Mike Max joined Sid Hartman on today's Sports Huddle with the questioning of several guests. Coach Kill's responses and comments to their queries are as follows:
1) Sid opened the questioning asking what the coaches do after Signing Day and the fall and winter recruiting season: Kill responded saying they focus on preparations for spring drills by evaluating film as they try to ascertain what they did well last season and what were their shortcomings. They also restart the recruiting cycle by evaluating players (high school juniors) that they looked at last year as well as players that have surfaced on their recruiting list.
Kill also said the coaches spend a lot of time with the players making sure that "things are on track" (academic studies and winter conditioning drills). He closed the question by discussing the team competition that occurred Friday morning (6 a.m.). They (players) were excited, loud and boisterous. One team of Gopher players won the Rose Bowl trophy (didn't get the name of the team leader) and Aaron Hill's team won the Capital One Trophy.
2) Subject then turned to the team's success in their academic studies (Sid said the team has 3.0 GPA): Kill replied, "A lot of the credit goes to the players (holding themselves accountable) and Academic Services." He was pleased that the players took advantage of the resources provided by Academic Services, i.e., tutoring.
3) Sid said the coaches must be happy that they have Jamel Harbison back from his injury: Kill responded by saying the wide receiving corps had worked very hard during the off-season. He sounded pleased about the strides that the receivers have taken and gained since last season. Kill then said, "We feel good having Jamel back - will help us . . . he's not 100% and we'll be careful."
Kill then mentioned Roland Johnson and Marcus Jones having had knee surgery, but they're not as far along as Jamel Harbison is.
He closed the question by saying he was pleased with the wide receivers and the work that they've put in since the end of the season.
4) Sid asked about opening the season on Thursday night: Kill responded saying it's important to play as many games at home as possible (he'd like to have 8 home games). He said he told Maturi, when he was hired, that having home games was paramount to turning a program around. Kill said the dropping of North Carolina from the Gopher schedule was because they want to have additional games at home (instead of the home and away schedule with the Tar Heels). Additional home games means additional revenue. As to playing on Thursday, he didn't have a problem playing Thursday as long as it's at home; however, he said they need to be careful that they don't infringe or adversely affect the high school games.
His final comment, related to Sid's question, was "It's important we play at home."
5) Sid asked about facing new coaches in the upcoming season: Kill said, "All coaches have habits . . . we evaluate film of their previous stops . . . first games are always difficult." Apparently UNLV has two new coordinators and Kill said they'll be studying film and will see what they've done in the past.
6) The last topic covered was concerned with upcoming training camps for high school students and younger: April 13 the coaching staff and players will conduct a free camp for youth of all ages and June 9th is the start of Kill's summer camps. The June 9 camp is for high school juniors.
Kill said the state's high school coaches will conduct their annual clinic on April 4. Their keynote speaker this year is Butch Jones of Tennessee.
Today's Sports Huddle with Coach Jerry Kill was lighter than usual with information.
Go Gophers!!
1) Sid opened the questioning asking what the coaches do after Signing Day and the fall and winter recruiting season: Kill responded saying they focus on preparations for spring drills by evaluating film as they try to ascertain what they did well last season and what were their shortcomings. They also restart the recruiting cycle by evaluating players (high school juniors) that they looked at last year as well as players that have surfaced on their recruiting list.
Kill also said the coaches spend a lot of time with the players making sure that "things are on track" (academic studies and winter conditioning drills). He closed the question by discussing the team competition that occurred Friday morning (6 a.m.). They (players) were excited, loud and boisterous. One team of Gopher players won the Rose Bowl trophy (didn't get the name of the team leader) and Aaron Hill's team won the Capital One Trophy.
2) Subject then turned to the team's success in their academic studies (Sid said the team has 3.0 GPA): Kill replied, "A lot of the credit goes to the players (holding themselves accountable) and Academic Services." He was pleased that the players took advantage of the resources provided by Academic Services, i.e., tutoring.
3) Sid said the coaches must be happy that they have Jamel Harbison back from his injury: Kill responded by saying the wide receiving corps had worked very hard during the off-season. He sounded pleased about the strides that the receivers have taken and gained since last season. Kill then said, "We feel good having Jamel back - will help us . . . he's not 100% and we'll be careful."
Kill then mentioned Roland Johnson and Marcus Jones having had knee surgery, but they're not as far along as Jamel Harbison is.
He closed the question by saying he was pleased with the wide receivers and the work that they've put in since the end of the season.
4) Sid asked about opening the season on Thursday night: Kill responded saying it's important to play as many games at home as possible (he'd like to have 8 home games). He said he told Maturi, when he was hired, that having home games was paramount to turning a program around. Kill said the dropping of North Carolina from the Gopher schedule was because they want to have additional games at home (instead of the home and away schedule with the Tar Heels). Additional home games means additional revenue. As to playing on Thursday, he didn't have a problem playing Thursday as long as it's at home; however, he said they need to be careful that they don't infringe or adversely affect the high school games.
His final comment, related to Sid's question, was "It's important we play at home."
5) Sid asked about facing new coaches in the upcoming season: Kill said, "All coaches have habits . . . we evaluate film of their previous stops . . . first games are always difficult." Apparently UNLV has two new coordinators and Kill said they'll be studying film and will see what they've done in the past.
6) The last topic covered was concerned with upcoming training camps for high school students and younger: April 13 the coaching staff and players will conduct a free camp for youth of all ages and June 9th is the start of Kill's summer camps. The June 9 camp is for high school juniors.
Kill said the state's high school coaches will conduct their annual clinic on April 4. Their keynote speaker this year is Butch Jones of Tennessee.
Today's Sports Huddle with Coach Jerry Kill was lighter than usual with information.
Go Gophers!!
