Football, basketball and baseball notes:
Vikings coach Leslie Frazier described the potential of Cordarrelle Patterson as “very special” today and offered a review of injured players including All-Pro Adrian Peterson at his afternoon news conference.
Patterson, the rookie wide receiver and kickoff returner, was superb yesterday in the 29-26 loss to the Ravens. He caught five passes for 141 yards including a late fourth quarter touchdown reception of 79 yards. Can Patterson become an elite NFL player?
“Oh, there’s no question about it,” Frazier answered. “…He’s showing that in some of the things he does when the ball is in his hands. He has a chance to be very special for a long time.”
The Vikings’ offense is making more use of the rookie now than earlier in the season but Frazier doesn’t regret the team’s cautious approach. “We had a plan from… the day we drafted him and how we wanted to bring him along, and it’s worked out beautifully.
“You see the things he’s done now but I don’t know if those things would have occurred in September or October if we didn’t take the approach that we took. I think we did it the right way to get the results we wanted to be able to get at this time of the year.”
Peterson sustained a foot injury in yesterday’s game. Frazier said the team is awaiting test results later today and consultation from a “foot doctor.” The coach isn’t sure of Peterson’s availability for Sunday’s home game against the Eagles, nor is Frazier sure he will have second unit running back Toby Gerhart who has a hamstring injury.
Frazier hoped to have tight end Kyle Rudolph back by now from his foot injury but instead the Vikings will place him on injured reserve and his 2013 season is finished. Frazier said quarterback Christian Ponder, who missed yesterday’s game because of concussion concerns, will be available for the Eagles. The staff will meet today to discuss the quarterback starter for Sunday’s game.
Vikings fan Steve Nestor predicts the team will have the sixth pick in the first round of next spring’s NFL Draft and select Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr who has thrown 48 touchdown passes this season and averaged 405.5 yards per game passing.
Jeff Jones, the Washburn running back who won the state’s Mr. Football Award yesterday, wants to visit Iowa State, Michigan State and Missouri before making his college choice. Those trips haven’t been scheduled but Jones took his first official college visit over the weekend to Minnesota, and pronounced it an “honest” look at the Gophers where he heard from players already in the program.
What would Jones decide if he chose a college yesterday? “If I had to commit this afternoon, yeah, it would be the University of Minnesota,” he said on Sunday.
The Gophers, with a bowl game remaining, have an 8-4 record, and the most wins since the 2003 team won 10 games. Winning in college is important to Jones.
“I grew up here in Minnesota. I watched Minnesota lose a lot of games,” Jones said. “Just to be from here and to see that they’re doing better, it puts a smile on my face because there are a lot of good players that came out of Minnesota that chose different colleges because they were losing. I feel like it gives us incentive to stay home now.”
Gophers coach Jerry Kill has made the right impression with Jones. “He changed that program around. They really believe in the brick-by-brick foundation.”
Jones will play in the prestigious Under Armour Game, a national all-star prep game to be held on January 2 in Orlando. He may announce his college choice around the first of the year. “If I get a couple more visits in before the Under Armour Game there is a good possibility,” he said. “If I don’t get any visits in I think I am going to have to wait until the signing day.”
High school players can sign National Letters of Intent binding them to a school on February 5, 2014. If Minnesota is Jones’ choice he will be competing for playing time next year against all the Gophers top running backs who are in the program now including starter David Cobb who has rushed for 1,111 yards this season and Berkley Edwards, a speedy freshman who is being redshirted. “I feel like it will be good competition with the running backs over there,” Jones said. “It’s going to be a dogfight next year between four or five of us there.”
Jones, a four year starter who ran for 4,668 yards at Washburn while also being a slot receiver and safety, is the only Rivals.com four-star player among those who have made verbal commitments so far to the Gophers in the class of 2014. A two-time City MVP and all-state player, Jones said winning the Mr. Football Award is a “great cherry on top of the ice cream.”
Jones was one of 10 finalists for the award, one of the projects by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and Vikings to promote prep football. The award banquet was held yesterday at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park .
Golden Valley-based Buffalo Wild Wings, sponsor of the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, was probably lobbied by the Gophers as a bowl game destination. With large numbers of Minnesotans in the Phoenix area, the Gophers figured to have strong support at the game. But it will be Michigan and Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl on December 28 while the Gophers will play Syracuse on December 27 in the Texas Bowl in Houston.
The St. Thomas football program is looking for an offensive coordinator, a full-time 12 month position. Three years of college coaching experience is required. The school posted the opening last week.
The Gophers basketball team, 8-2, plays South Dakota State, 4-6, tomorrow night at Williams Arena. The two programs have played nonconference games against one another for eight consecutive years. The Gophers are 16-0 in the series that dates back to 1930.
The Gophers are averaging 77.4 points per game, the most for Minnesota since the 83.3 points average in 1989-90. The Gophers’ offense often looked stagnant under former coach Tubby Smith but this season players appear more comfortable.
Senior guard Maverick Ahanmisi said the offense is less structured now with new coach Richard Pitino encouraging players to move the ball up court quickly and often take a shot. “Coach tells us he wants us to run the show,” Ahanmisi said.
Playing fast offense and full court defense takes energy. Pitino and strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown have “transformed everybody’s body,” according to Ahanmisi. He said his body fat has changed from 8.8 percent to 7.9. Mo Walker said his declined from 18 percent to “11 or 12.”
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo will be in Rice Lake, Wisconsin tomorrow night to watch Rice Lake High School center Henry Ellenson, brother of Gophers forward Wally Ellenson.
Security was tight for those involved with last week’s scheduled game in Mexico City involving the Spurs and Timberwolves that ended up being postponed because of a fire in the arena. Even staff members from the two organizations weren’t allowed to leave the hotel without an NBA security person accompanying them in the streets of Mexico City.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said on WCCO Radio yesterday morning the Spurs-Wolves game might be rescheduled for April 8 at Target Center.
Matt Thornton, the new owner of Jay Buckley’s Baseball Tours, e-mailed that the LaCrosse, Wisconsin-based company has 30 trips scheduled for 2014 including to spring training sites, the College World Series, MLB’s All-Star Game and MLB regular season games. More at Jaybuckley.com.