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NFL Draft: Tough Night for Big Ten

Posted on April 26, 2013April 26, 2013 by David Shama

Covering the NFL Draft from the perspectives of the Big Ten Conference and the Vikings:

The Big Ten almost made history last night after being shutout during the first round of the draft until the Cowboys chose Wisconsin center Travis Frederick with the 31^st and next to last pick. Since 1953 the conference has had at least one player chosen in the first round, according to an online story on Monday by the Omaha–World–Herald. The World–Herald reported that in 29 of the 31 drafts going into last night the Big Ten had at least three players chosen in the first round.

In 2012 Big Ten teams had four players selected in the first round. The SEC had nine players drafted among the 32 picks, including six of the first 15. And last night the SEC had 12 players chosen among the 32 players selected including five of the first 11 picks.

It’s no wonder the SEC, winners of seven consecutive national championships, is known as the king of college football while the Big Ten’s reputation is that of commoners. But it’s not just the SEC that is showing superiority in talent as judged by the NFL. Last year the Big 12 had five players taken in the first round. This year the ACC had six players chosen and the Pac-12 five.

The last time a Gopher was selected in the first round was 2006 — running back Laurence Maroney. During the last 20 years the only other Gopher picked in the first round was cornerback Willie Middlebrooks in 2001.

Big Ten teams struggled in nonconference BCS games last season with the best win — honest — Northwestern’s victory over Vanderbilt. Big Ten schools also lost three games to MAC teams. The conference record in bowl games after last season was 2-5, another in a long list of mediocre (at best) postseason performances. In the final AP national poll the league had only two teams in the top 20, Ohio State (ineligible for a bowl game) at No. 3 and Northwestern, No. 17.

Except for Ohio State — and maybe Michigan — national expectations will be minimal for the Big Ten again next fall. Coach Urban Meyer is building an SEC caliber program at Ohio State but overall the league looks weak. It’s obvious that for now most Big Ten teams aren’t coming up with high impact talent worthy of national rankings and NFL first round draft choices.

But if football fans in Minnesota couldn’t thump their chests last night about the Big Ten, they certainly could strut over the Vikings who came into the draft with two first round picks and finished with three, thanks to a late night trade with the Patriots. Those three draft choices equaled the total of the Vikings’ NFC North rivals, the Lions, Bears and Packers who had one each.

The Vikings might have wanted to trade up for a top 10 selection, perhaps coveting elusive wide receiver Tavon Austin from West Virginia who was chosen at No. 8 by the Rams and might be Percy Harvin II. But instead the Vikings used the Patriots trade to take Tennessee wide receiver Cordarrella Patterson at No. 29 – a player who is raw in route running skills but is an explosive runner as a receiver and kick returner. “You’re talking about a 6-1, 215 pound receiver that runs 4.3, that is electric with the ball in his hands, and what he does after the catch and what he does as a returner,” Vikings’ general manager Rick Spielman said last night.

The Vikings used their selections at No. 23 and No. 25 to choose defensive players, tackle Shariff Floyd from Florida and cornerback Xavier Rhodes of Florida State. Floyd is considered a value pick, a strong inside presence who probably lasted deeper in the first round because so many offensive linemen were chosen before him. “I went through 1,000 scenarios and at (the) 23^rd and 25^th pick I can tell you honestly, he was not in one of those scenarios,” Spielman said about Floyd’s availability to Minnesota.

Mike Mayock’s mock draft Wednesday on NFL.com had Floyd being drafted No. 3 in the first round. “He is the best defensive player in the draft on my board,” Mayock wrote.

Rhodes, like Patterson, may initially be more of a project but his speed and size, 6-1, 210, are prized attributes in an NFL cornerback. The Vikings’ needs going into the draft included replacing depth and quality lost with veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield’s departure for the Seahawks. “Our defensive philosophy is to try to have size and speed because of the cornerbacks we have to face and the type of receivers in this division,” Spielman said.

The prevalent pre-draft speculation about the Vikings selecting Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o didn’t live up to the hype. The Vikings passed on Te’o three times in the first round, preferring other players. Te’o’s controversial past could be part of the reason but so, too, might his so-so speed, and on KFAN Radio last night former Viking Pete Bercich said he didn’t like the linebacker’s “flatline” personality.

Worth Noting

The Vikings will have their three first round draft choices in town today and will hold a news conference this afternoon to introduce them to the media.

The 2013 version of the NFL’s top 100 players debuts Saturday night at 7 p.m. Minneapolis time on the NFL Network. The initial show will reveal players 91-100 with the series continuing until June 27 when the top 10 are identified. The 100 list was determined by a vote of league players.

Approximately 100 University of St. Thomas football players and coaches will spend Saturday volunteering for a home building project as part of Habitat for Humanity, Twin Cities. The group will work at 652 Sims Avenue in St. Paul.

Coach Glenn Caruso will present a check to the organization for $10,000, part of his award for being named the 2012 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year for NCAA Division III — the third year in a row he received the award.

After last night’s 2-1 loss to the Rangers at Target Field, the Twins have lost seven of their last nine games against Texas. Twins’ catcher Joe Mauer threw out his fourth attempted base stealer of the season last night. The Twins have allowed only three stolen bases, the fewest in the majors this season.

The Twins, 9-9, have scored one run or less three times this season. Their only run last night came on Josh Willingham’s third home run of the season. He has hit 24 career home runs at Target Field, tying him with Jim Thome for the club record.

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Mussy & Pitino: Deja Vu in Dinkytown?

Posted on April 8, 2013April 8, 2013 by David Shama

More than four decades ago the Gophers hired a 30-year-old head basketball coach who eventually got the school in trouble with the NCAA, but Bill Musselman revived a dormant program and long after he was gone Minnesota basketball was still benefitting from his fiery work.

Last week Rich Pitino, 30, took over a Gophers’ program again in need of revival and heavy lifting to make it one of the best in the country. His passion was obvious at his Friday news conference. “I believe this is one of the best jobs in college basketball,” he said even though many college coaches might roll their eyes at such a statement.

Pitino’s reputation is that of a tireless worker who may devote 18 hours per day to his task at Minnesota. He’s known as an effective recruiter and a coach who favors full court pressure defense. To be hired as a Big Ten basketball coach at 30 years old is a remarkable achievement.

Open the Musselman file and see similarities. Like Pitino, Musselman wasn’t the first choice to become the Gophers’ coach but once he arrived you knew this guy was serious —even fanatical— about his business.

Musselman worked long hours and prided himself on his own conditioning. When he wasn’t in the office or on the phone at home, he might be playing pickup basketball where a frustrated and immature Gophers’ coach could resort to fisticuffs. He hated to lose in any competition.

In the summer of 1971, Musselman’s first year in Minneapolis, he told a pumped up crowd at Williams Arena he planned on his Gophers winning the 1971-72 Big Ten championship. Skeptics in the audience remembered that Minnesota had last been conference champs in 1937, and the 1970-71 Gophers finished 5-9 in the Big Ten.

Musselman inherited some talent on his roster in 1971 but knew he needed more. It didn’t take long to sign up junior college stars Clyde Turner and Ron Behagen. They and others formed a roster that won the Big Ten title in 1972, just as predicted.

It was more than recruiting that made the Gophers a winner, though. Musselman employed a zone defense that regularly held opponents to point totals in the 50s. On offense Minnesota was a disciplined team willing to hold the ball for long stretches to find a high percentage shot.

Musselman was a motivator who could be so crazed to win he talked to his players prior to the first practice in October of 1971 about beating Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State. Never mind that there would be no game between the schools until winter.

The desire to motivate his team and pack Williams Arena resulted in Musselman’s use of a pregame ball handling drill set to music. As the Gopher players performed 25 minutes before tipoff, nearly all the seats in the arena were filled with hand clapping, foot stomping fans.

In less than a year Musselman transformed the Gophers on the national college basketball map. During his career at Minnesota the Gophers had Big Ten finishes of first, second, sixth and third. The team was so popular games were regular sellouts, and fans who couldn’t get in the arena paid to watch on a large screen in the next door hockey arena.

Musselman left the Gophers after the 1975 season with NCAA infractions brewing and the bad taste of the infamous 1972 Minnesota-Ohio State brawl on his resume. But he had the program rolling in recruiting, victories and at the box office from the start of his assignment in Minneapolis, and that momentum carried over for years and contributed directly to the success of the two coaches who followed him, Jim Dutcher and Clem Haskins.

If Pitino can duplicate the “Good Mussy” and not the “Bad Mussy,” it will be déjà vu in Dinkytown.

Worth Noting

Rich Pitino said he welcomes the idea of the Gophers playing nonconference games against Louisville, the team coached by his father, Rick Pitino. “I would love to, if he would be willing to do it. We were going to do it at FIU, and hopefully we can do something here. I think it would be great. It would be fun to go against him head-to-head.”

Although Rich Pitino didn’t say it, the game is something the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority should be looking at for 2016, the first year of the new Minneapolis Vikings stadium. A crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 could be likely, and installing a basketball setup in the new covered stadium would be a trial run for hosting NCAA Tournament games.

Pitino has already contacted Minnesota high school recruits including Apple Valley junior point guard Tyus Jones. He plans to have individual meetings with Gophers players this week.

The April 8 issue of Sports Illustrated said Minnesota natives Nate Wolters and Mike Muscala didn’t help themselves with their performances in the NCAA Tournament. Wolters, the South Dakota State point guard from St. Cloud Tech, “got destroyed” against the quickness and long arms of Michigan defenders in the tourney, according to an NBA executive.

Muscala, the Bucknell center from Roseville, has talent but an NBA executive quoted in the magazine said, “You can see his skills. But he needs to develop. If I were taking him, I’d try to get him to play in Europe for a couple of years.”

S.I. predicted the Timberwolves, drafting at No. 8 in the first round, will choose Indiana shooting guard Victor Oladipo.

The Vikings will play a home preseason game against the Titans at Mall of America Field on either Thursday, August 29, or Friday, August 30. A game on August 29 will be the same date the football Gophers play UNLV at TCF Bank Stadium.

A Vikings’ spokesman said the team’s date will be finalized within a couple of weeks. The Vikings’ August 25 preseason game at San Francisco will be nationally televised by NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

Gophers’ offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said he thinks former Gophers’ quarterback Max Shortell is home in Kansas still deciding where he will finish his college career. Shortell, who would have been a valuable junior for the Gophers next fall, decided to transfer from Minnesota after the season ended last year.

Limegrover, who used to weigh 400 pounds, is now at about 230 and coaching with renewed energy.

At the Minnesota Football Clinic on Friday night newscaster Randy Shaver thanked high school and college coaches for fund-raising $121,000 for his cancer research foundation. The “Tackle Cancer” promotion involved 150 high schools and two colleges in the state. The Gophers will participate this year at the San Jose State game at TCF Bank Stadium.

The clinic, a three day event led by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and held at the Double Tree Park Plaza in St. Louis Park, reported a record attendance of over 1,300, according to an e-mail from Ron Stolski, executive director of the MFCA.

At the clinic Minnetonka High School coach Dave Nelson was given the Tom Mahoney Man of the Year Award by the MFCA. “Tom Mahoney was one of the founders of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, and an inspirational, tireless leader of it for decades,” Stolski wrote in an e-mail. “The Tom Mahoney award is presented to an MFCA member who represents the best in our association. A person who devotes leadership and enthusiasm for and energy to the efforts of the MFCA. Dave Nelson epitomizes all that the award represents.”

St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso said his Tommies will return “more kids than any top five” Division III program in the country. Among his top 60 players last year, 35 were freshmen and sophomores. Caruso said the Tommies might be ranked No. 2 in the nation prior to the start of next season.

St. Thomas begins the first of seven spring practices next Sunday. The Tommies, who have 91 Minnesotans on the roster, return nine starters on offense and six on defense.

Twins’ closer Glen Perkins, who earned his second save of the season yesterday in a 4-3 win over the Orioles, has yet to give up a hit in three innings over three games. The Twins, now 4-2, have swept their two opening series.

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NFF to Honor Legendary ’63 Johnnies

Posted on April 3, 2013April 3, 2013 by David Shama

The Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation will honor the 1963 St. John’s football team with the Murray Warmath Legendary Team award on Sunday, April 28 at the University of St. Thomas. As part of its annual awards event, the chapter will recognize the John Gagliardi coached team that defeated Prairie View A&M to win the NAIA national championship.

Although A&M had 11 players who later generated professional football interest, the homegrown Johnnies won the game, 33-27. Of the 34 players on the Johnnies’ roster, 12 were from a 14-mile radius of Collegeville, Minnesota and 26 were from an 80-mile radius of campus.

The Johnnies, who were 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the MIAC, were a highly productive team that outscored opponents 298-45. The Johnnies’ defense limited other teams to 12.8 yards rushing per game. The offense averaged 37.3 points a game.

Among the other awards at the April 28 event will be recognition of Brainerd High School football coach Ron Stolski who will be given the John Gagliardi Minnesota Football Legacy Award. Stolski is the winningest Class 5A coach in state prep history. He has been coaching in Minnesota high schools since 1962 and took over as Brainerd head coach in 1974.

The awards event is open to the public. For more information visit nffmn.org.

Logan Connors is listed as a sophomore quarterback on the Gophers’ spring football roster but as of Monday had not participated in the team’s first three practices. He is a walk-on from Corvallis, Montana who is on a track scholarship at Minnesota, and awhile ago he asked football coach Jerry Kill to be part of his program.

Connors, who throws the javelin, placed fourth in a meet last month. He was the top junior college javelin prospect in the country last year at Diablo Valley College in California. He was the Montana state high school javelin champion in 2011 and passed for 2,000 yards during his senior year as a quarterback.

Connors’ tweets last month included this: “Man, I hate the Badgers.”

The Gophers have a practice scheduled tomorrow starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex. Saturday’s practice at TCF Bank Stadium is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. Both sessions are open to the public.

Kill was impressed with the physical progress of his team before spring practice started last week. Off-season training has been successful and Kill talked about the work of head strength and conditioning coach Eric Klein. “I think coach Klein said 95 percent of our young people improved in the strength, speed, quickness, vertical jump,” Kill said.

Ra’Shede Hageman, the 6-6, 311-pound defensive lineman who might be an early round NFL draft choice next year following his senior season at Minnesota, was the first player Kill mentioned when he gave examples of weight lifting. “…He benched 465 pounds which is awfully strong. Squatted over 500 pounds…36, 37-inch vertical jump. So he made some great strides in the off-season.”

The Gophers’ baseball team plays its first game ever at the new Siebert Field on Friday starting at 3 p.m. against Ohio State. Coach John Anderson, who hosted dignitaries and the public at a grand opening yesterday, said season tickets are available to watch the Gophers outside in their new ballpark.

Twins’ rookie center fielder Aaron Hicks struck out three times in five at bats in his major league debut Monday against the Tigers. Hicks totaled 112, 110 and 116 strikeouts the last three seasons in the minor leagues. He struck out almost 25 percent of the time during plate appearances last season at Double-A New Britain.

Twins’ reliever Casey Fien, who struck out the three Tigers he faced in the seventh inning on Monday, was originally signed to a contract with Detroit in 2006. Fien, who had a 2.06 ERA in 35 games last season with the Twins, might be one of the team’s more effective bullpen pitchers in his second season with Minnesota.

The Twins play their second game of the season today starting at 3:10 p.m. at Target Field against the Tigers. The high temperature for the day is predicted to be about 50 degrees in Minneapolis, while the forecasted high in Detroit is several degrees cooler.

When is there too much basketball? When a player like Tyus Jones finishes his high school season with a state championship at Target Center on a Saturday night, and reports for AAU tryouts the next day.

It will be interesting to see if the Apple Valley point guard can play during coming months without back problems. Jones is among the most coveted recruits in the country in the class of 2014.

A college athletics administrator who asked to remain anonymous told Sports Headliners the Gophers’ basketball coaching job has multiple pluses including the high school talent in the state. “I think you can win with Minnesota kids,” he said.

Although a new practice facility is needed and will happen, 85-year-old Williams Arena is unique in college basketball. “I really believe Williams Arena is as good at it gets,” the administrator said.

He also described the fan base as “real strong” including the 400,000 University of Minnesota alumni, many who live in the state.

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