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Category: MIAC

History Making Awaits U WR & QB

Posted on June 16, 2020June 16, 2020 by David Shama

 

With a 2020 college football season looking more probable by the week, University of Minnesota fans can anticipate potential history making firsts for a pair of Golden Gopher juniors—wide receiver Rashod Bateman and quarterback Tanner Morgan.

Both are being mentioned as potential 2021 first round NFL Draft choices. Minnesota’s program has never had a wide receiver or quarterback taken in the first round. The best for a wide receiver was Eric Decker going to Denver in the third round of the 2010 draft. John Hankinson to the Vikings in 1965 and Craig Curry to Miami in 1972, both drafted in the eighth round, are tops in program history for quarterbacks. Minnesota hasn’t had a player drafted in the first round since running back Laurence Maroney was chosen at 21 by New England in the 2006 draft.

Bateman, who appears all but certain to be drafted in the first round next spring, is already the first wide receiver in school history to be named All-American. He was Associated Press third-team All-American in 2019, plus being named the Big Ten’s best wide receiver.

Bateman is a Walter Camp Football Foundation 2020 preseason All-American. He was placed on the second team, and he will be a focus of attention for NFL scouts who might evaluate him as a top 15 pick. The Gophers haven’t had a top 15 first round player in more than 50 years.

Bateman, from Tifton, Ga., has caught at least one pass in all 26 games of his Gopher career (tied for seventh in school history). The elusive and sure-handed Bateman has 111 career receptions for 1,923 yards and 17 touchdowns. Those totals rank 12th, seventh and fifth respectively in Gopher history. He has seven 100-yard receiving games, including the top two for a Gopher in TCF Bank Stadium history (2019 Penn State with 203 yards and 2019 Wisconsin with 147 yards).

Morgan is a potential first or second round draft choice. There is consensus he is the Big Ten’s second best returning quarterback after Ohio State’s Justin Fields. A 247Sports April 12 story projecting the nation’s top 25 college quarterbacks had Morgan No. 7 and Fields No. 1.

Morgan was named second team All-Big Ten in 2019. In the last 30-plus years only two other Minnesota quarterbacks (Adam Weber in 2008 and Rickey Foggie 1987) have earned that distinction. The Gophers haven’t had an All-American QB since Sandy Stephens in 1961.

Tanner Morgan

The Union, Kentucky native is 15-4 as Minnesota’s starting quarterback and is praised for both his leadership and passing. A precision passer, Morgan set school season records in 2019 for his 66 percent completion mark, 3,253 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.

Looks like Bateman and Morgan, already history makers at the U after last season, are positioned to add more to their Gopher legacies this fall.

Worth Noting

In a 247Sports story last Friday Athlon magazine named Bateman first team preseason All-Big Ten and Morgan second team. Athlon referred to Bateman as a “potential top-10 prospect in the NFL Draft.”

Gopher junior running back Mohamed Ibrahim made the Athlon second team offense, as did junior guard-tackle Blaise Andries. Senior corner Coney Durr was selected for the third team defense.

Minnesota, 11-2 last season, is seen by multiple sources as a top-25 team entering the 2020 season. In a May 23, 247Sports online story Athlon ranked the Gophers No. 20 nationally. Big Ten West Division rivals Wisconsin and Iowa ranked No. 12 and No. 25.

Michele Tafoya, the Minnesota resident and prominent longtime national sports reporter on television, talked about her career experiences, COVID-19 and social justice on the Twin Cities cable TV program “Behind the Game.” Tafoya told host Patrick Klinger: “It’s really a soul-searching time.”

Tafoya, seen by millions in the fall as the sideline reporter on NBC Sunday Night Football, was supposed to cover the summer Olympics before they were postponed until 2021. One of the most successful female sports broadcasters in American history, Tafoya has been impersonated on television’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Although she has experienced several roles in her broadcast career, Tafoya said an NBA play-by-play assignment is something she would enjoy if the timing is right.Tafoya grew up in southern California and when she was young wanted to be “the next Meryl Streep.”

“Behind the Game” can also be seen on YouTube.

Speaking of COVID-19, top leaders from the Timberwolves, Twins, United, Vikings and Wild have been sharing ideas weekly this spring as professional teams here and across the country shape policies to start up again.

It’s believed the NCAA will vote Wednesday on whether to approve the University of St. Thomas’ request to participate in Division I sports starting with the 2021-2022 school year. That vote was to have happened in April but got postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tommies are requesting a transition from Division III status to Division I after involuntarily being removed from the D-3 MIAC starting in 2021-2022.

The two Minnesota-bred thoroughbreds with the highest career earnings, Mr. Jagermeister and Hot Shot Kid, face off in the 10,000 Lakes Stakes Wednesday at Canterbury Park. The Lakes Stakes is six furlongs for a purse of $50,000.

Running Aces starts its live harness racing season Saturday.

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Ubiquitous Mike Max Did It Again

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by David Shama

 

It was a surprise and yet it should not have been that Mike Max, WCCO TV’s sports director, was out on the streets covering last month’s social justice protests and rioting in Minneapolis.

Max, 55, has long demonstrated an extraordinary work ethic reporting on Minnesota sports for television and radio. The Gaylord, Minnesota native covers most everything from baseball to hunting and fishing. His deep network of contacts ranges from youth sports to hall of fame personalities. He thrives on working his beat and talking to sources.

Athletics are the “candy store” of reporting, but Max showed sportscasters are journalists too, able to cover breaking news as it develops. And that’s where Max found himself late last month after WCCO TV news room boss Kari Patey chose her sports director to go out on the streets of Minneapolis to cover the chaos that became a national story after the tragic death of George Floyd Monday, May 25.

There was major unrest the night of Thursday, May 28, including the disturbing images of the police’s third precinct being burned down. Max had finished the 10 p.m. sports that night and headed to his house. “When I got home Channel 4 was still broadcasting live because of this monumental event, and I just remember feeling ‘God, I wish I was out in the field somewhere. I wish I was doing something out there,’ ” he told Sports Headliners. “It almost killed me being home when my colleagues were… working.”

The next evening more breaking news developed involving protestors and looters. Patey needed help in the field and Max eagerly volunteered. He didn’t know what to expect but that only added to his curiosity and adrenaline.

That Friday night and into Saturday and Sunday Max was live on the scene of the unrest in various parts of the city. Viewers tuned into Ch. 4 and there was the sports guy reporting on one of the most dramatic upheavals the city has every witnessed. It was both peaceful and violent and the memories for Max will long be in his consciousness.

Max knows he watched history with a “front row seat.” He was motivated by both not knowing what was going to happen next and needing to perform for his TV audience. Part of the experience he valued, too, was working alongside the station’s team of on and off camera professionals, all pulling together to report the news in a challenging environment.

“Because I grew up playing sports I love playing on teams,” Max said. “I love it when we’re working together to try to do something, try to accomplish something. In this case, try to bring you the best coverage that we can.”

Out on the streets Max didn’t try to complicate his assignment. Just the opposite. “You just tell them (viewers) what you see,” he said. “It’s a real simple thing, you know. You just ask people what they see, and there’s no right or wrong answer. So you just simplify it. …”

A Ch. 4 viewer watched Max so close to protestors and police he could literally reach out and touch them. A rubber bullet or runaway vehicle might have struck him and done serious harm. Was he afraid at times? “ It’s hard to explain but I never, ever felt like we were in deep danger,” he answered.

Max was nervous, though, when approaching a chaotic scene on Lake Street where rioters were attacking the local Wells Fargo and stealing money, and threatening the police’s fifth precinct. The situation appeared out of control and he felt his nerves and adrenaline spike.

But then the police arrived in force. “…All of a sudden they showed up just like the cavalry, and it was just unbelievable the way they walked in and took control of that precinct, of that situation. I ended up getting tear gassed as part of it, but not intentional. It was just tear gas that blew over my way. That set me back some, but I never, ever really felt like we gotta make a run for it.”

After covering the civil unrest for long hours over three days Max looks back and finds praise for both peaceful protestors and law enforcement. He found many individuals who wanted their voices heard. They were articulate and thoughtful. His impression was most individuals he encountered were Minnesotans, not outsiders, and they had no intention of creating chaos including destruction of buildings and people’s lives.

Max saw law enforcement that had a plan and executed it with precision. The police and others worked with discipline, controlling emotions even when tested by those who sought to provoke them. “The law enforcement was so fricking impressive, I can’t put it into words,” he said.

Max photo courtesy of WCCO photo journalist Will Greiner

On Sunday night near Bobby & Steve’s Auto World on Washington Avenue Max watched law officers arrest and take away curfew violators. He was impressed with the friendly interaction between law enforcement and protestors. He witnessed friendly conversation, smiling and laughing.

“It’s like, from Minnesota’s standpoint, we’re all in this together,” Max said. “We may agree on one issue or not, but we really are one team, and I thought that was pretty powerful to observe.”

In this spring of COVID-19 Max drew attention for not wearing a face mask while reporting. It was always deliberate because he wanted people to recognize him as the sports guy from Ch. 4. “…That was incredibly advantageous because enough of them knew who I was, and I could engage them, and find out what they were doing,” he said.

Days and nights were long for Max over that last weekend in May. He made his way home late at night, but he has no complaints about fatigue or endurance. “When you’re out there in the community your adrenaline kicks in. That’s big,” he said.

Max is also dedicated to a conditioning and exercise routine that enables him to work long hours week after week. He lifts weights at least five days per week. He does cardio exercises for a minimum of 40 minutes every day. “I am fanatical about seven days a week, getting a really good workout in,” he said.

Max attended Hamline where he played baseball for four years. When he went to college there was no plan to be a journalist. ”I was majoring in business and took a video production class for fun and my professor said you seem to have a passion for this,” Max told Sports Headliners in a 2010 interview. “I really enjoyed putting a video together. She said you should try to go get an internship in this and I didn’t even know an internship existed. And that’s when I started knocking on doors and finally I got in to Ch. 4. … It wasn’t like I set out to be a reporter. I literally kind of fell into it that way.”

The internship at Ch. 4 was in 1986 so Max has come a long way as a sports journalist whose face and voice are widely recognized in Minneapolis and throughout the state. Yet professionally perhaps he may never have felt so alive as when he covered the drama of the city’s unrest last month. It was an assignment he would repeat “in a heartbeat.”

“If things like this happen again, I just want to be able to raise my hand and have her (Patey) have the confidence in me that I can go do it,” Max said.

Comments Welcome

D-1 NCAA Vote on Tommies Next Week

Posted on June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 by David Shama

 

Phil Esten, vice president and director of athletics at the University of St. Thomas, told Sports Headliners Monday the NCAA will vote next week whether to approve the Tommies’ request to participate in Division I sports starting with the 2021-2022 school year.

That vote was to have happened in April but got postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tommies are requesting a transition from Division III status to Division I after involuntarily being removed from the D-3 MIAC starting in 2021-2022.

Historically, the NCAA does not allow immediate transition from D-3 to D-1 but for various reasons it’s believed the Tommies are a likely exception. “I remain optimistic (about approval),” Esten said.

Playing at the D-1 level would allow St. Thomas athletes to test themselves against far better competition. After the MIAC’s decision to ask the Tommies to find another home (conference presidents thought UST was too dominant in athletics), school leadership contemplated whether to remain at D-3, or transition to a higher level. The D-1 alternative became more realistic when the Summit League extended an invitation to the Tommies last fall.

The Summit not only provides a home for 19 of the Tommies’ 22 sports (football and men’s and women’s hockey excluded) but the NCAA can also look at other favorable factors encouraging a vote of approval for D-1 status. While the private school has a small undergraduate enrollment of about 6,000, it has a prominent history of academic and athletic success, with generous funding including alumni support. Unlike many states Minnesota only has one D-1 program with the University of Minnesota, so the big time college sports platform here is not crowded.

The Twin Cities media market has to be attractive to the NCAA and Summit League whose full participation schools (all sports offered) in 2019-2020 were Denver, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Omaha, Oral Roberts, South Dakota, South Dakota State and Western Illinois. St. Thomas’ presence in the revenue producing sport of men’s basketball is a plus for future Summit League TV and corporate sponsorship deals. The recruiting base of Twin Cities athletes is also a major asset for Summit League schools.

The COVID-19 epidemic has made the major college athletics landscape uncertain in regard to future revenues. There is plenty of speculation about drastically reducing athletic department budgets including travel. More regional (less national) travel seems all but certain, and that is another reason why Esten believes a D-1 program in the Upper Midwest could benefit not just the Tommies but other schools looking for shorter travel distances with their schedules.

With the Summit League not an option, Esten said he is still “sorting” through where his hockey programs will find new conference homes, but the plan is for the Tommies to be part of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League whose 10-members last fall consisted of Butler, Davidson, Dayton, Drake, Jacksonville, Marist, Morehead State, San Diego, Stetson, and Valparaiso.

Some of those schools are not exactly located just around the corner from the St. Thomas campus, and travel along with the usual expenses associated with the sport of football will certainly contribute to an overall UST athletics budget expected to jump from about $5 million annually to perhaps $10 million.

Esten declined to offer specifics on budgets but the foreseeable future will have St. Thomas subsidizing its athletics budget as in the past, with revenues not matching expenses. On the fields and courts the Tommies will face more difficult opposition and there could be one-sided results for awhile, with Esten saying the school goes into D-1 territory with “eyes wide open.”

John Tauer

St. Thomas coaches already have and are recruiting D-1 caliber athletes. The Tommies are accustomed to winning championships, and even on the national stage coaches like John Tauer from men’s basketball and football’s Glenn Caruso have had their teams in the news as NCAA D-3 championship contenders.

St. Thomas president Julie Sullivan wrote about the Division I process in an October, 2019 article on the school’s website last fall. In that article she expressed what the school sees as the value of transitioning to D-1 status. “This decision is about more than athletics – it’s about advancing our vision to be a leading Catholic university recognized at the national level. An important outcome of increasing St. Thomas’ visibility, for example, is an ability to attract a more geographically diverse cross section of students who are accomplished in and out of the classroom.

“This additional representation would add value to classroom discussions, campus life, co-curricular activities and virtually every aspect of St. Thomas while providing St. Thomas with the opportunity to extend the reach of our mission and impact. The presence of Division I sports teams will also build on the strong Tommie fan loyalty and provide the campus and alumni with more engaging fan experiences.”

St. Thomas has the internal commitment to become D-1, and now all it needs is NCAA approval next week.

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