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Vikings Allen Not Sack Master in 2013

Posted on December 6, 2013December 6, 2013 by David Shama

Coming into this season Vikings defensive end Jared Allen had the most sacks in the NFL dating back to 2004. That was Allen’s first season in the league after being a fourth round draft choice and the 12^th defensive end selected in 2004.

Allen has 123 career sacks going into Sunday’s game in Baltimore against the Ravens but only six have come this season. The 31-year-old Allen, who played his early pro years with the Chiefs and the last six seasons with the Vikings, is on pace with four games remaining in 2013 to finish with eight sacks, near his career low of 7.5 with Kansas City in 2006.

Eight sacks in 2013 would be behind last season’s total of 12 and way off from 2011 when Allen had 22, a Viking franchise best and nearly matching the NFL record of Michael Strahan at 22.5. Allen’s productivity, like the team’s 3-8-1 record, are sources of frustration for him.

“I’ve missed more sacks in my hands than I have in many years,” Allen told Sports Headliners. “I guess it would be one thing if I wasn’t getting there (to the quarterback). I watch the film and I am still moving well, playing well.”

Allen will be a free agent after this season and speculation is he won’t return to the Vikings. His age and high salary are expected to minimize interest by the Vikings who will likely be rebuilding the defense. Allen said he doesn’t have a plan to guide his decision on where he wants to play next season.

“Honestly, I haven’t even thought about factors. I am trying to give everything I’ve got to these remaining four games.”

Allen thought by now in his career the Vikings might have won a Super Bowl. But he discounts trying to select his next team based on offseason projections, pointing out the Chiefs, 2-14 last year, are 9-3 in 2013.

“Yeah, you definitely want to win. I think that’s the reason why we play. (But) I don’t think it’s possible to say, ‘Okay I think that’s the team that’s going to win the Super Bowl.’ Otherwise, we’d all get it right.”

Worth Noting

Allen’s longtime teammate, defensive tackle Kevin Williams, isn’t expected to return to the Vikings either. His high salary and age, 33, could make him expendable on a defense that may have several new starters next season.

The one starter on the defensive line who seems certain to return is defensive end Brian Robison who agreed to a new contract this fall. He admires Allen and Williams.

“They’re guys we look up to because they’re veteran guys who have been around the league. You look up to them for advice,” Robison told Sports Headliners. “No matter whether it be personal advice, whether it be how to play on the field. How to watch film, all that stuff. They’re invaluable to the things they bring to young players.”

Robison, 30, has consecutive sacks in the last three games and five in the last five. He has six for the season after a career high of 8.5 in 2012.

Adrian Peterson, with 1,208 yards, has more rushing yards than 10 NFL teams. The Vikings All-Pro runner leads the NFL in rushing.

The Gophers basketball team plays New Orleans tomorrow at Williams Arena and through nine games Minnesota has demonstrated hustle and toughness. Sophomore forward Joey King exemplifies those qualities.

King is playing with a plate in his right jaw after fracturing it in the game against Wofford on November 21. He didn’t miss the next game on November 25, though, and despite vomiting played with energy as the Gophers lost to top 10 ranked Syracuse in Hawaii.

King said he learned to “play through pain” last season as a freshman at Drake when he had a broken thumb. “I do my best to completely block out (pain),” he told Sports Headliners.

King credited strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown and head coach Richard Pitino’s running style of play with helping him be in better physical shape than at Drake where he was named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman team.

On the court Pitino, the Gophers 31-year-old first year coach, is passionate with his players and sometimes doesn’t hold back his displeasure. “Anything he may say, it’s just to build you up and make you a better player,” King said.

The Gophers sophomore forward from Eagan is already a Pitino admirer. “We love him to death. He’s a great person and a great coach. He inspires us to go out and give our best.”

Outside expectations are for the Gophers, 7-2 in nonconference games, to finish toward the bottom of the Big Ten but the players expect success. “We really believe in ourselves,” King said. “We do everything we can to avoid negativity. Look to each other for support and that’s what gets us through things.”

Al Nuness, a former Gophers player and assistant coach, thinks Tre Jones, the eighth grade brother of Tyus Jones, is so talented he will be starting in the Apple Valley backcourt with his brother by late in the season. He also said Tre is a special competitor. “You get in his face, he will get right back in yours,” Nuness said.

Apple Valley plays Minnesota prep basketball powers DeLaSalle tomorrow night and Hopkins next Tuesday evening, with both games at the Hopkins Lindbergh Center. Then the Eagles play at home against national power Whitney Young next Thursday night in a game to be televised by ESPN2. The Chicago high school is led by Jahlil Okafor who will play with Tyus Jones at Duke next year.

Gophers defensive coordinator and acting head coach Tracy Claeys isn’t among the five finalists for the Frank Broyles Award recognizing the best assistant coach in the country. The finalists for the award, to be presented next Tuesday, are Rhett Lashley, Auburn; Philip Montgomery, Baylor; Pat Narduzzi, Michigan State; Kurt Roper, Duke; and Jeremy Pruitt, Florida State.

Concordia-St. Paul senior safety Mike Willett from Woodbury has been named a second team Capital One Academic All-America® by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The third year starting safety was one of Concordia’s top tacklers in 2013, averaging seven tackles per game after having 8.4 as a junior including a school record 20 in one game.

The Gophers hockey team (11-2-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) has seven players who have already been honored for their performances this fall by the conference including forward Seth Ambroz who had four goals last weekend in a pair of wins against Wisconsin.

The Saint John’s hockey team will make its first international trip when visiting Italy and Germany December 27 – January 4. The travel party will consist of head coach Doug Schueller, assistant coach Michael Palmiscno, and more than 30 student-athletes and 30 family and friends. The Johnnies will play four games on their trip.

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Claeys Up for National Coach Award

Posted on November 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by David Shama

Next Monday the Gophers are hoping to learn Tracy Claeys is among the five finalists for the 2013 Frank Broyles Award recognizing the best college assistant football coach in the country.

Claeys took over as acting head coach this fall when Jerry Kill had to focus on his epilepsy struggles. With Kill either absent or coaching in the press box, and Claeys on the sideline with the players, the Gophers have won a surprising four of their last six Big Ten games including defeating nationally-ranked Nebraska for the first time since 1960. “He is very deserving (of the award),” Kill said.

Claeys, the team’s defensive coordinator, has impressed with his calm demeanor, leadership and knowledge. “Yeah, I’d vote (for) him. He would be a good choice,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told Sports Headliners.

The five finalists represent “almost 1,500 assistant coaches” from 117 Division I programs, according to the award’s website. Each head coach can nominate one assistant from his staff.

The finalists are chosen by a committee of former head coaches including Arkansas coaching legend Frank Broyles. Others on the nine-man committee include coaching greats like Bobby Bowden, Vince Dooley, Hayden Fry and Barry Switzer. The 2013 winner will be announced in Little Rock at the awards banquet on December 10.

The Gophers, 8-3, have one remaining regular season game, at Michigan State on Saturday. Their eight wins have exceeded all but the most optimistic preseason predictions. The Gophers have four conference wins for the first time since 2005 and haven’t won eight games or more in a season since 2003.

Kill said “off-the-record” last summer he thought eight or nine wins were possible. “Our kids worked their tail ends off,” Kill said this week. “They showed commitment in the offseason and put a lot of time in. (I) felt like we were getting stronger. I am not one of those guys to predict but I knew we were going to be better. We are better than we were a year ago. I expect us to be better next year.”

Worth Noting

Kill has worked this season with a mostly inexperienced group of receivers and is pleased with their progress. He said wide receiver KJ Maye has been “slowed” by a groin pull and tight end Drew Goodger hasn’t been appreciated by outsiders.

“Nobody ever talks about Drew Goodger. He’s a pretty good tight end, too, and he’s made some critical catches for us.”

Kill had nine recruits at his house over the weekend with three visiting on Saturday night and six on Sunday.

Mike Cannon from Hutchinson, Minnesota was the referee in last week’s Gophers-Badgers game at TCF Bank Stadium. He is a regular with Big Ten officiating crews.

Ex-Vikings linebacker Ben Leber expects coaching changes with his former team (2-8-1) after the season. “I like and respect a lot of coaches on the staff but I don’t know how you can bring the whole staff back, or keep some of them,” Leber told Sports Headliners.

Leber doesn’t have a candidate to replace head coach Leslie Frazier but he mentioned Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. He has almost 16 years of NFL and college experience including working with quarterback Andrew Luck at Stanford and with the Colts.

Leber found it “baffling” that less than two weeks after the Vikings acquired Josh Freeman they started him at quarterback in their October 21 game against the Giants. He described the situation as “bizarre” that the Vikings could expect Freeman to be successful having to learn about new receivers, plays and terminology in such a short time during the season.

Leber doesn’t consider Christian Ponder a potentially elite quarterback. “I think if you’re looking for a franchise quarterback, I don’t think he is the guy who is going to lead the Vikings,” Leber said. “He could remain a No. 2.”

Leber will work for Fox 1 on a high school football game telecast in New Jersey on Thanksgiving Day. On Saturday he will be part of the Fox Sports Net crew for the Tulsa-North Texas game in Tulsa.

The record crowd of 53,090 for last Saturday’s Gophers-Badgers game included standing room only sales. That’s about maximum capacity for TCF Bank stadium unless there is expansion such as the 2,000 seat west end bleachers likely to be used for Vikings games next year.

KSTC-TV Ch. 45 will telecast all seven games of the Prep Bowl from the Metrodome on Friday and Saturday. Mahnomen (Class A), Hutchinson (Class 4A) and Eden Prairie (Class 6A) are hoping to defend their state championships. Eden Prairie (11-0) will be trying to win a third consecutive title when the Eagles play Rosemount (11-1) starting at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

With the Metrodome being torn down early next year, Brainerd and Owatonna, both 12-0 teams from Class 5A, will play the last Prep Bowl game ever in the building starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Seems appropriate with Brainerd’s Ron Stolski the winningest coach in Minnesota prep football history.

Linebacker Blake Weber from Prior Lake High School saw his team lose to both Eden Prairie and Rosemount this season. Who does he think will win that game?

“Eden Prairie is the better team,” Weber told Sports Headliners. “Our team would be the only team that would have a chance to give Eden Prairie a run for the money. Eden Prairie’s offensive line is by far the best I’ve seen in three years of varsity (football). They know their assignments. They’re big and strong, and get after you.”

Weber is the South Suburban Conference defensive player of the year. He is also on the Minnesota Vikings all-state team and one of 10 finalists for the state’s Mr. Football award sponsored by the Vikings and Minnesota Football Coaches Association.

Weber made an unofficial visit last week to the University of Minnesota and the Gophers want him to be part of their walk-on group for 2014. The Gophers have labeled their invitation as a “preferred walk-on” with his understanding that playing at a high level could eventually mean a scholarship. “The U is probably not going to offer me (a scholarship now),” he said. “I am pretty set on the U.”

In addition to the 30-member all-state team announced yesterday, Eden Prairie’s Mike Grant was named prep football Coach of the Year by the Vikings.

Vern Mikkelsen, 85, passed away last week and he will be fondly remembered for his Hall of Fame career, contributions to four world championship teams of the Minneapolis Lakers, and his kind heart. Mikkelsen, often referred to as the NBA’s first power forward, played for the Lakers from 1949-1959.

When owner Bob Short decided to move the Lakers to Los Angeles after the 1959-1960 season, he tried to persuade Mikkelsen to play for him in California. Short, in fact, offered Mikkelsen 25 percent of the franchise. Mikkelsen turned down the offer and mentioned the decision in his book, The Vern Mikkelsen Story.

“I talked it over with Johnny (ex-Lakers coach John Kundla) and we both kind of figured that basketball would not have much of a chance there,” Mikkelsen said in the book.

Several years after moving the team to Los Angeles, Short sold the Lakers for $5.2 million. Mikkelsen said his wife Jean always remembered that.

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Vikings Offer Plans for Dome Farewell

Posted on November 20, 2013November 20, 2013 by David Shama

The Metrodome will be imploded early next year. The 31-year-old building is the only facility to host a Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series and MLB All-Star game. The dome has been home to the Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves and Gophers but the building’s owner, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, has no plans for a public goodbye.

Nostalgic fans will be interested in the Vikings’ last weekend at the dome (Mall of America Field), December 28 and 29. Season ticket holders can go down on the field, tour the locker room and meet Vikings alumni on December 28. The next day the Vikings close their regular season and era in the dome with a game against the Lions.

Vikings executive Lester Bagley told Sports Headliners the farewell plan on December 29 includes a postgame ceremony. Former and current Vikings will speak, with NFL Films providing visuals of the franchise’s highlights at the dome.

Fans will vote for an All-Mall of America team, selecting the best Vikings from 1982-2013. The team will be announced at the home game against the Eagles on December 15.

The Vikings are also working with Target on a 32 seasons promotion. Fans can share favorite Vikings memories at the Target Kiosk on the stadium plaza or via social media. More information is available from Vikings.com.

Bagley said the Vikings have produced commemorative items for the final season including publications and lapel pins, and will provide a gift to season ticket holders.

The Vikings will play home games at the University of Minnesota in 2014 and 2015 before opening their new stadium in 2016 on the present Metrodome site. Tear down of the dome will be done in phases and is expected to start around February 1.

“We’ll grind through our seasons at TFC Bank Stadium but we’re very excited about the new stadium,” Bagley said. “We want to give our fans a last shot, a last look (at the dome), and honor the best players that played for the Vikings at Mall of America field and kind of try to send it off in style.”

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