Preps – Page 91 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Dan O’Brien Joins U Football Staff

Posted on November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 by David Shama

Dan O’Brien is joining the staff of Gophers football coach Tracy Claeys as assistant to the head coach, assistant defensive backs coach and co-special teams coordinator. The announcement was made this morning by interim athletic director Beth Goetz in an e-mail to staff.

O’Brien was a senior associate athletic director for the Gophers overseeing the football program. The Winthrop, Minnesota native was director of football operations for ex-head coach Jerry Kill before being promoted to the administrative position in the athletic department. His career coaching experiences include high school positions and being head football coach at Concordia, St. Paul.

The announcement seems surprising but the new assignment may provide O’Brien with more job security since the athletic department leadership is uncertain with a new AD expected to be hired next year. A source told Sports Headliners O’Brien’s salary will increase by a lot in his new role which includes working with Pat Poore in coordinating special teams.

O’Brien has excellent relationships in the state including with high school coaches. He and linebackers coach Mike Sherels, another Minnesota native, will be responsible for recruiting in the state.

The change appears indicative of Claey’s vision as the new leader of the football program. Yesterday he dismissed offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski.

Claeys, who has shown a willingness to take risks on the field coaching his team, likely has replacements already in mind. It would be unusual for a head coach on the major college level to make dismissals without having a solid idea regarding philosophies he wants his coordinator and quarterbacks coach to have, and also not having names of candidates he wants to pursue.

At least two former Gophers and Minnesota natives could perhaps enter the picture. Tony Levine, who was let go as Houston’s head coach last December, might be a name to consider for the offensive coordinator job. Levine, a wide receiver for the Gophers under Jim Wacker, has an extensive coaching resume including under offensive coaching whiz Kevin Sumlin. A source said this morning Levine is living in Houston but not coaching.

Adam Weber received praise this year in his first season as an offensive graduate assistant working primarily with the quarterbacks. A four-year starter for the Gophers as a record-setting quarterback under then head coach Tim Brewster from 2007-2010, Weber has playing experience in pro football and is interested in a coaching career.

His knowledge and ability to relate to young players could make him an attractive hire as quarterbacks coach under Claeys.

Worth Noting

Sports Headliners’ final Big Ten football power rankings:

1. Michigan State, 11-1: One controversial call at Nebraska leaves Sparty inches short of an undefeated season.

2. Ohio State, 11-1: Rare times when a one loss team is labeled a disappointment but the description fits the defending national champs.

3. Iowa, 12-0: Textbook season by the Hawkeyes who didn’t try to do more than their talent could deliver and seldom made mistakes.

4. Michigan, 9-3: With Jim Harbaugh in charge, these are your father’s Wolverines.

5. Northwestern, 10-2: After two seasons of mediocrity, the Wildcats claw back near the top.

6. Wisconsin, 9-3: The Badgers couldn’t run the ball in Big Ten games until they arrived in Minneapolis and found a Gophers defensive line wrecked by injuries.

7. Penn State, 7-5: Coach James Franklin’s recruiting looks good on paper but Nittany Lions aren’t back yet as a Big Ten power.

8. Nebraska, 5-7: Talented Cornhuskers beat Michigan State but mostly beat themselves with self-inflicted wounds.

9. Minnesota, 5-7: Risk being called a homer by ranking the Gophers ahead of Indiana and Illinois but here we go.

10. Indiana, 6-6: Hoosiers bowl-bound for first time in five seasons under coach Kevin Wilson, who has a go-go offense, and a yikes defense.

11. Illinois, 5-7: Illini matched Minnesota losing four of its last five games including one to the Gophers.

12. Rutgers, 4-8: I doubt many people in Manhattan are boasting that the Scarlet Knight’s are “New York’s college team.”

13. Maryland, 3-9: The Terps are searching for a new head coach and need a good one.

14. Purdue, 2-10: Boilers are cemented in as Big Ten’s worst after coach Darrell Hazell has won two league games in three seasons.

Gophers senior offensive lineman Jon Christenson will earn his masters degree in public health next semester. He plans to be enrolled in medical school in the fall of 2017, hopefully at Minnesota. What will the Minnetonka native specialize in?

“Right now I am leaning toward orthopedic surgery,” he said. “I would love to be somewhere in sports medicine. I really feel like I could relate well to patients, especially young athletes—having been through so much myself. Unfortunately I know quite a few orthopedic surgeons from my experience here (being injured).”

After yesterday’s 20-10 win by the Vikings over the Falcons, coach Mike Zimmer has his team in first place in the NFC North with an 8-3 record. Running back Adrian Peterson leads the NFL in rushing with 1,164 yards. The Vikings have given up 194 points, second only to the Bengals with 193.

The Vikings have remaining games at home against the Seahawks, Bears and Giants. Road games remain versus the Cardinals and Packers. The Vikings could be favored in every game except the matchup against the 9-2 Cardinals.

Fox commentator John Lynch, the former defensive back with the Bucs, critiqued Teddy Bridgewater on yesterday’s telecast and said the Vikings quarterback holds the ball “longer” while attempting to pass than any quarterback in the NFL.

The 4-2 Gophers play 4-1 Clemson tonight at Williams Arena as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge series. The Tigers’ one loss was 82-65 to Massachusetts but of more interest to Gophers fans should be Clemson’s 76-58 neutral court win over Rutgers, a team that is a popular choice to finish last in the Big Ten. Minnesota is predicted to finish near the bottom of the standings too. Tonight’s game is on ESPN2.

Save the date: the annual Breakdown Sports Tip Off Classics at Minnetonka High School involving boys and girls teams will be December 12. Among the anticipated matchups is the 3:45 p.m. boys game between Class 4-A powers Apple Valley and Hopkins. Apple Valley’s roster includes national recruiting targets Gary Trent Jr. and Tre Jones—junior and sophomore standouts. Hopkins features Amir Coffey, a favorite to be the state’s best prep senior. Michael Hurt, another senior and like Coffey committed to the Gophers for next fall, will play for Rochester John Marshall in an 8 p.m. boys game against Shakopee. Both are 4-A teams. More on the tournaments at Breakdownsportsusa.com.

The Gophers hockey team has a disappointing 4-7 record so far but entering this season Minnesota had won more games (105) the last four seasons than any Division I men’s program. The Gophers also made program history by winning consecutive regular season league titles the last four years, with two championships in the WCHA and the two most recent in the Big Ten.

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Mr. Football Winner Loyal to Huskers

Posted on November 23, 2015November 23, 2015 by David Shama

J.D. Spielman, who was honored yesterday as the state’s Mr. Football award winner, told Sports Headliners despite Nebraska’s losing season he remains “100 percent” committed to the Cornhuskers and isn’t considering Minnesota or other schools.

Spielman made a verbal commitment to Nebraska last summer and has watched the Cornhuskers struggle in coach Mike Riley’s first season. Nebraska goes into its final regular season game on Friday against undefeated Iowa with a 3-4 Big Ten record, 5-6 overall. The Cornhuskers are among college football’s winningest programs in past decades and have a tradition of playing for championships. Riley has received plenty of criticism this fall but Spielman is expected to sign a National Letter of Intent with Nebraska next year on National Signing Day for high school players.

“I have a lot of faith in what coach Riley is doing over there,” Spielman said. “I know this season didn’t go as planned but it’s a process. That’s what happens when a head coach just comes into a program and starts coaching kids he didn’t recruit. But once the next couple of recruiting classes come in, Nebraska is going to be a big thing.”

Spielman, despite his 5-foot-8, 174-pound size, is a big thing in Minnesota high school football. The Eden Prairie High School running back, wide receiver and defensive back is probably one of the state’s most explosive players ever. His high school coach, Mike Grant, said Spielman can “make something out of nothing”—even running back and forth across the field leaving coaches, players and fans gasping. “Special talent, no question,” Grant said.

The coach expects Spielman to increase his weight in college to about 190 pounds and still run a 4.4 40-yard dash. He predicts Spielman, who combines extraordinary vision with his speed and ability to cut, will play as a college freshman. “He’ll be on the field on offense,” Grant said. “He’s ready to play right now.”

Spielman expects to be a receiver at Nebraska but Grant said his Mr. Football winner could even play tailback in college. Spielman blossomed on offense this season after playing mostly defense last year. Grant said a big reason for Spielman’s success in averaging 12.3 yards per carry was learning to be patient, waiting for space to open up.

Spielman, who averaged 29.3 yards on kickoff returns and 24.6 yards on punt returns, was one of 10 finalists for the Mr. Football award given annually to the state’s best senior player, and sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and the Minnesota Vikings. Among the other finalists was Eden Prairie teammate Carter Coughlin, the outstanding linebacker who is committed to Minnesota and has lobbied for Spielman to become a Gopher.

“I am 100 percent Nebraska right now,” Spielman said.

Why is he sold on the Cornhuskers? “The fan base is crazy. The fans show a lot of love and support for all the players. That’s a big thing,” Spielman said. “I also like coach Riley and his coaching staff. They’re all some of the nicest people I’ve met.”

Spielman’s father, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, didn’t sound concerned that it will require traveling to see his son play for the Cornhuskers. “We’ll work it out,” said Rick who is on the road a lot in the fall to scout college players.

He and his wife Michele have adopted six children including J.D. who came into their home at eight months old. J.D. has been playing football since first grade. Although J.D. is small, Rick never felt his son was too diminutive for football because of the “size of his heart.”

He also praised J.D’s football work ethic, noting that all his children have been encouraged to apply effort to school and athletics because dedication is something “you can control.”

Worth Noting

Mike Zimmer said his team was down emotionally when he met with players earlier today. The Vikings head coach said at his afternoon news conference he would be upset if they were laughing and joking after Sunday’s loss to the Packers at TCF Bank Stadium. He told players that by Wednesday they should be ready to move on in preparation for next week’s game against the Falcons in Atlanta.

The loss to the Packers left both the Vikings and Green Bay with 7-3 records, and tied for first place in the NFC North Division. “I still like this team. I still believe in this team, regardless of what will be said, or what will be written, or our moods today,” Zimmer said. “I believe in this team.”

Wide receiver Mike Wallace, reportedly the Vikings second highest paid player and an offseason acquisition, has caught only two passes in the last four games. “I am not concerned about stats, or individual stats, or anything like that,” Zimmer said. “All I am concerned about is how to get this team better.”

Tomorrow the Wild unveil uniforms the club will wear for its February 21 outdoor game against the Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium. Tickets are still available for the event, officially known as the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game.

Tracy Claeys got his first win as Gophers head coach without the interim tag last Saturday against Illinois, but he has no plans to keep a game ball as a memento. “I want that axe,” he said.

The Gophers and Badgers play for Paul Bunyan’s Axe on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium. Minnesota hasn’t won the annual rivalry trophy since 2003.

A win over Wisconsin will give the Gophers a 6-6 record and ensure bowl eligibility. Minnesota’s bowl destination might be the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in New York’s Yankee Stadium on December 26, the day after Christmas. The late afternoon game will match Big Ten and ACC teams, and be televised on ABC.

A Gophers athletic department spokesman said as of last Saturday about 1,700 tickets remained for the Wisconsin game.

Former Gophers head coach Jerry Kill is spending time at his lake home in Illinois before returning to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving.

David Benedict, who worked as a top assistant for former Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague, is a candidate for the AD position at Tulane. Benedict is currently chief operating officer for the athletic department at Auburn.

Ken Lien is a long time Gophers basketball fan, and offers this opinion on the current group: “For a team that lives and dies with the three, they will die more than they live.”

Lien is president and owner of the Minnesota boys Mr. Basketball award, and he has been associated with that endeavor for 41 years. Committee members are already looking at players for the 2016 award honoring the best senior in the state. An initial list of 50 Minnesota high school seniors has been compiled.

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Vikings Need to End Pack Win Streak

Posted on November 18, 2015November 18, 2015 by David Shama

The Vikings, 7-2 and leading the NFC North, appear to have their best team since 2009 and can provide more evidence about that by defeating the Packers on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium. Green Bay, the elite team in the division for years, is 9-1-1 against the Vikings since 2010 and is 4-0-1 in the last five games of the series.

It was 2012 when the Vikings last defeated the Packers in Minneapolis. Minnesota hasn’t won in Green Bay since 2009 when ex-Packers quarterback Brett Favre led the Vikings to a 38-26 victory. That team, with a 12-4 regular season record, won the NFC North and almost advanced to the Super Bowl.

The Packers haven’t scored less than 23 points against the Vikings since the 2006 season. Green Bay is struggling right now, though, and managed just 16 points last Sunday in a loss to the now 2-7 Lions. The Packers, 6-3, have lost three straight games, and the Vikings haven’t allowed an opponent to score more than 23 points all season.

Sunday starts an unusual week for the Packers who will fall two games behind in the loss column to the division-leading Vikings if they can’t win at TCF Bank Stadium. On Thursday night next week the Packers meet the Bears in a Thanksgiving game in Green Bay.

Vikings players probably won’t say anything provocative about the Packers this week but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a special feeling at Winter Park. Coach Mike Zimmer has given the players black T-shirts with these words on the back: “Beat Green Bay.”

Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph told Sports Headliners he’s excited about Sunday’s game. “I can’t wait to play against the Packers. They’re a very good team. You can’t sleep on the Green Bay Packers. Not at all.”

Mike Wallace (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.)

Vikings wide receiver Mike Wallace said he’s isn’t paying attention to his team’s winning streak or Green Bay’s losing skid. “It’s not about when we’re catching them. It’s about one day, one week, one game. It’s not really about them. It’s about us and trying to build toward something we’re trying to get to (division title, playoffs).”

Worth Noting

Vikings wide receiver Charles Johnson after being asked what he thinks of Packers All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers: “That man can do it.”

Bleachereport.com’s Monday NFL power rankings listed the Vikings fourth and Packers ninth among the NFL’s 32 teams. The top three ranked teams are the Patriots, Bengals and Panthers.

Former Vikings defensive lineman Bob Lurtsema said 29 current members of the team, including Adrian Peterson and Harrison Smith, attended the “Bowl with the Vikings” event last week in Oakdale to benefit the Vikings Children’s Fund.

60 Minutes devoted a segment to football’s concussion issue last Sunday night with reporter Steve Kroft warning this is the sport’s biggest crisis in more than 100 years when there was talk of banning football. The segment focused on the NFL and concussion research.

No Big Ten football team with a 5-7 record has ever been invited to a bowl game. The Gophers, with a 4-6 record, have two remaining regular season games and could finish 5-7. With 80 teams needed for 40 bowl games, 5-7 teams may have to fill some of the vacancies if there aren’t enough qualifying schools with .500 or better records.

True Thompson, the son of Gophers all-time leading rusher Darrell Thompson, is a senior wide receiver at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School. Among the football schools he has heard from are Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin—all of whom have raised the possibility of him being a preferred walk-on with their programs. (Preferred walk-ons, although they aren’t scholarship players, generally are assured of roster spots their first year on the team.)

St. Thomas and Saint John’s could be headed for a rematch in the Division III football playoffs. The 10-0 Tommies host La Verne in an opening playoff game on Saturday while the 9-1 Johnnies have Dubuque at home. If both MIAC schools win, they will play each other on November 28 at St. Thomas.

St. Thomas defeated Saint John’s 35-14 during the regular season. That was the closest score in a St. Thomas game this season. It might not be exaggerating to say the Tommies could finish high up in the Division II Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference that includes UMD and Minnesota State.

The Gophers basketball team has only neutral court and home games on its entire nonconference schedule that began earlier this month. Minnesota plays Thursday morning against Temple in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament. Then the Gophers have four home nonconference games before facing Oklahoma State in Sioux Falls on December 12. Two home games follow to finish the nonconference schedule before playing Ohio State in Columbus on December 30 in Minnesota’s first Big Ten game.

Dick Jonckowski, who is in his 30th season as the Gophers basketball public address announcer, is now cancer-free after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2014.

The Wild play the Bruins in Boston tomorrow night where Minnesota’s all-time record is 7-1-0. Devan Dubynk, the Wild’s regular goalie since last winter, is 0-4-0 lifetime against the Bruins with a 5.56 goals-against average.

Former Gophers football player and ex-pro wrestler Jim Brunzell admired Nick Bockwinkel who passed away at age 80 late last week. “Not only was Nick the consummate professional in the ring, but a wonderful, classy gentleman whose friendship and charisma will be missed by all,” Brunzell wrote via e-mail.

Bockwinkel had a long wrestling career that included being the American Wrestling Association’s champion. Brunzell considered Bockwinkel a great wrestler and praised him for his “psychology, precision and timing in the ring.”

Bridget Hennen, Bethany Lutheran College’s lone senior, is one of seven soccer players from the school selected by the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference for all-league recognition. Hennen is a midfielder from Apple Valley and St. Croix Lutheran High School who over her four-year career started every match for Bethany, was selected All-UMAC each season and was a two-year team captain.

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