Twins – Page 173 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Jones Undecided on U Official Visit

Posted on July 26, 2013July 26, 2013 by David Shama

Tyus Jones isn’t sure about making an official recruiting visit to the University of Minnesota, according to his mother Debbie Jones.

The family has made unofficial visits to Minnesota in the past to become acquainted with the Gophers’ basketball program. “We have talked about it (the official visit) but not decided,” Debbie told Sports Headliners on Wednesday.

The Gophers are on the Apple Valley High School point guard’s current list of possible college destinations along with Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State. There had been seven schools but Debbie said, “Ohio State is no longer recruiting Tyus.”

The National Collegiate Athletic Association allows a recruit to make five official visits to schools. An official visit is paid for by the school while an unofficial is at the family’s expense.

The first official visit by Tyus will be to Baylor in late August. Baylor director of player development Jared Nuness is a distant cousin of Tyus who is the Rivals.com No. 2 prospect in the country for the class of 2014.

Official visits by Tyus are planned for August, September and October with dates and schools beyond Baylor to be determined. High school seniors can sign National Letters of Intent with colleges in November, or they can wait until the following spring for a second period of signing dates. Asked by Sports Headliners on Sunday if Tyus will sign in November, his mom said: “I think so.”

Worth Noting

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners the 2014 All-Star Game logo will be revealed next Tuesday at Target Field. Among those present for the unveiling will be officials from Major League Baseball.

The Twins will host the first ever All-Star Game at Target Field on July 15, 2014. The franchise hosted All-Star Games in 1965 at Met Stadium and 1985 in the Metrodome.

During the 2012 and 2013 baseball seasons Target Field has been the site of Kenny Chesney concerts drawing crowds of more than 42,000. No decision has been made on a concert for next year including type of music or date. “We’re likely to host one major show (in 2014),” St. Peter said. “It’s likely to be post-All-Star Game.”

St. Peter also said the Twins are “hopeful” about hosting the NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2015 but that will be the final decision of the Wild and National Hockey League. Both the Wild and Twins have long been interested in bringing the Classic to Minnesota where the local NHL team would play against an opponent to be announced, perhaps the Blackhawks.

St. Peter is co-coach of an Eden Prairie travelling baseball team for 15 year olds that includes twin sons Ben and Eric. Asked about their prospects of playing college baseball, St. Peter said they inherited their dad’s slowness of foot.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said he and his wife enjoyed a one-week vacation in Carmel, California. The Vikings reported to training camp at Minnesota State Mankato yesterday with the first practice today.

Frazier on whether it’s fair for observers to tie so much of the expectations about the Vikings to starting quarterback Christian Ponder: “It’s a team game and we need a lot of guys to step up. We definitely need Christian just to continue to improve, but we need the rest of our offense, our defense, our special teams, to improve as well.

“And if we all improve across the board we’ll be a better football team and we’ll have a chance of reaching our goals as a team. It’s not fair to say we’ll only go as far as Christian will take us. We have a lot of people that have to play well also.”

Frazier said the team will practice today and tomorrow, take Sunday off and then be in pads for the first time on Monday and for the duration of training camp in Mankato.

Chris Burke, writing last Tuesday for S.I.com, ranked new Viking Matt Cassel as the fifth best backup quarterback in the NFL. Burke said Cassel was “awful” last season for the Chiefs but played on a bad team. He noted Cassel was outstanding in 2010 for the Chiefs and 2008 for the Patriots. “A lot of time has passed since then but Cassel has more NFL on-field experience than just about anyone on this list,” Burke wrote.

Kyle Orton of the Cowboys is Burke’s No. 1 followed by Matt Moore (Dolphins), Ryan Fitzpatrick (Titans) and Matt Hasselbeck (Colts).

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill meets with the media next Tuesday with the opening practice for his team on Thursday. Four practices including the August 10 scrimmage (start time 4:40 p.m.) at TCF Bank Stadium are open to the public. More details at Gophersports.com. The Gophers open their season at home on August 29 against UNLV.

Will Rakeem Buckles transfer to the Gophers after finishing summer school at Florida International where new Minnesota basketball boss Richard Pitino coached last season? The 6-7 forward sat out last season after transferring from Louisville and could play this fall at Minnesota as a graduate student if the NCAA approves.

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Healthy Kill Ready for Gophers Season

Posted on July 24, 2013July 24, 2013 by David Shama

Coach Jerry Kill told Sports Headliners his health is good as he prepares for the start of practices on August 2 and his third season at Minnesota. “I am fine,” Kill said.

Kill looked trim and was energetic during a night-time interview that is part of a typical week for him where he is working long hours every day. Like other major college football coaches, the demands on Kill’s time aren’t fully understood by most outsiders. In addition to coaching, recruiting, managing his staff, public speaking, working with the media and running summer football camps, Kill knows he and his assistants are responsible for the behavior of more than 100 young men on his roster.

Since taking over at Minnesota Kill has led a remarkable turnaround in the academic performance of his players. Players are attending classes and excelling. After last season, for example, the Gophers had 31 Academic All-Big Ten players, second in the conference only to Northwestern (34), a private school long known for its academic success. Minnesota had 13 more Academic All-Big Ten players than the year prior.

Admiration for Kill among Gophers fans has increased not just based on the coach’s insistence on good citizenship and grades. He has reached out to fans, and also key groups like the state’s high school football coaches with whom he is popular for various reasons including Minnesota’s aggressive approach in encouraging prospects to try out for the team even though they haven’t been offered scholarships. He has travelled the state of Minnesota telling his story about how it took time to rebuild programs at other places he’s coached and that the Gophers will be no different.

But Kill’s commitment to the community goes even further. Probably no coach in Gophers history has been more open to helping others with problems. He tries to do so privately and without asking for attention. In the same evening he might shuttle between a cancer promoted event and a football gathering. Another day he will thoughtfully listen as a friend relates the story of a boy who has experienced 300 seizures per month.

No doubt Kill’s perspective on those who have health issues has been impacted by his own personal history. Despite seizures during his career at Minnesota, Kill has missed only minimal time coaching his team. “I am a cancer survivor,” Kill said. “I developed epilepsy through that. …I see a doctor like anybody else that has a situation and I move forward on it.”

Among those who know Kill best, he is already a winner but the general public in Minnesota will judge him on wins and losses. The Gophers qualified for a bowl game last season after increasing their win total from three in 2011 to six in 2012. The team played better fundamentally last year than in Kill’s first season, a sure sign of good coaching.

Fans wonder if year three at Minnesota can approach the third season success Kill had rebuilding programs at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Coming off mediocre second seasons, Kill’s teams at those schools earned 12-2 and 10-3 records.

There’s a difference, though, between past year threes and the one coming up. Because of a late start in recruiting after taking over as Gophers coach, Kill and staff had only minimal impact on the 2011 recruiting class. That means Kill has only two recruiting classes of his own in place so far.

“It makes a difference,” Kill said. “Somebody was telling me in 2009 here, when it was supposed to be a really good recruiting class, I think there was 20 kids
signed… I think there’s only four that have played. There’s a lot of emptiness in our program that we’ve had to fill in. I am not blaming Tim (Brewster, former coach). I am not blaming the administration. That’s the way it was. …”

“We’re a young team. There may be only four or five seniors (who) start.”

Those young players are expected to include promising sophomore wide receiver Andre McDonald who didn’t participate in spring practice. Despite at least one media report that McDonald wasn’t on the team, Kill said that isn’t correct. “He’s been working hard,” Kill said.

What about players who won’t or maybe will not be ready for the start of practice next month? “Zach Mottla (center) is a young man that won’t play for us this year because of the broken leg situation. Pete Westerhaus (linebacker) has a situation he’s been fighting and I don’t look to him to be in camp. We just want Pete to get well. (Center) Brian Bobek has got a viral infection that we’re waiting on him to get cleared.”

Worth Noting

Gophers coach Jerry Kill will be one of 12 Big Ten coaches doing news conferences and previewing their teams today from Chicago. Kill will speak at 1 p.m. with the Big Ten Network providing coverage.

The Big Ten announced its third annual Players to Watch List this morning but no one from the Gophers including much publicized defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman was among the 10 footballers.

The Gophers’ first practice on August 2 starts at 5:15 p.m. and is open to the public. Practices on August 3 and 4 begin at 10:25 a.m. and also are open to fans. All three practices will be at the Gibson-Nagurski Complex.

The Howard Pulley team that includes Tyus Jones and Reid Travis plays BABC Boston in an AAU Super Showcase game from Disney World that will be televised by ESPNU tonight beginning at 6 p.m.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien e-mailed that Austin High point guard Zach Wessels has a scholarship offer from Minnesota State Moorhead.

Chris Herrmann, the substitute Twins catcher who hit a grand slam home run last night against the Angels to help Minnesota win for the sixth time in seven games, was a sixth round draft choice in 2009 who until this season had never played at a higher level than Double-A. He is hitting .409 in 22 at bats for the Twins.

The Twins announced this morning Joe Mauer is on paternity leave and the club has recalled catcher Drew Butera from Triple-A Rochester.

Steve Nestor will speak to the Gophers football team about the program’s history on a date to be determined. Nestor, a Gophers football historian and former student trainer in the 1960s, will also talk about his relationship with the late John Williams, a 1967 All-American tackle at Minnesota.

Over a year ago Nestor, who owns a radio station in Glenwood, Minnesota, donated a kidney to Williams. Within weeks Williams passed away while out for a walk. “When Barb (John’s wife) called, it just floored me. Up to that point all had been so right,” Nestor said.

Nestor, a white man who grew up in Minnesota, and Williams, an African-American originally from Ohio, had become close friends. Gophers coach Jerry Kill had wanted the two to address the team last year. Now that opportunity to talk about friendships, organ donation and more will be for Nestor alone.

Look for CORES to announce that Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague will speak to the group on Thursday, September 12 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington. Anyone interested in attending the lunch and program can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Canterbury Park’s Extreme Race Day, featuring exhibition racing with camels, ostriches and zebras, drew 20,291 fans last Saturday, the largest crowd at the Shakopee racetrack since 1988. It was the seventh annual Extreme Race Day but the first that included zebras.

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Tyus Jones Likley to Sign in November

Posted on July 22, 2013July 24, 2013 by David Shama

Tyus Jones‘ mom told Sports Headliners yesterday she expects her son to make his official college commitment in November. Debbie Jones also said during the telephone interview her son Tre Jones, an eighth grader next school year, hopes to play on the Apple Valley High School varsity team with Tyus.

Tyus, a nationally recruited point guard who is among the most sought after Minnesota preps ever, could verbally commit to a college now but that won’t happen. The family plans official visits to colleges including possibly Minnesota in August, September and October before a decision is made. Debbie said reports Tyus was ready to commit verbally to the Gophers early last spring weren’t accurate. “He wasn’t going to commit anywhere until he made his official visits and got on campuses,” Debbie said.

High school seniors can sign National Letters of Intent with colleges in November, or they can wait until the following spring for a second period of signing dates. Asked if Tyus will sign in November, his mom said: “I think so.”

Tyus and his friend Jahlil Okafor, a center from Whitney High in Chicago, are rated the No. 2 and No. 1 players in the national prep class of 2014 by Rivals.com. Debbie confirmed it’s likely the two will attend college together. Not only have Tyus and Okafor had discussions, but Debbie has talked with Okafor’s father, Chuck Okafor, too.

Tre is a gifted athlete and basketball player like Tyus. Tre is 5-9 and has grown at least five inches since last summer. Debbie is looking into the possibility of Tre joining the Apple Valley varsity and having a memorable experience of playing with Tyus for one season. “I know it would be great,” she said.

Among the biggest fans of Tyus and Tre is Debbie’s dad, Dennis Deutsch. For some time he’s had multiple health issues and most recently was diagnosed with cancer and then had a heart attack. “He’s a battler,” said Debbie about her father who has been out of the hospital for awhile.

Worth Noting

The Big Ten Network will offer extensive coverage of the conference’s football media days in Chicago including five hours on Wednesday featuring remarks by the league’s 12 head coaches. Programming starts at 10 a.m. Minneapolis time. Press conferences will re-air beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Each coach brings players from his team. Representing the Gophers will be defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman, running back Donnell Kirkwood and safety Brock Vereen. Hageman is on the watch lists of candidates for the Outland Trophy and Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

The Gophers athletic department is pitching several different season ticket packages involving football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey to University of Minnesota students. Three of the packages have sold out, totaling 1,155 tickets. Student football season tickets sold as of July 18 totaled 1,281 compared with 776 on the same date last year.

University of Minnesota regent Dave Larson and others interested in Gophers athletics will meet with athletic director Norwood Teague a week from today to learn more about the Facilities Needs Assessment and Plan. Phase One comes with an estimated cost of $190 million, all of it to be privately funded.

Isaiah Whitehead from Brooklyn and Ja’Quan Newton from Philadelphia, who are Rivals.com top 50 players in the class of 2014, are interested in attending college together and the Gophers are one of only four schools to have offered scholarships to the two guards, according to a July 16 story on Collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com.

S.I.com is previewing the NFL’s divisions this month and in a July 10 analysis about the NFC North predicted the Vikings could be a playoff team for a second consecutive season. “They are capable of another run this season, but the margin for error is slim,” wrote Chris Burke.

His opinion is that for the Vikings to become Super Bowl contenders, Adrian Peterson will need plenty of help including from quarterback Christian Ponder who has the resources to succeed in his third season. The team became better in the offseason at wide receiver with the additions of veteran Greg Jennings and rookie Cordarrelle Patterson, but worse at cornerback with veteran Antoine Winfield joining the Seahawks. Jennings’ departure from Green Bay is viewed as a weakness for the Packers. Vikings’ second year safety Harrison Smith is likely to be the team’s breakout player.

In 2015 the Vikings can celebrate 50 years of training camps in Mankato. The team opens its 48^thconsecutive Mankato camp on Thursday at Mankato State University. Among NFL teams, only the Packers have more training camp longevity at the same location. The Packers are working on 56 years at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.

The latest issue of Sports Illustrated offers a MLB mid-season “re-forecast,” and predictions include a 69-93 final record for the Twins, finishing ahead of only the White Sox (65-97) in the AL Central. If correct, that will follow Twins records of 63-99 in 2011 and 66-96 in 2012. The magazine predicts the Cardinals over the Rangers in six games in the World Series.

Scott Diamond, the Twins’ starter and losing pitcher in yesterday’s game against the Indians, gave up six runs (five earned) in four and two-thirds innings. It was the fifth time this season he has allowed six runs or more. Yesterday was the third consecutive start Diamond, 5-9 record with a 5.53 ERA this season, has lasted less than five innings.

Sports Headliners reader Dan Hennen made a trip to Cedar Rapids to see the Twins’ Class A affiliate Kernels team. He compared the stadium atmosphere to a Saint Paul Saints entertainment experience including postgame fireworks. Tip for foodies: the stadium’s pork tenderloin sandwich is a winner. Hennen and family included a stop in Dyersville, Iowa to visit the Field of Dreams attraction. Picture taking in the “knee-high corn,” per Hennen’s e-mail.

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