It’s not true that Jerry Kill rides to campus everyday on a white horse.  Truth is the savior of Gophers football drives to work in a white Cadillac.

Symbolism aside, those who care about the Gophers have taken a serious liking to the new head coach who is trying to resurrect a program that hasn’t been a consistent winner since Kennedy and Johnson were in the White House.  Maybe it’s no love affair yet, but a lot of Minnesotans at least have a crush on Kill who has earned many admirers with his honest talk and sincere actions.

Except for Lou Holtz, no new Gophers football coach since World War II came to campus and received more adoration than Kill.  University of Minnesota administrators, former Gophers and fans praise Kill as if they have known and admired him for years.  Even the cynical media has found little fault with the newcomer so far.

The honeymoon bubble won’t last through the coming season.  The Gophers will be pushed around on the field at times and final scores could be lopsided.  A group of fans and media will find fault with Kill, justified or not.

But give the former Northern Illinois coach credit for an extraordinary offseason during which he won over a lot of people and impressed his athletic director, Joel Maturi.

“No one prepared me for the unbelievable job that he has done with our alumni, our boosters, our fans in general and certainly the media as a whole.” Maturi told Sports Headliners.  “He’s been great.”

Maturi knew about the coach who had a national reputation for producing results on the field at other schools, but he wasn’t prepared for the public relations success.  Kill’s ability to make friends fast is a tribute to his character, values and deeds.

“I think there isn’t a person that Jerry Kill hasn’t met or addressed that he hasn’t won over, and that’s a credit to him,” Maturi said. “It wasn’t part of the ingredient of the coach that I knew I was hiring.  I hired him because the homework I did told me he was a great coach, and that our teams were going to get better, and they would play up to their ability, and we were going to win in a period of time.”

Three years from now Kill will still have admirers.  The only question is how many fans will be in the Gophers football tent?  Without winning, Kill and Maturi know the number will be smaller than what they want.  That’s the business side of college football and phase two of the Kill era starts September 3 in Los Angeles against USC.

How long will the honeymoon last?

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The Gophers open practice today at 3:55 p.m. at the Gibson-Nagurski Complex.  That practice and many others are open to the public including workouts through Friday.  All five practices through Friday begin at 3:55 p.m. and are at Gibson-Nagurski.

Quarterback MarQueis Gray will be the team’s playmaker and he’s bulked up since a year ago, reportedly approaching 250 pounds.  Kill said he will wait to see if the additional size is “good or bad” for his quarterback.

“I’ve seen a lot of guys lift a lot of weights, (and) can’t play football,” Kill said.  “I’ve seen a lot of 10.4 track guys that can’t play football.  You gotta translate that (size, speed) to the football field.”

The 6-foot-4 junior is expected to be the Gophers starter for the first time in his career.  Kill praised Gray’s offseason efforts to become a team leader.

Joel Maturi said he didn’t know if the Big Ten had finalized plans to eliminate 11 a.m. football games this year but “we’re hoping we’re going to play at noon at the earliest.”

The conference did announce league teams will play nine conference games each starting in 2017.  Maturi said the increase from eight games to nine was long discussed and helping to ease the transition is that all schools will still be able to play seven home games (including nonconference opponents) each year.

“I do think the fans want more conference games,” Maturi said.  “That’s a huge part of the factor.”

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The Gophers basketball nonconference schedule announced last week has Minnesota playing all of its games at either Williams Arena, or at a neutral site.  Coach Tubby Smith’s team will play 12 games at home including two exhibitions and go on the road to Orlando, Florida for the Old Spice Classic against a field that includes DePaul and Texas Tech.  The Gophers will play DePaul on Thanksgiving afternoon with the game televised on ESPN2.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien said Harvard has a lot of interest in recruiting Hopkins point guard Siyani Chambers.  Lien reported via email that Wally Ellenson from Rice Lake, Wisconsin has been offered a scholarship by the Gophers.

The White Sox used four home runs yesterday to defeat the Twins 7-0.  It was the third time this season the Twins have allowed that many home runs in one game.

Brian Duensing started the game for the Twins.  He is 0-2, with a 6.57 ERA in his last two starts.

The White Sox swept the Twins in a three-game series for the first time since April 21-23, 2006 and first time in Minneapolis since June 29-July 1, 2004.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said on his 1500 ESPN show Sunday that Nick Blackburn, who hasn’t lasted until the sixth inning in his last three starts, will remain in the rotation.

Pat Ruff, writing in the Rochester Post Bulletin last month, reported that Ingrid Neel is considering girls tennis at Rochester Mayo High School.  As a seventh grader last spring Neel played for the boys team that won the Class 2A state championship.  Minnesota State High School League rules won’t allow her to play for both the boys and girls teams during the same school year.

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