Jerry Kill, who has the humbleness of a park and recreation department coach, will be the center of attention tomorrow at the Minnesota spring game.

The coach will command the attention of fans for more reasons than because he’s the Gophers new football boss.  Although labeled a game, tomorrow’s event at TCF Bank Stadium will be more like a practice.  There will be no keeping score or formatting by quarters or halves so the attraction for a lot of fans will be a Kill watch.

Fans will see a blocking and tackling scrimmage, with the fiery Kill perhaps unexpectedly announcing, “Field goal unit!”  The coach is demanding and likes to create pressure situations for his players.

Watch him on a YouTube video from spring practice earlier this year and get a vivid look at Kill.  There’s the coach moving around, eyeballing a blocking drill and yelling something about a “dance contest.”  (See YouTube March 29).

Kill is the guy who Gopher Nation turns its lonely eyes to right now.  He takes over a 3-9 football team from last fall and a program that was going nowhere fast.  Emotionally invested audiences like high school football coaches and the most loyal of Gophers fans are predicting much better days ahead.

The reason is not only Kill but a group of staff assistants who have been teaching with him for years.  They are a polite group to outsiders, humble in manners and also about their accomplishments at previous stops with Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois where winning became a habit.

This is no flashy GQ group.  Just a bunch of ordinary looking guys who might be mistaken for Minnesota dairy farmers or Kansas wheat growers.  But they have impressed observers at other schools and here during spring practice which ends with tomorrow’s game.

Kill talks about instilling the “Minnesota way” including this tweet from the coach: “Play hard.  Learn to finish.  Be consistent.  Play smart.  Be mentally tough.”

Kill and coaches like offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and defensive coordinator Tracy Clays have no interest in hype about themselves or the team.  They’re about finding players that want to play hard and attend class.   Who will play as hard in the fourth quarter as in the first?  Who can play with discipline?

Already it seems like this coaching staff will maximize whatever opportunities there are to win games.  Whether it’s finding new positions for players, attracting transfers or upgrading special teams, this staff is looking for an edge.

Take note, for instance, of the success Kill’s teams had blocking punts at Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois.  In three seasons coaching at Northern Illinois, his teams blocked 12 punts.  In seven years at Southern Illinois the total was 28.

That’s the kind of stuff which makes national observers like Dave Curtis pay attention.  Earlier this spring he wrote this in the Sporting News Magazine: “Of the 21 schools that hired coaches for 2011, none will be more pleased than Minnesota.  Jerry Kill can make the Gophers Big Ten contenders.

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While Kill will be in the spotlight tomorrow, there is more to pay attention to.  Watch the tempo of the event.  “The Gophers are different from in the past,” said a Big Ten football source who spoke anonymously.  “I am somewhat in awe of the tempo he (Kill) conducts practice.  I love well paced teams that run on and off the field.”

Past Gophers teams have been weaklings at pressuring the quarterback but this coaching staff is determined to fix the problem.  Watch tomorrow to see what the pressure is like from the defensive line.  If that unit can’t get it done, defensive strategy likely will call for pass rushing help from linebackers and defensive backs.

The linebacker unit is the team’s deepest and most talented.  Kill may give six or so linebackers regular playing time in the fall.

It’s an intriguing bunch that includes hard hitting senior Gary Tinsley, a game type player, and mobile junior Mike Rallis.  Another returnee with experience is junior Ryan Grant, a young man from the Bud Grant and Mike Grant football tree, and possessed with a high football IQ.

And Gophers fans will see the debut of Florida transfer Brendan Beal, a Rivals four-star linebacker during his prep days in Pennsylvania.  How good might this sophomore be for the Gophers?

Then there’s freshman running back Lamonte Edwards.  Mention his name the last couple of years to Edwards experts and you might start an argument about whether his considerable athleticism is best suited to running back and linebacker.  That could be a topic Kill and his staff have pondered more than once.  (An injury may keep Edwards out of tomorrow’s scrimmage).

A position there seems no debate about is quarterback where junior MarQueis Gray seems to have won the job.  Gophers fans can watch tomorrow to see if Gray, who has played mostly at wide receiver during his first two years, looks in command of the team and is able to pick out secondary receivers when passing.

Probably not so defined is the team’s No. 2 quarterback where sophomore Moses Alipate, who has a year’s edge in experience, was thought to have an edge on freshman Tom Parish.  If Parish wins the backup job, could the 6-5, 285-pound Alipate move to another position?

So go ahead and watch Gray, Parish, Alipate and all the other players tomorrow.  No doubt Kill would like attention directed to his players, not him.

 

 

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