Gophers’ basketball coach Tubby Smith was asked recently about freshman Blake Hoffarber who had a storied career at Hopkins High School and enrolled at Minnesota as a top 100 recruit. The 6-foot-4 Hoffarber has been slowed recently by a high ankle sprain but Smith has seen enough to form impressions. He likes Hoffarber’s work ethic, shooting skills and basketball intelligence.
“His athleticism and speed is deceiving,” Smith told Sports Headliners last week. “And being a lefty, that creates a problem for an opponent as well. …”
Hoffarber is a shooting guard but Smith said he may play point guard, too. What about playing minutes? “He’ll help us a lot,” Smith said. “How many minutes? I don’t even talk about minutes. Minutes is not something I even discuss with players. Each player will determine how many minutes they get based on how they perform, and how they do in practice. Based on what he’s doing in practice, he’ll play a lot.”
The Gophers open their schedule with an exhibition game starting at 7 p.m. tomorrow night in Williams Arena against Minnesota State, Mankato. Hoffarber is expected to play. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
Brooks Bollinger, the Vikings’ third string quarterback forced to play in last Sunday’s game because of injuries to Kelly Holcomb and Tarvaris Jackson, answerd a question about how rusty he was: “Well, it’s tough. The last couple of weeks I was the third (string), and the second, and back and forth. You don’t get a ton of reps with our offense. …The main thing (in the games) is making sure your cadence is the same. I haven’t had a chance to just be in the huddle with those guys a whole bunch of late but as far as the job description you just try to go in there and communicate and take care of the little things. …”
Vikings’ coach Brad Childress said after the game that Bollinger did “okay” considering the “limited reps” he had received prior to the game.
A fan held up a “Fire Brad” sign in the Metrodome after Sunday’s 23-16 loss to Philadelphia.
The Vikings are donating 200 tickets for the November 18 Oakland game at the Metrodome to victims of the recent floods in southern Minnesota. The organization is providing 100 tickets to the Morrie Miller Youth Football program that serves the Winona area youth, and 100 tickets to the Rushford-Peterson School. The tickets will be distributed to youth directly affected by the flooding. The Vikings also gave a $1,000 check to the United Way of Olmsted County that will be directed toward flood relief.