Preps – Page 79 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Dalvin Cook Predictions Coming in

Posted on May 30, 2017May 30, 2017 by David Shama

It’s only spring and the Vikings are going through early practices, but expectations have already arrived for rookie running back Dalvin Cook. Anticipation among fans and media has been present since the Vikings moved up in April’s NFL Draft to select the former Florida State All-American in the second round, but a couple things said recently are newsworthy.

Vikings college scout and veteran front office authority Scott Studwell made a prediction last week about the 21-year-old who will compete to replace Adrian Peterson as the team’s starting running back. “He’s going to play early and he’s going to play a lot,” Studwell told Sports Headliners. “We’ll see how it all shakes out.”

If there is a guru among pro football writers, it’s Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. He had his own projection about Cook last week. He wrote online that by Halloween the 5-10, 210-pound Cook will be one of the NFL’s five best running backs. King also said the Vikings need a renewed running game and Cook—along with veteran Latavius Murray—can provide the answer.

Dalvin Cook (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

The Vikings ranked last in NFL rushing last season at 75.3 yards per game. Studwell said the Vikings must commit to running the ball and Cook can be a major contributor. “Hopefully he’ll loosen up the box a little bit. He’ll put pressure on defenses. He’s got big play potential and that’s what we were missing.”

Studwell studied Cook on tape before the Vikings made him their highest drafted running back since they took Stanford’s Toby Gerhart in the second round in 2010.

“He is an exceptional athlete,” Studwell said about Cook. “He can do everything. He catches it extremely well. He’s got great feet, he’s got really good eyes. He plays probably faster than he times. He’s got game speed. He’s got exceptional inside run ability. He’s pretty much the entire package.”

A history of off-field problems and injuries gave teams pause in drafting Cook who could have been a first round choice but instead was the ninth player chosen in the second round. Now he has a new start in the pros. “(For) anybody’s general impression, he’s just a good guy,” said fellow rookie Eric Wilson.

Wilson is a linebacker, and playing on the other side of the ball has given him an opportunity to watch Cook. “His quickness is hard to come by,” Wilson said. (With) his vision, he’s able to make cuts that a lot of people just can’t make. That’s going to take him a long way as long as he stays in the playbook.”

Maybe Cook’s rookie season will draw comparisons to Peterson’s 2007 debut when he rushed for an NFC best 1,341 yards. That effort, combined with Chester Taylor’s running, allowed the Vikings to set a team rushing record of 2,634 yards as Minnesota ranked No. 1 in NFL rushing offense. Cook, Murray and the Vikings have no where to go but up.

Worth Noting

Tre Jones, the elite prep point guard from Apple Valley High School, suffered a top ankle sprain last week and is on crutches. “He needs time to heal but nothing is broken,” said his cousin Al Nuness.

Jones was playing in California for his Minnesota team that competes in the Nike EYBL when injured. The culmination of the EYBL schedule comes at the Peach Jam July 12-16 in South Carolina and Nuness said that figures to be a target date for Jones’ return, if not sooner.

The Twins have the first pick in the June 12 first-year player draft but don’t expect that player to be on the big league roster this year. The only first round pick ever to play for the Twins in his first season as a pro was pitcher Eddie Bane who made his big league debut July 4, 1973 at Met Stadium with no time spent in the minors.

The Twins probably could draw a near capacity crowd at Target field if they showcased their No. 1 this year. The club is hoping to draw 2 million fans and top last season’s attendance of 1,963,912 million, the lowest ever in seven years at Target Field.

If Mike Zimmer’s eye struggles were to sideline him for an indefinite period it’s a decent guess general manager Rick Spielman will designate offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as interim head coach. Shurmur has NFL head coaching experience—2011 and 2012 with the Browns, and 2015 as interim boss with the Eagles. He was promoted by Zimmer last fall from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator when Norv Turner left the team.

Schurmur and wife Jennifer entered their bulldog Penny in Canterbury Park’s fourth annual Running of the Bulldogs yesterday at Canterbury Park. Penny didn’t emerge as a winning dog in one of the racetrack’s more popular just for fun promotions that also include annual Corgi and Weiner dog races.

Ex-Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi will have the University of Minnesota Sports Pavilion named for him at a yet to be determined event this fall. Maturi retired in 2012. His career highlights included the building of TCF Bank Stadium and a deep commitment to gender equity.

It was 15 years ago last week that legendary Gophers athlete and athletic director Paul Giel died unexpectedly from a heart attack. Giel, an All-American at Minnesota in baseball and football, had a varied career that also included being sports director at WCCO Radio.

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Wolves Owner to Find Answers Soon

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by David Shama

Glen Taylor will get some answers this week in a series of meetings with his basketball staff headed by president and coach Tom Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden. The Timberwolves owner told Sports Headliners last Friday these will be the first face-to-face meetings for evaluating the team’s 31-51 season that ended April 12 without reaching the playoffs for a 13th consecutive year.

“We just thought we should just leave it go for a few weeks,” Taylor said about waiting until now to meet. “We have times set up to kind of talk about in-depth (on) our team, and our draft (NBA Draft June 22).”

Taylor has written input already from Thibodeau about last season, including evaluation of players and off-season expectations for them. Despite a talented corps of young players led by 21-year-old center Karl-Anthony Towns who averaged 25.1 points per game, the Wolves won only two more games than the previous season. Thibodeau, in his first season coaching the Wolves, had the first losing record of his six-year NBA career.

Glen Taylor (photo courtesy of Minnesota Timberwolves).

Taylor formed his own thoughts by following the team all season and from the written evaluations from the basketball staff, but he has no final determinations yet why his club was a major disappointment. “No, I don’t think I came to a conclusion yet. Otherwise, I would tell you,” said Taylor who wasn’t happy with the 31-51 record and was surprised by it.

Taylor remains confident in his franchise’s basketball leadership. Although Taylor wants to win and break the playoff drought, he isn’t encouraging rash thinking or panic. He doesn’t want to make the wrong off-season moves such as a very risky trade, or highly questionable transaction at next month’s NBA Draft where the Wolves have the No. 7 first round pick.

“You can always say we gotta get a better player, but who?” Taylor asked. “And do they fit in with the long range plan? So I am going to reserve that a little bit (change).

“I am not against if we need to make some changes…but gosh, I mean we got some good guys with some potential. I don’t want to just give up on them too early.”

Taylor compares his team with others in the NBA and likes what he sees for the future, including hopes for several years of success. “Even though we only won two more games, there were so many games that we were in and close to. There was even a time toward the end of the season that looked like we could get into the playoffs, the eighth position. So I don’t think it’s that far of a distance to get there.

“I don’t see why…we shouldn’t be able to be one of the teams that gets into the playoffs (next season). I think we have the potential. I think we have the players to do that. There were so many games this year that we could have won, that it isn’t that far away. Where the year before… I don’t think there was so much of an opportunity to win.

“You know the games I am talking about, the games where we were ahead by 20 points, or the games we played for three quarters that we were the better team, and then we just sort of folded in the fourth quarter when they (other teams) put the pressure on.”

The Wolves lost 22 of 46 games in which they built 10 point leads or more. That was more than any other team in the NBA. The club also lost 13 of its final 16 games.

“For whatever reasons we had lapses during games that are hard for me to understand,” Taylor said.

When asked about positives to the season, Taylor spoke about Towns and point guard Ricky Rubio. Towns, in his second NBA season, broke the franchise single season scoring record with 2,061 points, and deserved All-NBA recognition in the opinion of some observers. Rubio, the six-year point guard long criticized for his shooting, stepped up his scoring in the second half of the season and averaged career highs in points per game at 11.1 and field goal percentage making .402 of his shots. He had 25 double-doubles, with 23 of them coming in the final 45 games.

“…If he can build upon that, boy, that makes a huge difference to us and how we can play offensively,” Taylor said.

Worth Noting

New Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck is in a suburban Minneapolis house just a few doors away from Minnesota basketball coach Richard Pitino.

Maybe Vikings coach Mike Zimmer can get the best possible birthday present on June 5. He turns 61 that day, and isn’t coaching right now while recovering from his eighth eye surgery. A healthy prognosis from doctors in early June would be celebration news.

As the Vikings go through practices between now and the end of next month, it will be interesting to track the progress of several long shots to make the team. Among the most intriguing is Moritz Bohringer who the Vikings drafted in the sixth round in 2016. A gifted athlete who has only been playing American football since 2013, the wide receiver came to the Vikings directly from his native Germany. Bohringer was on the practice team last year and still faces a steep learning curve.

The 28th annual Bruce Smith Golf Classic will be June 19 at Faribault Golf Club. The fundraising event benefits Faribault schools and honors Bruce Smith, the Faribault native who won the 1941 Heisman Trophy playing for the Gophers. More information is available by calling Bruce Krinke at 507 384-7968.

Challenges and solutions to making youth football a better experience, including the enhancement of safety, will be discussed at a free event starting at 9 a.m. June 24 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Minnesota Youth Football Summit will include a panel of high school coaches and keynote speakers Joe Ehrmann and Dr. Uza Samadani.

Ehrmann is a former NFL defensive lineman known for his lessons from athletics. Dr. Samadani is the leader of the nation’s largest youth concussion study. More information, including online registration, is available at myas.org/football.

Bryant Pfeiffer, who for 10 years was with the MLS league office, has joined Minnesota United FC as senior vice president, sales & strategy. Prior to working with the MLS, Pfeiffer was employed by the Lynx and Timberwolves.

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U Nears 1,000 New Season Tickets

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

As of Friday, the Gophers had sold 861 new football season tickets since January 6 when P.J. Fleck was announced as head coach. The total was obtained from an athletic department spokesman and is for nonstudent season tickets (a student season tickets total will be available later in the year).

Fleck’s outgoing personality, and the reputation he earned at Western Michigan for being one of America’s most promising young coaches has prompted some renewed interest in football at the U. The athletic department sold 253 season tickets in less than 30 days after the 36-year-old Fleck took over as coach.

Fan interest declined last year under head coach Tracy Claeys and the Gophers sold about 5,100 fewer nonstudent season tickets in 2016 than in 2015. The Gophers didn’t sell out a single home game in 50,805 seat TCF Bank Stadium and many sold seats weren’t occupied. Last year the athletic department sold about 23,000 nonstudent season tickets and student season ticket sales were around 7,000.

The new season tickets sold this winter and spring is being accomplished without a marketing campaign. Promotional efforts are expected to start soon and will likely play off of Fleck’s “Row The Boat” mantra to create excitement. The phrase refers to a never give up attitude, and Fleck paid Western Michigan $50,000 for the rights to “Row The Boat.”

Fleck has big ambitions for attendance at TCF Bank Stadium, a venue that ranks near the bottom in seating capacity among Big Ten schools. Sports Headliners reported last month that in three years Fleck wants to expand seating capacity to 85,000. (See April 2, 2017 column).

Worth Noting

Race Thompson told Sports Headliners he hears the encouraging words from Minnesotans to become a Gopher and he appreciates the hometown interest but he won’t be influenced by others in choosing a college destination.

Thompson, the junior power forward from Armstrong High School, has offers from more than 10 schools including the Gophers. The Rivals four-star player said he probably will choose a school next fall and is looking for the place he will feel most comfortable, including a “family atmosphere.”

Thompson will make some college visits after July 1 and could sign a National Letter of Intent in November, the first signing opportunity for class of 2018 players to officially commit to their colleges. While schools like Minnesota and Marquette have been recruiting Thompson for some time, Indiana is now showing interest, too. Thompson said he isn’t sure, though, if he will visit Bloomington.

Darrell Thompson, the Gophers all-time leading rusher in football, has said throughout the recruiting process that he and wife Stephanie won’t direct their son to play for the U, even though their suburban Minneapolis home would make travelling to watch him in college much easier than any other place.

Darrell leads Minneapolis-based Bolder Options, the nonprofit helping kids and teens learn life skills. The organization’s annual gala in Minneapolis last Thursday night raised over $160,000, a record for the event which is the nonprofit’s largest fundraiser of the year.

Another fundraising highlight for the organization is the WCCO Radio Gutter Bowl bowling event that most recently generated about $40,000. Morning show host Dave Lee is among those who have led the event.

The Twins have the first pick in the June MLB Draft and could select Hunter Greene from southern California. Greene throws fast balls over 100 miles per hour, plays with MLB range at shortstop, excels at the plate, and is the subject of considerable hype including from Sports Illustrated. The magazine’s latest issue has him on the cover and gushed the following:

“Baseball’s LeBron, or the new Babe? He’s 17. He mashes. He throws 102. Hunter Greene is the star baseball needs. (First he has to finish high school).”

Dalvin Cook, the former Florida State running back who the Vikings were excited to find available in the second round of Friday’s NFL Draft, was projected in last week’s Sports Illustrated to be the No. 23 pick in the first round by the Giants.

Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, who turned 34 last week, expects to do something with his “big-time passion” for fishing after he retires from football. He told Sports Headliners pro fishing could be his next career, or TV commentary about the sport. He has fished in pro-am tournaments in recent off seasons, and competed in the Texas Team Trail Bass Championships.

Doesn’t seem that long ago but it will be 17 years on Friday that former Gophers and Timberwolves coach Bill Musselman died. In Musselman’s first season at Minnesota, 1971-72, he coached the Gophers to their first Big Ten basketball title since 1937. In 1989-1990 he coached the expansion Timberwolves in their initial NBA season.

Mark Sheffert, the former Gophers football player who founded and leads Minneapolis-based Manchester Companies that provides management consulting, discussed corporate ethics and behavior yesterday on WCCO Radio’s News and Views program.

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