During the 2008-09 college football season, I was one of Percy Harvin’s biggest fans.

An electric wide receiver from the University of Florida, Harvin was the Minnesota Vikings’ top pick (No. 22 overall) in Saturday’s NFL Draft.

Months earlier, Harvin was one of my top draft picks.

In August, my cousin Kamp and I held our Southeastern Conference fantasy football draft for the second consecutive year. We always have been avid followers of college football, but we’ve been especially interested in SEC competition. The conference, which includes perennial powerhouses like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Tennessee, we feel, is the best in the nation. The speed, athleticism, talent and pro prospects on display every week in the SEC can’t consistently be matched by other BCS leagues.

Our borderline obsession with SEC football has resulted in us doing things that often force my girlfriend to slap her forehead and shake her head in shame. Kamp and I each plan our Saturdays around “The SEC on CBS” Game of the Week, and there was a long period of time when we desperately were searching the internet in an attempt to download CBS’ intro music as a ringtone for our cell phones (I often find myself humming or whistling this intro music, which ranks with NBC’s old-school NBA production theme and ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” theme as my favorite of all time). The price of my cell phone bill rises dramatically during the college football season, as Kamp and I normally exchange a plethora of calls and text messages, especially on Saturdays. We read college football blogs; we buy SEC-related t-shirts; and we spend an embarrassing amount of time tweaking and preparing our fantasy football teams.

It’s a two-person league, and it’s played a lot like a run-of-the-mill NFL fantasy league. Each roster consists of 15 players, and each team starts two quarterbacks, three running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker and a defense every week. There are four bench spots, and each owner is allowed just five add/drops throughout the season; thus, the Draft is the most important part of the process.

Two years ago, in our inaugural season, Kamp made Harvin the third overall selection, following Arkansas running back Darren McFadden and Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson.
Despite missing a handful of games and being limited in others, Harvin lived up to the expectations that came with being the first wide receiver off the board. He finished with 59 receptions for 858 yards and four touchdowns, and he totaled 764 yards and six touchdowns on 83 rushing attempts.

McFadden and Tim Tebow carried my team to the title, but Harvin kept Kamp close. I was determined to draft the do-it-all threat the next year.

However, Harvin’s injury troubles soon became a major problem. He hurt his ankle in fall practice, and nobody knew — or would say — when he would be able to first take the field in the 2008-09 season.

After Saturday’s NFL draft, many experts said Harvin had top-10 talent but that he fell to No. 22 because of three reasons: 1) his history of injuries; 2) the report that he tested positive for marijuana at the NFL combine; and 3) his history of being an egocentric, selfish diva with a history of attitude problems.

In a fantasy football draft, one doesn’t have to worry about the possibility of a player being a “clubhouse cancer,” but one has to be concerned with a player’s ability to play every week. Because of injury concerns, Harvin dropped down our SEC fantasy football league draft boards. Tebow went No. 1 overall, followed by Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno. Finally, after 10 players had been drafted, I decided to roll the dice. I had needs at other positions, and I was positive that I could find an adequate wide receiver in the later rounds or on the waiver wire, but I couldn’t pass up Harvin’s speed, talent, versatility, past production and future potential. I selected him with the 11th overall pick, and he turned out to be the “SOD” (steal of the draft). Although the Vikings had a glaring need at tackle (“I will boycott the Vikings next season if Ryan Cook starts at right tackle — he’s that bad,” Kamp said, referring to Cook, who will battle to stay on the roster this year after Minnesota drafted Phil Loadholt, a massive right tackle out of Oklahoma, in the second round), and Mississippi’s highly touted right tackle Michael Oher was still on the board, Minnesota couldn’t pass on Harvin, either, for all the same reasons I couldn’t. Vikings fans can only hope it works out as well for the Purple as it did for me.

With Harvin, however, comes a lot of uncertainty.

Harvin didn’t play in Florida’s season opener, a lopsided victory over Hawaii, and an ankle injury suffered in the Gators’ victory over Florida State forced him to miss a key December game against Alabama — a regular-season ending contest that essentially decided which team would advance to the national championship game (Florida won 31-20). Harvin was a “gametime decision” every week, and I found myself stressing every Friday night and Saturday morning, searching for evidence that he was going to play and that it was safe to plug him into my lineup.

When he was healthy, Harvin normally was the best player on the field. He played in only 12 games last season, but he was a touchdown-producing machine, totaling 17. However, he did most of his damage on rushing plays and didn’t produce the receiving stats typically associated with top-notch wide receivers.

He had just three games with four or more receptions. He went over 100 yards receiving twice, and he was held to 52 yards or fewer nine times. He did manage to catch at least one touchdown in six different games.

He had more rushing attempts (70) than receptions (40), and he had more rushing yards (659) than receiving yards (644). Ten of his 17 touchdowns came on the ground.

Harvin finished his three-year college career with 133 receptions for 1,929 yards and 13 touchdowns, and 194 carries for 1,852 yards and 19 scores. He averaged 9.5 yards per carry and 11.6 yards per touch.

He stepped up in big games, earning MVP honors in the 2006 SEC championship game and totaling 171 yards and a touchdown in Florida’s victory over Oklahoma in the 2009 national title game.

He lined up at receiver, running back and quarterback for the Gators, and the Vikings are planning to make him a kickoff and punt returner. But will he ever turn into a No. 1 receiver for a contending NFL team?

Harvin played mostly in the slot at Florida. He took reverse handoffs and caught screens and short receptions, turning them into long gains. That will be exceptionally more difficult in the NFL, with a narrower field and much faster defensive players. Draft experts also have given him low grades for route running and the ability to get off the line of scrimmage against bigger, physical corners.

Harvin likely will play the slot for the Vikings, which isn’t a bad thing, considering that Bobby Wade led Minnesota in receptions a year ago from the slot position. Sage Rosenfels, the veteran quarterback the Vikings traded for in the offseason, favored slot receivers with the Texans a year ago. I realized this firsthand. Andre Johnson was the top receiver on my NFL fantasy football team, and he thrived with the oft-injured Matt Shaub under center. But, when Rosenfels played, Kevin Walters received the majority of the attention and receptions, especially in the red zone, where Harvin thrived — as a player who took handoffs. Andre Caldwell and Louis Murphy were the Florida receivers who received the most looks from Tebow inside the 20-yard line.

It will be interesting to see how the Vikings utilize Harvin. Will they run a lot of reverses? Will they use him as quarterback in the “Wildcat”? It worked great at UF, but it would keep the ball out of the hands of Pro Bowl running back Adrian Petersen at Minnesota.

But the biggest question about Harvin clearly is the one regarding his apparent fragility. The 5-foot-11 speedster missed five games in his college career and was limited in several more because of an injury list that includes heel surgery, ankle injuries, migraine headaches, a concussion, a hip pointer, tendinitis in his Achilles tendon, and tendinitis in his knee.

Harvin’s susceptibility to injuries became so well-known within college football circles that he often became the subject of jokes. But nobody questioned his toughness. Every Day Should Be Saturday, one of the best college football blogs on the internet, created a graph that detailed all of Harvin’s “injuries” and ran the following text:

Percy Harvin is injured. Big deal, we say: Percy Harvin is always injured. Just before the national title game in 2006, Percy Harvin sneezed and severed his femoral artery. Bleeding profusely and on the brink of death, he put on his pants, strapped on the helmet, and after three cups of Gatorade ripped off 82 yards of total offense and a TD against the Ohio State Buckeyes. He then died immediately postgame, but recovered in time for spring practices.

Like a finely tuned sports car, Percy runs at top speed and, more frequently than not, is on blocks during the week receiving physical therapy, being massaged by virgins, and laughing gustily at the jesters and midgets who amuse the court at Florida.

Harvin was the college football equivalent of the NFL’s Brian Westbrook, the veteran Philadelphia running back who rarely practices during the week because of an assortment of injuries, is a gametime decision every Sunday, but still manages to play and be effective. The only difference between the two: Harvin misses games.

There were reports before Saturday’s NFL Draft that Harvin would need additional surgery on his ankle, with some speculating that he had a hole in a bone near his foot and needed a plate screwed in place permanently to fix the problem.

But the Vikings scoffed at the reports and shrugged off Harvin’s history of injuries and off-the-field problems.

Such attitudes have worked out well in the past for Minnesota.

Nobody wanted to draft Randy Moss, who basically was kicked out of two colleges for drug and behavioral issues before landing and starring at Marshall, and Petersen fell to the Vikings because teams were concerned with his history of injuries and his upright running style.

If Harvin can produce a career anything like those already posted by Moss and Pedersen, he may forever be known as the steal of the steal of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Josh Anderson had an opportunity that few have the chance to experience.

Returning for the third year, Anderson was in a select group to be guest strength coach for a camp at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

“They’ll only invite about around 10 strength coaches to come in and help out at the camp,” Anderson said. “It’s not that you just stand there and watch; you’re there to instruct and demonstrate the drills and take the kids through the drills. Guest coaches are the ones that help out and take certain drills and take the kids through those.”

Anderson, who is the health and fitness director at the Worthington Area YMCA, drove more than 1,100 miles and was up at 5 a.m. Saturday preparing for the camp.

But it was all worth it.

“It was definitely worth it,” Anderson said. “I love it down there. It’s an honor to be able to go down there and work alongside the best coaches in the best facilities, and with the tradition of Notre Dame, it’s an honor.”

Guest coaches came from all across the nation, including coaches from Ohio, South Carolina and three trainers from USA weightlifting.

“The USA weightlifting guys know (head strength) coach Ruben Mendoza, so it’s an honor to have them come in and even get to know them and pick their brains,” Anderson said. “USA weightlifting is one of the best organizations out there in our field in certification. Other guest coaches know one of the other assistant strength coaches or they know somebody who knows one of the strength coaches, so it’s one of those things you get invited to.”

Before the Notre Dame staff allows the guest coaches to work with the students, they first have to have a small amount of training Saturday morning.

“You have to go through everything before the camp,” Anderson said. “The first time I went down there, I was already accepted to do an internship and work along with them, so that automatically got me in. But you have to answer questions and they take you through different scenarios. If this person was lifting this way, or how would you critique this. Then you have to fill out a background check and everything.”

Saturday, it was old habit for Anderson. He was able to instruct drills throughout the camp, which ran from 8 a.m. until noon.

“I instructed and took the kids through agility and reaction drills, mirror drills, four-cone drill and a tennis ball drop where the kids have to get it on one bounce. From there, we went into the weight room and I demonstrated proper form and technique for the bench press,” Anderson said. “It’s nothing new for me. Being a guest strength coach, they know that you’re knowledgeable and they trust you. You’re hired by them, so you’re there working for Notre Dame, so it’s important that you stay professional and you know your stuff so kids aren’t going to get hurt or anything like that.”

After head Irish football coach Charlie Weis gave a welcome, the campers were split into groups and were rotated through the drills. The first portion of the camp was spent in the field house, with the second part in the weight room. A visit from Notre Dame’s nutritionist and Allen Rossum rounded out the morning.

“Allen Rossum, who currently plays for the 49ers and is an alum from Notre Dame, was there to talk to the kids,” Anderson said. “They were able to ask him a lot of questions, so that was pretty neat to hear his experience at Notre Dame and where he’s at now and how he got there. So that was pretty cool.”

On a campus full of history and tradition, and with famous athletes walking around constantly, it might be tough to not get caught up on the trip. But that wasn’t hard for Anderson, who was all business.

“I’m sure they’ve had coaches that come in and kind of be like that, but being professional, I believe, helps keep me coming back,” Anderson said. “It feels good that they trust me and we’re able to work together.”

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t had his opportunities to see well-known people.

“In 2007 when I was down there, Brady Quinn was just getting ready for the draft,” Anderson said. “I came in to meet with coach Perry, and one of the assistant strength coaches was working out Brady Quinn. I was able to watch him work him out, stretch him out and do some of the drills with him, so I was able to meet Brady Quinn, which was really neat. The professionalism part of it, I didn’t go up to him and ask him for his autograph or anything like that. To me, it’s more important to say hey, I had a chance to see him and work alongside him. That’s more important to me than anything. That’s the main thing in this business is not to get caught up and everything, but it can easily happen.”

When the camp was over, Anderson was able to take in all the sights, including part of the Blue-Gold spring football game.

“After being a guest coach there, they give you tickets so you can go watch the Blue-Gold game,” Anderson said. “Having a chance to go to a Notre Dame football game and be in the stadium that Rudy played in and Lou Holtz and Knute Rockne were there as coaches and all of the great Notre Dame players and staff, it’s just amazing. Not a lot of people get a chance to do those things, so that’s a neat thing to be able to go down there.”

While working with the strength coaches at Notre Dame, Anderson was able to learn new drills and lifts, which he hopes to incorporate back in Worthington.

“I’m very honored to go down there and work with some of the best in the business,” Anderson said. “Not only are you going there and working for them, but you’re able to talk with all of the other coaches and see what they’re doing and what’s been working and what hasn’t been. In our field, it’s important to know new lifts and new agilities and new (plyometrics). You might think you know it all, but even this weekend, I learned so much. Every time I go down there or anywhere, you’re always learning something, and that’s what you have to take away from these things.

“I’ll integrate it right away. Some of the different agilities and plyometrics, I learned some more stuff on speed and different lifts and I’ll incorporate that right away, so it’s a huge learning experience.”

Anderson has started planning for next year’s trip after already being invited back.

“I’ll be going back next year,” Anderson said. “I’ve already told them and they’ve already asked me to come back. I’m welcome down there at any time. That means the world to me. To have that support staff and to know that they trust me and believe in me and know that I’m knowledgeable in the field of strength and conditioning is really cool.”

Mubarik Musa almost missed the gun.

With the other competitors in their lanes and preparing for the start of Thursday’s 1,600-meter run, Musa wasn’t on the track.

Instead, he was running across the football field, trying to make the beginning of the race.

For other runners, the pre-race run may have hindered their performance.

Not Musa.

From the start of the race during the Cardinal Relays in Luverne, Musa’s only competition was himself.

Starting on the inside lane, Musa was already out in front after the first turn — ahead of the runners in the outside lanes.

From then, Musa knew he had a victory.

“From the beginning; I knew I had it before I even started the race,” Musa said. “The question for me was would I get a better time that I wanted — usually somewhere around 4:30 or 4:25. That was the time that I wanted, but it didn’t happen. Hopefully, it’ll happen at the end of the season.”

A freshman, Musa recently moved to Luverne from Brooklyn Park.

The Cardinals couldn’t be happier.

“I moved here I think three weeks ago,” Musa said. “I immediately joined the track team.”

Musa is no stranger to tough competition.

Running for Park Center, Musa finished eighth at the state cross county meet Nov. 1 by running a 15:55.4 that day.

The next freshman in the meet was Josh Thorson.

He finished 32nd.

Thursday, Musa finished his mile with a 4:38.37.

“It was kind of average,” Musa said. “It wasn’t too good or too bad, it’s usually what I run. It is early-season, so hopefully my time will drop soon.”

Of course, Musa had two factors working against him Thursday.

“It was a little chilly, and there was no competition,” Musa said. “There was no one pushing me. All of this contributes to some point.”

Hills-Beaver Creek/Ellsworth/Edgerton’s Halden Van Wyhe finished second with a time of 5:02.

Musa ran around a 2:19 in his first 800, but had a poor third lap.

“The third lap, my coach told me, was a little too slow,” Musa said. “But it was all right. This is the first time at an outdoor mile this season, too. Hopefully, by the end of the season, I’ll get somewhere around 4:20 or lower 20s. We’ll see what happens.”

If Musa makes his goal, he could place at the state meet.

Last year, Winona Cotter’s Donny Wasinger set a new Class A record with a time of 4:15.20.

If Musa hits his mark of 4:20, he would have finished fourth last season.

Tracy-Milroy-Balaton’s Ryan Tholen won the Section 3A meet last year with a time of 4:34.30, and could be Musa’s toughest competition this season.

“I’m from AA, so A isn’t that much people and it’s not that much competition,” Musa said. “Still, I have to keep pushing in case something happens at the end.”

If a 1,600-meter victory wasn’t enough Thursday, Musa claimed a victory in the 800. Finishing with a 2:04.36, he beat Worthington’s OJ Ojullu by more than two seconds.

While Musa wasn’t pushed during Thursday’s mile, that doesn’t mean he won’t stop pushing himself — even against smaller schools than he’s used to.

“My concern was that I probably wouldn’t have the competition that AA has, but I still keep telling myself, ‘No matter what, I keep pushing the pace,’” Musa said. “I just need to push myself. That’s the kind of motivation I have.”
 

WORTHINGTON — It hasn’t been an ideal spring for Worthington’s baseball and softball teams.

Both teams have had a combined five games postponed because of weather and poor field conditions. Even worse, the Trojans combined to have just one “official” practice outside on the diamond.

“We got outside to the field one time — that was last Friday — then the snow storm hit over the weekend,” Worthington softball coach Sam Baumgartner said. “So we were right on the cusp of being able to be outside all the time, and then the snow came and put us off for this week again.

“We’re five weeks into (the season), and we’ve had one official outdoor practice.”

That’s one better than the Worthington baseball team.

The closest the Worthington boys have had to an ideal practice took place on the soccer field, where they played catch.

Everything else has taken place in the WHS gymnasium, and it’s starting to take a toll on Worthington’s players.

“We don’t look forward to going to practice every day when it’s inside,” junior pitcher/outfielder Mitchell Jensen said. “It’s the same thing every day: hit off the machine, and this and that. It gets ridiculous.”

Said senior shortstop Kyle Vaske: “It’s not that bad, but it’s definitely getting old. We’re just waiting for it to get nice out. If we hadn’t had that snowstorm, we would have been out there.”

It was reported that Worthington got five inches of snow over the weekend — but it looked like much more. The baseball and softball diamonds were blanketed in white, and, although a lot of it has melted, the remaining dampness has left it impossible for teams to practice or play without tearing up the field.

The snowstorm also came right before Worthington High School’s spring break. Vaske used his off-day from school to drive out and check the conditions at the baseball field after the Trojans’ morning practice indoors.

“I drove out there, just through the parking lot, and there were still drifts out in center field,” he said. “All along the fence, there’s still snow out there.”

Vaske, who also will see some time on the mound this season, is able to practice pitching in the gymnasium. It isn’t the same without facing a batter ready to swing away, but it’s more effective practice than that he receives as a shortstop. Fielding grounders off a gymnasium floor just doesn’t adequately prepare an infielder for the tricky bounces he or she will encounter on actual earth.

Then there are the outfielders, like Jensen, who need to practice things like chasing down fly balls, charging grounders, making long throws and other things that are virtually impossible to do indoors.

“We can hardly do anything,” Jensen said, speaking for the outfielders. “We can’t even take fly balls.”

Baumgartner has taken his players outside, to the parking lot, to field fly balls.

“But that’s been the extent of it,” he said. “We’re still inside, and you can work on the fundamentals as much as you can, but it starts to get old when you’re five weeks into it. You try to create as many realistic opportunities in the gym as you can and keep it competitive and keep the girls’ interest going, but everybody’s itching to get outside.”

Keeping indoor practices interesting is one of the most difficult tasks for a coach. Players can get frustrated and anxious. Even worse, they can be unprepared when finally taking to the field for a game.

“You have to keep it interesting; you don’t want to get into a routine where the girls know exactly what to expect day in and day out,” Baumgartner said. “You mix it up as much as you can and try different things. Sometimes you get away from softball things and just do crazy games or stuff that doesn’t even relate to softball, just to keep everybody’s interest. You just have to tough it out as much as you can.”

Most of the players and coaches are used to it. In Minnesota, dealing with poor weather and cancelations tends to be an annual dilemma.

“More often than not, it seems like you deal with some of the weather stuff early on, and then you start to get things in,” Baumgartner said. “I remember once or twice when we’ve been able to get the first game of the year in, but it’s hard. Our first game was scheduled for March 31, and we’re still sitting here on April 9 without getting a game in.

“It’s part of playing in Minnesota. You schedule games early and kind of hope you can get them in, but you expect to deal with postponements and cancelations.”

It’s not new for everyone.

Brianna Ramos, a sophomore pitcher on Windom Area’s softball team, recently moved to Minnesota from California, where she was used to practicing softball year-round and never head to deal with cold weather or snow.

“The indoors practice is new for her,” Windom Area coach Paul Vesey said, laughing. “She was like, ‘When do we go outside?’ And, (Wednesday), we went outside and she said, ‘When do we go back inside?’”

It could be worse.

Vaske and Jensen said school was canceled because of a snowstorm last year on the day the Trojans were supposed to play their first game of the season.

It could be better.

The Worthington teams appear to be the ones most affected by the weather.

Jackson County Central’s baseball team has played three games, and so has Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin’s softball team. Adrian’s, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton’s, ML/B-O’s and Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove’s baseball teams each played their second games of the season Thursday.

Other teams haven’t been so fortunate.

Windom Area’s softball team, like the Worthington teams, hasn’t played a game yet. Vesey said the Eagles are scheduled to play 10 games in nine days, starting Monday.

Worthington’s baseball team is scheduled to play six games in five days, starting Monday. The Trojans are scheduled to play Monday, Tuesday and Thursday before having a doubleheader on Saturday.

Baumgartner said postponements will force Worthington’s softball team to play six games in a week, including doubleheaders on back-to-back days, later in the season.

“As of this point, we have all of our postponed games back on the schedule,” Baumgartner said. “Hopefully, we can get them in, but it’s going to be packed in there — four or five games in a week.

“The thing you hope to avoid is having a key injury to one of your vital players because, if games are going to get stacked up one after the other and a key player goes down, you’re going to miss them for four or five games, just like that. Some teams have six conference games in the course of a week, and if the goal is to compete for a conference title, it can be a pretty tricky thing to deal with.”

Despite having just one outdoor practice between them, Worthington’s baseball and softball teams both are scheduled to play their first games of the season Monday.

The forecast: rain.

The Minnesota Twins next year will leave the Metrodome and play in an outdoor-only stadium. When the plans for Target Field were announced, many fans raised concerns about the Twins’ ability to get games in during early April and late September. Only time will tell.

But one team’s trash is another team’s treasure.

“They’re going to move out of the Metrodome,” Baumgartner said, laughing. “We’re kind of thinking that, if they don’t want to use it, we will.”