Hartman: Loadholt, linemen like Zimmer's style

Phil Loadholt's early impression of new Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer and his staff through the first veteran minicamp is that they are a disciplined group that keeps everybody working hard and competing.

"It just gave me a lot of reasons to be excited about this upcoming season and playing for Coach Zimmer here down the road," said the former Oklahoma lineman, who is entering his sixth season with the Vikings. The 6-8, 343-pound right tackle signed a four-year contract extension last year that will keep him here through the 2016 season and pay him $25 million.

Loadholt was asked if Zimmer is tougher than Leslie Frazier was as a head coach.

"Coach Zimmer definitely takes pride in being a great disciplinarian," Loadholt said. "Not a lot of gray areas. Everything is real black and white, set in stone with him. I think guys appreciate that, and it's motivated a lot of guys to go out there and get your work done and work hard while you're in the building and things like that. So far it has been a lot of fun."

Loadholt acknowledged the offensive line had several injuries last season and said that if the core group can stay healthy this year, that will go a long way toward improving the offense.

"It's going to be important for us to stay healthy so we can have all five guys playing every snap this year, which would definitely be beneficial to the team," he said. "We just have to continue to work hard with each other, stay together, and as long as we can stay healthy, like you said, I think we'll be pretty good up front."

Can this team dramatically improve?

What does Loadholt see from the competition at quarterback so far, between Matt Cassel, Christian Ponder and rookie Teddy Bridgewater?

"Looking at those guys, they've all been competing well," he said. "They're competing just like everyone else is on the team right now. I'm just looking forward to seeing those guys compete during training camp and things like that. We'll just go from there, whenever the coaches are ready to make whatever decision they make. Hopefully whoever that is will be able to take us where we need to be."

Loadholt said the offensive linemen are fortunate to have Jeff Davidson return as their position coach.

"There is some things that Coach Davidson spoke with [offensive coordinator Norv] Turner about, who has been doing this for a very long time, so there's some carry-over in things like technique, but also different terminology that we have to get on the same page as a unit with," he said. "We've had ample reps already this offseason, so we're improving in that. Coach Turner, his rap sheet speaks for itself, so [we're] just excited to have the opportunity to play under a coordinator like that, and lucky that we were able to keep Coach Davidson for some similarity [despite other coaching changes]."

What did Loadholt think about his play last year?

With the news coming Sunday that Dave Joerger and the Grizzlies had patched up their relationship and he would remain the Memphis head coach, the new favorite for the Wolves coaching position has to be Sam Mitchell.

Mitchell played with the Timberwolves for 10 seasons, including his final seven years with Flip Saunders as his head coach. Mitchell went on to become an assistant coach with Milwaukee from 2002 to '04 before landing a head coaching job in Toronto, where in 2007 he was named NBA Coach of the Year.

Mitchell never really got a fair shake in Toronto, being fired after starting 8-9 in the 2008-09 season after taking the Raptors to the playoffs the previous year.

It's surprising that a Memphis team that had gutted its front office would bring Joerger back, but reports are that the Grizzlies wanted to swap first-round picks in this year's draft and get a second-round pick in order to let Joerger leave, which was far too steep a price for the Wolves.

So look now for Saunders to target his former player and a well-respected voice in the NBA in Mitchell.

• Gophers football coach Jerry Kill was asked if college football will ever get the same offseason practice rights as college basketball. "It's certainly come up many times, and we have made [some] strides in the football situation in that we do have a couple of hours through the week that we can meet with our players in the classroom and watch video and instruct them," Kill said.

"We can also be in the weight room in the summer at their workouts. We can't be involved if there's a ball out there, but everything else we can do, and we haven't been able to do that. Being in the weight room and being able to watch their workouts is an added plus."

• Former Gophers assistants Kevin Sumlin and Tony Levine, a former player and assistant under Sumlin, have both moved up the college football coaching ladder. Sumlin was an assistant coach with the Gophers from 1993 to '97, and wide receiver Levine was one of his favorite players. So when Sumlin got the Houston head coaching job in 2008, one of the first assistants he hired was Levine.

This week Levine, now head coach of the Cougars, signed a five-year contract that will extend him through the 2018 season. Sumlin, now at Texas A&M, got a six-year contract extension for $30 million in November.