Sid Hartman: Petersen is eager to see former pupil Pennington perform

One person who will be very interested in watching Jets quarterback Chad Pennington perform against the Vikings on Sunday will be Gophers co-offensive coordinator Tony Petersen, who recruited and coached Pennington for four years at Marshall University.

And in 1997, Pennington's favorite receiver was former Vikings star Randy Moss, who once caught five touchdown passes in a game against Ball State.

Coming out of high school in Knoxville, Tenn., Pennington's only college scholarship offer came from Marshall, a school that graduated both of his parents.

But he made great progress, helped by his one season with Moss as a receiver, and in 2000 the Jets made him the first quarterback taken in the NFL draft -- further proof of how overrated recruiting rankings are.

"He was a good high school quarterback but he didn't throw the ball a lot, and was probably two inches shorter and only weighed about 185 pounds at the time," Petersen said. "Now he's 6-3 and weighs about 225.

"He played as a true freshman, and then Chad ended up redshirting his sophomore year and then he played the next three," Petersen added.

"Yeah, Randy was there Chad's junior year, so he threw to him the one year, and that season Moss broke the all-time reception record for Marshall."

Petersen said Pennington doesn't have a super great arm but has all the other needed qualities for a top quarterback.

Petersen also coached Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich, who backed up Pennington as a freshman at Marshall.

Likes Pennington

Brooks Bollinger, who came to the Vikings from the Jets, is a big admirer of Pennington.

"I was fortunate to be able to be with him for almost four years and learned a lot of football from him," Bollinger said. "He's a very detail-oriented player, he's a very smart player, very accurate thrower, and he prepares himself week in and week out, you know, unlike anyone I've really seen."

Bollinger, who has been sidelined because of a shoulder problem, said his knowledge of Jets personnel could help the Vikings in their preparations.

"I've obviously been around the personnel quite a bit, so I know the players pretty well," he said. "But they're such a multiple team on offense and defense. They do so much stuff and they're willing to change week in and week out, so it's hard for me to really have a bead on what they're doing at this point."

Hunt will be missed

The American Football League, founded by Bud Adams of Houston and Lamar Hunt of Dallas, had scheduled one of its first meetings in 1960 at the old Pick-Nicollet Hotel in Minneapolis, and Minneapolis was named a charter league member.

That was when I first met Hunt, the Chiefs owner who died Wednesday. I recalled how upset he was when Max Winter and the Minneapolis group withdrew from the AFL to seek an NFL franchise. The AFL franchise intended for Minnesota was awarded to Oakland and became the Raiders.

Hunt went on to become one of the prime movers in the merger of the NFL and the AFL and was one of the men who came up with the idea of playing the Super Bowl. He was a great NFL leader.

Hunt was a real gentleman. He would show up at River Falls, Wis., where the Chiefs would train, and you would never think that he was one of the richest men in the country. It was always so much fun visiting with this great man.

As owner of the Chiefs, he was a driving force in helping small-market teams exist through revenue sharing. He will be missed because owners of the Cowboys, Redskins and other big-market teams don't want to share money. He will be missed as an owner, but even more as a real good person who had time for everyone.

Jottings

The Gophers football program has received a verbal commitment from Greg Jones, a linebacker from Cincinnati Moeller. Jones was considering Michigan State, Cincinnati and all of the MAC schools. The Gophers are also in the running for 6-6, 300-pound offensive lineman Brandon Brooks of Milwaukee Riverside High School, who at one time was set for Wisconsin. The Gophers now have 19 commitments, more than they ever have had at this time of the year.

The speculation is that former Gophers men's basketball coach Dan Monson will be the next head coach at Idaho. George Pfeifer was promoted from assistant coach to head coach at Idaho this year. But the Vandals are off to a 1-8 start and Pfeifer has only a one-year contract. Bill Walker, who was a top assistant with the Gophers until he recently was let go, was a leading candidate for the Idaho job before Pfeifer was hired. He likely would join Monson. Monson has a home in Idaho, and Don Monson, his father, was a very popular basketball coach at Idaho and still has some influence with the administration.

Kevin Rogers, the Vikings quarterback coach, has been rumored as a candidate to become offensive coordinator at the University of Miami and Florida State. "They are just rumors," said the former Virginia Tech quarterbacks coach. "I just got here."

Vikings linebackers coach Fred Pagac has been a football coach since 1973, first in the colleges and then for eight years in the NFL. The other day on Vikings coach Brad Childress' show on KFAN, Pagas described Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield as the best all-around football player he had coached in 32 years. ... One wonders what the future holds for Marcus Johnson, the Vikings' second-round draft pick in 2005. Johnson is healthy again, but has lost his starting right tackle position to Mike Rosenthal, who is spelled on occasion by Ryan Cook, a second-round pick this year.

Hassan Mead, the outstanding Minneapolis South cross-country runner, recently finished fourth in the Foot Locker Cross-Country National Championships in San Diego. ... Cloquet native Jamie Langenbrunner already has 11 goals for the New Jersey Devils. ... When asked on his Wednesday WCCO radio show how he would grade his Gophers hockey team (9-0-3 in WCHA play), coach Don Lucia gave the Gophers an A. ... In 27 games with the Wild's Houston farm club, ex-Gopher Danny Irman has seven goals and six assists for 13 points.

Gophers wrestling coach J Robinson was asked what he hears about the future plans of former Gophers wrestling star Brock Lesnar. "He is important to us in that he comes over here and works with our heavyweight wrestlers," Robinson said. "I understand and he is training to go into the fighting aspect of wrestling."

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