Posted February 28, 2011    

•MarQueis Gray

•Herb Brooks

•Prep Rankings

•Eric Butorac

•John Harris

Kill Won’t List Gray or Others as No. 1 

Neither quarterback MarQueis Gray nor players at other positions will enter spring practice next month as starters when the Gophers begin formal practices under new coach Jerry Kill and his staff. 

The quarterback position will be the most watched by media and fans when the Gophers play their spring game on April 23 at TCF Bank Stadium.  Four-year starter Adam Weber has graduated.  To say the six quarterbacks now on the roster have minimal experience is an understatement.  Only Gray has attempted a pass in a college game and to outside observers he seems like a lopsided favorite to win the job.  His totals were modest last season: eight attempts and two completions for 24 yards. 

Gray, a junior next fall, has been the great hope of Gophers fans who demanded playing time for him at quarterback the last two seasons when Minnesota struggled.  He came here from Indianapolis as the most hyped prep player in former coach Tim Brewster’s four recruiting classes. 

Labeled among the best run-pass preps in the country and compared to former Texas Longhorns legend Vince Young by the ever positive Brewster, Gray’s time on the field has long been anticipated as a quarterback, not a wide receiver, the position he mostly played last season, finishing second on the team in receptions with 42 for 587 yards and five touchdowns. 

But Kill won’t give Gray the quarterback job based on newspaper clips or web reports.  Asked by Sports Headliners if Gray was his No. 1 QB, Kill said: “I can’t answer.  I don’t think that’s fair to anybody.  He will certainly be getting reps there this spring.  I wouldn’t tell you we have anybody that’s No. 1 from offense to defense because I haven’t seen anybody.  Until I see them get repetitions, and those kind of things, I can’t make those statements.” 

What challenges does the 6-4, 230 pound Gray face in winning over Kill?  “I think it comes down to learning how to play quarterback,” Kill said.  “He’s played receiver for the last two years. 

“It doesn’t matter how great an athlete you are, quarterback is a whole different world, a whole different beast.  So how well can he pick it up?  Can he make that transition from wide receiver and a quarterback in spring ball and can we see that progression? We’re going to have to see.  We have no idea.” 

At Northern Illinois the Gophers first-year coach used a multiple offense that gave defenses plenty to ponder.  He and his offensive staff are expected to bring similar imagination to their system at Minnesota when spring practices begin in late March.   

Boise State has built a national reputation for winning and it’s partly because of imaginative play calling.  Kill said his staff has visited with Boise coaches in the past. “Always sharing ideas and trying to get better,” Kill said.  

This offseason Minnesota offensive coaches will visit TCU, another program that’s gone from no-name to having its brand nationally admired. “I think we just pick the programs out that are achieving at a very high level and you go see what they do,” Kill said.  “You always learn from the best. …It’s all about getting better.  I believe you either get better or you get worse.  We try to gain knowledge each year that we’re coaching.”

 

 “It doesn’t matter how great an athlete you are, quarterback is a whole different world, a whole different beast." 
 Jerry Kill

Wisconsin & Iowa Models Fit Kill’s Vision 

For almost 20 years Gophers fans have envied the success of border neighbors Wisconsin and Iowa. Fans have wondered why a long dismal Minnesota program can’t achieve on the field what the Badgers and Hawkeyes have accomplished.   

The Badgers tied for the Big Ten title last season and played in the Rose Bowl, the school’s fourth trip to Pasadena since 1994.  The Hawkeyes often are in the mix for a top 25 ranking and BCS bowl game.  The Gophers haven’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1962, have made only two visits to Pasadena and last won a Big Ten title in 1967.  During the last 20 years the Gophers have two winning seasons in conference games.  The Gophers were 3-9 overall last year, 2-6 in the Big Ten.  

Kill didn’t hesitate when asked if the Gophers can equal the Wisconsin and Iowa success stories.  “We can but it’s going to take time,” he said.  “They didn’t do it overnight. … What you get out of life is what you invest in it.  We have a lot of investing to do yet before we get to that situation.  

“...I think people want to see it changed, but it’s going to take more than me.  It’s going to take a group effort and hopefully we can get everybody to believe in the vision that we’re trying to create and we’ll see how it goes.  Only time will tell.” 

At Northern Illinois Kill had a vision to make the Huskies a success year after year.  He will expect no less from the Gophers despite their present lowly place in college football.  In the February issue of Sporting News Magazine the publication previewed 125 college programs prior to spring practices including the Huskies and Gophers.  Capsule comments on Northern Illinois included this: “New coach Dave Doeren should tweak, rather than overhaul the conference’s healthiest program.”  And on Minnesota: “Every aspect of the Gophers program needs an overhaul.”                       

Kill associates sustained success with Wisconsin and Iowa.  “Our vision is certainly to become one of those programs,” he said. “That was our vision at Northern Illinois that we wanted to become the best team in the MAC conference (Mid-American) and be the most consistent team...year after year after year.  I can promise you I left that program (in good standing) and they’re going to be good for a long time.  They got a lot of talent there.  That’s what we’ll try to do here.   

“We have so much to offer here, the Twin Cities, careers after they get done playing.  We just gotta do a good job of selling what we have to offer, and we gotta do a good job of recruiting the right kid to our university.”

 

Worth Noting 

The Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation has named “Miracle on Ice” and three- time Gophers national championship coach Herb Brooks its 2011 Legend of Hockey recipient.  Brooks will be honored along with the 2011 Hobey Baker Award winner at the Hobey Baker banquet June 23 in St. Paul.  Ticket information is available at www.hobeybaker.com. 

Mary Spalding, a basketball season ticket holder since 1945, was recognized at Saturday’s home Gophers game against Michigan.  Spalding has had tickets longer than any Gophers season basketball customer, according to an athletic department email.  

Former Gopher Clyde Turner, a starter on the 1972 Big Ten basketball championship team, is the new executive director of the Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis.

At the request of Sports Headliners, Mr. Basketball chair Ken Lien provided his rankings of the best prep boys teams in 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A.  His top five in big school 4A are Hopkins, Chaska, Eden Prairie, Osseo and Eastview.  St. Paul Johnson is No. 1 in 3A followed by Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Minneapolis Washburn, Hill-Murray and DeLaSalle.  The top five in 2A are Plainview-Elgin-Millville, Braham, Perham, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and Moose Lake-Willow River.  Minnesota Transitions is No. 1 in 1A followed by Maranatha Christian, Sebeka, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and MACCRAY.   

Minnesota tennis author Jim Holden emailed that he was in Memphis last week to watch a major tournament where Rochester’s Eric Butorac and partner Jean-Julien Rojer lost in the men’s doubles finals.  Holden praised their play and gushed about rising star Milos Raonic who lost in the singles finals to Andy Roddick.  “Mark my words, he will be in the top 10 in a year,” Holden wrote.  Holden is the author of Tennis in the Northland, a comprehensive history of boys high school tennis in Minnesota.

A golf panel, including University of Minnesota golf director John Harris, will be featured at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington on Thursday, March 10.  C.O.R.E.S. members can make reservations by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.  C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.  

 

  Ken Lien
 

 Jim Holden