Preps – Page 93 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

ESPN’s Mark May: Gophers to Go 9-3

Posted on September 4, 2015September 4, 2015 by David Shama

Longtime ESPN football analyst Mark May told Sports Headliners last night he believes the Gophers will finish the season with a 9-3 regular season record. May made the prediction at TCF Bank Stadium prior to kickoff but he indicated win or lose he is buying into the program, saying a “win tonight catapults them into the national title picture.”

The Gophers lost 23-16 to No. 2 ranked TCU, a team that was 12-1 a year ago and a favorite to win the national championship. Nobody will have Minnesota in national title discussions anytime soon but May expects the Gophers to be better than last year’s 8-4 team and to contend for the West Division championship in the Big Ten Conference.

May praised Minnesota’s fifth-year coach Jerry Kill who inherited a bottom-feeder program in 2011. “I think you’ve got the right guy, for the right job,” he said about Kill who has made a career out of rebuilding programs.

There’s no reason for Gophers fans to be too discouraged about last night’s loss, despite the usual irrational comments from some disappointed fans who had unrealistic expectations. TCU is one of college football’s best teams and was favored by about 16 points. The Gophers, not even ranked in the top 25 nationally in polls, came within seven points of winning. Near the game’s conclusion Minnesota was within one long touchdown of tying the game and going ahead with an extra point.

Minnesota’s defense, predicted to be among the best in the Big Ten, exceeded expectations. TCU averaged 46.5 points per game last season and returns 10 of 11 starters including Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Trevone Boykin. But the Horned Frogs could produce only two touchdowns and three field goals last night. One of the touchdowns came after Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner fumbled, setting up an easy Horned Frogs touchdown starting at the Gophers’ 15 yard line.

Playmakers on defense were numerous including true freshman outside linebacker Julian Huff who made an impact rushing Boykin. Another Gopher in his debut game, redshirt sophomore middle linebacker Cody Poock, had seven tackles. Redshirt senior cornerback Briean-Boddy Calhoun made nine tackles (seven solo).

As expected, the Gophers’ offense looked like a project and the challenge of producing points was made more difficult playing without two of the best offensive linemen, redshirt senior tackle-guard Josh Campion and redshirt junior tackle Ben Lauer. The blocking was inconsistent, a word that described the work of the entire offense.

The Gophers are in search of playmakers and are without two of their stars from 2014, running back David Cobb and tight end Maxx Williams who have moved on to the NFL. Last night senior wide receiver KJ Maye caught four passes for 73 yards including a 22-yard catch in the fourth quarter that made the score 23-17. Redshirt freshman running back Rodney Smith showed changes of speed and elusiveness in the open field like Cobb did last season. Smith, replacing senior Rodrick Williams whose first half fumble in the TCU was another game-changing miscue, ran for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Redshirt junior quarterback Mitch Leidner was impressive at times including on that late fourth quarter drive putting his team within seven points of going ahead. He completed 19 of 25 passes for 197 yards. He had some poor throws but despite challenging moments he demonstrated leadership and a strong will.

On both sides of the ball last night, and on special teams, the Gophers showed grit. That will be a key ingredient if they’re to make good on May’s prediction of a 9-3 season.

Worth Noting

Scout ranks the Gophers No. 35 in the national recruiting listings for 2016. Under Kill Minnesota has never finished that high in the rankings. Ryan Burns, publisher for Scout’s GopherDigest.com, told Sports Headliners the close game last night is “something they (Gophers recruiters) can point to” in building further momentum.

Burns said nine players the Gophers are recruiting will be on campus for the Michigan game at TCF Bank Stadium on October 31, Halloween night.

TCF Bank Stadium football capacity is 52,525 but a record crowd of 54,147 attended the game including fans who paid $40 for standing-room only tickets.

The M Club Room in the stadium where University of Minnesota letter winners and their friends and families socialize for Gophers games can accommodate about 200 people. On the walls are the names of about 7,000 individuals who have lettered in athletics at Minnesota.

The fourth season of selling beer and wine at the stadium for Gophers football games began last night. The commission revenues the previous three years were: $185,023, $325,567, and $557,597 last season. Athletic department spokesman Chris Werle said alcohol is provided as a service to fans and issued this statement via e-mail:

“Our philosophy is to provide the best in-game experience to our many fans and given that we reside in a market with multiple professional sports teams that serve beer at their events, our fans prefer that we do as well.”

Sports Illustrated describes the Vikings as “the sleeper’s sleeper” in its NFL preview issue that came out this week. The magazine predicts the Vikings, 7-9 last season, will finish at 10-6 and in second place in the NFC North but will just miss the playoffs. Writer Chris Burke praises the defense but frets about the offensive line.

S.I. forecasts the Packers winning the division at 12-4, followed by the Vikings, Lions (8-10) and Bears (3-13). The Ravens will defeat the Seahawks in Super Bowl 50.

College basketball coaches are cautious about the number of quality opponents they schedule for nonconference games. Gophers fans want to see nonconference games between Minnesota coach Richard Pitino and his father, Louisville coach Rick Pitino. It probably doesn’t enhance the likelihood of a multi-game series between the two now that Louisville has made a three-year commitment to play Indiana in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Gophers prep basketball recruits Eric Curry and Amir Coffey attended last night’s Minnesota-TCU football game on official visits to campus. Curry, a power forward from Little Rock, is a Rivals.com three-star recruit while Coffey, the shooting guard from Hopkins High School, is a four-star.

During the last school year 989 MIAC student-athletes were academic all-conference, achieving at least a 3.5 cumulative grade point average. More than 6,000 athletes—over 70 percent of them coming from the state of Minnesota—are expected to participate in MIAC sports again in 2015-2016.

The first game of the season involving an MIAC football team was played last night when Bethel won a nonconference matchup at Wisconsin-Stout, 35-20 as the Royals rallied with three fourth quarter touchdowns. Saint John’s, the preseason favorite to win the MIAC title as voted in a coaches poll, opens at home on Saturday against Buena Vista in another nonconference game.

Morning show host Dave Lee congratulated Sid Hartman earlier this week on his 60th anniversary of being on WCCO Radio. Hartman, who has been writing for Minneapolis newspapers even longer, turned 95 last March.

Wild regular season single game tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. on September 19, exclusively at the Xcel Energy Center Box Office. Beginning at noon that day, they will also be available at Ticketmaster locations and Wild.com. Tickets for preseason games are on sale now.

The four newest members of the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame will be honored in a ceremony Saturday. They are former jockey Tad Leggett; Minneapolis Star Tribune sports reporter Rachel Blount; state veterinarian Dr. Richard Bowman; and retired thoroughbred Wally’s Choice who ranks third all-time in earnings at Canterbury. “Wally the Beer Man” (Wally McNeil) and his wife Joyce McNeil and Canterbury Park board chair Curtis Sampson have been longtime owners of Wally’s Choice.

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Seniority Ends for Vikings Cullen Loeffler

Posted on August 24, 2015August 26, 2015 by David Shama

The Vikings released the longest-tenured player on their roster today. Cullen Loeffler, who had played in 171 career games dating back to 2004, was let go because competing long snapper Kevin McDermott performed better as the Vikings prepare this month for the 2015 season.

“He (McDermott) was faster with his snaps,” head coach Mike Zimmer said. “He was more accurate with his snaps. We charted every one.”

The Vikings have two more preseason games to play before the regular season begins on September 14. Zimmer wants to use the coming days and weeks to get the “timing down” between McDermott and other specialists involved with placekicking and punting. The coach indicated the Vikings are committed to McDermott who was signed in the offseason as a free agent, and they don’t plan to fill the roster with a second long snapper. He also said a disappointing performance by placekicker Blair Walsh last Saturday night (see Worth Noting section below) had nothing to do with releasing Loeffler.

McDermott, 25, was a teammate of Vikings punter Jeff Locke for five years at UCLA. He snapped the ball to Locke for the Bruins during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The 49ers signed McDermott as a rookie free agent in 2013 and he played in 16 regular season games and three playoff games that season. Last season he played in seven games with the Ravens.

Loeffler, 34, played in all 16 regular season games during 10 of his 11 seasons with the Vikings. He has been a popular player with teammates and off the field with fans where his volunteer focus has sometimes been on military veterans.

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman admires Loeffler. “These types of decisions are the hardest part of our jobs. Cullen was outstanding in the community and on the field for the Vikings. He handled his business with class, and his impact in the locker room and on the franchise were second to none. We wish him the best in the future.”

Worth Noting

Walsh, who missed three field goals and one extra point on Saturday night in the preseason win over the Raiders, also struggled at times last season—his third in the NFL. Walsh made a career worst 74.3 percent of his field goals in 2014. An Associated Press All-Pro as a rookie in 2012, Walsh had a big junior year in college at Georgia, but missed 14 of 35 field goal attempts as a senior.

Chase Ford had a touchdown catch on Saturday evening but Zimmer wouldn’t say today how many tight ends the team plans to keep on its final 53-man roster. “I am just out there trying to get better everyday. That’s up to them (the coaches) and Rick (Spielman) who they want to keep on the squad,” said Ford who during both the 2013 and 2014 seasons has been promoted to the roster from the Vikings practice squad.

Christian Ponder anticipated being booed and he was when the former Vikings quarterback played on Saturday night for the Raiders at TCF Bank Stadium. He had thought about taking a bow but said he “wimped out.”

PGA Tour Golf Course Properties is promoting discounts at golf courses when Vikings fans travel to games in California and Arizona this year. More at TPC.com/football.

Gophers coach Jerry Kill had several interesting observations about his team and its August practices while talking yesterday on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle. He said 6-10 redshirt sophomore tight end Nate Wozniak is “maybe the most improved” player on the roster, and redshirt sophomore linebacker Cody Poock is having an “unbelievable” preseason camp. Kill identified true freshmen who will not redshirt including running back Shannon Brooks, defensive lineman Colton Beebe and offensive lineman Tyler Moore. As Kill did earlier this month, he raised the possibility of gifted runner Chris Streveler playing at a position or two other than quarterback this season.

Today is Kill’s 54th birthday.

The Gophers-TCU game on September 3 will be televised nationally on ESPN with Dave Pasch providing play-by-play and Brian Griese doing analysis.

Mike Grant is now the fifth coach in Minnesota high school football history to achieve 300 career wins. Grant’s record in 33 seasons is 300 wins and 66 losses after Eden Prairie defeated Totino-Grace on Saturday night. Other members of the 300 club are Ron Stolski (Brainerd), Mike Mahlen (Verndale), Dwight Lundeen (Becker) and George Larson (Cambridge).

Zach Zenner, from Eagan High School and South Dakota State, is an undrafted rookie running back with the Lions who is making news. Zenner rushed four times for 22 yards and caught five passes for 59 yards and a touchdown in a preseason game last Thursday against the Redskins. In two exhibition games he has rushed for a team-best 77 yards on 17 carries.

Saints owner and “fun is good” specialist Mike Veeck will speak at the next CORES luncheon on September 10 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. Reservations must be made by September 7 or sooner. More information about CORES is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

It looks almost certain 2015 will be remembered as the season the Twins’ highly-hyped minor league prospects began to change the franchise. Coming into this season Baseball America’s top 10 Twins prospects included No. 1 Byron Buxton, No. 2 Miguel Sano, No. 9 Trevor May and No. 10 Eddie Rosario. All four are making a difference for the Twins including run producers Buxton, Sano and Rosario, and the relief pitching of former starter May. Right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios, ranked No. 3 in the listings, seems likely to join the Twins from Triple-A Rochester on September 1 when major league rosters can be expanded.

Twins right fielder Torii Hunter, who turned 40 on Saturday, is hitting .174 in his last 30 games. Hunter’s season average is .235, or 42 points lower than his career average. Despite his locker room leadership, it’s questionable whether he, or the Twins, will want a return year in 2016 unless his hitting picks up between now and season’s end.

Amanda Zahui B., the former Gopher who left school with two seasons of eligibility remaining, is averaging nine minutes per game as a rookie for the WNBA’s Shock. The 6-5, 250-pound native of Sweden is scoring 3.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

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U Makes Money on Carolina-TCU Swap

Posted on August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 by David Shama

Gophers coach Jerry Kill wanted out of a two-game schedule in 2013-2014 against North Carolina because the Tar Heels represented more of a competitive nonconference opponent than his struggling program was ready for. What he didn’t know was athletic director Norwood Teague would eventually schedule a much more difficult opponent in TCU. And while the Gophers might not win on the field against TCU, Teague arranged financial terms easing the expense of vacating the North Carolina games.

Minnesota was 3-9 overall and 2-6 in Big Ten games after Kill’s first season in 2011. The Gophers had the same record the season prior and Kill knew there was monumental work to do in rebuilding the program. In the fall of 2012 Teague and Kill were in agreement to buyout the Carolina contract for $800,000.

The Gophers had been scheduled to play in Chapel Hill, North Carolina September 7, 2013, with the return game in Minneapolis September 14 of the next year. The buyout was criticized by Minnesota media and fans for the cost and also the unwillingness to play an opponent from a major football conference.

Kill, though, was trying to follow a formula used by most program building coaches—schedule mediocre opposition in advance of the conference season. He got his way in 2013 when Minnesota was 4-0 against nonconference opponents New Mexico State, San Jose State, UNLV and Western Illinois.

However, in the spring of 2013 the Gophers announced the scheduling of two games with TCU, a program coming off many 10-plus win seasons in the 2000s and eventually headed for 12-1 in 2014. Kill and TCU coach Gary Patterson have been buddies for years but when the deal for the two schools was being initially arranged neither was aware of it.

Teague and TCU booked a game for September 13 last year in Fort Worth with the second game in Minneapolis this season—September 3. The deal was made before Kill had control of his football schedule, and is a prime example of disconnect between the coach and his now departed and infamous athletic director.

“Coach Patterson, you can talk to him. He knew nothing about it (scheduling TCU and Minnesota),” Kill said earlier this month. “I knew nothing about it. All of a sudden you hear something, and he goes, hey, are we going to play each other?

“I go, no. He goes, I don’t want to play. He goes, I heard rumors. I…said we’re not playing. And then all of a sudden I get a phone call that we’re going to play the game. I’m low man on the totem pole, so we’ll go play the game.”

Teague saw an opportunity to make money with the TCU games. A source told Sports Headliners the deal Teague finalized not only provides monies to entirely offset the $800,000 North Carolina buyout, but the Gophers will make a few hundred thousand dollars beyond that figure—perhaps $400,000.

The Horned Frogs are a favorite to win the national championship this season and it will be a huge upset if the Gophers win on September 3. Kill’s program is dramatically improved since he lobbied and won termination of the North Carolina games, but in a perfect world the Minnesota coach would probably prefer playing VMI instead of TCU. Still, his players are excited about the TCU opportunity on national TV and the competitor in Kill is evident now—with the coach saying earlier this month “we’re looking forward to it.”

Worth Noting

Patterson made a major change in his staff and offensive philosophy after TCU finished 4-8 in 2013. He brought in new co-offensive coordinators and installed a fast-paced attack similar to those used by other programs in the Big 12—sometimes only one player in the backfield, four wide receivers and no tight ends. The Horned Frogs had the personnel to make the change and went from 88th in scoring per game to second last season, averaging 46.5 points. The TCU offense starts with quarterback Trevone Boykin, a Heisman Trophy candidate.

You wonder if the Gophers might follow TCU’s change and open up their offense in a couple of years as the program adds more playmaking quarterbacks and receivers. Certainly Kill has a consultant ready to help in his friend Patterson.

Patterson is one of the nation’s winningest coaches and first built his program at TCU with defense. Gophers defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys has visited TCU in the past, another indication of the respect and friendship between Patterson and Kill.

The Horned Frogs use a 4-2-5 defensive scheme loaded on the backend with athletic players who can run in space and defend. Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, who watched the Gophers score only one touchdown in last year’s 30-7 loss to the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, is more concerned about the TCU personnel than the scheme.

“That is a less of a headache as far as preparing than just the kind of players they have and how well those kids play in the system,” Limegrover said. “We didn’t have a bad day offensively last year because they did a bunch of stuff that we couldn’t handle necessarily from an assignment standpoint. We just didn’t play well. We had five turnovers. …”

The opening weekend of college football will draw a lot of attention including the AdvoCare Classic on September 5 when Wisconsin plays Alabama in a Big Ten versus SEC matchup at AT&T Stadium in Irving, Texas. A friend bought four tickets at $300 each (face value) for the game between the top 25 teams. ESPN’s College Gameday will promote the game that morning from Fort Worth.

Sean Engel, who is a senior wide receiver at Chaska High School, has received nine college offers this summer with the most recent coming from Wyoming and head coach Craig Bohl, the former North Dakota State coach who built much of his success with the Bison recruiting Minnesota preps. Engel is the brother of former Gophers wide receiver Derrick Engel who has been hired by Adidas to be a national account manager.

Fans shouldn’t make too many judgments about the Vikings offense during the preseason including tonight’s game against the Raiders at TCF Bank Stadium. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner said the team won’t show a lot in the team’s five exhibition games. “We do the things we need to do to go play a preseason game,” he said.

Exhibition games put a focus on judging personnel and eventually reducing the number of players to 53. Turner, who three times has been an NFL head coach, said his experience is teams don’t have pre-set goals on number of players at each position as they reduce rosters. He added “you want to keep the 53 best players” and the Vikings are proficient at making evaluations.

In a move to help their often struggling bullpen, the Twins have acquired left-handed reliever Neal Cotts from the Brewers in exchange for a player to be named later, or for cash. The 35-year-old Cotts appeared in 51 games for the Brewers this season, with a 3.26 ERA (49.2 IP, 18 ER), holding opponents to a .239 average with 17 walks and 49 strikeouts. During 2015 left-handed hitters are hitting .185 (15-for-81) against him.

Carl Pohlad, the former Twins owner who died in 2009, would have celebrated his 100th birthday on Sunday (August 23). Former Gophers women’s basketball coach Pam Borton turns 50 years old today.

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