U coach backs Booty in Vikings QB crowd

Tim Davis, the Gophers offensive line coach, held the same position for three years at Southern California when John David Booty led the Trojans to the Pac 10 title.

Davis is a big booster of Booty. With the addition of Brett Favre, the Vikings have four quarterbacks (Tarvaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels and Booty are the others). One quarterback likely will be gone, and it won't be Favre.

Davis is convinced that if Booty gets the right opportunity, he has a chance of being as good an NFL quarterback as any of the other recent Trojans high draft picks.

Davis gave a good example in Matt Cassel, a seventh-round draft choice, who was a backup at USC to Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart and never started a game at quarterback, then was moved to tight end his senior year.

With the Patriots last year, Cassel replaced Tom Brady after he was injured on opening day, then led the team to a 11-5 record.

Booty was a teammate and roommate of Cassel for two years, and Cassel backed up Booty in Booty's freshman year.

But tonight, Cassel will be the starting quarterback for Kansas City against the Vikings after being traded to the Chiefs during the offseason. Davis is very high on Booty and hopes the Vikings keep him.

"He had some great games with directing traffic and not hurting you by throwing interceptions and getting the ball off. He made offensive line coaches real happy because he got the ball out real quick."

There is another USC graduate who Davis coached, offensive tackle Drew Radovich, who signed as a free agent with the Vikings last year but didn't play after being hurt.

"He is an extremely tough kid, loves football, absolutely great as far as teaching and paying attention to detail, but I really loved his toughness," said David of Radovich, who is bidding for an offensive line position. "He had good ability, I mean he wasn't as big as everyone else, but he made up for it by just coming off the ball and being very tough and aggressive -- a finisher."

Carufel praised Gophers football coach Tim Brewster said he believes the transfer of former Notre Dame offensive lineman Matt Carufel, a Forest Lake native, might give more good instate football players a reason to stay home.

"It's so important that Matt is here because obviously we want to keep the top Minnesota kids at home," Brewster said. "Our message is resonating very well. Matt coming back home from Notre Dame sends a tremendous statement to the state of Minnesota, and it's a strong statement.

"He's a good leader. I think from a temperament standpoint, he's going to give us an edge.

"He's a tough guy, kind of a nasty guy and he's exactly what you want in an offensive lineman. I couldn't be more proud that Matt's here and part of our program. What he brings to our program as a player is outstanding."

Brewster might have added that the presence of Carufel will give him his best offensive line since he took over three years ago.

Jottings The Vikings will surpass 4,000 season ticket and 14,000 individual game ticket sales in the 72 hours since Favre joined the Vikings. There are plenty of season ticket packages available, but only 1,700 of them include the Green Bay game on Oct. 5. There are 3,500 tickets available for the home opener with the 49ers on Sept. 27 and tickets are available for all other games.

Jon Garland, the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher who has cleared waivers, would be a good pickup for the Twins because he has a better record than a couple of Twins starters. The only problem for the Twins would be that Garland is earning $6.25 million this year with a mutual option in 2010 of $10 million. He is 6-11 with a 4.42 ERA in 25 starts this year, but he has a 3.60 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break. Garland has 17 quality starts this season, more than any other Twins starter by far: Nick Blackburn has 14, Scott Baker 11, Francisco Liriano 10, Kevin Slowey nine and Glen Perkins seven.

Will Kapp, the son of former Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp, is a reserve fullback for California, which will play the Gophers on Sept. 19. Kapp is a sophomore.

Prior Lake's Jordan Schroeder led all U.S. players with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in six games at the 2009 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. Eden Prairie's Danny Kristo led all skaters with seven goals, while contributing 12 points. ... Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom will participate in a NHL Players Association media tour Sept. 7-9 in New York City. ... A.J. Thelen, a former No. 1 draft pick of the Wild, signed with the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League.

Each of the 34 NHL players at the U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Orientation Camp donated 15 sets of hockey equipment to the youth organization of their choice, and all nine Minnesota natives at the camp chose programs in their home state: David Backes (Spring Lake Park), Dustin Byfuglien (Roseau), Tom Gilbert (Bloomington), Erik Johnson (Bloomington), Jamie Langenbrunner (Cloquet), Paul Martin (Elk River), Kyle Okposo (Highland Central-St. Paul), T.J. Oshie (Warroad) and Zach Parise (Highland Central-St. Paul).

The Gophers defense might have been better the past three years had Greg Jones, who was recruited by former coach Glen Mason, not gone to Michigan State instead of Minnesota. Jones was selected pre-season defensive player of the year at the recent Big Ten football meetings in Chicago. He had 127 tackles in 2008 and would have given the Gophers the dominant defensive player they have needed.

The U athletic department is selling parking spots to season ticket holders this year, $209 for basketball and $225 for hockey.