Sid and Dave had coach Kill on the Sports Huddle for the first half-hour segment. Dave referenced GopherHole and said he had about a dozen questions that were raised this past week and that he would try to ask as many of them that he could during the segment. First, however, Sid asked a few questions and then Dave asked the GopherHole queries; Sid asked a couple of the submittals, too. Thanks to those that raised the queries. And a big thank you to Dave Mona!
1) Sonny Lubick visited this past week and Sid asked Kill about his visit: "We're going to work hard to get better (acknowledging the need for defense improvement) . . . Sonny was one of the originators of the 4-3 defense (sang his praises about his stints at Miami and as head coach at Colorado State) . . . always known for the defensive side of the ball . . . we had (provided) various amount of questions before he arrived." He went onto say they talked about defense but also fund raising and ways to teach and practice. Sonny reinforced much of what the coach Kill and his staff are doing at Minnesota.
2) Tony Levine and Houston Cougars: Kill is sending a few of the offensive coaches to meet with coach Levine and his staff this week. They'll also meet with coaches of other teams that will be visiting Levine at the same time. The following week, Minnesota's defensive coaches will be visiting Mississippi State University. Kill, again, stressed the need to keep learning and improving and being open to what's going on in the game of college football. Always learning.
3) This past week, coach Kill visited with the team's coordinators (offense, defense, special teams, etc.) to ascertain what went well and what didn't go well, "Trying to fix what we're doing."
Questions from GopherHole:
4) Gary Patterson and the TCU situation: Coach Kill said he waited a couple days before calling coach Patterson, "Reaching out to a friend." Coach Kill and staff met with team and discussed the TCU situation, which they do whenever negative news or situation occurs in college football. You have to deal with the problems when they occur and discuss potential problems - teaching lessons and reminders to players about the negative influences out in society.
5) Junior Days: Meet and greet sessions through the winter months and through spring ball. Visits occur on weekends and some during the week. They visit with players and parents and show facilities.
6) TCF Bank Stadium and Vikings: Coach Kill said he's been focused on Gopher football; however, he went onto say there's always things to make progress with, "I have a lot of ideas we can do (to improve the facility)." Earlier in the discussion, heating coils for the field was mentioned, but coach Kill did say that wasn't an issue (frozen field) for the Gophers this past season. (Brief reference was alluded to when the Vikings played the Bears at TCF Bank in 2010.)
7) Narrow sets in the offensive line last year: They narrowed the sets to give the kids more of a chance because of physical limitations. They plan to do more things this spring because of the players improvements in strength and conditioning, "Blossomed physically, they've gotten stronger . . . we were very young last year . . . there's more competition this year and getting better on both sides of the ball."
Sid asked about the center position, and coach Kill mentioned favorably the competion of Zach Mottia, Jon Christenson (came in as a walkon at about 265 and is now 295 pounds and is "pushing people and is athletic") and Isacc Hayes. You could tell Kill is looking forward to having and coaching Hayes.
8) UNLV game being moved to Thursday night: One of the positives is getting to start fall practice earlier. Another positive is getting back about 5 a.m. on Friday, a day to rest up and extra preparation for the next game.
9) Josh Campion and Jimmy Gjere: Both will participate in spring drills. "Always concerned about concussions." Gjere is now about 325-330 pounds. They're looking forward to seeing what they do in spring drills. Wants them to use their hands more and not put their heads in harms way. Kill said they need Campion and Gjere and they'll be contributors.
10) Sid asked if there are 2 or 3 players that stand out in winter conditioning drills: Kill's response, "Everyone has improved." He said he hates to name players for fear he'll omit some. That said, he did mention Philip Nelson and Mitch Leidner. Mitch has gained weight and is upto 245 pounds. Scott Epke came in at 255 and now is at 270 pounds. He also mentioned Isaac Fruechte and said the secondary is doing well. He closed the question by stating that of the 10 fastest players on the team, six are new recruits on campus for winter classes and spring drills. The team has shown increased speed and athleticism.
11) This year's squad in comparison to last year's team at this time: Last year's team didn't know what to expect and had been without coaches a for a period time. (Didn't want to sound too critical.) This year's team has a different attitude and mindset, they know what to do, and there's great competition and teamwork. (They have 8 teams - 4 from the Legends Division and 4 from the Leaders Division.) He credited the strength and conditiong coaches with the improvement. He said the word "competition" several times, and that it took a good solid year to figure out what's going on and what's expected.
I want to thank Bob_Loblaw, Halsey Hall, Triple D, Parski1, Killjoy, nc2mn, Gophersiniowa, and curseislifted33 for taking the thread seriously and asking bona fide questions!
Go Gophers!!
1) Sonny Lubick visited this past week and Sid asked Kill about his visit: "We're going to work hard to get better (acknowledging the need for defense improvement) . . . Sonny was one of the originators of the 4-3 defense (sang his praises about his stints at Miami and as head coach at Colorado State) . . . always known for the defensive side of the ball . . . we had (provided) various amount of questions before he arrived." He went onto say they talked about defense but also fund raising and ways to teach and practice. Sonny reinforced much of what the coach Kill and his staff are doing at Minnesota.
2) Tony Levine and Houston Cougars: Kill is sending a few of the offensive coaches to meet with coach Levine and his staff this week. They'll also meet with coaches of other teams that will be visiting Levine at the same time. The following week, Minnesota's defensive coaches will be visiting Mississippi State University. Kill, again, stressed the need to keep learning and improving and being open to what's going on in the game of college football. Always learning.
3) This past week, coach Kill visited with the team's coordinators (offense, defense, special teams, etc.) to ascertain what went well and what didn't go well, "Trying to fix what we're doing."
Questions from GopherHole:
4) Gary Patterson and the TCU situation: Coach Kill said he waited a couple days before calling coach Patterson, "Reaching out to a friend." Coach Kill and staff met with team and discussed the TCU situation, which they do whenever negative news or situation occurs in college football. You have to deal with the problems when they occur and discuss potential problems - teaching lessons and reminders to players about the negative influences out in society.
5) Junior Days: Meet and greet sessions through the winter months and through spring ball. Visits occur on weekends and some during the week. They visit with players and parents and show facilities.
6) TCF Bank Stadium and Vikings: Coach Kill said he's been focused on Gopher football; however, he went onto say there's always things to make progress with, "I have a lot of ideas we can do (to improve the facility)." Earlier in the discussion, heating coils for the field was mentioned, but coach Kill did say that wasn't an issue (frozen field) for the Gophers this past season. (Brief reference was alluded to when the Vikings played the Bears at TCF Bank in 2010.)
7) Narrow sets in the offensive line last year: They narrowed the sets to give the kids more of a chance because of physical limitations. They plan to do more things this spring because of the players improvements in strength and conditioning, "Blossomed physically, they've gotten stronger . . . we were very young last year . . . there's more competition this year and getting better on both sides of the ball."
Sid asked about the center position, and coach Kill mentioned favorably the competion of Zach Mottia, Jon Christenson (came in as a walkon at about 265 and is now 295 pounds and is "pushing people and is athletic") and Isacc Hayes. You could tell Kill is looking forward to having and coaching Hayes.
8) UNLV game being moved to Thursday night: One of the positives is getting to start fall practice earlier. Another positive is getting back about 5 a.m. on Friday, a day to rest up and extra preparation for the next game.
9) Josh Campion and Jimmy Gjere: Both will participate in spring drills. "Always concerned about concussions." Gjere is now about 325-330 pounds. They're looking forward to seeing what they do in spring drills. Wants them to use their hands more and not put their heads in harms way. Kill said they need Campion and Gjere and they'll be contributors.
10) Sid asked if there are 2 or 3 players that stand out in winter conditioning drills: Kill's response, "Everyone has improved." He said he hates to name players for fear he'll omit some. That said, he did mention Philip Nelson and Mitch Leidner. Mitch has gained weight and is upto 245 pounds. Scott Epke came in at 255 and now is at 270 pounds. He also mentioned Isaac Fruechte and said the secondary is doing well. He closed the question by stating that of the 10 fastest players on the team, six are new recruits on campus for winter classes and spring drills. The team has shown increased speed and athleticism.
11) This year's squad in comparison to last year's team at this time: Last year's team didn't know what to expect and had been without coaches a for a period time. (Didn't want to sound too critical.) This year's team has a different attitude and mindset, they know what to do, and there's great competition and teamwork. (They have 8 teams - 4 from the Legends Division and 4 from the Leaders Division.) He credited the strength and conditiong coaches with the improvement. He said the word "competition" several times, and that it took a good solid year to figure out what's going on and what's expected.
I want to thank Bob_Loblaw, Halsey Hall, Triple D, Parski1, Killjoy, nc2mn, Gophersiniowa, and curseislifted33 for taking the thread seriously and asking bona fide questions!
Go Gophers!!
(I am better looking than Robert DuVall.) That ought to turn Moonlight, GL, and a few other female posters on here.
