NCAA – Page 137 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Leidner Not in McShay’s 1st Round Now

Posted on October 5, 2016October 5, 2016 by David Shama

Todd McShay made news in Minnesota last spring when he projected Mitch Leidner as a No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. The ESPN college football authority has revised his opinion this fall.

McShay overrated the Gophers senior quarterback and no longer projects him as a first round draft choice. Last month a Sports Headliners reader told me he heard McShay on ESPN Radio in September predict Leidner as a possible fifth rounder in 2017.

Leidner hadn’t dazzled during his junior season at Minnesota but did show improvement in final games. He ranked 10th in Big Ten efficiency among passers, with a rating of 121.2. In 13 games he completed 59.5 percent of his passes and threw 14 touchdown passes. But in early May McShay wrote that the 6-4, 230-pound Minnesota native had “ideal size” for a quarterback, and labeled him a “late riser.”

McShay used a disclaimer in his “Way-too-Early NFL 2017 Mock Draft”, writing on the ESPN website that he hadn’t “studied tape” on the players he projected 1-32. In fairness to McShay he had just finished his assignments with the recently completed 2016 draft.

In his May 5 article this spring McShay had two quarterbacks, Deshaun Watson from Clemson, and Brad Kaaya of Miami, projected as the first two picks in next year’s draft. Leidner, projected as the No. 25 pick, was the only other quarterback in McShay’s mock first round.

McShay offered a revised mock draft for ESPN late last month. The top projected quarterback was Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer at No. 18. The other first round quarterbacks were Watson at 24 and Kaaya at 30. …

It’s time for another Sports Headliners Big Ten power rankings—and Gophers fans should brace themselves. Minnesota is no longer deserving of the No. 7 listing in the last rankings of 14 conference teams. Not after an unimpressive 3-0 nonconference start and last Saturday’s 29-26 loss to Penn State in Minnesota’s league opening game.

It’s far from a perfect process comparing scores, but the Gophers didn’t earn any bragging rights last Saturday when a couple of interesting scores from out West became finals. Wyoming, with a 3-2 record, defeated Colorado State 38-7 and Colorado, 4-1, beat up on Oregon State 47-6. Minnesota, playing at home, won games against Colorado State, 2-3, and Oregon State, 1-3, by a touchdown.

Coach Tracy Claeys’ team has some strengths, including the kicking game. Placekicker Emmitt Carpenter made four field goals in the loss to PSU and is nine-for-nine in his career. He leads the Big Ten in points with 43. Punter Ryan Santoso ranks sixth in Big Ten punting with a 41.9 average and he has shown touch in booting balls inside the opposition’s 20-yard line.

Leidner’s senior experience and leadership is a major asset. Shannon Brooks, recovered from a broken foot, is one of the Big Ten’s most explosive running backs. Defensive tackle Steven Richardson has been called “unblockable” by a rival coach. But this team has issues including an inconsistent offensive line that too often can’t open holes for runners like Brooks, and is flagged for false starts and holding. The defense is vulnerable to big plays because of mistakes in the secondary and not enough pass rush.

Put the Gophers at No. 11 in the power rankings. Ohio State is an easy choice for No. 1. It’s not a layup, though, to rank Michigan No. 2 and Wisconsin third. The Wolverines won 14-7 against the Badgers last Saturday in Ann Arbor. Both teams have elite defenses, lesser offenses.

Here’s how the rest of the Big Ten teams rate: No. 4 Nebraska; No. 5 Maryland; No. 6. Northwestern; No. 7 Iowa; No. 8. Michigan State; No. 9 Penn State; No. 10. Indiana; No. 11 Minnesota; No. 12 Illinois; No. 13 Rutgers; and No. 14 Purdue. …

The Gophers hockey team opens its season with Alaska-Anchorage in Anchorage on Friday and Sunday. Minnesota goalie Eric Schierhorn is from Anchorage and his parents will host a dinner in their home for the Gophers travel group on Saturday night.

The nonconference game against Alaska-Anchorage is likely to be Minnesota’s last with the Seawolves. Budget cuts in the Alaska university system may end the men’s college hockey programs at Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks. A source said the hockey programs account for about five percent of the university system’s budget.

Eden Prairie forward Casey Mittelstadt, who is expected to sign with the Gophers in November, is highlighted by NHL Central Scouting as a player to watch in rankings released earlier this week. He received an A rating. …

Vikings rookie wide receiver and 2016 No. 1 draft choice Laquon Treadwell has only been on the field for a few plays through four regular season games but receivers coach George Stewart has a message for worrisome fans. Don’t fret because the Vikings like what they see of the 21-year-old who was the 23rd pick in last spring’s draft.

“He is fine. He is a smart kid,” Stewart told Sports Headliners. “The problem is Rick Spielman, our GM, has assembled a lot of talent (among receivers) in that room.

“He’s a rookie. Just because you are a first round pick, doesn’t guarantee you’re going to come in and play. He’s the future of our football team. We have a lot of guys right now that are playing at a high level (like)—Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. We just have one football now, too. …It’s hard to spread that thing around.”

Treadwell, 6-2 and 215 pounds, has yet to catch a pass in a game and part of his very limited playing time has been on the punt coverage team. Stewart praised Treadwell’s attitude and willingness to work.

He said Treadwell’s limited game action shouldn’t be interpreted as the Vikings being disappointed in the former Ole Miss star who gave up his final season of college football to enter the draft. Treadwell, Stewart explained, is getting a how-to on life in the NFL as a receiver including adjusting to a different offense than the one he knew in college and learning about defensive coverages.

Could Treadwell some day be a Pro Bowler? Achieving that honor will have a lot to do with desire, and Stewart talked about how Thielen has progressed from an undrafted free agent to a playmaker for the Vikings. “…If you would have told me that Adam Thielen from Minnesota State would be the player he is four years ago I wouldn’t have said so. It’s the want-to. He (Treadwell) has to want to. So hopefully if that’s a goal of his, hopefully he gets a chance to attain it.”

Treadwell broke his leg as a junior at Ole Miss and it’s a fair question to ask if that has diminished his speed. NFL.com reported that Treadwell ran a 4.63 40-yard dash at his Pro Day before the draft last spring. Stewart said the Vikings weren’t concerned about Treadwell’s speed when they chose him and aren’t now. “I believe it’s healed now because he’s out doing good things,” Stewart said.

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Maturi Attending Greatest Game Reunion

Posted on September 13, 2016September 13, 2016 by David Shama

Former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi and his wife Lois leave for South Bend, Indiana tomorrow and Notre Dame’s 50th reunion of the 1966 “Game of the Century.”

It will be a half century in November that the Fighting Irish and Michigan State played one of the most famous college football games of all-time in East Lansing. Maturi, a graduate of Chisholm High School on Minnesota’s Iron Range, was a student trainer on the 1966 team.

A series of reunion events starts Friday and continues Saturday night at the game between the 2016 Fighting Irish and Spartans at Notre Dame Stadium. At halftime the Notre Dame alums from the 1966 team will be honored with a ceremony.

Attendees are also using the reunion to raise money for the helping others foundations of former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian and Alan Page who was an All-American tackle for the Irish in 1966 and later an All-Pro for the Minnesota Vikings. Parseghian, 93, was the Notre Dame coach for 11 seasons starting in 1964 and is expected to attend the reunion.

Maturi is bringing a large number of family members to celebrate the weekend including his three-month-old granddaughter. He spent over $1,000 on game tickets but said no to Notre Dame’s policy that everyone—including infants—must have a ticket. Balking at buying a ticket for granddaughter Lucille, Maturi contacted a school official who agreed to “smuggling” the infant into Notre Dame Stadium Saturday night.

Maturi remembers many details about the famous game between the two undefeated teams with star players galore, including Irish quarterback Terry Hanratty and 6-foot-7 Spartan defensive lineman Bubba Smith. Hanratty got hurt in the game and Irish All-American running back Nick Eddy didn’t even play because of a bad shoulder. “We had lots of injuries,” Maturi remembered.

The night before Irish games Maturi visited the hotel rooms of players to provide medications. He remembered a disgruntled player greeted the knock on his door like this: “Maturi, you’re the only guy who wakes somebody…to give him sleeping pills to go to sleep.”

Maturi talked about gamesmanship even before kickoff in East Lansing on that famous November 19 day. “I remember some of the Michigan State guys standing outside greeting the bus as we were entering (the stadium). Kind of trying to intimidate, I would say, in some ways. …”

The game ended in a 10-10 tie when Parseghian decided to run out the clock rather than try to position his team down field for a possible winning field goal. Irish quarterback Coley O’Brien had taken over for Hanratty but wasn’t physically strong, Maturi said. O’Brien had diabetes and was physically run-down. Maturi believes that may have been a reason Parseghian was conservative at game’s end.

After the 10-10 tie the Irish made a statement in the next game, a season-ending 51-0 win over USC. Back in 1966 national champions were determined by polls—not playoffs—and most polls selected Notre Dame as No. 1, although some honored Michigan State.

Worth Noting

Dick Jonckowski, public address voice of Gophers basketball and baseball since the 1980s, will be presented with an Honorary M at the M Club Hall of Fame event October 20 at TCF Bank Stadium. Jonckowski starts his 31st season of Gophers basketball this fall and last spring finished his 29th season of baseball.

Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi, formerly the defensive coordinator at Michigan State and now in his second season at Pitt, will be a featured speaker at the Minnesota Football Clinic next spring. The Minnesota Football Coaches Association’s website also reports other clinic “headliners” will be North Dakota State head coach Chris Klieman and former Gophers interim coach Jeff Horton now an assistant at San Diego State.

J.D. Spielman, the 2015 Mr. Football Award winner from Eden Prairie, has yet to catch a pass or make a run in two games as a wide receiver for Nebraska. The 5-9, 180-pound freshman was one of the most explosive runners and kick returners in state history.

With a 21-6 record in nonconference games after two weeks play, and featuring five teams in the top 15 of the Associated Press college football rankings, the Big Ten Conference can do a little strutting. High scoring games have been common with five teams totaling over 50 points last weekend, including the Gophers’ 58-28 win over Indiana State. It’s the first time the Big Ten has had five teams top 50 points since September 13, 1997.

After two weeks following the 14 Big Ten teams, impressions are more solid than in August. With that introduction, here are my initial power rankings of Big Ten teams.

1. Ohio State. Urban Meyer is 52-4 as Buckeyes coach. That’s code for the talent is good and deep in Columbus where OSU is ranked No. 3 nationally.

2. Michigan. Coach Khaki has the No. 4 ranked Wolverines headed for a national championship. We just don’t know how soon.

3. Michigan State. The No. 12 ranked Spartans are defending Big Ten champions and will find out how good they are Saturday at Notre Dame. Nobody scowls better than Spartans coach Mark Dantonio.

4. Wisconsin. The No. 9 ranked Badgers defeated SEC bully and preseason national title contender LSU in their season opener. Maybe the Badgers should play all their games at Lambeau.

5. Iowa. The No. 13 Hawkeyes have got a bunch of exceptional players and a great one in cornerback Desmond King who won the 2015 Jim Thorpe award. Among Iowa’s best are senior quarterback C.J. Beathard and freshman defensive end Anthony Nelson who at 6-7 reminds some folks of the legendary Ted Hendricks.

6. Nebraska. The Huskers are 2-0 but have a lot of damage control work to do after last season’s 6-7 Mike Riley coaching debut. Probably time to start believing if Huskers, averaging 47.5 points per game and giving up 13.5, defeat No. 22 Oregon Saturday in Lincoln.

7. Minnesota. Is this too high a spot for the Gophers? They are an iffy team but we’ll know what to make of Year One in the Tracy Claeys era after Minnesota’s opening Big Ten game at Penn State on October 1. Not good that two cornerbacks are suspended and potential all-Big Ten tight end Brandon Lingen is injured again and out for an indefinite period.

The remaining power rankings look like this: 8. Penn State, 9. Indiana, 10. Northwestern, 11. Maryland, 12. Illinois, 13. Rutgers and 14.Purdue.

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Claeys to Wait on Gopher QB Decision

Posted on July 14, 2016July 14, 2016 by David Shama

Everyone knows redshirt senior Mitch Leidner will be the Gophers’ starting quarterback this season, but even head coach Tracy Claeys can’t say who will be No. 2.

Sophomore Demry Croft played in three games as a reserve behind Leidner last season. During the spring Leidner didn’t participate in practices because of foot surgery but neither Croft nor freshman Seth Green (he enrolled at Minnesota in January) separated themselves as the No. 1 backup. Nor did redshirt junior and former walk-on Conor Rhoda, who played briefly in two games during the 2014 season.

Claeys said having 14 days of spring practices wasn’t enough to determine his second unit quarterback. He predicted that about 10 days prior to Minnesota’s opening game the coaching staff will settle on a backup to Leidner.

The Gophers begin formal practices in early August and play Oregon State at home on September 1. Regarding Croft and Green, Claeys said one of them is headed toward a redshirt season.

“There’s no question,” Claeys told Sports Headliners. “One of them will end up being redshirted—however it works out.”

Croft had plenty of learning to do last year as a freshman and looked just okay during his limited playing time. He completed seven of 17 passes for 34 yards, while rushing nine times for 38 yards. Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill has raved about Croft’s potential since he signed him to a National Letter of Intent out of Boylan High School in Rockford, Illinois.

Green, though, who Kill never coached, was the more highly rated prep quarterback in a high school career that included playing time in both Allen, Texas and Woodbury, Minnesota. Scout ranked Green as the No. 4 quarterback in Texas last season, while 247Sports listed him as the No. 10 dual-threat QB in America.

The development of Croft, Green and Rhoda is vital to not only the next few seasons for the Gophers but also this fall. Leidner is considered one of the Big Ten’s best returning quarterbacks and a long-term injury to him could wreck Minnesota’s season.

The Gophers’ prospects for a winning season in the Big Ten are fragile, and to be successful without Leidner Minnesota would probably need a breakthrough performance by one of their young quarterbacks. That’s a predicament neither Claeys nor the fanbase wants to see because the coach believes a healthy team can challenge for the West Division title.

Much of the college football media isn’t as optimistic, making the Gophers a popular choice to finish fifth in the seven-team West Division. However, Minnesota is seen as a dark horse with a favorable schedule and a bowl game waiting as a season-ending prize.

Optimistic Gopher fans are anticipating a 4-0 start when division favorite Iowa brings Floyd of Rosedale to town on October 8. That record will require an opening conference win on the road at Penn State on October 1, and right now the Nittany Lions will be the favorite. Prior to the game in State College, Minnesota will have to defeat two mediocre teams, Oregon State and Colorado State, and FCS ho-humer Indiana State—all at home.

Fans who are high on Maroon and Gold Kool Aid can see a 9-0 start before the Gophers play at Nebraska on November 12. If an undefeated Minnesota team could get by Iowa, the Gophers’ next four games are all against Big Ten opponents with less impressive resumes than Minnesota’s. But road games at Maryland and Illinois could be “trap games,” while wins figure to come easier at home against Rutgers and Purdue (two wins in the last 24 conference games).

All this preseason speculation is fun, of course, but counts for nothing. Just remember last spring when local baseball fans had the Twins winning close to 90 games and perhaps flirting with a postseason series. At the same time national media were penciling in the Twins for last place in the division. By May we all knew who was right.

While nobody knows how much the Gophers will improve on last season’s 6-7 overall and 2-6 conference records, we do understand this: Dinkytown ain’t Columbus, Ohio. Translation: the Gophers roster has nowhere close to the number of talented players and depth of an Ohio State and the other elites of college football.

A year ago Buckeyes fans were pondering who would be named the starter among three potential Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks. It was more than comforting to know that if one went down—or even two were sidelined—there was a star QB waiting to play.

At Minnesota the situation is much different. Gopher followers have collective fingers crossed that Leidner is on the field for 13 games during an eight, nine or 10 wins season.

College Football Notes

Gophers’ border rival Wisconsin has an interesting opening game—hosting SEC power LSU at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Other unusual openers include California and Hawaii in Sydney, Australia; and Boston College and Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.

The Gophers open their season September 1 against Oregon State at TCF Bank Stadium in a Thursday night game televised by the Big Ten Network. The opening weekend of college football includes made for national TV games Alabama-USC, Oklahoma-Houston and Notre Dame-Texas.

About 30 former Gophers, at the invitation of Claeys, attended a welcome reception for incoming freshmen players on campus last night. Each of the alums and freshmen spoke including ex-Gopher tackle Ray Hawes who paid tribute to Sandy Stephens. Now deceased, Stephens was the first African-American All-American quarterback in the nation and helped lead Minnesota to Big Ten and national titles.

Seniors Mitch Leidner, Jack Lynn and Damarius Travis will represent the Gophers at the Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago July 25 and 26.

Prominent former Gophers assistants are working at other programs including Matt Limegrover, Minnesota’s offensive coordinator last season and now offensive line coach at Penn State. Other “alums” include Kevin Cosgrove and Bob DeBesse who are the defensive and offensive coordinators at New Mexico; Michigan offensive assistant Jedd Fisch; Texas A&M offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone; Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Ted Roof, and Texas State head coach Everett Withers.

It looks like former Gopher Philip Nelson will be the starting quarterback for East Carolina. Nelson is a senior and will play for first-year coach Scottie Montgomery.

Former Gophers football player Mark Sheffert is a nationally-known business advisor in financial, strategic, leadership and governance issues. Sheffert made a presentation and led a discussion on governance with the University of Minnesota Board of Regents last week. He is chairman and CEO of Minneapolis-based Manchester Companies.

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