• Article by: Sid Hartman
• Star Tribune
• October 27, 2007 - 9:01 PM

Even if Tarvaris Jackson improves as the season develops, the Vikings will be looking to add another quarterback next season.

And Rick Spielman, the Vikings' vice president of player personnel, said there will be a number of outstanding quarterbacks available in the draft.

"Right now we're in the process of evaluating the whole draft at every position, and this year there are some good quarterbacks coming out and we're just in the process of trying to get those guys lined up," Spielman said.

"The kid at Boston College, Matt Ryan, the [André] Woodson kid at Kentucky, [John David] Booty's been hurt out at USC, [Chad] Henne at Michigan, there's [Brian] Brohm at Louisville, Colt Brennan at Hawaii," Spielman said. "So, there's a lot of guys right now, just like we are at all the positions, just starting at the evaluation process of looking at them all.

"I've seen four of those guys so far. I was at the Louisville-UConn game, I was at the South Carolina- Kentucky game and the Virginia Tech and Boston College game."

Spielman is very high on Ryan, the Boston College quarterback who passed for two touchdowns in the final 2:11 on Thursday to beat Virginia Tech.

No excuses

Adrian Peterson was asked why he did so well against the Bears and struggled a bit against the Cowboys.

"I would say those guys just played the defense, really keeping the plays inside and not really letting anything go backside," Peterson said. "But there was still some opportunities out there that I left out on the field. You knew coming into the game they'd probably be keying on me but we got out there and played ball."

Would he welcome more carries?

"Yeah, maybe 100 carries would be nice," Peterson said. "No, the way we do it right now is good; we keep each other fresh and we both know how to make plays when we're out there.

"I just go out there and prepare myself well to be able to go out there and be ready for whenever I get extra carries or whenever they call upon me."

Holcomb deserves shot

Darrell Bevell said he believes Kelly Holcomb has earned an opportunity to start in the NFL.

"Well, sometimes it comes down to opportunities, I think," the Vikings offensive coordinator said. "A lot of times I think when you're being brought in to be a backup then that's what you're being brought in for. You're being brought in as a veteran guy that can step in in a time of need."

Bevell has been impressed by Holcomb.

"I think he's done a nice job for us," Bevell said. "He's a veteran guy. He's come in, he's picked up the system fast, he knows where to go with the ball and those are things that we like about him.

"He knows the team and he's seen a lot of things from them but they'll still have something new for us, as they do for everyone, ever week. But I think just his experience will help him see different things."

Bevell said no matter who plays, the Vikings need more production from that spot.

"Well, obviously, we'd like to do better. We need better out of that position, whether it's Tarvaris, whether it's Kelly or whether it's Brooks [Bollinger]. We're still working on that, we're still trying to improve and we definitely need better play there.

How does Bevell like calling plays after coach Brad Childress called them last year?

"I enjoy it," he said. "It's still an evolution, it's still a learning process, but I'm enjoying it.

Jottings

The Gophers played a good first half, leading Michigan 10-0 at one point Saturday. But they weren't going to beat the Wolverines and ended up losing 34-10. Since the Gophers tied for their last championship in 1967, the Gophers' record against Michigan is 3-34. The Gophers won in 1977 at home 16-0, in 1986 at Michigan 20-17 and in 2005 at Michigan 23-20.

Former Gopher Thomas Tapeh is doing well in the NFL. The fullback comes to the Twin Cities today for the Eagles' game with the Vikings. It took Tapeh more than a year to recover from a dislocated hip he suffered early in the 2004 season, but now he is healthy and starting for the Eagles.

Glen Mason can be proud of the fact that a number of former Gophers are playing in the NFL, including Marion Barber III with Dallas, Ben Utecht and Darrell Reid with the Colts, Matt Spaeth, Tyrone Carter and Gary Russell with the Steelers, Mark Setterstrom with the Rams, Ben Hamilton and Greg Eslinger with the Broncos, Laurence Maroney with the Patriots, Anthony Montgomery with the Redskins and Michael Lehan with the Dolphins. Hamilton and Setterstrom are injured for the Broncos.

What people might not recall is that former Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez turned down the chance to coach the Eagles in 1995, and they hired Ray Rhodes instead.

"I was at a Super Bowl with him and he had a conversation with [Eagles owner] Jeffrey Lurie. He just wasn't prepared to take it at that time and they hired Ray Rhodes," Childress said.

The Twins already have sold 25 of the 55 executive suites that will be available in the new ballpark. The price of the suites start at $100,000, and the only four at $200,000 have already been sold. ... Despite rumors, the Twins have not made any offers to free-agent pitcher Carlos Silva. ... Pat Neshek, the Twins relief pitcher who had a great year and some arm trouble at the end of the season, said that a short period of rehabbing the shoulder has ended all of the problems, and the arm of young relief pitcher is 100 percent. ... The Twins have high hopes for third baseman Brian Buscher, who came up late, was impressive in the instructional league and now is doing well for Aragua in the winter league. ... Marion Barber III, who is having a great year with Dallas, will be a restricted free agent after this season and in a position to earn a big contract.

Former members of Winnipeg's Grey Cup Championship teams were honored recently, including former Blue Bombers coach Bud Grant, who was presented with the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Province of Manitoba. Incidentally ESPN recently spent time here filming a video about the Grant family that will be shown on the cable network in the near future.

Mike Tice's son, Nate, a former Edina quarterback, is being redshirted at Central Florida.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com