One reason I believe the Vikings will be much improved this year is that they should have all their recent first-round draft choices available.

In Saturday night's preseason game at Seattle, Vikings coach Brad Childress sent all the recent top picks on the field: 2005 first-rounders Troy Williamson and Erasmus James, 2006 first-round selection Chad Greenway and 2007 top pick Adrian Peterson.

After starting the final nine games in 2005, James tore up his knee in the second game of the 2006 season and has had his knee operated on twice. The defensive end didn't take part in minicamps this year and began this year's training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list, with his first action of 2007 coming in the 30-13 loss to the Seahawks. James' pass rushing ability will help the team.

Greenway has earned a starting linebacker job, one year after suffering a knee injury in the Vikings' preseason opener that cost him his rookie season. He has played well in the 2007 preseason.

And you could add 2006 second-round pick Tarvaris Jackson to this group. Jackson, now the starting quarterback, had knee surgery last September that kept him sidelined for a few weeks and slowed his progress.

Peterson, who ran 10 times for 41 yards Saturday night, is being touted as a second Chuck Foreman, and his 43-yard run last week against the Jets is a good example of what scouts expect him to be able to do.

Williamson wasn't necessarily injured his first two seasons, but he caught a total of only 24 passes in 2005 and 37 in '06. Now, after getting his eyes checked over the offseason, he appears to be a much-improved wide receiver and could be headed for a banner season.

So, Childress should be a better coach this year, because all coaches have more success when they have better players.

Having these five players healthy and on the field should make the Vikings a better football team this season, better than most experts predict.

Another good back

One position the Gophers football team always was strong at under former coach Glen Mason was running back, with ex-Gophers Marion Barber III, Laurence Maroney and Thomas Tapeh all doing well in the NFL.

Amir Pinnix, a senior this year, is another Mason recruit who proved how good he is when he rushed for a team-high 1,272 yards last year, giving the Gophers at least one 1,000-yard rusher for the eighth season in a row.

Now the Gophers have another top back in freshman Duane Bennett. New coach Tim Brewster said Bennett's running style reminds him somewhat of another running back who wore No. 22, all-time NFL rushing leader Emmitt Smith.

"He's got a little bit of that look to him, and I'm just really, really excited about Duane at this particular point," Brewster said of Bennett, who joins the Gophers from Fairview Heights, Ill. "The thing that's got me most excited is his intelligence. He's a very smart young kid who does a great job of pass protection and pickup."

Bennett caught the attention of his Gophers teammates during summer workouts and hasn't done anything wrong to change their minds about how good they think he is.

Jottings

Aron Kahn, a spokesman for the groups who own the land where the new Twins stadium is to be built, reports that the owners intend to provide Hennepin County with a settlement offer early this week in the hope that an agreement can be reached on the price of the land, thus avoiding a protracted legal dispute.

Brewster has a lot of respect for the Gophers' opening opponent, Bowling Green, despite the Falcons' 4-8 record last year.

"Gregg Brandon's done a great, great job taking over for Urban Meyer," Brewster said. "Urban had such great teams there at Bowling Green. And, with Gregg, they're going to do a lot of the same things. They're a spread offense, they play with an even front defensively, so I don't think the complexity of it is going to be the issue. What we've got to make sure of is that we're worrying about us more than we are anybody else."

Brandon took over as Bowling Green coach after Meyer -- who coached Florida to a national title last season -- left for Utah in December 2002.

Don't shed any tears for new Gophers men's basketball coach Tubby Smith because Bryce Webster has asked to be released from his scholarship and two recruits -- Rosemount's Andrew Brommer, who was recruited by former coach Dan Monson, and Dallas' Nathen Garth, Smith's first Gophers recruit -- have decided to decommit. If Webster doesn't have the heart to play, it is good he quit. And I am convinced that Smith and his staff will have a chance to recruit better players with the scholarships they now have available. ... Smith and his staff played host to 13 of the best future recruits in the state Saturday at Williams Arena in a combined workout and academic session.

Grandpa Jake Mauer, who has been selling tip sheets at Canterbury Park since it opened, reports that grandson Joe, the Twins catcher, is building a new home in northern Minnesota that will include a batting cage, bowling alley and a basketball halfcourt.

The Twins will bring pitcher Francisco Liriano here to check on his surgically repaired left elbow in the near future. If everything comes out OK, there is a good chance Liriano will take part in the Instructional League in some phases of the game and be ready to throw in November. His progress following Tommy John surgery has been really good.

Former Twins right fielder Tom Brunansky, who was here for last weekend's reunion of the 1987 Twins world championship team, is an assistant baseball coach at San Diego's Poway High School. "It's fun. I enjoy doing it; this will be my fourth year," Brunansky said. "I take everything that I learned here from TK [Tom Kelly] and the Twins and I run it out there. The principles that we learned then, they still apply, and the simple fundamentals of the game work. And I'll tell you what: It's fun, because when they get it, it's nice to see when you go out and play well."

Former Gophers standout Mike Mee was hitting .318 for Class A Yakima, an Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate. ... Former Gophers pitcher Jon Mueller, pitching for the Chicago Cubs' Class A Daytona team, underwent Tommy John surgery last month.

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.