Gophers offered Brooks this morning. Brooks already has offers from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Michigan, Texas A&M, Missouri and Wisconsin to name s few.

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see Joe's story in the Star


By JOE CHRISTENSEN , STAR TRIBUNE

Todd Oakes, who spent 18 years as Gophers pitching coach, mentoring the likes of Twins closer Glen Perkins, died Thursday after a four-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia, his family confirmed. He was 55.

Oakes was beloved in the Gophers baseball community, and the first-place team had recently recorded a video tribute to their coach. His No. 25 jersey often was hung up around practice and team gatherings in recent days as Oakes' health declined.


The family wrote on Oakes' CaringBridge site, "With a heavy heart, we are saddened to say that Todd passed away peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family with a cross in his hand and his favorite music playing.

He is survived by his wife, Terri, and their three sons Tyler, TJ and Tanner.

Longtime coach John Anderson had turned into a team counselor of sorts, helping players and coaches balance their grief for "T.O." while preparing for the biggest Gophers baseball games in years. The team plays at 1 p.m. Thursday in an elimination game at the Big Ten tournament in Omaha, Neb.

"We're at an institution of higher learning; this is another life lesson for [the players]," Anderson said earlier this month when Oakes was placed in home hospice.

The five-year survival rate for acute myeloid leukemia is about 26 percent. Oakes was diagnosed in 2012 and spent 50 days in a hospital undergoing chemotherapy. When he needed a bone-marrow transplant, his brother, Gerald, stepped up as a match, and donated 5.1 million healthy stem cells.

"Some people don't get through the initial process," Oakes told the Star Tribune in 2013. "They never get to hear that word 'remission' from the doctor."

Oakes did twice. He fought off the disease in 2012 and again in 2014 before the leukemia returned for a third time last September.

About four weeks ago, the father of three took a turn for the worse.

Oakes grew up in Spring Grove, Minn., and attended Waldorf College in Iowa before transferring to Nebraska. He went 16-4 as a pitcher over two seasons with the Cornhuskers, earning All-Big Eight honors in 1983. He earned his bachelor's degree in education and was a third-team Academic All-American.

Drafted by the San Francisco Giants, Oakes spent four years pitching in the minors before becoming a coach for 12 years in the Giants' system.

Oakes took over as Gophers pitching coach in 1998, in part, so he could spent more time at home with his wife and three sons.

In Oakes' first two seasons, the Gophers' team ERA improved from 5.73 to 4.20. It dipped to 2.89 three years ago, when Minnesota had two first-team All-Big Ten pitchers, in Tom Windle and DJ Snelten.

Windle got drafted in the second round by the Dodgers that year, and Snelten went in the ninth round to the Giants. One year earlier, Oakes' son TJ was the Gophers' staff ace and got drafted in the 11th round by the Rockies.

All told, Oakes coached 26 Gophers pitchers who went on to become drafted, including Perkins, who's a two-time All-Star with the Twins, and Seth Rosin, who made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2014.

Link: Get to know a new Gopher: Tyler Johnson

His comment on playing basketball will probably grab your interest. Pitino and the basketball program haven't reached out to him at all (or at least recently) and I don't think he's talked about playing basketball too much with the football coaches yet either, so know that that idea is very much preliminary. He has the talent to be a Bryant Allen-esque walk-on, though. He's a bouncy slasher that developed a workable but not great jumper. He has potential to be a great defender and is already an excellent rebounding guard.

Three more schools have signed up to participate in the event that will be at TCF Bank Stadium on June 5.

Augustana College, Bemidji State and UM-Crookston.

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From Sunday... Get to know a new Gopher: Sam Schlueter
Today's Q&A... Get to know a new Gopher: Conner Olson

Got a chance to chat with 2018 tight end Zach Sheffer, whom the Gophers offered earlier this month. Bart Miller was the coach who went down to Ponte Vedra, Fl to see Sheffer in person.

The 6-foot-3, 221 pound sophomore already has power conference offers from Auburn, Boston College, Michigan, Duke, Rutgers, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wake Forest.

Sheffer said he would like to attend camp at Minnesota and visit the campus.

"I like how they would use me in the running and pass game because I'm ta tight end that likes to block," Sheffer said. "Most Tight ends now just like to catch the ball and score touchdowns but I like to block and drive the guys and make holes for running backs. I also like to split-me out or have me attached and run routes."

Sheffer has already made unofficial visits to Wake Forest, Tennessee, N.C. State, Florida State and Georgia. He said he wants to make his decision by spring of 2017.

"For a lot of people going away from home is tough but I'm sure I can do," Sheffer said. "I love cold weather by the way, so (the Big Ten conference) is perfect."

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kicker Grant Ryerse, in state recruit with an offer from Gophers, talks about his top 3 now that he has an offer from Northwestern

https://northwestern.n.rivals.com/news/kicker-has-northwestern-in-top-3-after-offer

Grant Miller got an offer from Minnesota today. 6-5, 275 guard. It is his first P5 offer.

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that is a lot of weight. Hope it translates into more pancakes.

With the huge contingency of staying healthy, avoiding the devastating injuries, I am really optimistic for our OL group. Looking forward to OL as a group to take the next step upward.

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Galina Dubenenko is just about perfect.

Minnesota has offered three star New Orleans receiver Jeremy Singleton. Has nearly two dozen offers, including Virgini, Arkansas, Houston, Kansas State and Northwestern.

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The Gophers just offered 2017 Garland, Texas quarterback Kamron Fields. Has power conference offers from Iowa and Indiana, along with Colorado State, SMU and San Diego State.

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Has anyone else had trouble with attempted forced downloads of malware on this site? Every once in awhile when I am on this site an attempt from FlashPlayer.exe tries to download software but is stopped by my Chrome browser as malicious. It tries to make itself look like it's from Adobe.....but it's not. It only happens when I am on Rivals.

I was contemplating the thread about how recruiting is going right now and some of the concerns to the slow start on commits. I went back through some of the old commitment lists as it relates to the top Minnesota recruits. You forget how much better we are recruiting the top kids in Minnesota compared to the time I started paying more attention to recruiting during Mason's last 4 years. In the years 03, 04, 05, and 06 , the top rated Minnesota recruit in any of those years that stayed home was only number 5 in the state!

Other than 2013, Kill/Claeys have done a great job of getting most of the top kids to stay home.

12- 7-9 that we offered stayed home including #2.
13- 1-3 offered stayed home with the top being #5.
14- 3-5 offered stayed home including #1.
15- 2-4 offered stayed home with top being #3.
16- 9-13 offered stayed home including #1.
17- already looks like we will have #1 and most of others we have offered.

During these years, some of the top players we lost went to Oregon, Ohio St., ND, Stanford, Alabama, Arkansas and Nebraska.

It is nice to take for granted having a good chance at keeping the best in the state, something that wasn't happening 10-15 years ago.

Mel Kiper ranked the top 10 offensive players at their positions yesterday. Mitch Leidner is the #2 senior QB in his rankings and Brandon Lingen #3 underclassmen at TE.

Thoughts?

Creative Charters has sold out three bookings.

Should be a good Gopher contingent on hand for football's first visit to College Park.

DC area a nice destination.

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And Matt Fielder is Player of the Year

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No rubber match for Nyquist and Exaggerator...probably just as well, as the latter closes like a pro!!


05/24/2016 11:10AM
Nyquist out of Belmont with high white cell count

DRF.com
By David Grening

Barbara D. Livingston

Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist will miss the Belmont Stakes on June 11 due to an illness, trainer Doug O’Neill told Daily Racing Form Tuesday morning. Nyquist probably won't return to the races until later this summer, in the Jim Dandy or Travers at Saratoga.

O’Neill said that Nyquist has an elevated white blood-cell count and that his temperature, after returning to normal Monday afternoon, was up to 101.2 degrees mid-morning Tuesday. His normal temperature is 100.3, O’Neill said.

O’Neill said that Nyquist would be put on stronger antibiotics to treat the illness and that he would return to California when he’s healthy.

“We’re going to put him on stronger antibiotics, get him right, get him back to California and let him relax and recover from the trip,” O’Neill said by phone.

The defection of Nyquist means there will not be a rubber match with Preakness winner Exaggerator in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes. Nyquist, the undefeated 2-year-old champion of 2015, beat Exaggerator by 1 1/4 lengths in the Kentucky Derby on May 7. Exaggerator turned the tables on Nyquist in the Preakness, winning by 3 1/2 lengths while Nyquist was nosed out for second by Cherry Wine.

O’Neill said Sunday he wanted to run Nyquist in the Belmont and had planned to ship the colt to New York from Baltimore on Monday. But Monday morning, Nyquist was diagnosed with a “102-and-change” temperature. Though he was treated and the temperature returned to normal, blood work taken Monday revealed a high white-blood cell count.

“It is a bummer,” O’Neill said. “It’s like a family member being sick. We’re going to focus on getting him better and we look forward to a summer campaign.”

O’Neill said he is not sure where or when Nyquist would return, but he did say he hoped the horse could run this summer at Saratoga, in either the Jim Dandy on July 30 or the Travers on Aug. 27.

A live camera from the Athletes Village....not much going on but it should be interesting to watch.....eventually. Doesn't seem like they've really done much in the last several months. http://nothingshortofgreatness.com/liveFeed.php

Marcus Bowman was offered by Minnesota tonight. Bowman (6-3, 230 lbs) has offers from Iowa, Maryland, Marshall, NC State, Syracuse and Temple already.

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Custis becomes the latest Georgia prospect and defensive back to get an offer from Minnesota.

Custis already has offers from Clemson, Michigan and Tennessee to name a few.

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People now use some type of portable electronic device in their workplace, almost everywhere anymore.. We blame the millenials but it is older generations as well.. They are valuable for work but young people use them almost as an essential body part.. If they were removed, I believe some would go into full bore depression without them.

Now a military girl at West Point was caught on camera using a cell phone WHILE IN FORMATION.. That is horrible to me but I am willing to hear others opinions that may differ...Employers and other authority have their hands full if they make this an issue. It is not the EDUCATING of the employees as to what the rules are, though that is essential.. It is the ENFORCEMENT of the rules, once they have been put in place.. The authority risks unpopularity or strong resistance in a large group setting.. It is the same principle as parenting though in parenting, you have more control of what happens in the house... In the work force, the group dynamic thing can be overwhelming to a lot of managers, in regards to enforcement and consistency.

My concern is the trend as well as the military.. There will be a day, which I believe will be sooner than later, where you will hear a millenial that becomes a doctor say to a patient's family "Wait a second, I have to answer this call from my kid... Your dying relative will just have to wait"... Or maybe a cop saying "Yeh, so what that you are getting shot at, I am talking to a friend on-line"..... Those are ridiculous and extreme but I dont think they are out of the question in the near future. THE MILITARY should not tolerate that one bit.. What a disrespect to all those that have defended our country in the past and present!!!! Part of being ethical is doing the right thing, even when no one else is looking.. And to submit to authority even if you dont agree with the rules.. Compliance does not mean always agreeing but it is essential to a good society.

Adam Weber fielding a lot of good job offers.

Kill largely credited Weber with Leidner's improvement. I would love to keep Weber on staff here forever, but my guess is he'll have some good options.

Hope someday to get him back here as the QB coach/OC, once he's had some time to cut his teeth a bit somewhere else for awhile.

Union High linebacker Kyrei Fisher, a three-star, 6-foot-2, 230 pound linebacker, committed to the University of Minnesota today during his unofficial visit. Fisher, who also has offers from Kansas, Army, Navy, Southern Methodist and Wyoming, becomes the third commit for Gophers in Class of 2017.

With an already solid group of linebackers coming in this fall, namely Coughlin, if Fisher makes it official on NSD, the Gophers will have another incoming linebacker who can impact the program.

The linebacker unit was the teams strongest this spring and will be the best unit for the defense in 2016 until the secondary and defensive line hits its stride. The unit could be the center of the defense for the next 4-5 years if the Gophers continue to recruit the position well.

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Here's what some of the coaches at Minnesota had to say of Fisher committing to UMN:

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I just realized that I forgot to share the following last week. Theo is hearing from the Gophers a ton lately and a source tells me "they've really turned up the heat".

Word is Pitino has been talking commonly to Theo, Jericho, and McKinley and their parents constantly when allowed.

I'm also told that Theo likes the following about the Gophs:

1) is excited to be apart of something new that would help turn things around

2) has an interest in playing with McKinley in college and this is big

3) is very close to his family including younger sibling/siblings so that would be a plus

4) wants a chance to play early in career

I'm told Marquette is too challenger with Illinois behind them. Something has dropped off with Oklahoma although I don't know from which side. Butler and Texas are showing more interest.

Also, Theo said "decisions, decisions" on Twitter meaning just about anything but when it comes to recruiting it could have something to do with Gophs putting on a bit of pressure to get this done.

I asked him about upcoming visits and the next two months and he said hes been so busy he hasn't even thought of it

I'm told the Gophs do have to be open about recent situations and if that goes well they have a strong chance here