And the calendar rolls to August tomorrow. August means Gopher football is just days away! Jerry Kill's opening press conference is Thursday afternoon and practice #1 is Saturday morning. Here is the first week of practice, all of which is open to the public!
- August 4, 10:25 a.m. – Practice #1, Gibson-Nagurski Complex, Open to Public/Media
- August 5, 10:25 a.m. – Practice #2, Gibson-Nagurski Complex, Open to Public/Media
- August 6, 10:25 a.m. – Practice #3, Gibson-Nagurski Complex, Open to Public/Media
- August 7, 10:25 a.m. – Practice #4, Gibson-Nagurski Complex, Open to Public/Media
- August 8, 10:25 a.m. – Practice #5, Gibson-Nagurski Complex, Open to Public/Media
- August 9, 9:10 a.m./4:40 p.m. – Practice #6/#7, Gibson-Nagurski Complex, Open to Public/Media
- August 10, 10:25 a.m. – Practice #8 (Scrimmage), TCF Bank Stadium, Open to Public/Media
After the 10th practices are no longer open, but you get seven you can attend before the gates are closed.
We have a ton of Gopher football links today, enjoy!
- Marcus Fuller interviews Matt Limegrover and talks about the offense and its quest to be better. I really like the direction of our offense but there are a lot of questions surrounding the running game and the receivers.
- In Fuller's blog he talks with MarQueis about the NFL and how that can be a distraction during his senior season.
- This was in the STrib yesterday but they were both really good. Phil Miller had a Q&A with Coach Kill.
- Tom Dienhart at the BTN gives Minnesota fans 10 reasons to be excited about this season. Staff Continuity ranks #8 on his list but for my money that is the #1 reason I think we will be much improved this fall.
- FBT continues his ranking of the 15 most important players for 2013, today is Jimmy Gjere at #10.
- Mocking the Draft profiles the Gopher roster searching for some NFL talent.
Lastly is this other STrib article from yesterday. In this one Phil Miller polls other Big Ten coaches about the direction of the Gopher program and their thoughts on Jerry Kill. He does preface this article by saying that coaches always say good things about other coaches this time of year. But these were some good quotes anyway...
Pat Fitzgerald
"He believes it can be done the right way. No shortcuts. That's what I've seen so far, and that's why I think he'll be successful," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "A lot of teams try to hire a quick-fix artist, but no program can be competitive over the long haul without a strong foundation. And building that takes time. [Kill] understands that, and [Minnesota] understands that."
Brady Hoke
"The job of a coach is to make his players play as well as they possibly can," said Michigan's Brady Hoke, who introduced Kill to the Big Ten with a 58-0 thrashing in the conference opener in Ann Arbor last fall. "They've got a staff in place there that knows how to do that. They have some challenges, but I don't doubt you'll see progress."
Kirk Ferentz
"That staff has been with Jerry a long time, and it gives him continuity that maybe they didn't have there before," Ferentz said. "It's so important for the players to know how things are done, and what they can expect."
and
"To their credit, they beat us straight-up both times," Ferentz said. "Neither one was a fluke -- they beat us fair and square. ... Jerry Kill is a tremendous coach."
Brett Bielema
"I said when they hired him, I'm glad he's not in our division, because I know how effective and competitive [Kill] can be," said Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, who is 6-0 against Minnesota since taking over the Badgers in 2006. "I look forward to [meeting the Gophers], but I know we had better be ready for a battle, or else."
You will get better context if you read the full article (which I highly encourage).