Golden Gophers – Page 395 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Shortell Feels on ‘Different Level’

Posted on August 21, 2012August 23, 2012 by David Shama

When cramps forced quarterback MarQueis Gray to the sidelines in the Gophers opener last year against USC, true freshman Max Shortell had to enter the game in the fabled Los Angeles Coliseum. Shortell would later start two games for the Gophers.

Looking back at last year, Shortell said he realizes how inexperienced he was. If called upon to replace Gray this season he will be much more comfortable.

“Last year I was almost just trying to make it through,” he said last week. “This year I feel like I am on a whole different level.”

Shortell, who completed 26 of 54 passes while throwing two touchdown passes and two interceptions, acknowledged that for a backup quarterback to watch from the sidelines in games not knowing when he will play presents a challenge.

“It’s hard the whole game to be focused (while) on the sidelines,” he said. “Coming into the game you know you’re not going to play but you have to be in every snap all week mentally. You have to be prepared to play.

“As far as staying loose on the sidelines, that’s really hard to do. Especially when it’s cold out. …It’s real tough just to be waiting.”

Gray is a senior and could be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten. Shortell’s playing time might be even less than last season when he participated in eight games.

“I hope I can play,” Shortell said. “I hope I can push MarQueis and step in when I need to.”

Shortell said the Gophers offense, now in its second season with a new coaching staff, is “light years” ahead of where it was in August of 2011. “We’re making plays that we just missed last year. In games we just missed plays and now out here on the practice field we’re making these plays.”

Gophers football notes and other items:

A priority for the Gophers in practice during August is special teams. Coach Jerry Kill and his staff came to Minnesota from Northern Illinois with a reputation for producing results with special teams. Minnesota won only three games last season but the recovery of a fourth quarter onside kickoff was a big play in a 22-21 win over Iowa and a fourth quarter blocked punt turned into a touchdown produced the final Gophers points in a 29-23 victory against Miami (Ohio).

Punting, kickoffs, coverages and returns receive Kill’s attention and it’s a good bet the Gophers will turn another game or two their way in 2012 with special teams. “I think you always win in the kicking game,” Kill said last week. “If you go look at NFL—at college football—the good teams gotta be good on special teams. Because you’re gonna win some games on special teams, or you gonna lose some games. And we’ve spent a heck of a lot of time on trying to win, and we’ve always been pretty good at it everywhere we’ve been. …”

Look for Kill to announce his starters for the UNLV game (August 30) in six days or so. Regardless, in certain position units like the defensive line Kill will play subs, not just starters, in game action.

Sports Illustrated’s college football issue ranks Alabama No. 1 with two Big Ten teams in the publication’s preseason top 10—No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 8 Michigan State. Other Big Ten teams in the top 25 are No. 13 Michigan, No. 19 Nebraska and No. 22 Ohio State. The magazine lists seven Heisman Trophy favorites including Michigan’s Denard Robinson and Wisconsin’s Montee Ball.

The Universityof Minnesota Alumni Association is partnering with Creative Charters to promote a fan trip to the Gophers-UNLV game in Las Vegas. The alumni association is also promoting a tailgate party before the game with a discount available for early registration. More at www.minnesotaalumni.org

Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said yesterday that backup quarterback Joe Webb looked better in his second preseason game than in the first. The coach said Webb is making progress including understanding defenses.

“Well, Joe is making strides every day,” Musgrave said. “The other night he missed on a couple throws that he would like to have back, but he did some good things for us too. He made some plays with his legs when we spread him out and got everybody out of the backfield. That is definitely one of his strengths.”

Fritz Waldvogel, the former St. Thomas star, has scored 27 touchdowns in nine games playing in the German Football League, according to www.tommiesports.com.

Gophers assistant coach Saul Smith told Sports Headliners Maurice Walker, who missed all of last season, is healthy and playing summer basketball. Smith said the Gophers need the 6-10, 289-pound Walker’s presence in the low post. “We’ll need him in Atlantis,” Smith said about the November 22 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas where the Gophers will play Duke.

Smith’s dad, Tubby Smith, starts his sixth season at Minnesota this fall. Saul said this could be the best Gophers team so far but Minnesota “will have to prove it” in the Big Ten.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed that DeLaSalle forward Reid Travis, ranked by ESPN.com as the No. 31 player nationally in the prep class of 2014, has been offered a scholarship by Boston College.

Lien also reported that Cooper guard Rashad Vaughn said Baylor, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas are showing strong interest in recruiting him.

ESPN ranks Vaughn the No. 12 prospect in the class of 2014 while Apple Valley point guard Tyus Jones is No. 2.

NBC’s coverage of the USA men’s gold medal basketball game had 12.5 million viewers, while the USA women’s title game had 10.2 million, according to NBA.com.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor left the states last week for China to participate in a mission with the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team will play an exhibition game on November 2 at Michigan State. Kevin Levandoski, a 6-1 sophomore guard from Appleton, Wisconsin, is on the Huskies roster and is MSU coach Tom Izzo’s nephew. Levandoski suggested the game to Izzo, according to online reports.

About.com ranked the greatest baseball players of all time last week. Among catchers, the Twins Joe Mauer didn’t receive a mention among the top 15. Harmon Killebrew ranked No. 6 among first basemen and Jim Thome No. 10.

The Gophers volleyball team is ranked No. 16 in the country in a preseason poll by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. In a poll of Big Ten coaches Minnesota is picked to finish No. 4 in the league with Nebraska the title favorite.

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DiNardo: U Done Losing to NDSU’s

Posted on August 14, 2012August 14, 2012 by David Shama

The Big Ten Network football crew including commentators Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith was in Minneapolis last weekend to evaluate the Gophers as part of a 12-campus tour of Big Ten football programs. DiNardo and Griffith are impressed with coach Jerry Kill and the improvement of the Minnesota team.

“I think we’re all gonna see (in 2012) why Minnesota hired Jerry Kill,” DiNardo said on the network’s Gophers preview show. “He’s a guy that maximizes his (player) personnel. We’ll see him do that. He maximizes his staff because they’ve been with him so long.

“The biggest surprise to me a year ago is when Minnesota lost to New Mexico State and North Dakota State. That won’t happen again. Minnesota will win every matchup opponent. Matchup opponent is someone that’s a little better or a little less personnel than you do (have). He’ll win every one of those games. …It’s taken him maybe a little bit longer here than some of the other places he’s been.”

The Gophers were 3-9 last season including those surprise nonconference losses to the Aggies and Bison. If DiNardo is correct, the Gophers will sweep their 2012 nonconference games against UNLV, New Hampshire, Western Michigan and Syracuse. Then Minnesota has to find two wins among eight conference opponents to reach the qualifying six victories to be eligible for a bowl game.

Minnesota is a second-year rebuilding program under Kill, and Griffith thinks the Gophers are still going to “take their lumps.” Griffith likes the direction of the program with Kill and said the players “have bought into the message that he’s talking about from the front of the room.”

No Gopher discussed on the preview show received higher praise than junior defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman. Griffith doesn’t believe any center in the Big Ten can block Hageman who was outstanding in Minnesota’s final game last season against Illinois and has continued to progress. “In my mind he’s going to be tough to block for anybody,” Griffith said.

Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys told the Big Ten Network that Hageman, a former tight end, is now understanding the demands of his position. “There’s not a better athlete in the United States playing d-tackle than what Ra’Shede Hageman is,” Claeys said. “The more he continues to learn the game, the better off I think he will be.”

Griffith thinks senior quarterback MarQueis Gray can have a “tremendous year.” DiNardo said proven running skills and improved passing could make Gray the best “dual-threat” quarterback in the conference.

Asked to identify “newcomers” of note this season, Griffith selected redshirt freshman defensive end Theiren Cockran, a promising pass rusher whom Kill has praised in the off-season. DiNardo chose true freshmen Jamel Harbison, a wide receiver that has shown athleticism in practice this month, and converted quarterback KJ Maye, an exceptionally quick athlete who could play both receiver and running back for the Gophers.

Olympic Basketball & Other Notes:

Minnesotans may never again see an Olympics where men and women with ties to this state played such significant roles in the gold medal success of USA basketball teams. Kevin Love, the Timberwolves’ best player and an NBA All-Star, ranked down the list of premiere players on the men’s roster but he was Team USA’s best rebounder despite limited minutes, while Lynx players Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen were contributors to the USA women’s team championship run in London.

On a team lacking size and rebounding, it was Love who consistently came off the bench to lead the USA in rebounding at 7.6 per game and he was fifth in team scoring with an average of 11.6. Balls that he couldn’t control he would tap to teammates. With the USA only ahead by one point at the end of three quarters in the championship game against Spain on Sunday, Love was asked to play major fourth quarter minutes surrounded by his all-world teammates including LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Love showed his usual basketball IQ in the gold medal game, not only positioning himself effectively for rebounds but in the fourth quarter, despite playing with four fouls, he effectively defended Spain’s best player, Pau Gasol. Despite being undersized against Gasol, he made it difficult for the Spanish center to score, including in the low post.

Love demonstrated something else in the Olympics, too. He’s a great player but he will never be an alpha dog scorer, the kind that can carry a team to an NBA championship. If the Wolves are ever to dream about a title, they will have to find a James, Bryant, Kevin Durant or Carmelo Anthony to team with Love.

It’s highly doubtful if a healthy Rick Rubio, playing forSpain, could have been the difference in the title game. The Wolves point guard is not yet a dominant enough all-around player, nor the kind of defensive force that the Spanish team needed.

While the USA men had to struggle in a 107-100 title game win over Spain on Sunday, the women defeated France 86-50 in their title game Saturday. The Lynx Olympians combined for 17 points. Moore averaged 9 points and 5.6 points per game during the Olympics while Whalen made 56.4 percent of her shots and averaged 8 points. Augustus averaged 7.8 points.

Augustus, Moore and Whalen will hold a news conference in Minneapolis tomorrow.

The 12-members of the USAmen’s team weren’t paid to play in the Olympics but Kurt Badenhausen writing on August 6 for Forbes.com said those players earned $230 million in NBA salaries and outside endorsements during the last 12 months. Their Olympic experience will be a further boost to their commercial appeal.

Working for the Big Ten Network on football coverage this fall will be former Gophers Derek Rackley and Justin Conzemius, and ex-Minnesota coach Glen Mason.

Are the Twins moving their metro area radio broadcasts of games to KTWN-FM starting in 2013?

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is hitting .400 in his last 10 games and moved his average up to .276. Morneau’s contract expires after next season. He reportedly earns $14 million this season, according to online information from Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

There have been 126 home runs hit at Target Field this season, the same total as in all of 2011. In 2010, the opening season of Target Field, only 116 total home runs were hit.

The Twins have drawn over 2 million fans at home this season, the eighth consecutive year they have done so.

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Gray Looks for U Bowl Win

Posted on August 8, 2012August 8, 2012 by David Shama

Gophers senior quarterback MarQueis Gray played briefly in his team’s 2009 Insight Bowl loss to Iowa State. The last two seasons Gray has been on 3-9 Minnesota teams but he believes the Gophers, who play their first game on August 30 at UNLV, will be improved and he talked about his determination in 2012.

“To leave here without a bowl win, that would be heartbreaking. I feel like we put too much time and work and effort …to not get rewarded, and that would be shocking to me.”

Among the reasons Gray chose the Gophers is his determination to help turn around the football program. While a high school player in Indianapolis, he was ranked by Rivals as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the country and top player in Indiana.

Gray said Minnesota was the only recruiting visit to a prospective school that he made. He was impressed with what he saw and heard including information about the local business community. “Minneapolis is one of the top cities in the country in Fortune 500 companies so I was figuring if it doesn’t work out in football I know I have some people around here that would be willing to hire me,” he said.

Gray has become a Gophers leader. With practice having started just last Saturday, he and his teammates are understandably optimistic about the season ahead, even if Minnesota is a popular media choice to be among the Big Ten’s worst teams. The Gophers believe in second-year coach Jerry Kill and his staff. Veteran players like Gray have the advantage now of many months spent learning the coaching staff’s schemes and philosophies. Then, too, there’s an influx of new players including several junior college transfers.

Junior safety Brock Vereen acknowledged the optimism. “There’s talk (in the locker room) about being great, being successful. Whatever comes with that, that’s what we want. That’s what we have to have.”

The Gophers were 6-7 in 2009, and then came the 3-9 records. Vereen sees a different attitude now than his first two teams at Minnesota. “This is the most confident (team). This is the most optimistic that this team has been since I’ve been here. I think everybody is so excited.”

Senior linebacker Mike Rallis said the Gophers aren’t interested in alibis for their opening game in Las Vegas. The game will likely be played in high temperatures and start at 10 p.m., presenting a time zone adjustment for the Gophers.

“I think the challenge is UNLV the team,” Rallis said. “We’re going to have to play them (the Rebels). We’re not going to have to play against the heat and the time zone. Those are just excuses and we’re not thinking about that at all. We’re just trying to prepare for a good UNLV team.”

Gophers notes:

Rallis attended Edina High School, as did sophomore wide receiver Devin Crawford-Tufts of whom much is anticipated this season. Rallis said Tufts initially came into the Edina program as a “track guy.” Rallis added: “Just like coach Kill, I am expecting big things from him this year.”

Vereen’s brother, Shane Vereen, plays for New England in the NFL. Brock said he talks to his brother every day about football and other subjects. Shane has been a mentor who exemplifies confidence and willingness to sacrifice for the team, Brock said.

Gray and fiancée Alison Behr are parents of eight month old twin boys. “I am a great father,” Gray said when asked about his parenting. “I hold the kids responsible for the things they do. …She’s more the cuddlin’ type. …I am the coach of the house.”

Gophers football practices are open to the public tomorrow starting at 9:10 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. at the Gibson-Nagurski Complex. Also the Friday practice starting at 10:25 a.m. is open to the public.

The Gophers football program has produced six national championships and 18 Big Ten titles but after recent decades of losing seasons, Minnesota’s all-time record in conference games is 37 wins under .500, 326-363-28.

Despite an attractive home schedule last season that included games with North Dakota State, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin, the Gophers didn’t sell out a single game at TCF Bank Stadium (capacity 50,805). None of those schools is on the home schedule in 2012, with the best draws being Syracuse, Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State.

Ticket prices for the Gophers game at UNLV are $19, $25 and $40, according to a July 31 article at lasvegassun.com.

Golden Valley-based Buffalo Wild Wings is the new title sponsor for the former Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona where the Gophers played in 2006, 2008 and 2009. The bowl is renamed the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and will be played on December 29.

Correction from Monday’s column: New Gophers center Brian Bobek, a transfer from Ohio State, will have two seasons of eligibility with Minnesota starting in 2013, not three.

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