Recruiting – Page 28 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

P.J. Fleck Praises Team Commitment

Posted on July 26, 2022July 26, 2022 by David Shama

P.J. Fleck believes his 2022 Gophers football team is “probably the most committed” he has coached in six years at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers head coach spoke at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis this morning and talked about how his players show a commitment to going beyond what’s required.

Part of that culture is led by four players in their sixth year with the Gophers. Wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell, running back Mo Ibrahim, quarterback Tanner Morgan and center John Michael Schmitz make up an “encore four” who provide maturity to the program and share wisdom with other players.

Fleck singled out Ibrahim as a player who returned to the Gophers not only to help himself but others. Ibrahim, who missed most of last season after being injured in the opening game against Ohio State, could have opted out for pro football after being the Big Ten Running Back of the Year in 2020. “He did it for the team,” Fleck said about the decision to stay in school.

Ibrahim, who is coming off surgery for a torn Achilles, is at “full strength,” Feck said.
Ibrahim was a third team Associated Press All-American in 2020 after rushing for 1,076 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Schmitz was named to the Outland Trophy Watch List today. The award recognizes the best interior lineman in college football. He was named to the Rimington Award Watch List last week. That award is presented to the best center in college football.

Schmitz has been chosen as a preseason All-American by numerous outlets entering the season. He was named All-Big Ten Second Team last season by the coaches and All-Big Ten Third Team by the media.

Fleck referred to the Gophers as a developmental program not only in football but other areas including academics. He said the team’s most recent GPA is 3.3, and for 11 consecutive semesters the GPA has been at 3.0 or better.

The Gophers are picked to finish third in the West Division by Cleveland.com, now in its 12th year producing preseason Big Ten football polls. Cleveland.com’s predictions are highly anticipated because the 36 voters in the poll include the expertise of Big Ten media beat writers.

The Gophers received two first place votes in the poll that resulted in this predicted order of finish: Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska, Illinois and Northwestern. Ohio State is projected to win the East Division and the Big Ten championship game.

Worth Noting

Kevin Warren, the former chief operating officer of the Minnesota Vikings and now Big Ten commissioner, spoke this morning in advance of the conference coaches. He favors Name, Image and Likeness opportunities for college athletes but said more uniformity is needed in regulation and wants federal legislation enacted. He expressed concern, too, about NIL being misused in recruiting.

Warren favors college football playoff expansion but is also aware of the need to maintain relationships with bowl game partners. He also said USC and UCLA, who join the Big Ten for the 2024-2025 school year, will have full shares of revenues from the conference’s media rights deals.

New Mexico State coach Jerry Kill will speak to the Twin Cities Dunkers group the morning of his September 1 game against the Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. Ex-Gophers AD Joel Maturi will introduce Minnesota’s former head coach, while Dave Mona moderates the program. Maturi and Mona led the hiring of Kill when he joined the Gophers in December of 2010.

The Gophers have single game tickets on sale for their seven home games. Prices start at $30 for the New Mexico State game. While the Aggies are Minnesota’s opening game, not so for Kill’s team which begins its schedule August 27 and then has to play Minnesota five days later.

Twins radio broadcaster Cory Provus will be part of the Big Ten Network’s roster of play-by-play talent for games in 2022. Former Gopher Brock Vereen will travel to Big Ten campuses to do interviews and provide analysis.

The Vikings, who started their fifth training camp this week in Eagan, have 10 starters returning on offense and seven on defense. Their strength of schedule for 2022 ranks No. 20 in the 32-team NFL. Three Minnesota natives are on the roster: linebacker Ryan Connelly, running back C.J. Ham and wide receiver Adam Thielen.

Brian Cosgriff is rightfully excited about the coaching staff he has put in place since being named girls basketball head coach at Minnetonka last spring. Here’s a look at the staff working with Cosgriff who won seven state titles in 21 years as Hopkins head coach:

Associate head coach Andy Berkvam was head coach at Lakeville North for 23 years and won three state titles there. Assistant coach Brock Tesdahl has worked for Hopkins boys’ coach Ken Novak and is the grandson of legendary Chisholm boys’ coach Bob McDonald. Jim Scheffler, with 58 years of coaching experience, is the shooting coach and the author of books on shooting.

Brian’s brother Barry, with 25 years of coaching experience, is the director of operations. Macy Hatlestad, who played at the University of St. Thomas and whose mom Julie is a long time assistant at Alexandria High School, is the junior varsity coach. John Roache, with two years of prior experience on the previous staff, is the 10th grade coach. Allie Rogers, who has been a student coach at Luther College and whose mom Julie is head girls’ coach at New Ulm, is the 9th grade coach.

“We have a great mix of young and old, as well as male and female coaches,” Cosgriff said in a text message. “We feel very fortunate to take over a great program that Leah Dasovitch created.”

The Twins are averaging 21,492 fans per home game, according to figures from ESPN.com. If that was the final average for the year it would be the second lowest since the club moved into Target Field in 2010. The Twins attracted a Target Field low of about 16,000 in 2021.

The Wild traded a 2022 All-Star goalie when sending Cam Talbot to the Senators earlier this summer. “I think they took a big gamble,” a hockey source told Sports Headliners. As of now, it looks like the Wild will rely on 37-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury as the primary goalie.

The Wild probably won’t say much publicly but ownership and management has to be nervous about getting star forward Kirill Kaprizov back in the states from his native Russia with the unpredictable environment there. If Kaprizov isn’t in Minnesota within a few weeks, this will turn into a media soap opera.

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Glen Mason: Marion Barber a ‘Delight’

Posted on June 5, 2022June 5, 2022 by David Shama

Glen Mason remembers the last time he saw Marion Barber III. It was not long after Barber retired following the 2012 NFL season and he was back in town.

Over the years Barber called his former Gopher coach and this time he wanted to have dinner. Barber was thinking of moving back to Minnesota where his parents and siblings lived.

Mason said to come over to his house for dinner. Barber, who didn’t drink alcohol, arrived with an expensive bottle of champagne. He insisted Mason drink the whole bottle, while it was at its bubbly-best that evening.

“I am not a big drinker,” Mason told Sports Headliners Friday. “I got half shit-faced. I mean he was laughing at me. He said, ‘Coach, you’re slurring your words.’ I said, Marion, it’s your fault.”

Police from Frisco, Texas found Barber, age 38, dead in his apartment several days ago. Media reports are police were at the apartment as part of a wellness check but the cause of death hasn’t been publicized.

Barber had been detained by police in Texas in 2014 and given a mental health evaluation. The online Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported recently that a year ago former Dallas Cowboys teammate Dez Bryant tweeted that “he’s down and out bad.”

After leaving the Gophers and Mason following the 2004 season, Barber became a key contributor as a running back for the Cowboys. He played six seasons with Dallas, then finished up his pro career playing for the Chicago Bears.

Mason, who was Minnesota’s head coach from 1997-2006, believes the last time he talked by phone with Barber was about 18 months ago. He wanted to fly down to Texas, show up at Barber’s door and the two could spend time together. Mason didn’t know specifically what Barber’s issues were, but he was aware there were problems.

The coach was aggressive about arranging a visit but Barber pushed back and said he was busy. “Well, after I did that, any time I called him, he didn’t take my call and he didn’t return my call,” Mason remembered.

Most of the world, including in Minnesota, knows Barber’s name as a football player. Mason, who saw Barber almost every day from 2001-2004, will tell you that as good as the former All-Big Ten running back was on the field, he was a better person.

“The kid was a delight. When I thought of Marion Barber I did not think of him as the football player. I thought of him as the kid walking down the hall.

“He was kind of shy. …I wouldn’t say he was a class clown but he was kind of a practical joker. He’d give you a laugh all the time.

“Everybody liked Marion. Over a four-year period, he didn’t give me one minute (of a) problem. He never did anything wrong. I don’t know of a player I liked more than Marion Barber.”

About a month ago Mason was down in Florida and encountered Bill Parcells, Barber’s first head coach with the Cowboys. The Pro Football Hall of Fame coach told Mason that Barber was one of his favorite players. “That guy knew how to play football,” Parcells said.

Barber played high school football at Wayzata before attending Minnesota. Younger brothers Dom and Thomas followed Marion to the Gophers. Their father, Marion Barber Junior, was a great running back for Minnesota in the late 1970s.

It was suggested to Mason the family’s legacy at the University of Minnesota is unique—that the Barbers are the first family of Golden Gophers football. “All contributors, all-stars in their own right. I can’t think of a (comparable college football) program,” Mason said.

Mason revels in telling the story of how Barber came to his program. Although a successful running back and defensive back at Wayzata, there was minimal interest from college coaches. “Really no one was recruiting him, no big schools including us,” Mason recalled.

Mason lived within a short drive of Wayzata High School so he was aware of Marion. Another connection to the Barber family was that in the 1970s Mason was an assistant coach at Illinois when the Illini were recruiting Marion Jr.

As the recruiting period in 2001 was drawing to a close Mason questioned his staff about whether a scholarship should be offered to young Marion as a defensive back. Mason received push back from the staff and one assistant asked what made the boss believe Barber could play defensive back in the Big Ten. Mason answered because Barber was the one defender who intercepted Cretin-Derham Hall quarterback Joe Mauer.

Mason brought Barber to campus and offered him a scholarship—as a defensive back. No, thanks.

Barber insisted he was a runner and declined the offer.

A few weeks later Mason encountered Marion Jr. and inquired if his son had college offers cooking. The answer was no, so the persistent Gopher coach called Marion III and again offered a scholarship as a defensive back. “If you’ve got any sense you’ll take it,” he told Barber.

This time Barber accepted but the teenager soon showed his own persistence to Mason. While still in high school, Barber called and asked for a meeting.

He had a proposal. Let him play running back for his first season at Minnesota and if it didn’t work out he would be willing to play any position for the Gophers. Mason figured why not accept the deal because Barber wasn’t going to see the field anyway in his first year with the program.

But months later, at the first day of practice, the freshman running back was making an impression. After about 30 minutes running backs coach Vic Adamle told Mason the coaches had misjudged Barber and “this kid is good.”

Mason won’t take credit for how Barber surprised everyone from the start of his college career. “We gave a kid a chance mainly because his dad was a player here. If you can’t take care of your own, then shame on you. He did it all on his own and proved everybody wrong.”

Mason, whose previous head coaching stops also included Kent State and Kansas, can’t say exactly why Barber was misjudged out of high school and was so special immediately in college. He has a theory, though, that for whatever reason many Minnesota prep football players are late developers. He saw this prove out over and over again at the U, including with offensive linemen.

Barber ranks fifth all-time in rushing yards at Minnesota with 3,276. His 35 rushing touchdowns rank second and his 575 career carries are seventh. He made first-team All-Big Ten in 2003.

He and Laurence Maroney were the first pair of NCAA running backs to each produce 1,000 yard seasons in consecutive years on the same team. After Barber ran for 975 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Cowboys in 2007 he was selected for the Pro Bowl.

Barber deserves a place among the best U running backs ever. No one might have run harder, had more determination. Yet he could be shifty with a burst of speed, too. He also excelled as a pass receiver and the Gophers sometimes used him as a slot receiver to put both he and Maroney on the field at the same time. “He was just a tremendous running back,” Mason said.

With a love of contact, ferocious might be the word best describing Barber’s running style. “Strong, bruising runner,” Mason said. “I think it got to the point where people knew if you’re going to play Minnesota you better buckle it on. …”

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U Looks on Track with Jaxon Howard

Posted on May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 by David Shama

How are the Golden Gophers doing in pursuit of the state’s No. 1 football prospect in the class of 2023? “I think Minnesota truly is in the thick of it for Jaxon (Howard),” Ryan Burns told Sports Headliners Monday.

Burns is the Gopher Illustrated and 247Sports authority who tracks U football year round. Howard, a potential college tight end or defensive lineman in college, has LSU, Miami and Minnesota among his preferred destinations. The Robbinsdale Cooper star will make official campus visits to all three schools next month, per Burns. And yesterday on Twitter Howard announced those three programs and Michigan comprise his final four list.

Jaxon and his dad Willie Howard, the Cooper coach and a former NFL defensive lineman, have a close relationship so that could be a factor in the college choice. As a hometown prospect, Jaxon has witnessed positive developments with the Gopher program including two of the last three seasons winning nine games or more. Hopkins alum Boye Mafe stayed home to play defensive end for the Gophers and was drafted in the NFL’s second round this spring.

The Gophers also have four verbal commits from Minnesotans in their class of 2023. Jerome Williams, Reese Trip, Greg Johnson and Martin Owusu are the state’s No. 2, 4, 5 and 6^th ranked prep players for 2023, per 247Sports. Knowing the state’s better prep prospects appear Minnesota-bound could influence Howard.

Burns said 2023 commit Darius Taylor, the running back from Walled Lake, Michigan who Iowa and Wisconsin offered, is friends with Howard and has been encouraging him to become a Gopher. The two spent time together at the spring game and Taylor has been pitching on social media for Howard to stay home.

Head coach P.J. Fleck and his assistants are recruiting now. After a short break around Memorial Day, recruiting intensifies for power five schools like Minnesota with the staging of camps during June. The Gophers will host two camps in June, according to Burns, and will attend others out of the state to evaluate talent.

Burns thinks Anthony Brown, the four-star wide receiver from Ohio who was a prize verbal commit before backing off his pledge, will be interested in earning an offer from Ohio State in June when he attends a Buckeyes’ camp. Brown’s brother Michael Brown–Stephens plays wide receiver for the Gophers and Anthony was wooed at the U spring game, but Burns isn’t wagering he will take up residence in Dinkytown. “They’re in the mix. (But) I don’t anticipate a reunion between the two parties. …”

The Gophers passed the football less than any other power five school last season and that was a red flag to Brown. If he doesn’t commit elsewhere before Signing Day in December, Brown could be watching the Gophers this fall to see if they revive their passing attack.

Perhaps the Gophers will end up with high three-star wide receiver recruit Tamarcus Cooley from North Carolina. “Minnesota has been pushing for him tremendously hard,” Burns said.

Gopher assistants Greg Harbaugh Jr. (he has North Carolina ties) and Matt Simon are in pursuit of Cooley who is expected to visit campus next month. “I think the offer list (for Cooley) would be just as comparable to someone like Anthony Brown,” Burns said. “I think it will be very interesting to see how much of an impact they can make on that June official visit with…Tamarcus Cooley.”

Burns also said Simons watched Georgia WR Jarvis Hayes work out recently and the Gophers have offered a scholarship. Hayes has shown his athleticism with a high jump of 6-feet four-inches, per Burns, and the Gophers “pretty badly” want him.

Hayes and West Fargo defensive lineman Karter Menz are two names Burns mentioned when asked who may make verbal commitments to Minnesota during the summer. Nebraska has also offered a scholarship to Menz.

247Sports ranks Elinneus Davis from Moorhead as the state’s No. 3 prospect and the defensive lineman’s college offers include the Gophers and Washington. He could project as a 300-plus nose tackle on the next level. “Academics are going to be important to him,” Burns said. “I know Minnesota wants him tremendously bad. I think they’ve got a pretty legitimate shot at him.”

The Gophers’ on-campus camps will be June 5 and 15, with official visit weekends for recruits June 10 and 17. Burns doesn’t expect any verbal commits during the busy month of June, but that will change in the summer and fall.

Worth Noting

What was the biggest positive Burns took from watching spring practice? “The passing game looks like they know what they want to be,” he said.

Burns’ evaluation is that under 2021 offensive coordinator Mike Sanford the Gophers continually tried something different in the passing game. With the return of previous coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca the expectation of Burns is a return to the RPO passing game “that was so prolific in 2019.”

Major concern? Burns wants to see the emergence of playmaker receivers beyond senior Chris Autman-Bell now in his sixth season with the program. The candidates are Dylan Wright, Michael Brown-Stephens, Daniel Jackson and Brevyn Spann–Ford. “I just want to see with my own two eyes that when the lights come on Saturdays that those four guys are ready to help Tanner (QB Morgan) and his passing game take a step forward.”

Worth watching too in fall camp and early games will be the status of veteran running backs Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts. Both were injured and missed most of last season, and then had no risky contact in the spring while they recovered.

Ibrahim is recovering from an Achilles tear and that’s serious business for a college running back, although he always relied more on his strength, toughness and savvy in finding holes than he did speed. He does need to be able to make decisive cuts as he did in the past as a 2020 All-American. “I am hopeful we see him at least 90 percent,” Burns said. “I think that’s realistic.”

Potts’ injury was never publicly disclosed but Burns said it didn’t involve soft tissue. He predicts a “100 percent” likelihood of Potts being able to perform as in the past.

Wishing the best for former Minnesota Mr. Basketball chair Ken Lien in his convalescence following 10-plus days in the hospital.

The postseason results for men’s pro sports franchises in Minneapolis-St. Paul has been discouraging for years and the first round exits by the Wild and Timberwolves this spring add to the woes. Check the records back to October 1, 2004 and the combined postseason winning percentage of the Timberwolves, Twins, Vikings and Wild is 28 percent—32 wins, 71 losses.

In Game One of the AL Division Series on October 5, 2004 the Twins defeated the Yankees in New York 2-0. Since then the Twins haven’t won a postseason game, compiling 18 consecutive losses and a 1-19 record.

The Timberwolves are 3-8 during the period referenced, with two playoff appearances. The Vikings 4-7 and the Wild 24-48.

The Vikings announced Monday they have released a player with one of the best football names I recall: linebacker Tuf Borland. He played in two games last season for the Purple.

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