Vikings – Page 27 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Give Kevin O’Connell Final Authority on QB Draftee

Posted on April 14, 2024April 14, 2024 by David Shama

Who will have the final word in the draft room next week when the Vikings presumably select their future starting quarterback? If this is a movie, leading roles go to GM Kwesi-Adofo Mensah, new quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and owners Zygi and Mark Wilf but the star of the drama figures to be head coach Kevin O’Connell.

The evening of Thursday, April 25, is potentially a franchise transformative night for the Vikings who haven’t been able to lock in long term on a superlative quarterback this millennium. The chatter has been ceaseless about who the Vikings will draft and whether they can move up from their No. 11 spot in the first round.

Despite the likelihood of taking a quarterback in the first round, there is no guarantee that will happen. But the Vikings will take a quarterback at some point in the NFL Draft and when they do it makes no sense for anyone to have as much say as O’Connell who could see attributes in a prospect that others can’t. He will also be tasked above all others in the newcomer’s development.

Kevin O’Connell image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

With other pro teams a heavyweight GM could have the most clout in the QB process, but Adofo-Mensah is about two years into his role as front office boss. His background is in business, data and analytics and he’s never played football or coached it. He and O’Connell work closely together including the deep-dive process for preparing for this draft and selection of a quarterback but their backgrounds and experience are different.

The Wilfs, as in the past, will know what their organization leaders are doing and will be aware of final recommendations. But why would they dictate the decision of who to draft when that’s the job of those they hired?

McCown’s input will be highly valued. He was hired this year after being the Panthers’ quarterback coach last season where he worked with rookie QB Bryce Young. McCown has nearly 20 years of QB playing experience in the NFL and a past relationship with O’Connell.

McCown and others will have O’Connell’s ear but ultimately, he figures to have the final decision whether it’s a consensus or contrarian choice. In two years as Minnesota’s head coach he’s earned a reputation as one of the NFL’s brightest young offensive strategists and teachers. The 38-year-old has the demeanor and knowledge to make the most out of whoever the Vikings count on to lead them at quarterback, the NFL’s most important position.

With O’Connell’s wherewithal and resume that should give him the biggest soap box in the draft room. He not only deserves it but his future security as head coach depends on it.

Worth Noting

The Twins announced this morning they have returned left-handed pitcher Caleb Thielbar to the roster after his rehab assignment at AAA St. Paul and reinstated him from the 15-day Injured List. Right-handed pitcher Jorge Alcala has been optioned to St. Paul to make room on the 26-man roster.

The Twins are averaging 22,448 fans in their first five home games, per ESPN.com, and expect to draw two million or more this season.

As of late last week, fewer than 1,000 tickets remained for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Gymnastics, at Target Center June 27-30.

The Holy Family Catholic High School football program, losers of 23 straight games until last season’s turnaround 7-4 season, returns seven starters each on offense and defense. Also back will be head coach Dan O’Brien, the former Gophers assistant coach, and veteran assistants Dave Nelson and Jeff Ferguson.

Nelson is assistant executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association that had a record number 1,660 registrants for its annual clinic earlier this month in St. Louis Park.

The Twin Cities Dunkers celebrate their 1,000^th speaker program on May 14 when Golden Gophers baseball coach John Anderson, who is retiring after this season, speaks to the club. It will be Anderson’s 14^thas the lead speaker, the most in Dunkers’ history. The organization began as the Minneapolis Dunkers in 1948.

That was former Golden Gophers head football coach Glen Mason’s 74^th birthday last Tuesday.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor’s 83^rd birthday is Saturday (April 20).

Condolences to the family and friends of Gordy Genz who passed away earlier this month. He was a hockey coaching icon at Warroad and Alexander Ramsey High School. A superb athlete at Hamline, he scored 11 points in a 1959 hockey game against Augsburg, according to Hamline.edu.

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Randy Shaver’s Prep Football Bond Likely to Continue

Posted on April 9, 2024 by David Shama

Ron Stolski was on the verge of tears Friday night when talking about Randy Shaver’s Prep Sports Extra. Stolski, executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, was speaking at the organization’s annual clinic in St. Louis Park and referencing 40 years of the KARE11 Friday night show that is imbedded in the state’s football culture.

“Thank you for four decades of the discipline, the dedication and commitment and effort to make our Friday nights special,” Stolski told Shaver and the audience of state high school football coaches.

Prep Sports Extra followed the 10 a.m. news in the fall and for a long time was the most viewed program in its time slot in the metro area. When the lights went out at prep football games in the state, players, coaches and fans could relive and forever remember many of the evening’s most enduring moments. “You and Prep Sports Extra have always been our fifth quarter,” Stolski told Shaver before presenting him with an award.

Stolski, the retired Brainerd High School football coach and one of the state’s winningest coaches ever, talked about the fraternity among coaches and others involved with high school football. He saluted Shaver for his legacy and what his show has meant to prep football in the state, telling his friend that he will forever be “in the huddle of the keepers of the game.”

Shaver came to WTCN (now KARE11) at 24 years old in January of 1983. A former high school football player in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he worked his way up from sports reporter and weekend sports anchor to sports director, and since 2012 has been co-anchor on the evening news at the station. He announced this winter that he will be retiring from the station after his 6 p.m. June 28 newscast and ending 43 years total in the TV industry.

The departure includes an end to the Prep Sports Extra which last year celebrated its 40^th anniversary. Shaver opened up to the clinic audience Friday evening and said ending the iconic show that he started, produced and anchored was a decision he “had to make for the sake of the show.”

Then he added: “This last year, our resources, as in every walk of life right now, got cut back. And I have to be honest, I only know one speed for the show. I only know one way of doing it.

“So to ask me to find other ways to fill the show or do the show (won’t work). I did it last year because I wanted to get it to 40 but I also realized that it’s time for either someone else to do it and do it differently…I don’t know. But for me to try…and to piece it all together just didn’t work.

“That and the fact that it was time for me to walk away from the news side of what I am doing in my life right now. So, I really do appreciate this (the honor at MFCA).”

Shaver’s passion for high school football is off the charts and has been for decades. No high school sports show in this market has endured like Prep Sports Extra. “You know it’s just been a labor of love,” Shaver told Sports Headliners. “I never made a dime more for doing it—for all the extra time I put in to make it as great as it could be.

“I just loved Friday night. …I loved more being there until 3 in the morning logging all the video that we would shoot. That to me was the most enjoyable part. To be able to log all that video and to watch all of it. Stuff that we didn’t use on the air. I’ll miss that part.”

But the football community likely hasn’t seen the last of Shaver. He told the clinic audience he’s working “behind the scenes” to stay connected to them and prep football. Perhaps a podcast is next.

“I don’t want this connection to end because it’s so special for me. So just know you might hear something in July that I am popping up someplace and hopefully that’s just the beginning of something I can continue. “

Shaver has been approached about coaching football. “I don’t think that’s in the cards,” he said. “I think it’s going to be something more media related. I am working on trying to figure out what that looks like and feels like, and hopefully by July I’ll have it all figured out.”

During Shaver’s adult life he has twice been a cancer survivor. In 2003, he started the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund. That charity has benefited from the MFCA’s Tackle Cancer initiative.

About half the state’s high schools, most of the MIAC and Northern Sun member schools, and the Gophers and Vikings have raised money via Tackle Cancer. After 12 years almost $3.5 million has been raised. “It’s been amazing,” Shaver said.

Stolski credits another prep coaching icon, Dave Nelson, with extraordinary efforts in making Tackle Cancer so successful. “My nickname for Dave Nelson is ‘Bulldog’,” Stolski told the clinic audience. “You get Dave Nelson on a project, on a challenge, on an issue, and I’ll tell you he’ll get it done.”

About a year ago the two men gave a presentation on Tackle Cancer at a national football coaching gathering. Attendees were impressed, with some saying they couldn’t duplicate the initiative back home. Stolski said Nelson and Minnesota’s prep coaches made it happen and that there is a difference between “can’t and won’t.”

Nelson told the audience 92 percent of Tackle Cancer fundraising goes for research and patient assistance. “Cancer touches us all and as Randy (has) said doing nothing is not an option,” said Nelson who was a longtime metro area high school football coach and is now an assistant coach at Holy Family.

A symbolic check in the amount of $566,626 was presented to Shaver on Friday night, the latest contribution from the Tackle Cancer initiative.

Nelson implored coaches who aren’t involved to form a committee and get started. Both he and Shaver emphasized Tackle Cancer isn’t just a Minneapolis-St. Paul initiative. “It’s never been a metro thing,” Shaver said. “Cancer doesn’t know what that is and it doesn’t care.”

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J.J. McCarthy Might Give Vikes Second Best QB in Draft

Posted on April 7, 2024April 7, 2024 by David Shama

Daniel House studies more film of prospective NFL quarterbacks than any media person I know. He analyzes game films of college quarterbacks not just from 2023 but dating back in some cases to before the pandemic.

And guess what? In this 2024 quarterback rich NFL Draft he agrees USC’s Caleb Williams has the most upside, but his No. 2 may surprise you. Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye often receive more praise as prospects, but based on what House refers to as “projection” he thinks J.J. McCarthy is No. 2.

“Soley based on the fact that his ceiling is the highest of these quarterbacks. …He really wasn’t able to showcase everything that he could do because of Michigan’s style of play and how they completely dominated teams up front,” said House who offers his football insights on Mnvikingscorner.com and Gophersguru.com.

“When he was asked to do things within the system, to showcase his strengths, he executed those things. And when he gets in an NFL system that builds around what he does best—you put him in a good situation—I think he’s really going to forge and take off based on his talent.

“I don’t think people give him enough credit for his athleticism. This guy is very, very athletic. He’s slippery. He can extend plays but he’s not one of those guys that is going to hold onto the ball too long and back himself into some poor decisions.”

McCarthy has been linked to the Vikings since last fall, with the notion GM Kwesi-Adofo Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell were focusing on the former five-star recruit who helped Michigan to the 2023 national championship. Back then and for a while this winter speculation was McCarthy could be available in the middle of the first round or later.

That seems to have changed, with talk now McCarthy might be selected among the first six picks in the April 25-27 NFL Draft. Four quarterbacks going in the first five or six selections? It’s possible and that scenario would mean the Vikings trading up to be positioned for McCarthy or another high QB prospect.

Trade capital could mean the Vikings offering their No. 11 and No. 23 first round picks, and more, to be in a prime draft spot. McCarthy could be the target because of his skills and how those physical and mental attributes fit the Viking offense that favors play-action and passes over the middle of the field.

Daniel House

“I think he fits Kevin O’Connell’s offense the best (compared to Daniels and Maye) and he’s got the highest ceiling overall when he gets into an offense that fits his strengths—the play fake, the ability to suck defenders up, doesn’t get frustrated when things aren’t available. He’s a great improv, off-schedule quarterback when he needs to be,” House said about the 21-year-old who is the youngest among the four quarterbacks ballyhooed in the draft.

“The thing I notice is how he loves to give receivers hand signals, and then just redirects them and knows where to put the ball to give them a chance or draw a flag. Flashes the ability to move defenders with his eyes, and pump fakes, and really shines throwing over the middle of the field which I think is something Kevin O’Connell really is looking for in his next quarterback. …”

If the Vikings stay at No. 11 in the first round, McCarthy is unlikely to be available, but Bo Nix from Oregon and Michael Penix Jr. of Washington could be. In a league where successful quarterbacks have been found not only in the first round but even as free agents, the Vikings might find their man at No. 11 or later.

House refers to Nix as “a great athlete,” praises him for his throwing accuracy and pump fake that fools defenders, and for having a high football IQ. He said Nix’s pro success will depend on the system he plays in. “If he ends up with someone like Kevin O’Connell, I think he could do quite well.”

House praises Penix’s improvement during his college career and likes the quarterback’s ability to find openings in the secondary. “He’s more of a gunslinging type of quarterback where he’ll drive it into the tight window because he’s got such a strong arm and the ball really jumps out of his hands differently.”

House said Penix can make all the throws, his processing is better than he is given credit for and he thinks “someone is going to really fall in love with him as their quarterback.”

Of course, every prospect has elements like processing that evaluators are uncertain about. For a detailed look at the top quarterbacks in this month’s draft google their name and the NFL.com/prospects.

Worth Noting

Good guy Dalton Risner, the Vikings left guard who signed a one-year deal with the club last year but now is a free agent, switched agents recently in what seems to be a slow-moving contract process. Could Blake Brandel, who the Vikings re-signed last month, change from a utility backup role to a starter at left guard?

A controversial call in the closing seconds of Friday night’s Women’s Final Four cost UConn an opportunity to tie or win their semifinal game against Iowa but afterward former Hopkins superstar Paige Bueckers said one play doesn’t determine the outcome and she could have played better. Her former high school coach, Brian Cosgriff, texted this last night:

”No excuses. Even after one of the toughest losses ever. It’s what makes Paige special off the court, too!”

Quote on X last week from Robbinsdale Cooper LB Emmanuel Karmo —the top-rated class of 2025 state of Minnesota prep football prospect by 247Sports —after visiting Ohio State: “Had a great time in Columbus yesterday (April 1). Love the facility and the people and can’t wait to get back down on campus.”

A timely program on NIL’s impact on college sports featuring Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle will be the topic for the Capital Club’s April 24 breakfast at Mendakota Country Club. More information about the club is available from Patrick Klinger, patrick@agilemarketingco.com

With the Timberwolves facing salary cap challenges in the next offseason, forward-center Karl-Anthony Towns could be traded. If so, his absence may create a bigger role for center Luka Garza who recently saw his two-way contract converted into a standard NBA contract. Now in his third NBA season, Garza scored a season-high 16 points last week against the Raptors in just under 10 minutes. A skilled offensive player, Garza averaged 36.7 points in three G League games this season with the Iowa Wolves.

Anthony Edwards has at least one steal in 17 consecutive road games and can continue the streak in Los Angeles tonight against the Lakers. The club record is 24 set by Terrell Brandon in 2000.

That was Nebraska head basketball coach Fred Hoiberg, presumably in town for recruiting last week, seen at the Original Pancake House in Eden Prairie.

7 Vines Vineyard and Winery in Dellwood will be the site on Monday, June 10 for a tribute by friends and former teammates of the late Jim Carter who passed away in California last November. The celebration of life for the former Gopher football captain (1969) is being organized by former teammate Jim Brunzell.

The Wild, looking at missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019, seem likely to use minimal time in deciding whether to bring back 39-year-old goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Twin Cities chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association is nominating Wild center Marco Rossi for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy presented annually to the player best exemplifying perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

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