David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Kill: Need ‘Great’ Season from Tufts

Posted on July 23, 2012July 23, 2012 by David Shama

The football Gophers begin practice next week and coach Jerry Kill talked to Sports Headliners about concerns for a team that was 3-9 last season but did win two Big Ten games and closed the season with an impressive 27-7 win over Illinois.

Kill is looking for receivers who can become exceptional; players who can locate a less than perfect pass and make the catch. “We need some guys to go make a play, make us look good,” Kill said. “If I’d say (identify)…the thing we need on our football team the most, it’s the concern who is that going to be? Is that going to be a freshman? Is it going to be Isaac Fruechte? Is it going to be (Devin Crawford-) Tufts?”

Fruechte, who was an all-state prep player in Caledonia, will be a first-year sophomore wide receiver for the Gophers after transferring from Rochester Community and Technical College. Kill said Fruechte “has the potential to be a very good athlete.”

Tufts, another sophomore wide receiver, played in nine games for the Gophers as a true freshman last season and showed big play potential including a 61-yard reception against Iowa. Kill is direct about his expectations for the former Edina football and track star.

“I think Devin Tufts has to have a great year for us if we’re going to be very good. I mean he’s gotta have a breakout season.”

Kill would obviously welcome a wide receiver like Eric Decker, a player who specialized in big plays and difficult catches during his Gophers career before turning heads with the NFL’s Broncos. “…There’s a reason he’s where he’s at,” Kill said. “They’re hard to find but we need one or two of them here because that will make us a lot better. “

Kill said he believes junior redshirt offensive lineman Ed Olson has “got a chance to have a breakout year,” and then he talked about the potential of several defensive players. He said sophomore Cedric Thompson could become a “great safety,” and talking on WCCO Radio during the offseason he has used the “G” word with Thieren Cockran, a redshirt defensive end who could become an extraordinary pass rusher.

“TC is a kid that’s a young freshman that I am encouraged by what he’s done,” Kill said. “Ra‘Shede Hageman is a young kid that is learning how to play defensive line. Played a great game against Illinois, left off in the spring, and I think everybody in the area knows what kind of athlete he is. He’s got an opportunity to take his name to the next level.

“Cameron Bottcelli (sophomore defensive tackle) is a kid that’s developed and he’s had a great summer. I think he’s got an opportunity to do some good things.”

Kill’s praise for secondary players goes beyond Thompson. He likes what he’s seen of his junior college newcomers, Jeremy Baltazar and Martez Shabazz, and also Briean Boddy who he describes as the “sleeper of the group.”

Then too there is sophomore safety Derrick Wells who was moved from cornerback to safety in the offseason. “Huge move on our football team,” Kill said. “I think in his next three years…I believe he’ll be an All-Big Ten player.”

Another player who switched positions was junior James Manuel, moving from safety to outside linebacker. Kill said the switch “was a good move for us to get ourselves better on defense.”

The Gophers had problems with punting last season and Kill is concerned about what the results will be in 2012. “The big question (about the team) is who is going to be the punter,” Kill said. “…There’s no question that’s the difference between winning and losing. That’s the biggest play in football. We gotta get better at it.”

When practice begins on August 2, Kill will be counting down to the opening game against UNLV 28 days later in Las Vegas. During the first few practices he will be looking at the freshmen to see who can play, contribute to team depth and perhaps even start. Some will have to play and help the Gophers.

“I think that’s the most important thing (to see in early practices),” Kill said. “How do they learn. Can they help us win? Are they going to be able to stay eligible playing in a Big Ten schedule?”

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Birk Turns 36 But No Family B-Day Party

Posted on July 23, 2012July 23, 2012 by David Shama

Matt Birk’s 36^th birthday is today but there won’t be any family party. The St. Paul native will be at the Ravens training camp in Maryland, a work assignment that started this morning and will extend into the evening.

The former Vikings center has reached an age where a next season is not a given. He took some time after the 2011 season to evaluate his future and then decided to play a 15^th NFL year. It’s a process that likely will be repeated again after this season.

“Give myself a chance to heal up physically and emotionally. Then talk it over with my wife and see what’s best for our family,” Birk said.

Birk told Sports Headliners he has no major physical concerns heading into training camp. If he did, he wouldn’t be in Owings Mills, Maryland where the Ravens train.

“I feel like I am playing good, playing well,” he said. “Physically can I do the same things I did 10 years ago? No, but I like to think I am a little bit smarter.

“But one thing that remains a constant: it’s never easy, it’s always a challenge. Not every single week, every single day. You’re going against the best players in the world. There’s never a day when you can just kind of take a day off or just kind of coast through. That’s what makes it great. The challenge is immense.”

Birk, who was a sixth round draft choice from Harvard, played 11 seasons for the Vikings but never on a Super Bowl team. The Ravens were 12-4 last season. Birk, who expects to be the team’s starting center, believes the Ravens will again be a good football team and obviously he would welcome a Super Bowl experience.

“That’s the ultimate goal but nobody is owed anything,” he said. “It’s a great thing because all 32 teams are working towards that. Just to have the opportunity to be able to still play and also to be on a team with an organization like the Ravens, that’s all I could ask for.”

Birk used free agency to leave the Vikings. He said there were various reasons for his decision, although he said the money offered by the two clubs was similar. “In some ways I was just kind of itching for a change for something different. Baltimore was just a great situation. They had a great team, a great group. They were competitive. Great owner. I mean all those things were in order. I wasn’t going to leave for just anywhere but I felt the situation in Baltimore was too good to pass up.”

It’s been speculated that Birk and Vikings coach Brad Childress didn’t get along. Did his relationship with Childress impact his decision to leave the Vikings? “Maybe a little bit,” Birk said. “We had our ups and downs but at the end of the day I think we both respected each other. I played for him for three years and I learned a lot.”

Leaving the Vikings wasn’t something that Birk had long planned. “I would never have guessed that I wouldn’t have finished (with the Vikings) but things happen. To have played 11 years with the Vikings was unbelievable. I mean just unbelievable. A dream that I didn’t even know that I had that came true.”

Birk comes back to the Twin Cities in the offseason. This is home for his wife Adrianna and their children. The kids range in age from six months to 10 years.

Did the family do anything interesting in the offseason?

“I have six kids. Every day is interesting,” Birk answered.

He won’t see the kids today on his birthday but that’s okay. He’s been anticipating the start of another season for awhile now and knows July 23 won’t always be spent at training camp.

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Yeo Coaches to Win Stanley Cup

Posted on July 13, 2012July 13, 2012 by David Shama

Second-year Wild coach Mike Yeo didn’t have his team in the playoffs last season but that’s certainly the future expectation now with the early July free agent signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to 13-year, $98 million contracts. Yeo will need to show he’s a high level coach, matching the promise of a roster led by talented veterans like Parise, Suter, Mikko Koivu and Niklas Backstrom, plus the much anticipated development of young prospects including Mikael Granlund.

Yeo characterizes the addition of Parise and Suter, the 27-year-olds who will revitalize the team’s scoring and defense, as exciting and not adding to his stress. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I am working and doing everything I need to do to prepare the team,” Yeo said. “This is not about pressure. This is about opportunity, and now we have opportunity here.

“For me, I don’t coach to try to keep my job. I coach to try to win a Stanley Cup. You add a couple players like this and all it does is enhance those chances. So to me this is not about pressure. This is about excitement. This is about opportunity.”

By the size of the investment in money and contract years made by the Wild to Parise and Suter, will Yeo have to coach them differently than other players? He answers that coaches relate to players individually, implying it will be no different with his two new arrivals. It’s up to coaches to understand what makes players “tick.”

Making Yeo’s job easier is that Parise and Suter are quality people on and off the ice. Tom Reid, the former North Stars player and radio analyst on Wild games, told Sports Headliners the two are “great mentoring” players.

Yeo, who has the reputation of being a players coach, is of course hoping there will be no NHL labor strike and training camp starts on time in September. “…We have to be real focused on our training camp, making sure we get off to a great start in the season,” he said. “Just build off this kind of excitement and build the positive things we’ve got going on right now. …”

Koivu was the team’s leader in assists last season with 32. Parise scored 31 goals for New Jersey. Will the two be on the same line?

“I don’t want to say it’s a given, but when you show up for day one of training camp, that’s who you are going to see,” Yeo said. “We won’t beat our heads against the wall but we will expect them to complement each other very well and I am fully expecting those two to click right off the bat.”

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