News and comments on Gophers football:

Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said today that MarQueis Gray is still the No. 1 quarterback.  Limegrover said there is not a clear enough distinction between the abilities of Gray and freshman Max Shortell to make a change in the No. 1 status of Gray.

Gray, a junior, has started all four games this season.  He was only 5-of-12 passing for 52 yards and no touchdowns last Saturday against North Dakota State.  Shortell, who has surprised most everyone with his first season of play, has participated in each game and against the Bison was 4-of-8 passing for 71 yards and one touchdown.

As of today head coach Jerry Kill remains at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as doctors try to figure out how to control his seizures.  Defensive coordinator Tray Claeys will be the coaching staff leader if Kill can’t be in Ann Arbor Saturday for the Michigan game.

“I expect him to be there,” Claeys said.  “I will be shocked if he’s not there.”

The inept and embarrassing performance by the Gophers Saturday night in their 37-24 loss to FCS power North Dakota State provoked a blunt assessment by assistant head coach Bill Miller.

Miller, interviewed on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle last Sunday, criticized the collective effort of the team.  “Very simply, North Dakota State took the fight to us.  What we’re trying to change here is the mentality.  How you approach the game. …It’s very disappointing.”

The North Dakota State loss was the second in five years to the Bison and follows last season’s loss to FCS South Dakota.  The Gophers, who begin the Big Ten season against Michigan, compiled a 1-3 nonconference record including losses to 3-0 North Dakota State and 1-3 New Mexico State.

“We gotta recruit more tough kids, more physical kids,” Miller said.  “I am not saying our guys here are soft, but we didn’t play with the mentality that you have to play with.  The bottom line in this game ─ North Dakota State took the fight to us ─ and that’s got to be our mentality.  It isn’t right now. …”

Kill, Miller and the other staff members are in their first season at Minnesota.  Their success will be determined by not only improving the fight in the Gophers, but also the mental focus to play with minimal mistakes including penalties and the ability to execute the fundamentals of blocking and tackling.

The critics among the public are already being heard including questions about the coaching.  That won’t surprise Kill or anyone else who understands how emotional things can become when a team is losing most Saturdays, and turns in a performance like the Gophers did against North Dakota State.

It’s been a difficult beginning for Kill, trying to regain his health and improve the Gophers.  Supportive Gophers fans will take a deep breath and embrace a two or three year perspective while trying to envision the sort of success Kill had at other coaching stops turning around programs.

That assignment in patience has been asked of Gophers fans way too many times over the decades but in late September of 2011 it’s reality.

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Michael Chang has fond memories of Minnesota but during an interview last week wasn’t ready to move back here despite a pitch from a sportswriter about the warm and sunny late summer weather.

“I think you need to tell me what the weather is like maybe a few more months down the road,” he said.  “Believe it or not, I really enjoyed it in Minnesota.  We lived in St. Paul until I was about seven years old.”

Chang enjoyed the outdoors here including fishing but the family realized his tennis development was limited by the Minnesota climate. “I think after awhile my mom was a little bit tired of shoveling snow at five o’clock in the morning just to get out, and we decided to pack up and move down to San Diego,” Chang said. “But we certainly did enjoy our time there.”

Chang is part of the 12-city Champions Series that makes a stop at Target Center on Friday night.  Eight tennis legends are competing in the series with the top three finishers sharing a bonus pool of $1 million.  The Minneapolis players will be Chang, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and John McEnroe. The other series players are Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Mats Wilander. 

Sampras won in two of three cities last week as the series began and he leads the field with 900 points, according to the series website.  Chang is tied for second with Courier at 500 points each.

The format in each city has the four players paired off in one-set semi-finals matches, followed by the winners contending for that evening’s championship in an eight-game pro-set match.

At 59 Connors is the oldest of the players, while Chang is the youngest at 39.  “As far as the level of tennis, I think we’re still able to play some great tennis,” Chang said.  “Just not able to sustain it I think from day to day, playing three, four, five tough matches, or playing three out of five set match.  But certainly in the Champions Series format, I think it fits us pretty well.”

Billed as the LeeAnn Chin Challenge here, newspaper ads have Chang’s opponent being the 52-year-old McEnroe.  The two have played against each other many times including in 1991 when Chang defeated McEnroe in a memorable match at the U.S. Open

“I think it’s special to play against John no matter where you play against him,” Chang said.  “But I think to have the opportunity to play against him in New York in a night match was something special.  Obviously it was great that I won the match, but to play him in his backyard with the New York crowd just going absolutely nuts was a lot of fun to be part of.”

Friday night may not be as memorable but Chang’s enthusiasm for tennis is still present.  “It’s important for me to go out there and play with a lot of heart…and play smart tennis,” he said.

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Gophers coach Jerry Kill was coaching at Southern Illinois in 2005 when he collapsed from a seizure.  He recently told the Big Ten Network on its “Step Into My Office” show he was unconscious for about three days while in the hospital.  “I didn’t miss any games,” Kill said on the show.

Gophers defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys said he expects Lamonte Edwards, who started playing linebacker last week in practice, will “definitely” be ready to play in the Purdue game a week from Saturday.  Edwards had focused on playing running back until last week.

The evolution of Marcus Sherels as a football player continued last Sunday.  The former Rochester athlete had to develop his career with the Gophers before being an undrafted rookie with the Vikings last year on the practice squad and participating in one game.  Sherels, who was a Gopher walk-on before becoming a starting cornerback, had a highlight day on Sunday that included a 53-yard punt return and a solid tackle on a Lions punt returner.  A reserve defensive back, Sherels had a 64-yard interception touchdown return in preseason this summer.

Vikings backup quarterback Joe Webb, who has college experience catching the ball, lined up for one play at receiver for the Vikings on Sunday.

The three most visible prep football prospects in the state who haven’t verbally committed to the Gophers are Eden Prairie offensive tackle Nick Davidson, Osseo tight end Will Johnson and Hopkins wide receiver Andre McDonald.  Gopherhole.com recruiting authority Chris Monter told Sports Headliners Johnson is the most likely of the three to become a Gophers commit, but no assurances on that happening.  Davidson has reportedly narrowed his list to a few schools but Minnesota isn’t included, while McDonald has verbally committed to Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt is historically the worst program in the SEC and a “graveyard” for coaches, but new coach James Franklin is making a splash in Nashville with his positive approach and results on the field.  The Commodores are 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the SEC, and their wins include a 30-7 victory over Mississippi that McDonald saw during his visit to Nashville earlier this month.

Detroit Lakes prep football coach Flint Motschenbacher earned career win No. 100 last week with a victory over Staples-Motley.  Motschenbacher’s record is 100-41.

Gophers basketball director of operations Joe Esposito said Minnesota’s upcoming nonconference schedule is the most difficult among Big Ten teams, according to RPI data.  Esposito said the Gophers continue to “entertain” the possibility of playing a high profile opponent in a nonconference game at Xcel Energy Center.

ESPN college basketball expert Andy Katz includes Minnesota among the college teams that could enjoy surprising success next season. He believes that except for Ohio State, the Gophers front line could be the Big Ten’s best.  (See ESPN.go.com September 16 story).

The Twins are the most likely of major league baseball’s last place division teams to have a big turnaround season in 2012, according to the September 26 issue of Sports Illustrated.  The magazine predicts that if Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are healthy and hitting, the Twins “have the best chance to go from cellar dweller to champagne popper.”

Only once in Twins history has the club not had a pitcher win at least 10 games in one season but that is likely to happen this year.  Team leaders Francisco Liriano and Brian Duensing have each won nine games but neither is scheduled to start before the season ends tomorrow night.  During the 1981 strike shortened season Pete Redfern was 9-8 for the Twins.

Twins pitcher Kevin Slowey has lost eight consecutive games, the longest club streak since Boof Bonser in 2007.

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