David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Iowa AD: U Football Potential ‘Special’

Posted on October 31, 2011December 27, 2011 by David Shama

Gophers football notes:

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is familiar with Gophers coach Jerry Kill’s program building history and he talked about the task at Minnesota prior to his Hawkeyes 22-21 loss on Saturday. “I think very highly of Jerry ─ his background,” Barta told Sports Headliners. “They (Kill and his staff) start a program that is struggling, and they brought it up to success each step of the way if you look at their history.

“The other thing they have is continuity. They have stayed together as a coaching staff. That builds trust.”

Barta, who is a Minnesota native, said the Gophers have a proud football tradition, a new facility (TCF Bank Stadium) and a new coach in Kill. “You have all the ingredients to create that (program building) foundation and do something special,” he said.

Barta said Iowa home football games generate about $100 million in economic activity each year in the greater Iowa City area.”

Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker, who was on the Gophers staff in the 1970s, was using a walker to get around in the press box on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium. Parker had his right foot amputated last year.

Here are Sports Headliners’ weekly rankings of Big Ten Football teams: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota and Indiana.

Businessofcollegesports.com reports that for school year 2009-10 the Gophers football program produced a profit of $14,888,989, finishing No. 25 nationally on a list ranking the profitability of major college football and basketball programs. The Gophers basketball program is among the more profitable in the country and placed No. 49 in the combined football-basketball rankings at $8,041,167.

The basketball programs at Louisville, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio State, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Arkansas ranked ahead of the Gophers, according to the article posted in June of this year.

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Worth Noting

Posted on October 31, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

With this week off because of no game scheduled next Sunday, Vikings players can spend more time with their families and attend to personal business. Punter Chris Kluwe will be flying home to Huntington Beach, California to see his young daughters trick or treat in dinosaur costumes for Halloween. Kluwe’s costume? Possibly Indiana Jones, he said.

Wide receiver Greg Camarillo closes Friday on his new home in San Diego. He’s sold his house in Davie, Florida but because of more expensive prices in California will be going from a one-acre property to a one-third acre lot.

Rookie Vikings offensive lineman Brandon Fusco is an improbable success story. As a high school player in Harmony, Pennsylvania he didn’t have one offer from a BCS school and decided to play for Slippery Rock, a Division II program. Drafted on the sixth round by the Vikings, Fusco surprised by not only making the final roster but has earned playing time on the field.

At Slippery Rock Fusco said he had 44 consecutive starts at center, a position the Vikings have practiced him at along with guard. At either position his goal is to be aggressive. “I don’t really get intimidated,” he said.

Fusco said he’s more comfortable with pro football now than earlier in the year but realizes he has much to learn. “I am a raw player,” he said. “I know that.”

Coach Tubby Smith’s Gophers open their exhibition schedule with a game tomorrow night at home against Bemidji State. The Gophers also have a home exhibition game scheduled against Augustana next Monday.

Minnesota is a popular choice to finish among the bottom teams in the Big Ten Conference. Lindy’s Sports College Basketball Magazine, for example, forecasts an eighth place finish ─ although hedges the prediction is too low if Minnesota develops an outstanding point guard to replace departed Al Nolen.

Lindy’s includes Gophers forward Trevor Mbakwe among its third team All-Americans. The senior from St. Paul made the preseason All-Big Ten first team chosen last week by a Big Ten media panel.

Lindy’s has Benilde-St. Margaret’s grad and Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor on its All-American first team. Hopkins alum Trent Lockett, now playing for Arizona State, is rated the No. 15 small forward in the country.

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Vikings’ Assignment: Get in Cam Newton’s Head

Posted on October 28, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Look up the NFL leaders in passing yardage and sitting there behind the revered names of Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees is a 22-year-old rookie quarterback named Cam Newton who has thrown for 2,103 yards in seven games.

The Carolina Panthers man-child has been improving as the season progresses and it will be the Vikings’ assignment to slow him down on Sunday in Charlotte. Former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton was asked how a defensive coordinator should approach the assignment.

“What you want to do is try to beat him between the ears,” he said. “Throw (him) a lot of disguised coverages. A lot of combination coverages. Give him a man look and then be in zone. Give him a zone look and then be in man. …”

Newton started his college career at Florida, went to junior college, then transferred to Auburn where he was the ringmaster of the Tigers’ undefeated national championship team in 2010. He only played one full season as a college starter and then because of the NFL labor dispute didn’t have the usual offseason indoctrination that benefits rookies.

Newton’s inexperience is why Dalton said the Vikings need to confuse him. “If he’s thinking too much and hesitating, he’ll lose a step.”

Newton’s passer rating is only 82.8, placing him 19^th in the league and even behind the Vikings’ Donovan McNabb. He’s only thrown eight touchdown passes. But he’s improved each week, Dalton said, and the 2-5 Panthers have played competitively including a win over 3-3 Washington last Sunday.

“He’s really rejuvenated that whole franchise,” Dalton said. “They haven’t won a lot of games but they’ve competed in all of them, and he’s been phenomenal. He’s been throwing for 400 yards and everybody thought he would be running for 100, but he does that, too. ..”

The 6-5, 248-pound Newton has actually run for 266 total yards this season, averaging 4.7 yards per carry (his total yards rank No. 33 in the NFL). He has rushed for seven touchdowns, tying an NFL rookie quarterback record. He can not only use his powerful right arm to throw long and short, but he will both bulldoze tacklers and out run them.

Dalton said Newton will “probably” be Rookie of the Year and has All-Pro potential. “What Cam Newton brings is an unbelievable skill set ─ his blessing from his parents and God,” Dalton said. “Added to that is a tremendous work ethic and a passion to be great. He has that million dollar smile but he puts in the work behind it to go out and play and perform at a high level.

“And the kid is a winner. All he’s ever done is win and produce (national title teams at Blinn College and Auburn). … “

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