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Gophers Hope RB Numbers Add Up

Posted on March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers football notes:

Minnesota started spring practice yesterday and will have 15 total sessions including the April 11 spring game at TCF Bank Stadium. The game and most practices (all at Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex) are open to the public. The first of the practices fans can attend is this Saturday starting at 9:50 a.m.

The coaching staff will evaluate candidates to replace David Cobb, last season’s senior running back who rushed for 2,893 career yards, seventh best in program history. Gophers authority Darrell Thompson believes Cobb, who was a 100 yard rusher in all 13 games as a senior, may not be replaced by one individual next fall, but instead the coaches will use a “committee approach.”

There are several candidates for playing time including senior Rodrick Williams, redshirt sophomore Berkley Edwards, and redshirt freshmen Jeff Jones and Rodney Smith. Then the crowd of hopefuls grows larger in a few months with the arrival of freshmen running backs Shannon Brooks, Jonathan Femi-Cole and James Johannesson.

The candidate group offers power, speed, quickness and athleticism. Some players like Williams (bull rushing power) and Edwards (sprinter speed) possess more defined attributes while others appear to have more of a skills mix. Thompson, the Gophers’ all-time leading career rusher and now an analyst on the team’s radio broadcasts, can foresee using multiple runners with different styles each game. “Quite honestly, that’s what you want,” he said.

Thompson anticipates seeing even two of the running backs in the game together, along with junior quarterback Mitch Leidner who is a physical rusher. Such a setup could, for example, have Leidner running a quarterback keeper, or Edwards on a jet sweep or Williams busting up the middle. “I would like the defense to be thinking about all three of those things, versus they’re just going to hand the ball off to someone on the inside,” Thompson said.

He predicted Cobb could be selected between the second and fifth rounds in this spring’s NFL Draft. As a senior Cobb set school single season records with 314 rushing attempts and 1,626 yards.

Cobb combines speed and power but perhaps his best attribute is his ability to anticipate and see openings to run. “I think he’s certainly an NFL back,” Thompson said. “He’s got the poise, he’s got the strength, he’s got the size (and) he’s got the speed. He (also) has the patience.”

Cobb and tight end Maxx Williams, a redshirt sophomore last fall who has opted for the 2015 NFL Draft, were the big play producers on offense in 2014. There will be a number of candidates to replace Williams including former Blaine High School player Duke Anyanwu who has yet to catch a pass for Minnesota in a game.

Anyanwu, a redshirt sophomore, missed last season because of a knee injury. Gophers coach Jerry Kill said on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle program Sunday that before Anyanwu was injured the plan was to have him on the field at times with Williams.

“You’re going to see Duke has his confidence back,” Williams said. “Duke is moving around great. I ran routes with him a few times. Duke looks great, probably the best he’s been here. He worked hard to get back.”

Nice guy Barry Mayer has former teammates with the Gophers rooting for the success of his son Adam Mayer. Adam will be a preferred walk-on for the Gophers this year after a prep career at De La Salle High School in Concord, California. The younger Mayer caught 27 passes for 486 yards and two touchdowns as a senior. Barry was a star running back for the Gophers from 1968-1970.

The Goal Line Club is having a membership drive and encourages Gophers football fans to learn more about club benefits at Goallineclub.com. Membership for one year costs $100 and runs from May 1, 2015-April 30, 2016.

Basketball Notes

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in the months ahead Flip Saunders, the coach and president of basketball operations, will work to improve the roster’s defensive personnel. “…I think we can see some offensive skills but if he’s going to get deep into the playoffs he’s just got to have guys that can play defense.”

Targeted for defensive improvement will be the power forward position. Last month the Wolves added 20-year NBA vet Kevin Garnett and rookie Adreian Payne to the roster in hopes of strengthening that spot. Garnett, 38, is one of the NBA’s all-time defensive greats but his body is wearing out, while Payne, 24, only played three games with the Hawks, his former team, and is learning the pro game.

Taylor said Saunders considered using a lottery pick to acquire Payne in last June’s NBA Draft. Instead, Saunders just couldn’t pass up drafting ultra athletic guard Zach LaVine at No. 13, while the Hawks chose Payne two picks later. Taylor said Payne’s potential is apparent including his ability to defend and rebound. At 6-10, 245, with long arms, Payne’s body resembles Garnett’s, 6-11, 253.

“He’s just beginning to play and the season is half over, and all the other guys have played…but he’s got the potential,” Taylor said. “You can just see that.”

Taylor said the Timberwolves aren’t for sale, although in the future he might allow limited partners to buy into the franchise he has controlled since 2005. “…We’re working on that (new) practice facility. We’re working on the (renovation of) Target Center. I want to get those projects done and see how it works. I am excited about our team’s future.”

Awhile ago he talked with Dr. Bill McGuire about Timberwolves ownership. Now the two men have had conversations about McGuire bringing an MLS franchise to Minneapolis. Taylor, however, hasn’t committed money yet to the franchise McGuire is hoping to acquire if the league expands into Minneapolis.

Taylor’s WNBA franchise, the Lynx, starts its regular season June 5. He said “the area of concern” is adding more height to the roster. Mercury star center Brittney Griner is 6-8 and she helped Phoenix to the WNBA title while averaging 15.5 points and six blocks per game in the finals. Her presence has WNBA teams on the lookout for tall players. Taylor said the Wolves need help for 6-2 starting center Janel McCarville.

One possibility could be Amber Harris, 6-5, who was a reserve with the Lynx in 2013. She didn’t play for the Lynx last season but Taylor indicated her return is a possibility.

A year ago no one foresaw the major developments ahead for the Gophers women’s basketball program. Coach Pam Borton was fired in late March and replaced by Marlene Stollings, the former VCU women’s coach. Then in December guard Rachel Banham, the preseason choice for Big Ten Player of the Year, tore an ACL and was lost for the season. But Minnesota still had a successful season led by Stollings, sophomore center Amanda Zahui B., senior forward Shae Kelley and freshman guard Carlie Wagner.

It was Zahui B. who won the media’s Big Ten Women’s Basketball Player of the Year award this week. She finished the regular season with averages of 18.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 4 blocks per game, with a .553 (214-387) field goal percentage.

Her numbers are impressive, too, against teams ranked in the top 25—averaging 25.8 points, 16.8 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 2 steals per game with a .548 field goal percentage.

Kelley wasn’t even on the roster a year ago. A transfer from Old Dominion, she was named first team All-Big Ten by the media after almost averaging a double-double with 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds. Minnesota was 10-3 overall and 7-2 in Big Ten games when Kelley led the team in scoring.

Wagner, from New Richland, Minnesota, made the coaches’ Big Ten All-Freshman Team after averaging 11.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. She scored 10 or more points 21 times, including 11 straight games from January 18-February 21. She ranks second on the team in three-point field goals with 55.

The Gophers, 11-7 in conference games this year, play their Big Ten Tournament opening game tomorrow night in suburban Chicago against the winner of tonight’s Wisconsin-Purdue game. Minnesota is the No. 6 tournament seed.

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U Defense, Special Teams Impress But…

Posted on August 29, 2014August 29, 2014 by David Shama

In today’s column analysis of last night’s Gophers-Eastern Illinois game, high school football tales from long ago, and a few notes including about the Lynx, prep basketball rankings and (surprise) wiener dog races.

Well two out of three isn’t bad for an opening game. The Gophers impressed on defense and with special teams but the offense struggled in the 42-20 win over Eastern Illinois.

The defense tackled with authority and the secondary was as athletic as advertised. The Gophers, leading 42-0 in the fourth quarter, gave up late touchdowns when reserves couldn’t stop the Panthers from getting in the end zone, including the closing seconds as time expired.

Former Gophers coach Glen Mason, doing game analysis on the Big Ten Network last night, gave the defense a B+ grade. He credited the Gophers with not allowing any big plays when the game was yet to be decided. He also said the Gophers were effective in containing an offense with varied looks led by a new Panthers coaching staff that had the Gophers coaches wondering what to expect before the game.

The Gophers stopped drives by the Panthers with efforts by defensive end Alex Keith who recovered two fumbles, and an interception by safety Antonio Johnson. But they weren’t the only Minnesota players making dramatic plays. Early in the third quarter, with the Gophers leading 14-0, Eric Murray blocked a punt and Logan Hutton recovered the ball for a touchdown.

High level special teams play like that characterized Jerry Kill’s teams when he coached at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. With the Gophers, Kill is doing the same and there was more to applaud last night than the efforts by Murray and Hutton. Placekicker Ryan Santoso, playing in his first college game, sent ball after ball into the end zone on kickoffs, preventing the Panthers from even thinking about a return. Punter Peter Mortell, who averaged 43.3 yards last season, had a gaudy average of 51.2 last night.

Minnesota knows it has to make more explosive plays offensively and Berkley Edwards made a significant contribution last night in his first game as a Gopher. In the fourth quarter his second touchdown of the period was a 42 yard run down the sidelines where he showed the speed that makes him nearly the fastest player on the team.

Quarterback Mitch Leidner threw a big play 35-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter to wide receiver Donovahn Jones, another guy the Gophers are counting on to change their reputation as a sputtering offense against elite teams. Leidner, though, struggled with his passing and the offensive line sometimes didn’t give him enough time to throw and at other times was ineffective at opening holes for runners. Plenty of room for improvement and fans are advised to show patience with the offense for awhile.

Mason told the TV audience Leidner played only limited minutes last year and can’t be viewed as an experienced returning starter. “It’s going to be a work in progress,” Mason said.

Leidner completed nine of 17 passes for one touchdown and also ran for two scores. Mason gave Leidner a C grade for his work last night. “I expected more out of him. His decision making…at times he got away with a couple of passes that were dangerous that he threw into a crowd of people. I know that he can run.

“He depended on the supporting cast. I would think that it was just a very, very average performance against Eastern Illinois.” …

Ron Stolski, 75, is the state’s all-time winningest prep football coach and he will lead the Brainerd High School Warriors into their opening game tonight at home against FergusFalls. Just for a moment today Stolski—with a career record of 355 wins, 156 losses and five ties—might watch his mind wander back to his first game as a high school coach.

The year was 1962 and Stolski was coaching eight-man football at Kensington High School, located near Alexandria, Minnesota. To say there was apathy in Kensington regarding football was an understatement. The team hadn’t scored a point at a home game in five years and at Stolski’s first practice only three boys came out for the team.

Stolski remembers the three lads. “One became a pilot for American Airlines. One sadly died of a heart attack, and the third ended up teaching here at Brainerd. He’s retired now.”

Contrast the player turnout at Kensington with Brainerd where the Warriors welcomed 90 to 100 players this month. Brainerd has been in the state semi-finals four of the last seven years and was 12-1 last year. “Not bad for a country school,” Stolski told Sports Headliners.

In that first year at Kensington Stolski was able to boost the roster to 13 players before the first game—or so he thought. “We had 11 for the opener because two (players) got a job mowing hay and didn’t show up,” the coach said.

Marietta High School defeated Kensington on its home field in that opening game. A year later Kensington travelled to Marietta for another opening game and that memory made Stolski chuckle. He not only coached but drove the team bus, and en route to the game got lost.

“Pretty soon I realize we’re going to be late so I tell the kids to dress in the bus. ‘You gotta change while I am driving,’ ” Stolski instructed. “We finally get there and we’re like 10, 15 minutes late.”

The Kensington players were now in their uniforms but when they arrived in Marietta there was no time for preparations. The Marietta coach insisted that “we gotta play right now.”

Kensington got its revenge, though, from the 1962 loss to Marietta. “We ended up kicking the living hell out of them,” Stolski said. …

The Lynx has its opening Western Conference Finals game tonight in Phoenix against the Mercury beginning at 9 p.m. (NBA TV). In franchise history the defending WNBA champion Lynx are 22-9 overall and 15-2 for home postseason games—winning percentages of .709 and .882, and the best in league history. …

Grand Rapids native Alex Illikainen, a forward who will play his senior season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, is ranked No. 130 in the Rivals.com top 150 list of best high school basketball prospects for 2015 released on Wednesday. DeLaSalle point guard Jarvis Johnson, a top 100 player earlier in the year, wasn’t ranked on Wednesday. …

Canterbury Park holds its annual Minnesota Festival of Champions on Sunday—a day devoted to races involving only Minnesota born and bred thoroughbreds and quarter horses. This is a racing calendar highlight as Canterbury celebrates the state breeding industry.

Among the promotional highlights of the summer at the Shakopee racetrack are the “Wiener Dog Wars” scheduled for Monday. In the biggest Dachshund race day of the year at Canterbury, 72 dogs are expected to compete in multiple races to determine a champion.

The fifth annual Camden’s Concert at the Hopkins Center for the Arts last month—featuring The Wright Brothers—generated over $52,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The record amount increased the five year total from the event to more than $200,000. A record crowd of 471 attended the concert named after Dave and Linda Mona’s six-year-old grandson Camden Mona.

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Taylor Not Pressured to Trade Love

Posted on July 30, 2014July 30, 2014 by David Shama

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners he isn’t feeling pressured to trade Kevin Love and isn’t discounting the possibility of starting the season with the star power forward on his roster. He also said late last week that a trade might have been made by now if the Wolves and one other club were involved, indicating a multi-team exchange is preferred by him and team president Flip Saunders.

Love and Jeff Schwartz, his agent, have done nothing to discourage media reports about the six-year veteran wanting to leave the Wolves with one year remaining on his contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, possibly joining a winning team like the Cavs who have added LeBron James to their roster this summer. The Wolves haven’t made the playoffs since 2004.

Love’s desire to leave Minneapolis sets up an uncomfortable situation for him if Taylor and Saunders still have him on the roster when training camp starts in September. Love will be facing hostile fans in Minnesota, and it would be much easier for him to become acclimated to a new team in training camp rather than during the season.

“We would probably prefer to get it (a trade) done before camp,” Taylor said. “Not so much the pressure on us, but I think maybe on Kevin. It would be better for him to know where he stood before that.”

Taylor said neither Love nor his agent have pressured the Timberwolves about a trade. Taylor hasn’t pressured them either and said it’s possible Love could remain on the Wolves roster until a deal is made next year prior to the winter trade deadline. “There’s a possibility (of next year) in the sense that we don’t feel that we are under any type of time frame ourselves. We haven’t put that on ourselves that we have to get it done by a certain time. My preference is that Kevin would stay here.”

Like a veteran poker player, Taylor appears to be sitting at the trade table wanting adversaries to believe he holds a lot of winning cards—even the possibility that Love will remain with the team for years to come. Taylor called it “realistic” that Love could stay with his team, yet acknowledged the impression given by his player and agent certainly makes that appear unlikely.

“Do I think it’s possible? I certainly do think it’s possible,” Taylor said. “But at this time we’re looking at all the scenarios.”

Taylor believes Love could enjoy playing for Saunders who this spring added coaching to his front office responsibilities. Saunders relates well to players and Taylor wants to believe if the Wolves play well early next season Love might be convinced to re-sign with Minnesota in the summer of 2015. If not, a trade could still be managed next winter.

Taylor hasn’t spoken with Love since the trade saga surfaced after the 2014 season but if he thought the opportunity was right for a meeting the billionaire businessman would be available. “I would be glad to do it but I think at this point what we’re doing is looking at all the alternatives,” Taylor said. “A number of teams have come to us with different options and Flip is kind of looking at them all, and that’s where we’re at. It hasn’t been the right time to talk to Kevin because we’re looking at a lot of different things. But if I felt that was the last or most important issue, of course I would sit down with Kevin and talk to him…”

Love is a former NBA all-star and Olympic gold medal winner. He has established himself as one of the world’s best rebounders and is an extraordinary scorer, particularly away from the basket with his three-point shooting. The Wolves know his talent gives them leverage and they will want to maximize the return in a trade, whether it’s with one club or more.

“We think we can best be served by getting more than one team involved.” Taylor said. “We have time to work on these things, and we’ll probably take some time to get it done.”

If the Wolves can receive the best players from a team in their conference, they won’t hesitate to trade with that club or clubs even though it will mean playing more against Love. What about trade preferences for receiving draft choices versus veteran players?

“I know those are the considerations we’re considering right now,” Taylor said. “I don’t think it’s going to be quite as simple as just one or the other. I think we just got to look at everything.”

Worth Noting

Kevin Garnett had made $315.4 million in career earnings last spring, according to an April 29 Businessinsider.com story by Cork Gaines. That put Garnett at No. 1 for the most ever earned by an NBA player and he plans to play a 20th season with the Nets in 2014-2015, reportedly for $12 million. Maybe Garnett, who played 12 seasons for Taylor and the Wolves, might one day have interest in buying a minority share of the Timberwolves.

“I would always explore that,” Taylor said. “At one time Kevin and I had a wonderful relationship. We haven’t been in touch for awhile and I don’t know what the relationship would be. I have…a certain respect and relationship with Kevin that I hold highly.”

Losing money on the Timberwolves operation, including last season, is the annual norm for Taylor but he said depending on payroll the franchise could make a profit next season.

Taylor’s other team, the Lynx, has the second best WNBA record, 20-6, and is trying to win another league championship. Fourth-year forward Maya Moore, the WNBA MVP last year, may end up having her best season. She scored a franchise record 48 points earlier this month and has been leading the league in scoring at 24.3 points per game.

“Her potential (upside) is hard to tell,” Taylor said. “She has so many wonderful characteristics. Not only the physical, but the mental characteristics and leadership characteristics to just be superb in so many areas. Yet she plays team ball with the other players.

“I don’t know what her limits would be. One might just say the sky’s the limit with her…”

The Vikings didn’t practice yesterday but resume workouts today leading up to Saturday night’s annual passing scrimmage at training camp in Mankato. The team also doesn’t practice on August 3, 7 and 9 in Mankato.

Hollis Cavner, executive director of the 3M Championship, told sports radio 105 FM on Monday that he will take Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to Saturday night’s Paul McCartney concert at Target Field. Palmer, Nicklaus and Gary Player will be among those playing in the Greats of Golf Challenge on Saturday as part of the 3M promotion at TCP Twin Cities in Blaine.

The Gophers home nonconference hockey game against Notre Dame, originally scheduled for November 8, has been moved to November 9. The team’s Big Ten schedule has also been finalized with more information at Gophersports.com. The 2014-15 season will be the 93rd for the program.

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