in construction management and business at the University.

Dick Ames, one of the Gophers most generous donors ever, was on campus yesterday to see the construction progress on the Athletes Village and have lunch with athletics director Mark Coyle.

Ames was a close friend for 45 years with the late Phil McElroy, the former Gopher football player and athletic department booster. Condolences to family and friends of McElroy who recently passed away. McElroy’s funeral is Friday morning at the Church of St. Patrick in Edina.

Gophers senior associate athletics director Marc Ryan has a son who is on the Saint John’s basketball team. Sean Ryan is a 6-2 freshman guard from Eastview High School.

The Vikings might announce today that Alex Boone is moving from left guard to left tackle to fill the opening created last Sunday when Jake Long’s season ended with his torn left Achilles injury. Boone had experience starting at left tackle when he was with the 49ers. Reserve Jeremiah Sirles could fill the left guard spot vacated by Boone.

The Vikings drafted Western Michigan tackle Willie Beavers on the fourth round earlier this year but despite the chaos of injuries to offensive linemen the rookie apparently isn’t ready to play.

Kyle Rudolph could tie Steve Jordan’s franchise record for most career touchdown catches by a Vikings tight end in Sunday’s home game against the Cardinals. Rudolph has 27 career TD catches. With five scores this season, he is tied with three others for the most touchdown receptions by an NFL tight end in 2016.

The Vikings sent an email to customers last week asking for Pro Bowl votes. The ultimate fan vote for blind loyalty might be a ballot for much criticized offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings. The Vikings had five Pro Bowl players after the 2015 season.

Dave Stead, the State High School League executive director, predicts record attendance for the Prep Bowl’s first year in U.S. Bank Stadium. The two-day Prep Bowl on November 25 and 26 will be a first opportunity for many ticket buyers to see the Vikings’ new facility. Tickets each day are $14 for adults and $9 for students. Admission allows ticket buyers to see all the high school football state championship games being played that day.

The early season verdict on the Minnesota Wild is new coach Bruce Boudreau has the team playing with effort. The Wild, who lost 1-0 last night to the Flames, is 8-6-1 with an impressive 41 goals scored and 29 given up. The team doesn’t practice today, and plays the Bruins tomorrow night at Xcel Energy Center.

Former Twin Randy Bush, an assistant general manager with the World Series champion Cubs, said on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle last Sunday he wasn’t contacted by Minnesota regarding its search for an executive to lead the baseball department.

In January look for high school football coaches associations to put out a joint statement at the American Football Coaches National Convention expressing concern over the Big Ten’s decision to play football games on Friday nights next year.

Patty Wetterling, the well-known advocate for missing children, speaks to the Capital Club on December 8, with Vikings executive Kevin Warren talking to the group December 20. The breakfast gatherings will be at Town & County Club in St. Paul. More information is available by contacting Patrick Klinger, patrick@thebrandenchancementgroup.com.

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