U's Weber is ready to step it up a notch

Adam Weber, who started at quarterback for the Gophers football team as a freshman last season, said comparing his performance last year to this year will be like night and day.

"I'll be honest with you, I felt like I was comfortable and I knew everything [last year], but until you get out there and you're doing it, you have no clue what you're doing," Weber said.

Weber said he's grown up a lot since last year and will be much more comfortable going into Saturday's night opener against Northern Illinois.

"I'll be so much more relaxed and be able to just have the game come to me," Weber said. "Whereas last year in the first game, I was forcing things a little bit too much. I didn't know quite what I was doing, and this year I feel like there will be a better calmness throughout the whole game."

Weber described the spread offense coached by offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar as the best offense in the country, especially for a quarterback.

"It allows you to do so much," Weber said. "It allows you to expose the defenses, and you can potentially put up so many points and so much yardage against a team. But ultimately it falls on the quarterback to get the team in the right place. That's what's so great about the offense, because all of the responsibility is on the guy calling the plays. That's what's so fun about it."

Do a lot of people remind Weber of the Gophers' 1-11 record last year?

The other day Weber was rated the 62nd-best college quarterback by an Internet ranking site. Weber will prove he is so much better than that this season.

Roster surprises A year ago the Vikings had a much easier time cutting the squad to 53, even though every member of the 2007 draft made the team. Quarterback Tyler Thigpen was lost on waivers to the Kansas City Chiefs when the club tried to put him on the practice squad.

The free agents added last year and the number of outstanding free agents signed this year who have done well in training camp could mean some real surprises when the 53-man squad is announced.

It's hard to believe the Vikings won't keep first-year quarterback John David Booty, and this would mean veteran Brooks Bollinger would go. Erin Henderson, younger brother of starter E.J. Henderson, has been impressive, so there could be a surprise when the linebackers are announced. The club needs to build the offensive line for the future, so rookies such as center John Sullivan, tackle Drew Radovich and guard Dan Mozes might find roster spots. Martin Nance is a wide receiver who has a good chance to bump some veteran off the squad.

So look for some shockers when the final squad is announced Saturday.

"Yeah, it kind of puts it in perspective," said Farwell, who is signed only for this season. "You think things are going good, and that's football, just one play. It's just going to make me work that much harder.

"It's something, a little setback, but I'll be ready to go by next season, and I plan on being ready for OTAs [organized team activities] and minicamps."

Jottings On a successor to Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association who died Aug. 20 of pancreatic cancer at age 63, Vikings safety Darren Sharper said: "Well, it's going to definitely be a full evaluation process to elect a new president. But we have some viable candidates that can do a great job. Troy Vincent is a guy that a lot of people speak up. Trace Armstrong was a good president a couple of years ago."

Two former Vikings, quarterback Todd Bouman and wide receiver Troy Williamson, connected on a 51-yard touchdown pass for Jacksonville in the Jaguars' 24-3 preseason victory over Washington on Thursday night. Bouman completed six of 10 passes for 105 yards, and Williamson caught four passes for 84 yards.

The Twins have played well after the All-Star break since 2002, posting a .572 winning percentage. This year they are playing slightly better than that since the break, with a record of 22-16 (.579) before Thursday night's game against Oakland. ... Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is hitting only .258 for the month of August going into Thursday's game, but last season during the same period he hit only .227.

Devoe Joseph, the Gophers basketball recruit from Canada, is on campus and has registered. There was some question whether the guard would be eligible, because of some differences in Canadian and American high school rules, but the NCAA Eligibility Center recently cleared him. ... Ryan Wittman, son of Timberwolves coach Randy Witt-man and a member of Cornell's basketball team, was recently named the 10th-best college three-point shooter in the county (45.9 percent) by ESPN's Fran Fraschilla.

Kevin Whaley, the Gophers' freshman running back from Virginia Beach who was shot in the leg this past summer, practiced for the first time Thursday. ... There seems little doubt Gophers freshman quarterback MarQueis Gray, who has been dropped from the program while the NCAA Eligibility Center reviews discrepancies in his ACT test scores, definitely wants to play for the Gophers.

Bob DeWitt, a former Gophers baseball player, is a seventh-grade history teacher and baseball coach at Central Middle School in Wayzata. His assistant is former Twins catcher Terry Steinbach, whose daughter, Jill Steinbach, is a hurdler on the Gophers women's track team.

Trading places: Paul Thornton, who ran track at St. Olaf under his father, Bill Thornton, has become an assistant Gophers track and field coach. Former Gophers track and field head coach Phil Lundin succeeded Bill Thornton at St. Olaf.