Media – Page 48 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

P.J. Fleck Talks QB, Team Record

Posted on August 1, 2017August 1, 2017 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column kicking off with Gophers football.

The Gophers start practices today without a No. 1 quarterback but redshirt senior Conor Rhoda and junior Demry Croft are the presumed leading candidates to win the job sometime before Minnesota’s opening game August 31. A quarterback question was the first one asked during a media Q&A session with head coach P.J. Fleck yesterday.

“The quarterback question is one I’m sure you all have on your minds,” Fleck said. “I have it on my mind—I’ll be honest with you—every single day, every single night.

“What I’m looking for is somebody to take ownership of our football team. (Florida State coach) Jimbo Fisher had a question from ACC Media Days, (and said) you have a tough quarterback, you have a tough team.

“We have to find out how tough the quarterbacks are. They both played minimum snaps, the minimum of one game. So you have to put them through rigorous, high-stress, high-pressure—(and also) easy, relaxed, type of situations—all throughout the spectrum to see how they respond to that. Decisive decision-making in everything that they do.”

Fleck won’t put a deadline on naming a quarterback this month. He said “…eventually we have to make a decision and be able to train that quarterback, so he gets a little bit more reps than everybody else.”

The Gophers were 9-4 last season but most media don’t see that many wins for Minnesota this fall. The team not only has uncertainty at quarterback but in the offensive line and other areas including lack of depth at key spots on defense. The program’s strongest unit on either side of the ball is the linebackers.

Fleck isn’t predicting the team’s final record this season. “I think we have 42, 43 lettermen coming back, which makes us one of the least experienced teams in the country,” he said. “We have a new offense, new defense, new special teams, completely new culture, new way of doing things. Twenty-two (injured) guys who (can) have an impact that are out and we still haven’t seen what they can do, or how they implement with our system.

“Those aren’t excuses, those are just facts. We could go 12-0, or 0-12. I’m not worried about the ‘W’ or the ‘L’—what that looks like. I’m worried about this team doing everything they can to become their best and reach their maximum potential.”

Fleck and the staff take a comprehensive approach to educating their players in subjects that go far beyond the fundamentals of football. Those topics range from dating to yoga to Pilates.

True to his energetic style, Fleck stood at a podium when he talked to the media yesterday. Former Gophers head coaches Jerry Kill and Tracy Claeys sat at a table as they made remarks and answered questions.

Fans can attend six practices scheduled at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex: August 4, 6 p.m.; August 5, 3:30 p.m.; August 8, 3:30 p.m.; August 11, 4:15 p.m.; August 15, 3:30 p.m.; August 17, 3:30 p.m. (Practice dates, times and locations are subject to change).

Jeff Jones, the 2013 prep Mr. Football in Minnesota and ex-Gopher running back and wide receiver, is headed to Fullerton College, a California community college, according to Giovan Jenkins who was his head coach at Washburn High School. Jenkins told Sports Headliners he spoke to Jones recently about his plan.

Casey O’Brien, son of former Gophers defensive backfield coach and athletic department administrator Dan O’Brien, is a freshman walk-on holder for Minnesota. Casey, who beat cancer twice in his teen years, was a holder and golfer at Cretin-Derham Hall, and won the 2016 Minnesota Football Honors Courage Award.

The Twin Cities Pro Am basketball league has four teams remaining in the playoffs. Tonight’s games at DeLaSalle High School include Team Jones against Diggs Team starting at 5:45 p.m. The Team Jones roster features Jones brothers Tyus, Tre and Jadee. Finer Way Inc. plays EC Playaz at 7 p.m.

Gophers sophomore forward Michael Hurt will play overseas this month on a amateur team for legendary coach Larry Brown. Hurt will be one of 12 players, mostly from Power Five conferences, who will play for the East Coast Team against squads from Japan, Mexico, Senegal and Venezuela in Madrid, Spain. The American team will have games against those countries on August 8, 9, 10 and 11.

The Twins acquired relief pitcher Gabriel Moya from the Diamondbacks last week and he could be a name to watch for in 2018. Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners Moya is expected to go with the big league club to spring training, with an opportunity to make the team.

At the time of the trade, Moya had pitched in 34 games for Double-A Jackson, with a 4-1 record and 0.82 ERA. He was 17-for-17 in save opportunities. With the Twins Double-A Chattanooga team he is 1-0, pitching 2.1 innings and allowing one hit and no runs.

The Twins gave up minor league catcher John Ryan Murphy who had been a disappointment offensively since the Twins acquired him from the Yankees in 2015 for centerfielder Aaron Hicks. Murphy is exceptional defensively.

VSAauctions.com is offering sports memorabilia including a Ted Harris-signed early 1970s era North Stars jersey, and a team signed 1980 U.S. Olympic jersey.

The late Herb Brooks, who coached that Olympic team to the gold medal and won three national titles leading the Gophers, would have turned 80 this Saturday.

The “Breakfast with Leroy” group will have former Gophers All-American basketball player and now Minneapolis Director of Athletics Trent Tucker as its speaker September 9 at the Bloomington Knights of Columbus, 1114 American Blvd. West. The public is welcome, with more information available by contacting Pat Rickert at 612-861-3981.

The local Wood Bat Little League Baseball Tournament is August 3-6 and will raise funds to assist youth baseball in Benin, a small and impoverished nation in West Africa. More at Baseballinbenin.org.

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Fleck Recruiting Earns Rival’s Praise

Posted on June 11, 2017June 11, 2017 by David Shama

When Darrell Hazell was the wide receivers coach at Ohio State more than 10 years ago, P.J. Fleck worked for him as a graduate assistant. They still have a relationship while the two have moved through career coaching stops including Fleck’s hiring this winter as the Gophers new head football coach.

“So I know P.J. very well,” Hazell told Sports Headliners during an interview. “We’ve talked quite a few times. I think he’ll do a great job. He’ll work hard and he’s a great recruiter. He’ll work hard at it.”

Fleck’s recruiting is a major offseason story this winter and spring. At times the Gophers’ 2018 recruiting class flirted around the top 10 composite national rankings by 247Sports. In the latest 247 composite rankings the Gophers are still an impressive No. 20.

Hazell was head coach at Purdue until last fall when he was dismissed during his fourth season. The Boilermakers and Minnesota are two of the teams in the Big Ten’s West Division, so Hazell knows what it takes to compete in the league.

Can Fleck’s recruiting result in enough quality players for the Gophers to soon contend for division titles? Hazell said because he doesn’t know much about the Minnesota program, he can’t predict, but he issued words of caution.

“There’s a lot of people to beat in the Big Ten in recruiting,” Hazell said. “That’s the hard part. But he’ll go after it hard.”

Hazell talked to Sports Headliners at Winter Park last week where he has transitioned from college coaching to the NFL and being the Vikings’wide receivers coach. Hazell, 53, has 30 years of coaching experience including 14 working directly with wide receivers. He’s been a career college coach, with his only taste of the NFL an internship working with wide receivers in Oakland in 1998. As a player, he was an All-American wide receiver at Muskingum College in Ohio.

Was Hazell’s ego bruised going from Big Ten head coach to an NFL assistant?

Darrell Hazell (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

“No, not at all,” he answered. “This is something I had not done (in his coaching career). That was one of the things that I said. I am not going to go back and do something I’ve done.

“Obviously coaching receivers is natural. This was an opportunity for me to do something that was exciting. Something that was new. It’s been a great three or four months.”

When Hazell was out of coaching after losing his job at Purdue, he received calls regarding other opportunities, but he was not in a hurry to decide on his next career move, and it had to be right. He had no idea that opportunity would be the Vikings, an organization where he knew no one and located in a city where he had never worked.

What was going through Hazell’s mind during the dead of winter? “Take it one day at a time, enjoy life,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about anything. Just trying to relax and enjoy the family.

“I got the phone call. I said, Hey, this is a heck of an opportunity if it’s afforded to me. I am going to look into it very closely.

“I am really elated that I did because the players have been phenomenal. Their work ethic is tremendous, and the coaching staff, it meshes so well together. Then you know we’ve got such great leadership here with Rick and Zim.”

The phone call from the Vikings to Hazell initially came on February 13 from general manager Rick Spielman. Ten days later, with the approval of Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer, the Vikings announced their new wide receivers coach, replacing George Stewart who joined the Chargers’ staff.

Understandably the last few months have been a period of evaluation by both Hazell and his wide receivers. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group,” he said. “We’ve got 11 guys in there and they are all eager to be really good. …”

Hazell goes about his work with intensity and the goal of excellence. Although he is no longer responsible for the entire operation of a football program, his past experience helps him understand what Zimmer is doing.

Hazell’s four years leading Purdue and two years before that at Kent State was something he talked about in his interview with the Vikings. “I said I can be a better assistant coach now that I’ve been a head coach, because I see things with a different perspective. …”

Worth Noting

Fleck and athletic director Mark Coyle meet the public at a Minnesota Alumni Association sponsored event from 5:30 to 8 p.m. June 22 in the DQ Club Room at TCF Bank Stadium. Fleck will talk about the upcoming season at the gathering which is open to both alumni association members and nonmembers. More information at 612-624-2323.

Street & Smith’s college football magazine headlined its Mid-American Conference section like this: “What the Fleck? No. P.J. means new hope in the MAC.”

The publication also said: “Engaging, energetic and a flat-out winner, Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck rowed his boat all the way to Minnesota and the league will miss him.”

Individuals with Minnesota connections being considered for 2018 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame include Blake Elliott (Saint John’s); Ross Fortier (MSU Moorhead); Marcus Harris (Wyoming); and Bob Stein (Gophers).

The pecking order of talent in the NBA Finals is a bit muddled including the positioning of former Timberwolves star Kevin Love. Does the Cavs power forward deserve the No. 5 spot, or is Draymond Green from the Warriors a better choice? We might need to call in IBM’s Watson to figure that out, and also how to rank LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry.

Frank Deford, the acclaimed sportswriter who died recently, wrote about his career in a 2010 story for Sports Illustrated that included a night in Minneapolis when he was doing a Roller Derby article. Deford said one of the skaters, who was “flamboyantly gay,” made a move on him late night at a bar. Deford, who was straight and married to a former runway model, was more than surprised the next night in Duluth when team members approached him and sang, “Here comes the bride.”

If the Twins don’t draft Hunter Greene tomorrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the Major League Baseball Draft and he turns out to be a star either as a pitcher or position player, Minnesota management will hear about it for a long time including the criticism they didn’t want to spend the money to acquire the southern California phenom. The guess here is that soon after 6 p.m. tomorrow night MLB will announce the Twins have chosen Greene.

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Taylor: Wolves May Trade Draft Pick

Posted on June 6, 2017June 6, 2017 by David Shama

Owner Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners his basketball decision makers are looking at a “scenario” where the Timberwolves acquire a veteran player by giving up their No. 7 pick from the first round of the June 22 NBA Draft.

The team’s starting lineup has three players 22 or younger, and the others are ages 27 and 26. That young core has talent and promise but the last two seasons the Wolves have won a combined total of only 50 games, and haven’t made the playoffs since 2004. The team’s development could be enhanced by a skilled veteran player. Specifically, a defensive stopper who will limit the opposition’s best scorer, according to Taylor.

President-coach Tom Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden are looking at alternatives on how to improve the team including evaluation of potential draft choices. Taylor won’t demand roster changes before next season but he wants potential moves to be explored by his two top basketball executives.

Glen Taylor (photo courtesy of Minnesota Timberwolves).

“I don’t think we’re just going to sit there and say we’re going to go with what we’ve got,” Taylor said. “We could do that. I think they’re willing (Thibodeau and Layden) to do that, but I think they want us to look at…other opportunities…and I guess it would be a free agent or a trade. I don’t think their expectations are our draft choice, even though it’s seven, is going to be an immediate answer.”

Taylor said a challenge in evaluating players for the June 22 draft is sometimes access to watch them, and also to obtain medical information. Agents will set limitations in both areas, trying to do what they think is most advantageous for clients.

“I was hopeful that when we were doing the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) discussions that we would get some of these things handled better so that we would have more consistency,” Taylor said. “That all medical records were shown equally. (That) everybody had access to watching a player scrimmage against some of the other players.

“We weren’t able to get that. Personally, I don’t think it’s the best way to do things, that the agents are controlling the players much more and giving you less access to them.”

Worth Noting

Taylor met with Thibodeau and Layden recently to understand why his promising team won only two more games last season than the year before. He was told it was a combination of things including major injuries to starting guard Zach LaVine and reserve forward Nemanja Bjelica. Another key was the team’s inconsistent and often inadequate defense.

Taylor had news about center Nikola Pekovic who didn’t play last season and has a history of recurring injuries. About a month ago Taylor said a doctor declared Pekovic probably can’t play next season and now the Wolves need corroboration from an NBA doctor. “We’re waiting for that confirmation,” said Taylor.

Next season is the last of Pekovic’s contract with the Wolves and likely the end of his NBA career. If doctors rule the 31-year-old can’t play, insurance covers 80 percent of the Wolves’ obligation.

Starting guard Ricky Rubio had his best of six NBA seasons in 2016-2017 but rumors continue to circulate about the Wolves trading him. “I don’t know where they’re coming from,” Taylor said. “I’ve read them just like you’ve read them, but I don’t know where they’re coming from, or why they’re saying that.”

College football magazines are now on newsstands offering predictions including for the Big Ten’s West Division. Athlon, Lindy’s and Street & Smith’s all forecast a fifth place finish for Minnesota in the seven-team division.

“The first seven games all are very winnable. After that—yikes,” Lindy’s says. Minnesota’s last five games are on the road at Iowa, Michigan and Northwestern, and at home against Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Lindy’s has the Gophers ranked 40th in the country and Street & Smith’s projects a Quick Lane Bowl invite to Detroit. Athlon sees Minnesota finishing with a 6-6 overall record and 4-5 in the Big Ten.

Both Athlon and Lindy’s include Gopher junior placekicker Emmit Carpenter on their first team All-Big Ten offensive units. Gopher senior Steven Richardson is part of Lindy’s first team All-Big Ten defensive line.

Street & Smith’s labeled new Gophers coach P.J. Fleck best interview on a Big Ten list that also says Ohio State’s Urban Meyer is the league’s best coach and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is the best tweeter. “No coach will be more entertaining at Big Ten Media Day than Fleck,” the magazine says.

The 46th annual Big Ten Football Media Days are July 24 and 25 in Chicago. Fleck addresses the media on the second day.

The Big Ten office announced TV times for 35 games on ESPN and FOX Sports last week. The only Gophers’ game listed was Minnesota’s Homecoming against Illinois on October 21 with a 2:30 or 3 p.m. kickoff.

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