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Gophers, Twins & Other Notes

Posted on November 18, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Monday but was in the office about 5 a.m. Tuesday. That’s a typical arrival time for him.

GopherIllustrated.com. reports that defensive back Jeremy Baltazar from Blinn College in Brenham, Texas has given a verbal commitment to the Gophers for 2012. He visited campus last weekend.

Cornerback Kyle Henderson, who transferred to the Gophers from Minnesota State-Mankato State, said perhaps six to eight of his former teammates could have played Division I football. “The talent level is not terrible in Division II by any means,” he said.

Because of a commitment to play MarQueis Gray at quarterback, Gophers freshman Max Shortell has been on the field for only a few plays since he started the Michigan game on October 1. Kill said he’s “pleased with the progress” of the 19-year-old quarterback. “…Actually he’s probably farther along than what I thought he would be when he came here,” Kill said. “He’s worked hard.”

Round one of the 32-team NCAA Division III playoffs are about to start and no game has more local interest than St. Thomas hosting St. Scholastica. UST will be at home for the noon start tomorrow and hopes to improve its all-time first-round playoff record to 3-0. The MIAC website reports that the Tommies’ Fritz Waldvogel tied a Division III record by catching a pass in each of 40 career regular season games.

Twins executive Jim Rantz describes newly signed infielder Jamey Carroll as a “young” 37 year old. He said Carroll has taken care of himself and his personality will be a positive in the clubhouse.

Rantz said minor league pitching prospect Kyle Gibson won’t throw with “any velocity” until June or July after his Tommy John surgery. Rantz wouldn’t predict whether Gibson’s recovery schedule will allow him to pitch in organized baseball in 2012.

Max Kepler, the native of Germany who the Twins signed at 16, turns 19 in February and Rantz said the former infielder is considered a prospect at all three outfield positions. It’s possible Kepler will play for the Twins Class A Beloit team next year.

Coach Don Lucia’s No. 1 ranked Gophers hockey team has scored a goal in the last minute of regulation play in five of 12 games this season and only one goal has been an empty-net goal. Seven times this season the Gophers have scored during the last five minutes. Minnesota plays at St. Cloud State tonight and tomorrow night.

The Wild has the second-ranked prospects in the NHL, according to an ESPN Insider story this week. Mentioned in the article were Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin and Johan Larsson. ESPN Insider discounted any player who had begun his entry-level contract.

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New Mexico Called Maturi about Mason

Posted on November 15, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi confirmed to Sports Headliners this afternoon that New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs called him recently to ask about Glen Mason.

A New Mexico radio station reported today that Mason will be named the next head football coach of the Lobos. However, Mason said via Twitter this afternoon that the “rumors are not correct” and that he doesn’t have interest in the job at this time.

“I think Glen is a good football coach,” Maturi said. “I’ve always wished him well and spoken very highly of him.”

Albuquerque’s 610 the Sports Animal reported that Mason, the Gophers coach from 1997-2006, will replace Mike Locksley who was dismissed as Lobos coach earlier this season. Friends have known for years that Mason, 61, is interested in coaching again.

Former Gophers football player and Mason buddy Gary Hohman said he couldn’t confirm the New Mexico report. “He is interested in coaching,” Hohman said. “He’s a football coach.”

Maturi, who also said he couldn’t confirm the report out of New Mexico, has known Krebs for years. When Maturi was athletic director at Miami (Ohio), Krebs was AD at Bowling Green. Before that Krebs was an athletics administrator at Ohio State, Mason’s alma mater.

New Mexico is a challenging football assignment but major college jobs are not easy to come by. Mason was 64-57 at Minnesota but was 16 games under .500 in the Big Ten.

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Worth Noting

Posted on November 14, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Coach Jerry Kill and his staff had three junior college defensive backs on campus last weekend, according to GopherIllustrated.com. Minnesota is recruiting Jeremy Baltazar from Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, and two players from Trinity Community College in Athens, Texas, Martez Shabazz and Clifford Stokes.

Here are Sports Headliners’ weekly rankings of Big Ten Football teams: Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana.

The Vikings practice for road games with intentional noise in the background so the raucous crowd at Lambeau Field won’t be the communications challenge it might have been, according to wide receiver Greg Camarillo. “We have the most annoying speakers ever for our practices and actually when it comes to game time it’s not as bad as that speaker,” he said.

The Packers are off to the franchise’s first 8-0 start since 1962 and prompting speculation they could go 16-0 during the regular season. Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, playing in his eighth NFL season, was asked if Green Bay is the best team he’s seen.

“You know what? That’s for historians,” Allen anwered. “I just take it week by week. You know, obviously they’re the best team in the league right now. They’re the reigning (Super Bowl) champs and they’re undefeated. We have the upper hand on most teams that are playing them ─ we played them already once and we gave them a pretty good shot. Everybody is beatable. …We gotta go up there and give them their first loss and get after them.”

The Gophers basketball team plays South Dakota State at home tonight. The Jackrabbits are a Division I team and lost 85-73 to Minnesota last year in Williams Arena. South Dakota State opened its regular season on Saturday with an 82-76 win over Western Michigan. Nate Wolters, who played for St. Cloud Tech, had 32 points, 11 assists and no turnovers for the Jackrabbits Saturday.

The Gophers have struggled to open up big leads in two exhibitions and one regular season game but rallied late to close out games. Friday night in the regular season opener Minnesota and Bucknell were tied at 53 with about four minutes remaining. Encouraging for the Gophers was the late minute play of guards Austin Hollins and Julian Welch.

Hamline will honor Don Meyer tomorrow night at a ceremony prior to its game with Northwestern College (St. Paul). He is the men’s college basketball all-time winningest coach with 923 wins, and the first 37 came at Hamline in the early 1970s. Now retired from coaching, Meyer is included in Hamline’s “Ring of Honor,” recognizing the school’s basketball greats.

The Wild will hold a pregame tribute to the late Derek Boogaard on Sunday, November 27. Parents Len and Joanne along with siblings Aaron, Krysten and Ryan are scheduled to attend. The Wild will play Calgary that night.

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