Vikings – Page 160 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Crowds Decline from Record 2015

Posted on October 12, 2016October 12, 2016 by David Shama

The Gophers sold 5,100 fewer football season tickets in 2016 than last year, according to figures provided by the University of Minnesota Athletic Department. Those are nonstudent season tickets and the decline represents about a 19 percent loss in purchases.

In 2015, the sale totaled 27,885 while this year it is 22,785.

The Gophers have played four of their seven-game home schedule so far and have no sellouts. Announced attendance for last Saturday’s rivalry game with Iowa was 49,145 and there were many seats sold but not used. That is the largest crowd of the season in 50,805 capacity TCF Bank Stadium. (Stadium capacity was reduced this year because the Vikings are no longer using the facility).

Minnesota is averaging 44,901 fans per game in announced attendance. Last year the Gophers averaged 52,355 fans per game—the best in seven seasons at TCF Bank Stadium. The 2015 schedule, with high profile football opponents like TCU and Michigan, was more attractive than this fall’s teams. Other factors impacting ticket sales and attendance this year includes price increases in season tickets, lack of excitement about the 2016 team after a disappointing 6-7 record in 2015, and the loss of popular head coach Jerry Kill who resigned last October.

The 2016 total for student season football tickets is 7,006—after a sale of about 8,000 last year. “I think it’s worth noting that this year’s student sections have been quite full and quite energetic, with single-game student ticket purchases supplementing the season ticket base,” an athletic department spokesman wrote via email. “We sold out the student section for the Iowa game and have seen strong student support throughout the nonconference season as well, with good attendance.” …

Jim Carter and other advocates for Gophers football want to see the University Board of Regents approve a resource at their meetings later this week that was originally part of the Athletes Village project. Last year plans were dropped for an area called the lineman center, or also referred to as the lineman facility. This was to be part of the new indoor football practice facility in the Athletes Village but the lineman center was eliminated from plans to save money.

Upgrading football resources at the U to be equal, or better than Big Ten competitors, is a priority of the $166 million Athletes Village project that is still in early physical development. The village will also create new and upgraded facilities to benefit all Gophers men’s and women’s programs.

Carter said the lineman center would likely take up about 40,000 square feet of additional space in the football practice facility. Without the center, according to Carter, offensive and defensive linemen won’t have a large enough place indoors dedicated to improving their skills—a space big enough to accommodate not only the players but also practice equipment including blocking sleds.

Carter was a star fullback on the 1967 Gophers football team that won the school’s last Big Ten championship. He is an outspoken proponent for excellence in athletics and academics at Minnesota. He wants to see all the potential resources for football made a reality in the Athletes Village project. Gophers coach Tracy Claeys has stressed the importance of the lineman center to Carter and others.

Carter sent out an email last week asking for help in contacting members of the Board of Regents—writing that the lineman center will greatly improve the Gophers’ competitiveness. “Tracy has said a number of times that he wants and needs this facility,” Carter said in the email. “The Board of Regents can make the decision to add/include the funding for this project, but we need to let them know we strongly support this happening. Time is of the essence, so we need to be heard now! If we all contact the Board of Regents we will make a BIG difference!”

Carter said more than 20 emails have been sent to regents, and he expects that the lineman center may come up as new business on the agenda for the regents who will have meetings tomorrow and Friday. The indoor football facility, including the lineman center space, would likely be used at certain times by sports other than football, and is projected to have a cost of $6 million, according to Carter.

The overall cost for the Athletes Village is currently at $166 million and Carter sees the $6 million for the center as a minimal price to do things right. It also looks for certain that the $166 million total will be revised upward soon—likely this week.

The regents are expected to vote this week and will likely approve a final plan to place the Gophers track near baseball’s Siebert Field. That means relocating the recreation sports bubble and rec softball field to an area near TCF Bank Stadium. Carter said the track and relocations referenced will cost $19 million.

Carter said last year’s cost cutting for the Athletes Village included not only the lineman’s center but also eliminating two skyways for $2.5 million. Carter believes those skyways could be put back into play, too. If so, the projected cost for the Athletes Village could soon be revised to $193.5 million.

About $80 million has been secured through fundraising for the Athletes Village, with the University committed to borrowing a significant sum to fully finance the project. …

Sam Bradford (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Through his first four games as the Eagles quarterback last season, Sam Bradford saw his team lose three times. He threw six touchdown passes and four interceptions, with passer ratings in the four games of 77.1, 65.6, 73.2 and 122.6.

With the 5-0 Vikings (Bradford didn’t become the starting quarterback until game No. 2), he has thrown six touchdown passes, zero interceptions and compiled passer ratings of 121.2, 93, 101.9 and 122.1. His overall rating is 109.7 for the season, compared with 84.6 a year ago.

Bradford didn’t join the Vikings until several days before the opening regular season game. “I think the offensive coaches have done a great job with getting him prepared,” said Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. “The one thing about Sam is that he will communicate the things that he likes to do, and if we have a play in the game plan that he doesn’t like, he’s going to say it. He’s going to tell Norv (Turner, offensive coordinator), and we get rid of the play. So, we try to do things that he’s comfortable with, even though it has been a short period of time.”

The Vikings Andrew Sendejo continues to establish himself as the team’s starting free safety. Against the Texans last Sunday he had four tackles and one interception while playing defense, and two tackles on special teams.

“Before (Sendejo) was even playing much defense, he was our best special teams guy,” said Vikings strong safety Harrison Smith. “He has done nothing but make plays on special teams and defense since I’ve been here (2012). That’s what I know you’re getting out of Sendejo—a guy who going to make plays.”

The much publicized AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas has retracted its roof 17 times for Cowboys games since the facility opened in 2009, according to a pro football source. By contrast, the five pivoting doors at U.S. Bank Stadium have been open for three regular season games and one preseason game since the Vikings began playing there in August.

The same source said as of last week he isn’t aware of any bird-window collisions at the new stadium. The Minnesota Sports Facility Authority announced in July a scientific study to monitor such collisions will be led by Audubon Minnesota, the National Audubon Society, the University of Minnesota and Oklahoma State University. The study will begin in the spring of 2017, with analysis to be released in 2019.

The Big Ten Network will televise the news conferences of all 14 Big Ten basketball coaches tomorrow including the Gophers Richard Pitino who answers questions from the media from 8:10 to 8:20 a.m. Pitino will also be interviewed on BTN by studio hosts from 11:40 a.m. to noon. The league’s coaches will be in Washington, D.C. for Big Ten Basketball Media Day.

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Tommy Kramer All in on 2016 Vikings

Posted on October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 by David Shama

Former Vikings Pro Bowl quarterback Tommy Kramer told Sports Headliners he believes his former team can beat any club in the NFL and Minnesota could end up in the 2017 Super Bowl.

“Oh, hell, yeah,” Kramer said. “I think they could beat anybody, any time they want, if they’re playing up to their speed (abilities).”

Kramer made that statement in an interview last week before yesterday’s Vikings-Texans game. It’s not likely Kramer has changed his admiration of the 2016 team after its 31-13 win.

The Vikings, 5-0, are the NFL’s only undefeated club. They dominated the Texans in the first half, jumping out to a 24-0 second quarter lead. The Texans didn’t get a first down until about four minutes into the second quarter—and then only by penalty. The defense was at its usual NFC-best, allowing one touchdown and two field goals in the game at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Kramer isn’t ready to rate the unit the equal of the famed “Purple People Eaters” of the 1970s but he is impressed with a defense that hard-nosed and creative head coach Mike Zimmer has shaped in his image. “Zim is a hell of a coach, trust me,” Kramer said.

Kramer appreciates how that defense helps quarterback Sam Bradford who threw two touchdown passes yesterday and has yet to be intercepted in four starts with the Vikings after joining the team just several days before the regular season started.

“He’s got talent and now he’s got a good defense to play with,” Kramer said about Bradford. “It makes a big damn difference to you (as quarterback). You don’t have to take so many chances. You don’t have to try to score every possession because you know your defense is going to score for you too.”

The last time the Vikings got off to a 5-0 start the Bart Favre led 2009 club went all the way to the NFC title and almost advanced to the Super Bowl. That Vikings went 12-4 in the regular season and that group rates with the franchise’s best teams. Ranking with the best, too, is the 1998 team that was 15-1.

No Vikings team has been to the Super Bowl, though, since the group led by the “Purple People Eaters” defensive line of the 1970s. Could the Vikings make it all the way to Houston for the February 5, 2017 Super Bowl? “If all of them (the players) stay healthy, their chances are good,” said Kramer who played 14 seasons in the NFL from 1977-1990 but never quarterbacked a Super Bowl team.

Bradford’s health will be one of the team’s big concerns. Yesterday, the Texans landed some hard hits on Bradford including when Vikings second-year offensive left tackle T.J. Clemmings couldn’t stop Texans pass rusher Whitney Mercilus. The offense, of course, is already without major contributors Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Kalil and Adrian Peterson.

Too many injuries could turn the direction of this season to horns down. “You never know,” Kramer said. “Each injury could be each player’s career. He might not ever come back.”

But for now the Vikings are on an exceptional run, partly because of their attitude in every game. Through about the first one-third of the schedule the Vikings have played with exceptional focus and intensity.

“If you have ever been around coach Zimmer you don’t have any other choice,” said Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph. “That’s what he expects from us, whether it’s on Sundays, Mondays, or out on the practice field. If we don’t give that intensity and effort, and put that work in each day, then he points it out. He makes us aware that’s not good enough. So that’s the standard that he has set around here, and we just try to live up to that.”

Worth Noting

The Vikings were a seven point favorite to defeat the Texans. Bruce Marshall, writing online for the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Saturday, said Zimmer’s teams were 18-2 covering the spread going into yesterday’s game.

Kramer’s sixth annual charity golf tournament to raise funds for cancer research will be on Friday, August 11 at Mississippi Dunes Golf Links in Cottage Grove. Recognizable names who have played in the tournament include many ex-Vikings. “We’re never short on celebrities playing in it,” Kramer said. More at tk9charitygolf.com.

A franchise source said about 25 percent of Vikings fans are using light rail to attend games at U.S. Bank Stadium. Rail platforms have been cleared in less than an hour after games, while last year at TCF Bank Stadium waits were over 60 minutes.

The stadium will be open two and one-half hours before all home games this year to accommodate fans as they become more familiar with gameday travel and the new facility.

Last Friday a CNN crew was in town to produce a report likely to air around Super Bowl time next year. The segment is expected to talk about the 2018 game being at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Prescott Line, the younger brother of Vikings fullback Zach Line, is a graduate transfer at Michigan State from SMU and has been the starting fullback for the Spartans.

It’s not certain but it appears that J.D. Spielman, son of Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, will be redshirted this fall at Nebraska. The 2015 Minnesota Mr. Football and former Eden Prairie High School player is a freshman receiver for the Cornhuskers and hasn’t seen game action.

The Hawkeyes team that defeated the Gophers 14-7 on Saturday has 51 players on the roster that are Iowa natives. Among players not from the state is true freshman Amani Hooker of Minneapolis and Park Center High School. He is a reserve safety who has been playing on special teams for Iowa.

The Gophers roster has 33 Minnesotans.

The remaining opponents on the Gophers’ schedule are 21-11 in all games, but only 6-9 in the Big Ten. Minnesota, 3-2 overall and 0-2 in conference games, is at Maryland on Saturday. The Terps have 4-1 and 1-1 records.

Concordia alum and Spicer, Minnesota native Brandon Zylstra is a rookie wide receiver with Edmonton of the Canadian Football League. His position coach is Carson Walch, a former St. Thomas assistant. Walch was part of Montreal’s Grey Cup winning team in 2010 as an assistant coach on the staff of Marc Trestman, the ex-Vikings assistant and former Gophers quarterback. Carson’s brother Travis is a nine-year St. Thomas assistant.

Gophers head basketball coach Richard Pitino will bring junior guard Nate Mason and sophomore forward Jordan Murphy to Thursday’s Big Ten Basketball Media Day in Washington, D.C. The Gophers open with an exhibition game against Bemidji State on Thursday, November 3 at Williams Arena.

The Timberwolves basketball staff is giving more fans the opportunity to attend the WNBA Finals tomorrow night at Target Center. The Wolves coaching staff purchased 500 upper level tickets and this morning fans could visit Lynxbasketball.com to obtain seats (two per customer). The Sparks lead the finals series 1-0 after winning yesterday afternoon.

Condolences to the family and friends of former Gophers assistant football coach Bruce Vandersall who died last week. Son Mark is married to NBC TV’s Michelle Tafoya.

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Leidner Not in McShay’s 1st Round Now

Posted on October 5, 2016October 5, 2016 by David Shama

Todd McShay made news in Minnesota last spring when he projected Mitch Leidner as a No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. The ESPN college football authority has revised his opinion this fall.

McShay overrated the Gophers senior quarterback and no longer projects him as a first round draft choice. Last month a Sports Headliners reader told me he heard McShay on ESPN Radio in September predict Leidner as a possible fifth rounder in 2017.

Leidner hadn’t dazzled during his junior season at Minnesota but did show improvement in final games. He ranked 10th in Big Ten efficiency among passers, with a rating of 121.2. In 13 games he completed 59.5 percent of his passes and threw 14 touchdown passes. But in early May McShay wrote that the 6-4, 230-pound Minnesota native had “ideal size” for a quarterback, and labeled him a “late riser.”

McShay used a disclaimer in his “Way-too-Early NFL 2017 Mock Draft”, writing on the ESPN website that he hadn’t “studied tape” on the players he projected 1-32. In fairness to McShay he had just finished his assignments with the recently completed 2016 draft.

In his May 5 article this spring McShay had two quarterbacks, Deshaun Watson from Clemson, and Brad Kaaya of Miami, projected as the first two picks in next year’s draft. Leidner, projected as the No. 25 pick, was the only other quarterback in McShay’s mock first round.

McShay offered a revised mock draft for ESPN late last month. The top projected quarterback was Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer at No. 18. The other first round quarterbacks were Watson at 24 and Kaaya at 30. …

It’s time for another Sports Headliners Big Ten power rankings—and Gophers fans should brace themselves. Minnesota is no longer deserving of the No. 7 listing in the last rankings of 14 conference teams. Not after an unimpressive 3-0 nonconference start and last Saturday’s 29-26 loss to Penn State in Minnesota’s league opening game.

It’s far from a perfect process comparing scores, but the Gophers didn’t earn any bragging rights last Saturday when a couple of interesting scores from out West became finals. Wyoming, with a 3-2 record, defeated Colorado State 38-7 and Colorado, 4-1, beat up on Oregon State 47-6. Minnesota, playing at home, won games against Colorado State, 2-3, and Oregon State, 1-3, by a touchdown.

Coach Tracy Claeys’ team has some strengths, including the kicking game. Placekicker Emmitt Carpenter made four field goals in the loss to PSU and is nine-for-nine in his career. He leads the Big Ten in points with 43. Punter Ryan Santoso ranks sixth in Big Ten punting with a 41.9 average and he has shown touch in booting balls inside the opposition’s 20-yard line.

Leidner’s senior experience and leadership is a major asset. Shannon Brooks, recovered from a broken foot, is one of the Big Ten’s most explosive running backs. Defensive tackle Steven Richardson has been called “unblockable” by a rival coach. But this team has issues including an inconsistent offensive line that too often can’t open holes for runners like Brooks, and is flagged for false starts and holding. The defense is vulnerable to big plays because of mistakes in the secondary and not enough pass rush.

Put the Gophers at No. 11 in the power rankings. Ohio State is an easy choice for No. 1. It’s not a layup, though, to rank Michigan No. 2 and Wisconsin third. The Wolverines won 14-7 against the Badgers last Saturday in Ann Arbor. Both teams have elite defenses, lesser offenses.

Here’s how the rest of the Big Ten teams rate: No. 4 Nebraska; No. 5 Maryland; No. 6. Northwestern; No. 7 Iowa; No. 8. Michigan State; No. 9 Penn State; No. 10. Indiana; No. 11 Minnesota; No. 12 Illinois; No. 13 Rutgers; and No. 14 Purdue. …

The Gophers hockey team opens its season with Alaska-Anchorage in Anchorage on Friday and Sunday. Minnesota goalie Eric Schierhorn is from Anchorage and his parents will host a dinner in their home for the Gophers travel group on Saturday night.

The nonconference game against Alaska-Anchorage is likely to be Minnesota’s last with the Seawolves. Budget cuts in the Alaska university system may end the men’s college hockey programs at Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks. A source said the hockey programs account for about five percent of the university system’s budget.

Eden Prairie forward Casey Mittelstadt, who is expected to sign with the Gophers in November, is highlighted by NHL Central Scouting as a player to watch in rankings released earlier this week. He received an A rating. …

Vikings rookie wide receiver and 2016 No. 1 draft choice Laquon Treadwell has only been on the field for a few plays through four regular season games but receivers coach George Stewart has a message for worrisome fans. Don’t fret because the Vikings like what they see of the 21-year-old who was the 23rd pick in last spring’s draft.

“He is fine. He is a smart kid,” Stewart told Sports Headliners. “The problem is Rick Spielman, our GM, has assembled a lot of talent (among receivers) in that room.

“He’s a rookie. Just because you are a first round pick, doesn’t guarantee you’re going to come in and play. He’s the future of our football team. We have a lot of guys right now that are playing at a high level (like)—Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. We just have one football now, too. …It’s hard to spread that thing around.”

Treadwell, 6-2 and 215 pounds, has yet to catch a pass in a game and part of his very limited playing time has been on the punt coverage team. Stewart praised Treadwell’s attitude and willingness to work.

He said Treadwell’s limited game action shouldn’t be interpreted as the Vikings being disappointed in the former Ole Miss star who gave up his final season of college football to enter the draft. Treadwell, Stewart explained, is getting a how-to on life in the NFL as a receiver including adjusting to a different offense than the one he knew in college and learning about defensive coverages.

Could Treadwell some day be a Pro Bowler? Achieving that honor will have a lot to do with desire, and Stewart talked about how Thielen has progressed from an undrafted free agent to a playmaker for the Vikings. “…If you would have told me that Adam Thielen from Minnesota State would be the player he is four years ago I wouldn’t have said so. It’s the want-to. He (Treadwell) has to want to. So hopefully if that’s a goal of his, hopefully he gets a chance to attain it.”

Treadwell broke his leg as a junior at Ole Miss and it’s a fair question to ask if that has diminished his speed. NFL.com reported that Treadwell ran a 4.63 40-yard dash at his Pro Day before the draft last spring. Stewart said the Vikings weren’t concerned about Treadwell’s speed when they chose him and aren’t now. “I believe it’s healed now because he’s out doing good things,” Stewart said.

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