Twins – Page 176 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Lurtsema Predicts 11-5 Record for Vikes

Posted on July 31, 2013July 31, 2013 by David Shama

Former Viking Bob Lurtsema, who remains close to the team, predicts Minnesota will finish 11-5 this season after a 10-6 record in 2012. Even rosier is Lurtsema’s opinion that before the Metrodome is demolished next winter, the last football event there could be the NFC Championship Game hosted by the Vikings who might need to win more than 11 regular season games to play in Minneapolis.

“That’s very realistic (hosting the title game),” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners. “You gotta realize when they were 6-6 last year they (the players) came together. That’s only the second time in Minnesota Viking history that they won the last four games.”

The Vikings won those regular season games before losing to the Packers in the playoffs, and giving Lurtsema confidence about continued improvement by Minnesota is the attitude of the players. “A lot of times you can preach and preach and nobody listens. But they’re listening now and they came together, and they believe in themselves. …They have that self-motivation.”

Two years ago Lurstema predicted the Vikings would win “five or six” games. They won three. Last July he told Sports Headliners 10-6 was going to be the record and the team’s first playoff appearance in three years was possible.

Now, Lurtsema said, the Vikings could not only finish with an 11-5 or better record but have at least a share of the NFC North title. “Yup. I know I bleed purple…but I am a realist.”

Lurtsema almost gushes about the team’s offense, “There’s not a negative.” He said fans are down on quarterback Christian Ponder but criticism was too harsh last season because “he didn’t have any receivers to throw to.” That situation changes now with a healthy Jerome Simpson and the acquisition of Greg Jennings, both talented veteran wide receivers.

Lurtsema likes the total package of the offense including tight end Kyle Rudolph, running back Adrian Peterson and an offensive line that impressed last season, but on defense he thinks the Vikings are more suspect. He frets about how effective both the defensive line and secondary will be.

Worth Noting

Lurtsema believes it’s time for starting cornerback Chris Cook, now 26 and heading into his fourth NFL season, to reward the Vikings for their patience with him. Two years ago Cook missed much of the season because of domestic violence charges. Although he was later acquitted, the incident was a setback to his career.

“Chris Cook has got to be awful, awful good,” Lurtsema said. “They (the organization) stuck with him. The players didn’t like that a couple years ago, when they paid his salary and (he) took up a roster spot. Players weren’t real happy about that at all. …I think all the coaches saw how good he really is.”

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier joins Steve Forbes, Rudy Giuliani, Larry King and other speakers on August 27 at the Minneapolis Convention Center for the “Success 2013 Minneapolis” motivational event, according to full page ads appearing in the Star Tribune. Frazier’s talk is titled “How to Lead Your Team to Victory.”

As a group the Gophers linebackers roster is inexperienced with only two seniors, one junior and 10 freshmen and sophomores but coach Jerry Kill is “optimistic” about the potential. “Athletically we’re gifted there,” Kill told the media yesterday.

Kill said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” on Sunday that junior college transfer linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who will have three seasons of eligibility with the Gophers, turned down offers from Texas and Kansas State after deciding not to attend Tennessee following a coaching change there last fall.

Kill said yesterday that highly publicized freshman quarterback Chris Streveler will work at wide receiver and QB when practices begin later this week. “Chris is a pretty intelligent guy,” Kill said about learning both positions.

Sophomore quarterback Philip Nelson thinks wide receivers Isaac Fruechte and Derrick Engle could be two of his best targets in the deep passing game. The Gophers’ first practice will be on Friday in preparation for their opening game against UNLV August 29 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Marcus Fuller, the Pioneer Press Gophers basketball writer, said on 1500 ESPN Monday he believes Rashad Vaughn is the most likely to attend Minnesota of the 2014 prep big three of Tyus Jones, Travis Reid and Vaughn. My opinion: there is no better than a 25 percent chance the Gophers will have one of the three commit to Minnesota.

As of now there is no Upper Midwest plan to televise the Gophers game at New Mexico State in Las Cruces on September 7. The game is scheduled to be televised in parts of the Southwest including Comcast in New Mexico and Fox Sports Net Houston.

In its updated rankings of prospects, MLB.com has Twins minor leaguers Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano ranked No. 1 and 3 among all players in major league systems. But Twins fans may want to hold back the enthusiasm for awhile because becoming successful in the big leagues takes time. Before the season Oswaldo Arcia was rated the organization’s fifth best prospect while Aaron Hicks was No. 6. Arcia, after two trials with the Twins, is back at Triple-A Rochester while Hicks is hitting .194 for Minnesota despite being the regular center fielder.

Nice to see Minneapolis receive attention in the 2014 MLB All-Star Game Logo unveiled yesterday depicting the downtown skyline. Hennepin County made the public financing possible to build Target Field.

The economic impact of the All-Star Game was $191.5 million in New York this year and $60 million in Kansas City in 2012, according to Rhett Bollinger’s 2014 logo story yesterday on Mlb.com.

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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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