Vikings: For Frerotte, everything's so familiar, yet so new

Gus Frerotte has seen a few familiar faces around Winter Park since re-signing with the Vikings last month, but much has changed since his first stint with the franchised ended following the 2004 season.

Only nine of the 85 players on the current roster were around when Frerotte last wore purple, ownership has transferred from penny-pinching Red McCombs to free-spending Zygi Wilf, and then there are the head coaches.

"Yeah, coach isn't as tall as my last coach that was here," Frerotte quipped, noting one difference between 6-7 Mike Tice and current coach Brad Childress, who is listed at 6 feet. The difference in the stature of the coaches actually is a very small matter for Frerotte.

More important is adjusting to an offensive system that is almost completely foreign to Frerotte, who has played for seven teams during a 14-year career.

The Vikings' new backup quarterback has spent the first seven practices during the team's organized team activities adjusting to life in Childress' version of the West Coast system. With Tarvaris Jackson absent Wednesday so he could tend to a personal issue, Frerotte worked with the first-team offense.

His most impressive throw of the day came during a team drill when he completed a 40-yard strike down the sideline to receiver Bernard Berrian.

"He's everything I thought he'd be," Childress said of Frerotte. "He's got a good presence about him, and the thing you always ask yourself is, 'Is the arm still alive?' And I see him snap off every throw he needs to make, so yeah, I don't have a question about that."

Frerotte, who signed a two-year, $3.75 million contract after being released following two seasons with the St. Louis Rams, isn't all that concerned about whom he lines up with these days. What's more important to him is getting snaps.

"It's just reps, period," Frerotte said of the adjustment. "Getting the calls out, learning the offense. Just processing it from the time the coach gives it to you to the line of scrimmage. Being able to put it all together."

By "getting the calls out," Frerotte means the amount of verbiage that goes into calling the West Coast plays. That more than anything is going to take work.

"I've thrown every route you can throw and handed off every handoff," he said. "It's just the verbiage. It's understanding the protections. It's getting a feel for what they like to do and readjusting my mindset a little bit."

Frerotte's only previous experience in this offense came in 2000-01 when he played for Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. Frerotte, 36, played behind Brian Griese but started seven games over the two seasons, including six in 2000.

Frerotte might have some learning to do, but the Vikings think his veteran presence will help Jackson as he enters his second season as a starter. Frerotte enjoyed being a mentor to Daunte Culpepper with the Vikings in 2003 and '04, and he made it clear he would welcome getting that opportunity again.

Frerotte said Jackson "has been great" about listening so far but admits that with limited knowledge of the system right now he keeps his comments to a minimum.

"I don't talk to him a lot because obviously right now he knows a heck of a lot more about the offense than I do because he's been in it for three years," Frerotte said. "I just give him little tips on what he should look at doing. He's really doing well out here. I'm really impressed. He knows the offense, knows what the coaches want. I think it's going to be a good relationship."