Golden Gophers – Page 412 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

D-Tackle Positions Concern Jerry Kill

Posted on March 1, 2012March 1, 2012 by David Shama

“The scariest thing” to Jerry Kill as he anticipates the start of spring practice on March 22 is the defensive tackles positions. Last season’s starting tackles, Brandon Kirksey and Anthony Jacobs, were both seniors.

“Somebody is going to have to step up there and that’s why we recruited the junior college kid,” Kill told Sports Headliners. “Then we (also) recruited…freshmen in there to see what would happen.”

Kill is intrigued by defensive tackle Roland Johnson, a South Carolina native via Butler Community College in Kansas, who will have two seasons of eligibility playing for the Gophers. Kill said the 6-1, 295-pound Johnson will come in as a “tremendous” junior college player.

Kill also referenced Michigan State’s Anthony Rashad White when talking about Johnson. He said White was the “best d-tackle” in the Big Ten Conference last season and White played for Fort Scott Junior College, a Butler rival. “Very similar, 6-foot, maybe 6-1, 300 pounds and can run,” Kill said.

Johnson won’t be in school until summer but Scott Epke, a freshman defensive tackle from Lewisville, Texas is here and will participate in spring practice. Epke is only 17 and Kill said the young lineman has already increased his weight from 255 to 268. “Somebody is going to have to step up in the defensive line to fill the gaps there,” Kill said. “Just don’t know who that’s going to be.”

After consecutive 3-9 seasons, it’s obvious the Gophers have plenty of personnel needs. Kill and his staff have been recruiting for improvement in overall team speed including in the defensive backfield.

Kill will have junior college defensive backs Jeremy Baltazar, Briean Boddy and Martez Shabazz available for spring practice and a key secondary returnee is senior Troy Stoudermire. “That group of guys, athletically, I feel good about but now they (the newcomers) gotta learn what to do,” Kill said.

On offense the Gophers have plenty of sorting out to do, too, but Kill is encouraged by the weight training program and many of his linemen have added 20 pounds each. Junior Ed Olson, for example, has increased his weight from 290 to 310.

Asked if the Gophers may finally have a difference maker at running back, the coach mentioned junior college transfer James Gillum and freshman Rodrick Williams, describing both as physical runners. “James Gillum’s got a chance. You don’t bring a kid in (from junior college) unless you think he can play. …He’s here (enrolled) already. ”

Williams will arrive in the summer. “Iowa recruited him hard,” Kill said describing Williams as a “strong downhill runner” similar to Hawkeye Marcus Coker.”

There’s quiet anticipation that facing a so-so nonconference schedule the Gophers could win three or four games, then add a couple wins in the Big Ten Conference to finish with a 6-6 record and qualify for the school’s first bowl game since 2009. If so, it seems almost certain the athletically gifted but sometimes challenged senior quarterback MarQueis Gray must save his last season for his best.

Gray led the Gophers to Big Ten wins over Iowa and Illinois. He played some of his best football in the season ending 27-7 Illinois victory. He will never be a Sunday quarterback but if he can avoid too many interceptions and other mistakes, his leadership and running could help the Gophers steal an extra win or two.

“The whole thing about him is, is that it’s really up to him,” Kill said. “Right now he’s bigger and faster than he was. Spring’s gonna be really important for him. He’s gotta leave off where he left at Illinoisand keep building.”

Whatever the Gophers record in 2012, this will be only Kill’s second season as coach. “We’re far from finishing this thing,” he said. “This is an overhaul situation here. Hopefully we’ll move it forward. I don’t know about wins and losses. I know we’re different (than last year). I feel like athletically we’re getting better. We’re certainly not Ohio State, or anything, by any means.”

Fans can come to all spring practices and make their own judgments about the team. They can also attend the April 21 spring game starting at 11 a.m. at TCF Bank Stadium.

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Worth Noting

Posted on March 1, 2012March 1, 2012 by David Shama

Kill expects almost his entire roster to be available for spring practice including Marcus Jones, a promising freshman wide receiver last year who missed part of the 2011 season because of a torn ACL. The coach did report on WCCO Radio last Sunday morning that junior linebacker Brendan Beal (ACL) won’t be available.

News of a tentative deal on a Vikings stadium announced this morning is consistent with what sources have been telling Sports Headliners that political approval will get done. Most likely this year.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier and general manager Rick Spielman plan to attend Saturday’s 42^nd annual NFL 101 Awards gala in Kansas City where those being honored will include Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen, selected as the NFC Defensive Player of the Year in nationwide voting by the media. Allen had a league leading 22 sacks last season, only a half sack short of the NFL record. He is 20^th all-time in NFL sacks.

The Gophers basketball team has lost six straight Big Ten games, matching the season ending losing streak of last year. Minnesota, 5-12 in the Big Ten, closes the regular season at home on Saturday afternoon against Nebraska (4-13).

Tubby Smith is finishing up his fifth season as Gophers coach. His conference record, including Big Ten tournament games, is 43-56. The coach he replaced, Dan Monson, was 31-56 after five seasons but had to deal with NCAA and school sanctions left over from the Clem Haskins era.

While Smith is experiencing his second consecutive disappointing season, Monson’s Long Beach State team has won a second straight Big West regular season championship.

“I always thought he (Monson) could coach,” said Spencer Tollackson who played three seasons for Monson atMinnesota. “He had proven that he could coach at Gonzaga. I think he had some problems here that weren’t self-inflicted. …They’re able to recruit guys and get guys into school (at Long BeachState) that some other schools maybe wouldn’t. … He’s able to be successful out there. I am not surprised at all.”

Monson was only 37 when named Gophers coach and Tollackson thinks his former boss is probably a better coach now than he’s ever been. “I don’t know if coach was really ready for this job when he took it,” he said. “I think he was a little young. He was just starting a family with a bunch of young kids.”

Pam Borton’s Gophers team, the No. 8 seed, plays Wisconsin, the No. 9 seed, in an opening game of the Big Ten Women’s Tournament starting at 5 p.m. tonight in Indianapolis. Rachel Banham is the league’s Freshman of the Year as voted by coaches and media. Borton’s conference record in 10 seasons is 89-77.

The February issue of Minnesota Basketball News includes a listing of great state basketball tournament teams and players as selected by a committee of the Minnesota State High School League. The all-time top five boys’ teams: Minneapolis North, 1995; Hopkins, 2009; Edina, 1966-68; Edgerton, 1960; and Minneapolis Edison, 1937. The best boys players: Khalid El-Amin, North; Randy Breuer, Lake City; Isaiah Dahlman, Braham; Jim McIntyre, Minneapolis Patrick Henry; and Mark Olberding, Melrose.

The top girls’ teams: St. Paul Central, 2007; Rochester Mayo, 1997; Minneapolis North, 1998; Lakeville North, 2010; and Rochester Lourdes, 1991. The best girls players: Tayler Hill, Minneapolis South; Janet Karvonen, New York Mills; Kelly Miller, Rochester Mayo; Coco Miller, Mayo; and Angel Robinson, St. Paul Central.

The St. Thomas women’s basketball team (26-1) hosts an opening Division III NCAA Tournament game on Friday starting at 8 p.m. against Martin Luther (20-7). The Tommies have won 26 games in a row including 24 over MIAC opponents, finishing as both regular season and conference tournament champions.

Oswaldo Arcia, a 20-year-old outfielder on the Twins 40-man spring training roster, is unlikely to make the big league club this year but has shown power in the lower minors including last season hitting 13 home runs in 292 at-bats. The Venezuelan outfielder is 6-feet, 210 pounds.

The Twins search for pitching is exemplified by the 21 pitching candidates on the 40-man roster listed on the team website.

The Twins, who might have the least power among major league teams, are looking for home runs from offseason acquisition Ryan Doumit. A catcher-outfielder, he’s likely to see a lot of at-bats as a designated hitter. But Doumit has never hit more than 15 home runs in one season. His next best totals are 13 and 10.

A 20-bout mixed martial arts card matching Minnesota fighters against rivals from Japan is scheduled for Saturday, April 28 at Target Center. An anticipated match involves Minnetonka welterweight Jeremy Hamilton (8-1-0) against Yoshiyuki Yoshida (13-6). Hamilton is a rising star while Yoshida, a former world judo champion, earned the first Cage Force welterweight title in 2007. A crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 is expected with tickets still available in all price categories including $200 ringside.

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CEO’s with Seizures Reach Out to Kill

Posted on February 28, 2012February 28, 2012 by David Shama

Jerry Kill joked with a visitor last week about “messing” with his walking schedule. The Gophers second year football coach sat in his office and answered questions about his health.

“Don’t I look good?” Kill teased.

The 50-year-old Kill seemed fit, energetic and happy, despite starting another day in the office at 6 a.m. He’s learned to cope with long days and nights, just as he’s adjusted to a history of seizures and winning a fight with kidney cancer several years ago.

Kill stunned Minnesota fans when he fell to the ground during a game at TCF Bank Stadium last September. Most Minnesotans, including media, weren’t aware of Kill’s seizures prior to his becoming the Gophers coach. The scary sight of Kill writhing on the ground and not knowing the cause made the outcome of the game against New Mexico State on September 10 a secondary concern (Minnesota lost).

Kill had additional seizures last year, was hospitalized and also sought advice from the Mayo Clinic. Asked about his health last week, Kill said he’s okay and although he couldn’t specify a date said he’s been seizure-free for “awhile.”

Kill’s challenge with seizures is ongoing and very public but he insists the issue doesn’t minimize his effectiveness in trying to rebuild a Gophers program that was 3-9 last season and had the same record the year before he arrived in Minneapolis. “There are two or three CEO’s that do not want their names mentioned right here in the Twin Cities (who’ve) got the same problem I got,” Kill told Sports Headliners. “But nobody knows that. They’ve reached out to me—confidentially to me—‘Hey, coach (I) know what you’re going through.’

“I am doing fine. Just like anything, you can’t worry about…(what) you can’t control. You just don’t need to help it. My wife makes sure I am not helping, that I am staying on the right track. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I am in good shape right now.”

The college football world can be cutthroat and Kill admitted when he was coaching at Southern Illinois, a rival used his cancer against him in recruiting. “There was a coach that I won’t name that said, ‘What’s going to happen?’ ”

While recruiting his 2012 freshmen and junior college players Kill said he wasn’t aware of rival coaches using the seizures issue against him.

“That hurts people (recruiters) more than it helps them,” he said. “I am honest. I haven’t lied to anybody. I’ve said that it is (the seizures) what it is. If that bothers you, you shouldn’t come here.”

The Gophers begin spring football practice on March 22. Kill is excited to see what an offseason of conditioning and strength training has done for his players. They can expect to see a coach full of energy and ready to work.

Kill has said that if health problems ever become too much for him to be effective, he will step aside. That time isn’t now. “If I can’t do my job, I am not going to steal money,” he said.

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