Frerotte shows he's got starting ability

After watching Gus Frerotte perform in the past three games, Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers, a coach for 33 years, said he can't understand why the 37-year-old veteran never has caught on with one team and consistently been a No. 1 quarterback.

"I knew he was a capable guy," said Rogers, who coached Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in college at Syracuse. "He [Frerotte] had practiced well throughout the course of training camp and early in the season really was on top of his game. He seemed to have a good grasp of the offense, so the way he's played the last three games has not been a surprise. He's really made some outstanding throws."

Since Frerotte took over in Week 3, the Vikings have averaged 72 more passing yards and five more points per game. Frerotte has completed 60 of 107 passes (56 percent) for 692 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a 74.2 passer rating.

"I don't know that there's so much a shortage of quarterbacks as a shortage of great quarterbacks -- there's about as many as you can count on one hand. So we're very fortunate to have Gus," Rogers said of Frerotte, who completed 19 of 36 passes for 222 yards and a game-tying touchdown to Bernard Berrian against the Saints, which set the stage for Ryan Longwell's winning field goal.

"Yeah, he took some hellacious shots over the course of the last three games and rebounded really well," Rogers said. "He was knocked a little silly the other night and was out really for just one play. So, he wants to play, which is another great thing about him."

Rogers said Frerotte does a tremendous job of preparing himself during the course of the week through film study.

"As we go through practice during the course of the week, obviously we cover various segments during specific days, and he is really up to par on what we're doing," Rogers said. "Base plays, what we're doing on nickel, what we're doing in the red zone, short yardage, goal line, he's on top of all those things and he works hard at it. He always stays one step ahead."

"I certainly think so, the guy is in really good shape," Rogers said. "Again, he's got excellent arm strength, and he's got a great command of the ball. He throws it where he wants to throw it."

At the same time Rogers said the organization hasn't given up on quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.

"No, absolutely not. Again, like it's been said all along, young guys develop at different times," said Rogers. "If you look at the guys who came in his graduating class, there's really just one right now who's really excelling, and that's [Denver's] Jay Cutler. So it takes time for those guys."

Rallis surprises Edina's Mike Rallis took some time before deciding to walk on at Minnesota. He had been offered scholarships by a number of smaller schools and considered attending Miami after a visit there.

But the linebacker decided to walk on at Minnesota and played so well early on that he was awarded a scholarship.

"He did an amazing job covering kicks for us," Brewster said. "He blew that wedge up a number of times and sacrificed his body. I'm really excited about the performance we got from a true freshman on our kickoff coverage."

Jottings The Twins will announce this week that they have picked up the 2009 option on catcher Mike Redmond for $950,000.

Although Bryant McKinnie gave up a sack and was called for a motion penalty in the Vikings' victory against the Saints, it was a decent performance considering he had been inactive for four weeks.

A regional cable television audience will able to see how a great coach operates when Eden Prairie's Mike Grant goes after his 34th consecutive victory Friday against Bloomington Kennedy. Eden Prairie had a big victory last week, beating Minnetonka on homecoming. Grant applied for the Gophers' job after Glen Mason was fired, and athletic director Joel Maturi said Grant made the best presentation of any coach he interviewed. But Maturi said he felt he couldn't hire a high school coach at that time. That might have been the only job to entice Grant to leave Eden Prairie.

The Gophers have sold 42,000 football tickets for the Northwestern game, 44,000 for Michigan and 52,000 for Iowa. Ninety-seven percent of the Gophers' basketball season tickets -- or 9,200 -- have been sold, plus 2,200 student tickets. About 600 obstructed-view seats still are available. For Gophers hockey, 98 percent of season-ticket holders renewed. There are a limited number of seats left for the Dodge Holiday Classic on Jan. 2-3 and standing-room tickets for all games.

Chris Monter of Golden-Sports.net reports that defensive back E.J. Jones, who started his first college game at Minnesota in 2006, and was kicked off the team, along with three teammates, during a sexual assault investigation, had a 13-yard punt return for Illinois State in its 57-6 victory over Indiana State on Saturday. ... Gophers safety Ryan Collado, who had a big game against Indiana, was a highly recruited player, getting offers from Michigan State, Northwestern, Virginia, Miami of Ohio and Ohio University.

"Really I loved the coaches that were recruiting me, I loved the environment here. I just knew I had an opportunity to play early, so I thought it was the right place for me," he said.

Beau Allen, the outstanding Minnetonka defensive lineman, has received an offer from the Gophers.

To date, Mark Parrish, whose contract was bought out by the Wild, is without a job. "Parrish will eventually get a job once the season gets going and some team believes it needs a player," said Wild President Doug Risebrough.

Here is how unpredictable recruiting predictions can be: Former Eden Prairie football player Walker Lee Ashley and former St. Thomas Academy basketball player Bryce Webster are not playing varsity sports. Ashley started out at Southern California and Webster played at Minnesota and Utah State. ... Three players taking part in the Twins' instructional league -- pitchers BJ Hermsen, Michael Tonkin and Blayne Weller -- were late signees and didn't play in the minors this summer.