Can Jerry Kill walk on water?
The first test comes near the Pacific Ocean on Saturday when his lowly regarded Gophers play nationally ranked Southern California. The Trojans are among the legendary programs in college football history but are perhaps vulnerable to an upset because they are on NCAA probation, banned from post-season play and operating with a reduced number of scholarships.
The common view is the Gophers, 3-9 last year and expected to be among the Big Ten’s worst teams, will lose the game by three touchdowns or more. But ESPN.com’s Pat Forde is an admirer of Kill and he predicts the Gophers will upset Southern California.
Another ESPN college football authority, Ivan Maisel, was on 1500 ESPN Sunday talking about the Gophers and Kill. Maisel doesn’t expect much of a season in 2011 but is optimistic about the years to come under Kill who starts his first season as Gophers coach on Saturday after turning around other college programs.
Kill has many admirers locally and nationally. He’s reportedly often mentioned by other coaches as a superior head coach, and if there’s been a negative word spoken about him by Minnesota fans and media since his arrival last December, we missed it.
The Gophers-USC game looks like a personnel mismatch on paper. The Gophers have so many ifs in talent and depth that it quickly leads to that conclusion. The Gophers, for example, start a new quarterback, MarQueis Gray. The Trojans have returning regular Matt Barkley, a junior, and a player Kill sees playing in the NFL some day.
“First round draft pick,” Kill said. “He’s got nice receivers to get it to. He gets the ball out quick. Smart, well coached. They do a good job with him.”
The Gophers have a roster with lots of inexperienced players, including in the all important offensive line where six redshirt freshmen and true freshmen, and two sophomores dominate the depth chart. “I think two or three years down the road (they) should be a special group,” Kill said.
Right now, though, it’s not 2013 or 2014. Saturday reality is USC, ranked No. 25 in the country by Associated Press, and not Kill’s first choice for an opening assignment. He would prefer a non-BCS opponent and a cozy game at TCF Bank Stadium.
Some day the Kill fandom expect him to walk on water, maybe the Mississippi. None would mind if he starts with an ocean on Saturday.