Vikings coach Brad Childress talking about rookie quarterback Joe Webb and his early adjustment to the NFL: “He is about like most rookie quarterbacks, just kind of swimming in all of the verbiage. Some things he’s got cold but I think every situation is a new situation, whether it’s a short-yardage situation and the ball goes on the ground. He’s a talented enough kid physically. I would just like everything to straighten out in his brain and you know that is a process. You can want that to happen but quite frankly most first-year quarterbacks are just about right there.”
The Packers are outspoken in their optimism about a 2011 Super Bowl appearance. USA Today Sports Weekly reports in its August 4-10 issue that linebacker Nick Barnett plans to print T-Shirts with the slogan “Super Bowl or die.” Coach Mike McCarthy describes his group in the newspaper as a “mature football team that is ready to take the next step.”
The Gophers could have an emerging standout in redshirt freshman defensive end Ra’Shede Hageman who is 6-6, 294 pounds. Gophers coach Tim Brewster said Hageman has run a 4.7 40-yard dash.
Brewster also said former walk-on Mike Rallis, now a sophomore, has a “chance” to be one of the Big Ten’s best linebackers.
Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is the likely site for the Big Ten’s first football championship game in 2011 but no commitment has been made beyond next year. Minneapolis, if the city has a new Vikings stadium, is expected to receive consideration for future games.
The Gophers basketball team plays in the ESPN Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament in November. If Minnesota wins its opening game against Western Kentucky, and North Carolina is also a first round winner, the two teams will play each other for the first time since 1980.
The Wild were interested in adding depth to the center position with former North Star Mike Modano who signed with Detroit but will compensate with another veteran, new acquisition John Madden from the Blackhawks. Madden, 37, has long been considered one of the NHL’s better defensive forwards.