Coach Kill's responses to Dave Mona and Sid Hartman's questions on today's Sports Huddle:
1) They practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday . . . shorter sessions and the practices were good and crisp. Only those that were 100% practiced, as they wanted to get the team healed. Many of the coaches, including coach Kill, were on the road recruiting.
2) Stoudermire: Kill doesn't anticipate Stoudermire will play against Nebraska. "This week's x-rays will tell a lot."
3) Redshirting 1/2 of this past year's recruiting class. It's a mixed class: 6 players were recruited by Kill's staff, the remainder are from the previous staff.
4) Freshman singled out by Kill as doing well, learning and contributing: Offense - David Cobb (unfortunately was injured), Tommy Olson (played well for a freshman against Purdue (first start)), Malcolm Moulton has done well and is still leaning, Marcus Jones (great returns) and Devin Crawford-Tufts. Tufts is a smart kid, thick-legged with great speed and athleticism because of his high school track career . . . he listens to the coaches. Tufts is a good blocker. He's learning to catch with his hands on the long-ball. "He has a bright future!"
Defense: Derrick Wells, Cedric Thompson and Grayson Levine in the secondary were cited by Kill as freshman that are contributing and have great futures as Gophers.
5) Sid asked about Tom Parish and other backup QBs: Kill didn't say too much in his response, "We'll have to see." We're recruiting and evaluating, that's where we're at." We'll be looking at their work ethic as the season continues . . . his brief comments indicated there are two QBs Gray and Shortell and nothing specific about the others.
6) Sid asked if he was recruiting defensive rushers: In response, he cited Ben Perry, Mike Amaefula and Thieren Cochran (is being redshirted), and D.L. Wilhite. He said Wilhite had his best game at Purdue. Really high on Thieren Cochran . . . he's special but needs to get bigger and stronger (would like to see him at 250-255 pounds). The others listed need to get stronger and are playing against opponents that are much stronger, which is common when you play as a freshman.
7) Recruiting JCs: Kill said they've recruited 3-5 Jucos in each class during the rebuilding process at previous stops. You've got to be careful when recruiting jucos . . . are they cabpable of contributing? He then cited John Rabe and Malcolm Moulton as good examples of jucos that contribute right away. He expects great things from Rabe next year. Whether jucos or high school recruits, they're looking for players that are Big 10 caliber players.
8) Psychological problems after big losses, how do you keep them up?: "Just keep working." The team had a good attitude this past week. "Strange things happen every week, they're called upsets." In order to have a chance, we'll have to cut down on the mistakes that the team has been committing.
9) Sid asked, "Is the recruiting going well?": Kill responded by saying yes and then went on to say, "it doesn't matter until they sign." What he sells to the recruits . . . . great place to play (stadium . . . great state and school . . . chance to play early. They need mentally tough players. Mentality of high school recruits: they all think they can come in and play right away (regardless of the school that's recruiting them). Because of his many coaching stops, the staff is known by a lot of high school and juco coaches . . . "We've done it before." The coaching network know how he and his staff treat their players (positive in his response). KIll did not respond directly to Sid's question about negative recruiting, especially given his reported health-related issues. He was positive about the responses and reception of potential recruits. Then he stressed what's is important is the signing of the recruits.
Go Gophers!!
1) They practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday . . . shorter sessions and the practices were good and crisp. Only those that were 100% practiced, as they wanted to get the team healed. Many of the coaches, including coach Kill, were on the road recruiting.
2) Stoudermire: Kill doesn't anticipate Stoudermire will play against Nebraska. "This week's x-rays will tell a lot."
3) Redshirting 1/2 of this past year's recruiting class. It's a mixed class: 6 players were recruited by Kill's staff, the remainder are from the previous staff.
4) Freshman singled out by Kill as doing well, learning and contributing: Offense - David Cobb (unfortunately was injured), Tommy Olson (played well for a freshman against Purdue (first start)), Malcolm Moulton has done well and is still leaning, Marcus Jones (great returns) and Devin Crawford-Tufts. Tufts is a smart kid, thick-legged with great speed and athleticism because of his high school track career . . . he listens to the coaches. Tufts is a good blocker. He's learning to catch with his hands on the long-ball. "He has a bright future!"
Defense: Derrick Wells, Cedric Thompson and Grayson Levine in the secondary were cited by Kill as freshman that are contributing and have great futures as Gophers.
5) Sid asked about Tom Parish and other backup QBs: Kill didn't say too much in his response, "We'll have to see." We're recruiting and evaluating, that's where we're at." We'll be looking at their work ethic as the season continues . . . his brief comments indicated there are two QBs Gray and Shortell and nothing specific about the others.
6) Sid asked if he was recruiting defensive rushers: In response, he cited Ben Perry, Mike Amaefula and Thieren Cochran (is being redshirted), and D.L. Wilhite. He said Wilhite had his best game at Purdue. Really high on Thieren Cochran . . . he's special but needs to get bigger and stronger (would like to see him at 250-255 pounds). The others listed need to get stronger and are playing against opponents that are much stronger, which is common when you play as a freshman.
7) Recruiting JCs: Kill said they've recruited 3-5 Jucos in each class during the rebuilding process at previous stops. You've got to be careful when recruiting jucos . . . are they cabpable of contributing? He then cited John Rabe and Malcolm Moulton as good examples of jucos that contribute right away. He expects great things from Rabe next year. Whether jucos or high school recruits, they're looking for players that are Big 10 caliber players.
8) Psychological problems after big losses, how do you keep them up?: "Just keep working." The team had a good attitude this past week. "Strange things happen every week, they're called upsets." In order to have a chance, we'll have to cut down on the mistakes that the team has been committing.
9) Sid asked, "Is the recruiting going well?": Kill responded by saying yes and then went on to say, "it doesn't matter until they sign." What he sells to the recruits . . . . great place to play (stadium . . . great state and school . . . chance to play early. They need mentally tough players. Mentality of high school recruits: they all think they can come in and play right away (regardless of the school that's recruiting them). Because of his many coaching stops, the staff is known by a lot of high school and juco coaches . . . "We've done it before." The coaching network know how he and his staff treat their players (positive in his response). KIll did not respond directly to Sid's question about negative recruiting, especially given his reported health-related issues. He was positive about the responses and reception of potential recruits. Then he stressed what's is important is the signing of the recruits.
Go Gophers!!
