Link: Longhorns will host first 2017 official visitor this weekend

Some good stuff in this Orangebloods article that's not all Texas related.

Weather currently has a high of 80 and decreasing into the 60's at night. Should be better than last years 90 and two years ago's "hotter than hell"

Press release:

The Minnesota men’s basketball team will take the court 21 times this upcoming season, as the Gophers 2016-17 schedule was unveiled Thursday in conjunction with the Big Ten Conference schedule announcement.

Unless otherwise listed, game times and television broadcast information will be announced at a later date.

The season will unofficially begin on Thursday, November 3, as the Gophers welcome Bemidji State for an exhibition. Eight days later, Minnesota opens its 2016-17 campaign hosting Louisiana Lafayette (Fri., Nov. 11).

In a busy week at the Barn, the Gophers will host Texas-Arlington (Mon., Nov. 14) and Mount St. Mary’s (Wed., Nov. 16) before their first competition as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. On Friday, November 18, the Maroon and Gold will host St. John’s from the BIG EAST Conference, a game that will be televised live at 8:00 p.m. on BTN.

Another major conference opponent will come to Williams Arena four days later, as the Gophers will host Arkansas from the Southeastern Conference on Tue., Nov. 22. On Fri., Nov. 25, Minnesota finishes the season-opening six-game homesstand against Southern Illinois.

Three days later, the Gophers travel to Tallahassee for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against Florida State (Mon., Nov. 28, 6:00 p.m., ESPNU), and will make a return to Sioux Falls later in the week to face Vanderbilt at the Sanford Pentagon on Sat., December 3.

Minnesota will host five straight opponents at the Barn to conclude non-conference play, beginning with NJIT (Tue., Dec. 6, 7:00 p.m., BTN) and Georgia Southern (Fri., Dec. 9, 8:00 p.m., BTN). A Sunday date with Northern Illinois (Dec. 11) is followed by a Wednesday home game against LIU Brooklyn (Dec. 14), before a nine-day break for exams. The non-conference schedule concludes at home on Fri., Dec. 23 hosting Arkansas State (6:00 p.m., BTN).

A home opener against perennial power Michigan State kicks off the nine home Big Ten Conference games for the Minnesota men’s basketball team.

The Gophers begin B1G play on Tuesday, December 27 hosting the Spartans, and will be followed by a two-game road trip. Minnesota visits Purdue on New Year’s Day Sunday, followed by a trip to Northwestern on Thursday, January 5.

A break from the road comes on Sunday, January 8 when the Gophers host Ohio State. Three days later, Minnesota travels to East Lansing for a January 11matchup with Michigan State, and a trip to Penn State on Saturday, January 14 follows.

The first of two battles with border rival Wisconsin comes to Williams Arena on Saturday, January 21, followed by a visit to Columbus to play Ohio State onWednesday, January 25. A home date against Maryland on Saturday, January 28 closes out the month.

Minnesota will have its first of two midweek byes before traveling to Illinois on Saturday, February 4. The following Wednesday, February 8, the Gophers will welcome Iowa in their lone regular-season meeting. Three days later, Minnesota’s only matchup with Rutgers will come on Saturday, February 11 in Piscataway.

Back-to-back home games against Indiana on Wednesday, February 15 and versus Michigan on Sunday, February 19 will heat up the Barn, followed by a trip to College Park to face Maryland on Wednesday, February 22.

Two straight games close out the home schedule, with the Gophers hosting Penn State on Saturday or Sunday, February 25 or 26. Minnesota’s final home game will be Thursday, March 2, in the lone meeting against Nebraska.

The regular season concludes on Sunday, March 5, in Madison as the Gophers travel to face the Badgers.

This year, the Big Ten Tournament shifts eastward to a new location, as the 14 teams will battle for the conference’s automatic berth in Washington, D.C. The outcome will be decided over five days beginning Wednesday, March 8 at the Verizon Center, home of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals.

Single-game tickets for non-conference games, along with pick your packs, will go on sale Wednesday, September 14. More information on tickets can be found by visiting MyGopherSports.com.

Really good article on Pete Mortell. Great to see a kid living his dream. I hope he makes it

http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/the-ultimate-lambeau-leap/

Thoughts? http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/22/gary-johnson-backs-co2-fee-to-fight-global-warming/

http:

Jay Johnson clearly likes big, rangy, leapers at WR with a big catching radius: Still, Register, Woli, Smith and Johnson (two @6-5, then 6-4 to 6-2).

Has Minny ever had this much length and speed at WR?

Howard under 6, but fast and elusive, hopefully a KJ-clone in the slot.

If Mitch can find these guys consistently, the passing game will be fun to watch.

Im researching Woodbury area Gopher Fans interest in gathering for away games at an area restaurant. I've gained commitment from Carmine's to host but am open to other locations. Please reply if you'd plan on attending a few. Thanks!

Clinton Talks To CNN
In an interview with CNN, Clinton used an offensive term in order to try to make a point – it backfired.

Link: Defensive line depth as good as it's been, according to Phelps

Link: Video analysis: Jayden Comma through two games

Rob Cassidy gives his opinion on Comma, who has West Virginia as his leader but lists Minnesota in his top group in every interview.

Link: Mykelti Williams liking Iowa Western

Gopher Wrestling just announced their new crop of 2016-17 incoming recruits. Mitch McKee was ranked in the top 20 and Hunter Marko was in the high 40's. Along with the spring commits, this should be a good class that will help us. Top 50 commit Owen Webster, who was an impressive Fargo Freestyle Champion this past summer, has had a difficult time getting admitted to the U and is still not being mentioned in these releases. Also Lucas Jeske seems to be still having the same issue.

I haven't seen a ranking on how good the class is...will share that when it's available.

So, with the JRob/ Xanax scandal, we haven't lost any new recruits yet. And, as no action has been taken yet regarding the eligibility of the current wrestlers who were involved in the scandal, they are still all listed on the website roster. The Strib reported yesterday that the U investigation is done and they are expecting an announcement imminently...and also that JRob had a meeting with AD Mark Coyle on Monday. So, we may find out more about the resolution of that issue soon.

Also we are in the final swing of 2017-18 recruiting leading up to the early National Signing Day for wrestling on November 9th. With the elevation of Head Assistant Coach Eggum to Acting Head Coach, we are still in hot pursuit of 4-5 very highly rated recruits and are in the final top 3-5 lists for Justin Mejia (Clovis, CA), Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville, MN), Jacob Warner (Washington, IL) and others. So, recruiting seems to have settled down and we are still in these discussions. While we could certainly use Mejia, I think Berge and Warner would be our top choices, especially since we may likely get 1-2 top 125# recruits out of the 2018-19 class. These would be #6 Roman Bravo-Young (Sunnyside, AZ) and Patrick McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, MN). I also do still think we are on track to get #1 ranked overall 2018 Gable Steveson. So, we could be looking at a #1 rated class that year.

There's still a lot up in the air, but for right now...we have weathered the storm pretty well !!!


Gophers Welcome Five Newcomers This Season

Four highly touted prep recruits and a two-time Division III All-American will join the Gophers this fall

Gophersports.com
Aug. 23, 2016

Five young men will step into the Gopher Wrestling room later this fall for the first time as members of the University of Minnesota wrestling program. That quintet -- fall signees Mitch McKee and Hunter Marko along with spring additions Dylan Anderson, Jose Champagne and Tyler Schneider -- all bring well-decorated resumes with them to the U of M.

Anderson joins the Gophers after a successful career at Hudson (Wis.) High School. During his prep career, Anderson became the first wrestler in Hudson program history to finish top-three at the state tournament multiple times. In each of his final two seasons wrestling at Hudson, he finished the regular season undefeated. He is a former cadet state champ in both Greco and freestyle (titles won in 2014 at 170 pounds) and a repeat top-three finisher in junior Greco and freestyle, winning the state title in Greco in 2015 at 182. Most recently, Anderson turned in a 5-2 performance wrestling freestyle at Fargo earlier this summer.

Champagne finished his high school career with Marian Catholic (Ill.) High School with a state title as a senior, the cap on a 55-3 season during which he recorded 27 pins and 14 tech falls. Champagne had previously finished fourth at state as a sophomore and third as a junior. In all three of those seasons, Champagne primarily wrestled at 152 pounds. He won junior state titles in both Greco and freestyle at 152 in 2014, and swept the cadet state titles in Greco, freestyle and folkstyle in 2012. In addition, he is a two-time USA Wrestling All-American at the cadet level thanks to performances in 2012 and 2013.

Schneider will join the Gophers as a transfer from Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse. In three seasons wrestling for UWL, Schneider compiled an 81-18 overall record. He wrestled at 165 pounds his freshman and sophomore seasons, earning First Team All-WIAC recognition both years and winning the WIAC championship as a sophomore. That season, he was a national finalist as the Division III tournament, finishing as the runner-up. Last season, he bumped up to 174 pounds and added a second All-America medal to his collection by placing fourth at the NCAA tournament. Schneider is a physics and electrical engineering major who will have to sit out the fall semester of the upcoming season in accordance with NCAA rules. He is originally from Mokena, Ill.

McKee joins the Gophers fresh off a summer that included a UWW junior national freestyle title, plus a Greco national title and a third-place finish at Fargo juniors. He has been in plenty of national championship bouts the past two seasons, with a 126-pound title from Fargo in 2014 and a USA Wrestling folkstyle national title at 132 in 2015. He was a Fargo 132-pound finalist in freestyle in 2015, and also finished runner-up at UWW junior nationals. McKee's high school resume at St. Michael-Albertville (Minn.) includes four appearances in the Minnesota state finals. He was two-time runner-up at 106 pounds before winning state titles at 120 and 126 the past two seasons, respectively.

Marko, from Amery (Wis.) High School, is a four-time Wisconsin state champ, winning the 2013 title at 106 pounds, then adding titles at 113, 126 and 138. He capped his prep career with a perfect 39-0 senior season. On the national scene, Marko has earned All-America honors three times at junior nationals in Fargo, including a freestyle national title at 106 pounds in 2013. Marko has also reached the finals of USA Wrestling's Folkstyle National tournament twice, in 2013 and then again last year. At the cadet level, he was a double national champ in Fargo in both freestyle and Greco in 2012.

need some good suggestions to add to our game day cuisine this year. No Tundra, spam sliders are not making it. Thinking we will start the year with applewood smoked pulled pork and a modified shrimp boil.

At some point we will do venison bratwurst pattie sliders, ribeye sammies, smoked brisket chili and baked wrapped jalapeño ribeye. Need a few more good options

According to Herbie see below.

Surprise Teams

1. Texas
2. Louisville
3. North Carolina
4. Auburn
5. Minnesota

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...winners-2016-kirk-herbstreit-college-football

The story of the abducted 5 year old from Watkins just sickens me. I don't know what a person is thinking when they do stuff like this. I hope this sick bastard gets a nice welcoming party in prison

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/charges-expected-tuesday-kidnapping-death-young-girl-41588449

Per @Lucasatlarge, Wisconsin OL Dan Voltz is retiring from football. He's dealt with many injuries but started 27 games for UW. Huge loss.


Sad for the kid. Not sad for Becky.

Link: Claeys talks passing game, younger quarterbacks

...that the more taxes you collect will not cure the problem...stop spending is not even part of this idiots vocabulary.

OBAMA COLLECTS $19,966,110,000,000 IN TAXES!

Claeys made it sound like he was gonna start at field CB, but he's not even listed on the 2 deeps.

Press release:

Sunday Night Overtime With Coach Claeys Debuts Aug. 21 On Facebook

The University of Minnesota football program in conjunction with Gopher Digital Productions announced today that it will produce a weekly online video show with head football coach Tracy Claeys.

The production – Sunday Night Overtime With Coach Claeys – will originate from the Gophers’ locker room at TCF Bank Stadium and will be streamed using Facebook Live on Minnesota’s official facebook.com/GopherFootball page. The show will be presented by the Minnesota Lottery.

The show will be hosted by Gopher sideline reporter and KFAN personality Justin Gaard and will air at 7 p.m. on Sunday nights. The premier episode will debut Sunday, Aug. 21. Fans who miss the live broadcast can always watch replays on the football team’s official Facebook page.

The interactive broadcast is expected to last between 15 and 20 minutes and will feature fan questions from Facebook and Twitter. In addition to some lighthearted moments, the show will also go in-depth into the inner workings of the team, preview upcoming opponents and recap games.

Sunday Night Overtime With Coach Claeys schedule (all shows will be at 7 p.m.)
Aug. 21
Sept. 4
Sept. 11
Sept. 25
Oct. 2
Oct. 9
Oct. 16
Oct. 23
Oct. 30
Nov. 6
Nov. 13
Nov. 20
Nov. 27

Additional shows will be added as needed.

Link: Travis talks front seven, Oregon State prep, overcoming adversity, and more

Looks like Mortell is having a nice camp!
https://lombardiave.com/2016/08/21/green-bay-packers-masthay-vs-mortell/