David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Gophers Still in Mix for Tyus Jones

Posted on August 19, 2013August 19, 2013 by David Shama

Tyus Jones has now made multiple unofficial visits to the University of Minnesota and the Gophers remain a solid possibility for his college choice, according to his mother, Debbie Jones.

Jones and his mom met with Gophers coach Rick Pitino and staff last week. “It went really good,” Debbie told Sports Headliners yesterday. “We had good conversations with the coach and coaching staff.

“He (Tyus) is still considering it (Minnesota). After the official visits (to other schools) we will sit down and talk about them. He is not leaning toward one (school now).”

An official visit is paid for by the school while an unofficial is at the family’s expense. Per NCAA rules, recruits are allowed only five official visits.

Jones, the Apple Valley High School senior point guard rated by Rivals.com as the second best player nationally in the class of 2014, is planning official visits to Baylor later this month, Kentucky in September and both Kansas and Duke in October.

Debbie said four visits, and not five, allow the flexibility of scheduling one more official visit and that could be to Minnesota. “You can get a little more in-depth with things (on official visits),” she said.

It’s interesting that Michigan State’s Tom Izzo pursued Jones early and often but the Spartans aren’t on Jones’ list of schools for official visits. “He just made a decision he wasn’t going to take an official visit there,” Debbie said. “They are still in contact.”

Worth Noting

A hockey source told Sports Headliners an announcement will be made this week that the Gophers men’s team will host Ohio State in the first outdoor hockey game at TCF Bank Stadium on January 18, 2014. The defending national champion Gophers women’s team will also play that day against Minnesota State in a doubleheader being promoted as the Hockey City Classic. The games will be part of Hockey Day in Minnesota and likely televised on the Big Ten Network.

Chicago-based Intersport, a sports and entertainment marketing agency, is playing a major organizing role with the event, according to a source who requested anonymity. Intersport, in partnership with Soldier Field, was involved with last winter’s Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field that included the Gophers and Badgers men’s teams.

While the Gophers’ stadium has been mentioned as a site for a future NHL Winter Classic Game, the game will likely be scheduled at Target Field, possibly on January 1, 2015.

Big Ten hockey’s initial season will be in 2013-2014 with six schools participating: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, Ohio State and Wisconsin. The Big Ten has scheduled a media day on September 19 in St. Paul with all six head coaches in attendance.

Gophers coach Jerry Kill will have his 52^nd birthday on Saturday.

Kill is one of three coaches on the ballot for the Southern Illinois All-Century team that will be introduced on September 14 at Saluki Stadium. Kill coached at Southern Illinois from 2001 through 2007, taking the Salukis from an initial 1-10 record to 12-2 in his last season.

The Goal Line Club is hosting the first of five Gopher Gridiron Luncheons on August 28 at Jax Café. The public is welcome and each luncheon will include a member of the Gophers coaching staff who will talk about the program. More at goallineclub.com.

The Gophers open the season at home against UNLV on August 29 and the Rebels’ roster includes wide receiver Jerry Rice, Jr. The son of the NFL Hall of Famer, Rice is a transfer from UCLA where his stats as a junior included seven catches for 52 yards.

UNLV’s athletic director is Tina Kunzer-Murphy whose husband Greg Murphy earned a letter playing quarterback for the Gophers in 1983.

The August 19 issue of Sports Illustrated has only one Big Ten team in its top 10 rankings of college football teams. That’s not a surprise after recent years of sub-par performance by league teams. Ohio State is No. 4, with Michigan State No. 15, Michigan No. 18 and Northwestern No. 22. Northern Illinois, the school where Kill coached before joining the Gophers, is No. 24 in the magazine’s top 25.

If the Twins continue to play sub-.500 baseball in 2014 it will be interesting to see how many season ticket holders renew tickets for 2015. Speculation is some season patrons are renewing for 2014 to have priority buying tickets to next summer’s MLB All-Star Game in Minneapolis. Those who choose to resell their All-Star tickets could use the money to cover a portion of season tickets expenses.

The risk patrons take in dumping their tickets is losing their prime seat locations when superstar prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano arrive at Target Field within a couple of years. The issue of Sports Illustrated referenced above has a six-page feature on Buxton and Sano, rated the No. 1 and 3 players in Baseball America’s prospect rankings of minor league talent. “Imagine having the next Bryce Harper or Mike Trout in your system—then imagine having them both,” S.I. wrote in an article titled “Glimmer Twins.”

It seems possible but no certainty that after three losing consecutive seasons the Twins will part ways with Ron Gardenhire this fall, the team’s manager since 2002. Even the most ardent Gardenhire supporters wouldn’t argue the Twins could create a new look and gain a fresh start with a new field boss. “Sometimes you make a change for change sake,” a passionate fan said.

The contrary argument is the Twins’ top decision makers recognize the lack of talent Gardenhire has been given. He is popular with team management and has earned a reputation for being cooperative.

The reorganized Timberwolves roster has 14 players who are 6-6 or taller. Seven of the 17 players on the roster are 6-9 or taller. Flip Saunders, the team’s president of basketball operations, expects the Wolves to be better defensively than last season because “We’re going to have great length.”

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Jones Still at Washburn, Other RB Gone

Posted on August 14, 2013August 14, 2013 by David Shama

Giovan Jenkins told Sports Headliners this evening that to the best of his knowledge star running back Jeff Jones is “staying at Washburn” and not transferring to Eden Prairie High School.

The Washburn High School coach said Jones practiced twice today with the Millers and was in good spirits. Jenkins acknowledged that Jones has talked to Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant. “He (Jones) has said nothing to me (about leaving),” Jenkins said.

Prep football teams started practicing on Monday and Jenkins said it’s still possible Jones could leave. Another Washburn running back, Raymonte Maynard, practiced with the Millers on Monday and since then has transferred to Chanhassen High School where he practiced today, Jenkins said.

Jones, a Rivals.com four-star recruit, has verbally committed to the Gophers. Jenkins said he believes Minnesota is still No. 1 with Jones and Iowa State is No. 2

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Tamp Down Hype on Gophers Speedster

Posted on August 14, 2013August 14, 2013 by David Shama

Don’t get too excited too soon about Gophers freshman running back Berkley Edwards. The advice is targeted at the most rabid Gophers fans who are looking hard for players to be passionate about.

Edwards has for months been advertised as a breakaway runner and he provided the most electrifying play of the day in a recent scrimmage when he ran up the middle for a 70-yard touchdown. Coach Jerry Kill said on National Signing Day back in February that Edwards was one of the top track sprinters in the country and the type of runner the Gophers could hand the ball to and say, “Goodnight.”

But there are reasons to tamp down expectations for now about Edwards (not highly recruited by other Big Ten schools) and his first-season impact for Minnesota. While Kill likes Edwards’ toughness, the Novi, Michigan native doesn’t have big legs, or a lot of size at 5-9, 190 pounds. In last Saturday’s scrimmage he didn’t have much success moving tacklers when his holes were minimal.

The coaching staff is likely to use Edwards in spot situations. His breakaway speed is an effective contrast to last year’s top backs, Donnell Kirkwood and Rodrick Williams, both of whom are power runners figuring to play much more than Edwards.

Edwards might see the field in early games similar to how the Gophers sometimes used 5-10, 197-pound speedster KJ Maye last season when he was a freshman. Maye, now a full-time wide receiver, saw spot duty in the backfield during 2012. He had four carries against New Hampshire and six versus Syracuse during the nonconference season. Look for Edwards to far exceed the 17 total carries Maye had as both a receiver and running back last season.

The Gophers could make good use of Edwards’ speed on draw plays, pitchouts, swing passes and reverses. More limited duty of that kind will also give him time to better understand the responsibilities of a college running back that range from pass protecting to having the playbook down cold.

Kill is optimistic about the learning curve. “He’s a pretty quick learner,” Kill said.

Edwards is part of an intriguing class of newcomers that includes freshmen and junior college transfers. It’s only Kill’s second full recruiting class. “We got some good young talent. We just gotta develop them and coach them,” Kill said.

First impressions include the running ability of many in the group. Freshmen quarterbacks Chris Streveler and Donovahn Jones are athletic and fast enough to break off long runs. Either or both might have an opportunity to do that as wide receivers before they play quarterback in a game.

The speed factor is noticeable even in bigger players like 6-5, 251-pound defensive end Hendrick Ekpe. “Hank can really run but he’s just raw,” Kill said. “He’s done some good things. I am excited about seeing how he matures over the next couple weeks because he’s a big physical specimen.”

Worth Noting

Oddsshark.com has the Gophers as 14 point favorites to defeat UNLV on August 29 at TCF Bank Stadium.

That game begins at 6:07 p.m. on a weekday night and fans will encounter challenges with traffic and parking. School won’t be in session at the University but there will be the usual rush hour and construction hassles, plus the Vikings play that evening at Mall of America Field and the State Fair will be in day eight. The Twins have a game the afternoon of August 29 at Target Field, adding a third event within a short drive of TCF Bank Stadium.

Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague said on WCCO Radio’s Sid Hartman show this morning that his department is working on making a telecast of Minnesota’s game at New Mexico State on September 7 available in this market. As reported earlier by Sports Headliners, the game is already scheduled for airing in parts of the Southwest including New Mexico.

When Vince Taylor was an assistant coach to Tubby Smith with the Gophers, Taylor had a strong recruiting relationship with former Robbinsdale Cooper shooting guard Rashad Vaughn who will play his senior season for Findlay Prep in Las Vegas. Taylor is now an assistant to Smith at Texas Tech and a high school recruiting authority told Sports Headliners Taylor is recruiting Vaughn but doesn’t think the Minnesota native will sign with the Red Raiders.

The Gophers, with an average attendance of 12,580 per game, finished No. 23 in the nation and No. 7 in the Big Ten in college basketball attendance last season, according to figures recently made available by the NCAA.

Minnesota Mr. Basketball president Ken Lien emailed that Matt Fletcher, who has coached at Anoka High School and Bethel University, has accepted an assistant’s position at Upper Iowa University.

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders welcomed new shooting guard Kevin Martin to town this week. Saunders said Martin is not only an outstanding three-point shooter but goes to the foul line “seven-plus times per game.”

Martin is admired for his professionalism, including how he trains. “He’s in phenomenal shape,” Saunders said.

Martin reached out to Shabazz Muhammad following the rookie’s incident where he reportedly had an unapproved female guest in his hotel room while attending an NBA seminar to teach new players proper behavior.

Saunders, a part owner in the Timberwolves, didn’t have an update on when the deal between the franchise and the city to renovate Target Center will be finished.

Saunders talking about ongoing contract negotiations with restricted free agent Wolves center Nikola Pekovic: “Every player, when you’re not signed, you want to be signed. You’re walking around without a contract. It’s like having a powerball in your pocket. You don’t want to throw your jeans in the washer and all of a sudden you don’t have it (powerball ticket) anymore.”

Stillwater-based Creative Charters is offering a five-day, four-night trip to London to watch the Vikings and Steelers in a regular season game on September 29. Former Viking Bob Lurtsema is the travel host. More at creativecharter.com.

Creative Charters is selling packages covering transportation, lodging and more but if you’re wondering what a bargain rate is just for a good hotel room in London, try $320 per night.

Francisco Liriano is tied for second in the National League for most wins with his 12-5 record with the Pirates. Traded by the Twins last season to the White Sox, Liriano’s success with the Pirates is an embarrassment to both Minnesota and Chicago. Liriano has reportedly changed his mix of two-seam and four-seam fast balls to help turn his career around.

Rookie center fielder Aaron Hicks, sent down by the Twins on August 1 to Triple-A Rochester after hitting .192 for the season, is only batting .209 in 12 games with the Red Wings. Pitcher Scott Diamond, also demoted to Rochester on August 1, is 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA.

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