Wild – Page 39 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Dalvin Cook Joins Elite NFL Runners

Posted on November 9, 2020November 9, 2020 by David Shama

A newsy Monday notes column covering the Vikings, Gophers, Twins, Wild and more:

Dalvin Cook totaled a career-high 252 scrimmage yards (206 rushing, 46 receiving) and two rushing touchdowns in the Vikings’ 34-20 win against the Detroit Lions Sunday. He is now the third player in NFL history to have at least 225 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns in consecutive games, joining Jim Brown (1963) and Deuce McAllister (2003). Cook had 226 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving) a week ago Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

Dalvin Cook (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

Cook has 12 rushing touchdowns this season, tied for the fourth-most by a player in his first seven games of a season in NFL history. All-time leaders are Brown (14 rushing touchdowns in 1958) and Emmitt Smith (13 in 1995) and Priest Holmes (13 in 2004).

The Gophers’ Mohamed Ibrahim is the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced this morning. He rushed for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns for the second consecutive week in Minnesota’s win Saturday over Illinois. He tied his career high with 224 rushing yards, adding 31 yards receiving and 27 yards on kick returns to set a career high with 282 all-purpose yards. He is the second Gopher ever to have two consecutive 200-yard rushing games and the first since Terry Jackson II in 2002.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck remembered when the junior running back was on the scout team early in his college career and “never complained” about his status. “He’s earned everything he’s got,” Fleck said.

Trey Potts, Ibrahim’s back-up, was carted off the field Saturday with an apparent ankle or foot injury. Fleck speculated Potts is “day-to-day” for Friday night’s game with Iowa.

Assistant coach Joe Rossi missed the Illinois game because of COVID-19 and Fleck offered no timeline on Rossi’s return, although he did say the defensive coordinator is “doing well.”

What an interesting Big Ten football season so far. Wisconsin, the preseason favorite to win the West Division, has only played one game because of COVID. Minnesota, another popular pick to emerge as the division champ, is off to a 1-2 start, while Northwestern, 1-8 in league games last season, is 3-0 and could win the West. In the East Division nobody saw a 0-3 start for Penn State or 3-0 beginning for Indiana, a program historically among the worst in the nation.

Because he is 40 years old, Minnesota Twins DH Nelson Cruz didn’t make MLB.com’s list from today of the top 25 free agents this offseason based on analytics for future production. No Twins made the list but three former Minnesota players did, second baseman Jonathan Schoop at No. 17, relief pitcher Liam Hendriks, No. 19, and outfielder Robbie Grossman, 24.

MLB.com on Saturday listed the “perfect” free agent fits for all 30 major league teams and tagged the Twins with New York Mets starter Marcus Strommen. He is a potential No. 2 or 3 talent but MLB.com speculates the Mets could extend an $18.9 million qualifying offer. Twins free agent starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi is projected as the right fit with the Boston Red Sox.

Organizer Patrick Klinger reports the Capital Club will hear from Golden Gophers men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino tomorrow (Tuesday) via zoom. Klinger, the former Twins executive who now runs a St. Paul-based marketing company, uses this signature quote in his emails from English essayist and moralist Samuel Johnson:

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”

Pitino will be upbeat tomorrow talking about transfer guard Both Gach. Pitino announced today the Austin, Minnesota native, who played his first two seasons at Utah, has been given immediate eligibility by the NCAA. Gach joined Pitino’s program this summer after playing two seasons at the University of Utah. An almost certain starter for the Gophers this fall, Gach will have two years of eligibility at Minnesota.

A media panel selected a 10-member preseason All-Big Ten team announced today that includes Pitino’s junior point guard, Marcus Carr. He was an All-Big Ten third team selection last season, after having a school record 207 assists.

The Gopher men’s hockey team program is the favorite to win the Big Ten Conference in 2020-21, per a poll of league coaches who also designated four Minnesota players with preseason honors. It was announced this morning Minnesota led the poll ahead of Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Penn State.

Minnesota junior forward Sammy Walker is a member of the preseason All-Big Ten first team. Senior forward Brannon McManus and sophomore defenseman Jackson LaCombe are on the second team. Sophomore forward Ben Meyers received honorable mention.

Defending WCHA regular-season champion Minnesota State is the unanimous favorite to repeat as champions, earning all 10 first-place votes in the league’s media poll announced today. The Mavericks are followed by Bemidji State, Bowling Green , Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, Lake Superior State , Alaska, Ferris State, Alaska Anchorage and Alabama Huntsville. Minnesota State junior goaltender Dryden McKay is the media poll choice as WCHA Preseason Player of the Year.

Nobody is saying Marco Rossi is the next Mikko Koivu yet, but the Minnesota Wild need to develop an extraordinary center and it could be the 19-year-old Rossi. The team’s 2020 first round draft choice might make the Minnesota roster in his first season.

The NHL hasn’t announced when the season will begin but don’t count on spectators being allowed, at least early on.

“The Rundown,” Jeff Crilley’s daily newsletter, reports in today’s issue that early analysis by Pfizer says more than 90 percent of volunteers given the company’s vaccine didn’t develop COVID-19.

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P.J. Fleck: Gophers Defense ‘Talented’

Posted on November 2, 2020 by David Shama

Enjoy a Monday notes column quoting Mike Zimmer and P.J. Fleck about their inexperienced defenses, and Dave St. Peter on free agents and building next year’s team.

The 0-2 Golden Gophers football team has given up 94 points but in a Zoom call with reporters this afternoon Fleck stressed it is inexperience, not abilities, that is the defense’s problem. “We have a very talented defense,” Fleck said. “…We’ve got a lot of really good players.”

The defense is without seven starters from last year’s 11-2 team, including linebacker Kamal Martin who had some nice plays for the Green Bay Packers Sunday against the Vikings. Fleck used Martin as an example of a young talent with the Gophers who before he left the program had refined his skills including major improvement as a tackler.

Fleck said his inexperienced players are in position to make tackles but not executing. He wants to see more “gang tackling” as the Gophers try to end the explosive plays made by the opposition through two Big Ten losses. Fleck, who said defensive effort is not an issue, referred to a “developmental program” with the Gophers and said, “You’ve got to allow them to fail, to grow. I know it’s hard. …”

This has been the most difficult stretch for Minnesota defensive coordinator Joe Rossi since he took over in that role during the 2018 season. Fleck said Rossi is one of the best at what he does. “I think he is one of the best football coaches I’ve ever been around,” Fleck added.

Minnesota has seven more games on the schedule with a trip to Illinois next. Fleck said the chance for players to learn, gain more experience and improve will only grow. “We’re going to be playing a lot more people, and that’s the investment we’re going to continue to make,” he said.

Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more in Maryland’s 45-44 win over the Gophers last Friday, is the Big Ten’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week along with Ohio State QB Justin Fields.

Interestingly, the Vikings played seven rookies on defense yesterday in their 28-22 win over Packers. Zimmer has been the Vikings’ head coach since 2014 and before that spent many years as an NFL assistant, but that seven number made an impression.

“It was interesting, I will say. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that as well,” Zimmer said this afternoon on a media call with reporters.

Injuries and off-season departures have resulted in new players and the mistakes they inevitably make. “Defensively we started out a little slow (yesterday),” Zimmer said. “Some of the young guys, I think they just wanted to watch the Hall of Fame quarterback (Aaron Rodgers), instead of watching their guy, but we played better in the second half. …”

Cornerback Jeff Gladney got beat in the first quarter yesterday on a touchdown pass to Green Bay’s Davante Adams. Gladney should have been positioned to the outside of Adams, not the inside. When he headed toward the sideline coach Zimmer barked at him but the rookie appeared to pay little attention and just kept running.

Zimmer said Gladney started out on the outside and then got out of position. “That’s where (outside) he should have been all the way.”

Rookie cornerback Cameron Dantzler had to be carried off the field with a neck injury yesterday. “He’s doing well,” Zimmer reported. “Got a chance to play this week.”

The Vikings, 2-5, play the Detroit Lions, 3-4, at US Bank Stadium Sunday, and have four of their next five games at home. No predictions from Zimmer, but he expressed optimism about Sunday if the effort and execution of yesterday continues on both offense and defense.

This fall the Minnesota Twins have eight free agents: Ehire Adrianza, Alex Avila, Tyler Clippard, Nelson Cruz, Marwin Gonzalez, Rich Hill, Trevor May and Jake Odorizzi. St. Peter, the club president, told Sports Headliners he is uncertain whether the Twins will negotiate with all eight and it’s “probably unlikely” all the free agents will be on the 2021 spring training roster.

St. Peter declined to talk about specific Twins free agents but acknowledged there are big decisions ahead (presumably at the top of the list are Cruz, Odorizzi and Gonzalez). He didn’t commit his organization to signing free agents from other teams, although he said that is certainly a possibility—along with possible trades and promoting players from within the system as ways to improve his club.

Perhaps the Twins indirectly showed their interest in Chaska native Brad Hand when they recently declined the option on the contract of key Minnesota reliever Sergio Romo. The Cleveland Indians have also declined an option on Hand who last season was 2-1 with a 2.05 ERA and an American League-leading 16 saves.

Because of the pandemic this will be an offseason like no other as the 30 MLB franchises show how much, or little, they are willing to pay players, starting with free agents. Sportico interviewed MLB commissioner Rob Manfred who said in a recent story teams amassed $8.3 billion in debt from financial lenders and lost $2.8 to $3 billion in operational expenses this year. Manfred is cautious about what baseball will look like in 2021.

St. Peter referred to the “economic carnage” of 2020 but didn’t offer details about Twins finances. “We’re no different,” he said.

The Twins won the AL Central for a second consecutive season. “We really like our club,” St. Peter said. “You’re always looking for ways to improve, and that’s what the offseason will be about.”

The 2020 Twins often impressed with their pitching and defense. “Our offense was average, which I think was surprising,” St. Peter said. “We expected our offense to be better than that. But pitching and defense is what wins championships at the end of the day. …”

The goal of management is to head out of spring training with an improved team capable of reaching the World Series, St. Peter said.

The NHL’s 2021 Winter Classic scheduled for January 1 at Target Field has been postponed, but St. Peter is hopeful his venue will eventually host the game that was to be played between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. He also said college football at Target Field remains of interest with St. Thomas being among possibilities to participate in a game.

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U Regent Hsu Voting No on Sports Cuts

Posted on October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by David Shama

Regent Michael Hsu told Sports Headliners he will vote no on the University of Minnesota proposal to cut four men’s sports at the Board of Regents meeting Friday. The Star Tribune reported last week the U Athletic Department is also seeking approval for reducing 41 roster spots on Gopher women’s teams as part of its cost savings plan for the next school year. Hsu is opposed to that initiative as well.

“I am opposed to the (total) proposal because I think it’s the wrong proposal at the wrong time,” Hsu said. “I think it’s premature. I think the fact we’re playing football, we don’t really know what our financial picture is like. If it (the proposal) includes reducing women, it’s not something we should be doing until the office of civil rights comes knocking on our door and tells us we need to cut men and women from our programs.”

Athletic director Mark Coyle came to the regents at their last meeting proposing the elimination of men’s golf, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track. The department is in a financial crisis because of the pandemic’s impact on the revenue producing sports, led by football, that support 25 men’s and women’s programs. At the time of the September meeting the Gophers and other members of the Big Ten Conference had no plans to play a football schedule, but that has since changed with Minnesota and other league teams beginning eight-game schedules later this month. The resumption of football guarantees TV revenues that presumably were not available if there was no season.

At the last regents meeting Coyle described the proposal to cut sports as painful but was definitive in the need to do so and offered no alternative. Since then campus protest has surfaced (anticipate one today) and alumni of the impacted sports have spoken out including those who will raise money for continuation of the programs.

“We should give them (community organizers) a chance to try and figure this out,” Hsu said. “We should work with them, but right now it’s not happening. It’s basically, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do, and you don’t have a chance, and you’re never going to raise enough money so we’re not going to give you time.’

“I mean you heard what Coyle said. I just think that’s a bad way to handle it. I think the community should have a chance, 30 days is not enough. It’s not like these sports just started in 2001.”

Hsu believes the vote at Friday’s meeting could be close. “I’ve heard from some (regents) that they agree with me,” he said.

Seven affirmative votes among 12 are needed to pass the proposal. A 6-6 vote will defeat it.

Those interested in following the Thursday-Friday regents meeting can do so via live streaming and later on video.

Worth Noting

Mike Boone of the Vikings is NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for forcing a timely first quarter fumble against Houston Texans punt returner DeAndre Carter last Sunday that changed momentum of the game, and Minnesota went on to earn its first win of the season.

As the Gophers football team goes through its protocols in managing safety with COVID-19, it could learn from the Vikings who have managed to keep their players healthy. Fox reported during Sunday’s Vikings game that the team used 10 buses in Houston to distance players in transporting them from the hotel to stadium.

247Sports released its latest bowl projections this week including the Gophers in the January 2 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville against Mississippi State. If so, that’s a rematch with the “Pirate.” Bulldogs coach Mike Leach lost in an upset to Minnesota and coach Tracy Claeys in the 2016 Holiday Bowl in San Diego when he was leading the Washington State program.

Whew! It’s believed former LSU coach Les Miles wanted the Gophers job before Minnesota hired P.J. Fleck in 2017. Miles is in his second season now at Kansas and the Jayhawks might be the worst Power Five program there is.

Former Gophers head coach Tim Brewster now coaches tight ends at Florida where his starter, Kyle Pitts, has six touchdown receptions in two games and looks like the favorite to win the John Mackey Award honoring the nation’s best collegian at that position. Pitts is also an early Heisman Trophy favorite, recognizing college football’s best player.

Minnesota Wild scouting authority Judd Brackett talking about center Marco Rossi who the team selected ninth overall in last night’s NHL Draft: “Marco is a two-way center with incredible vision, skill and compete level. We are very excited to add his playmaking ability to our organization.”

Still unknown is when WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” program, off the air for most of this year because of the pandemic, will return. The show has been a Sunday morning listening favorite since 1979.

“Sports Huddle” co-host Dave Mona is finishing up the 49^th book he has read this year. At the top of his list is Erik Larson’s new book on Winston Churchill.

Although it’s a late start, a lot of communities across the state are celebrating the return of prep football this month. The Minnesota Football Coaches Association points out the first high school game in the state occurred in 1891 between Minneapolis Central and Duluth.

The CORES group that normally starts its guest speakers programs in September has postponed meetings indefinitely because of COVID-19. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

The pandemic has prompted the Bolder Options nonprofit, headed by former Gopher Darrell Thompson, to plan its annual celebration and fundraiser online with an October 28 date from 7 to 7:30 p.m.

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