Sid Hartman: Vikings can't afford another 2005 draft

The holding of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis signals that the NFL draft is not too far away.

And the impressions made on Vikings officials at the combine play at least some role in how the team ranks players when the draft is held.

Well, looking back at the 2005 draft, when the Vikings made wide receiver Troy Williamson and defensive end Erasmus James their first-round draft choices, both players ranked high after impressive performances at the combine.

Unfortunately, James has been injured most of his Vikings career. He played in only six games in 2007, making seven tackles, including one sack, and underwent knee surgery in December.

Vikings assistant offensive line coach Jim Hueber was at Wisconsin when James played there from 2001 to '04. Skip Holtz, now the head coach at East Carolina, was a South Carolina offensive assistant under his father, Lou, when Williamson played for the Gamecocks.

The consensus scouting reports on both Williamson and James said both were can't-miss future NFL stars.

"We had no negative comments about him," Hueber said of James. "He was basically an unblockable player, and I think people would be surprised at how good he was against the run.

"I know we used to have to go against him in practice every day, it wasn't an easy task. So, basically I hope he can get healthy and stay healthy so people can see the type of player he was. I mean, he really was unblockable."

Skip Holtz was as high on Williamson as Hueber was on James. There wasn't any doubt among the scouts who visited South Carolina during Williamson's junior season in 2004 that the receiver was going to be a future star.

But in 11 games last season for the Vikings, Williamson had 18 receptions for 240 yards and one touchdown. Drops have been the biggest problem for him as a pro.

"I thought he was a great player," Holtz recalled recently. "He had a phenomenal year for us his junior year, and then I've only been around a handful of guys that can run like he can. I understand he's had some problems catching the ball up there?"

In 2004 at South Carolina, Williamson had 43 catches for 835 yards, including seven TDs. "Shoot, for Coach [Lou] Holtz, that's an air ball ... somebody having 40 catches," Skip Holtz said.

"I don't follow enough of the NFL, but I thought he'd be a really good pro. And I've talked a little bit to some of those guys and I know he went through, from what I understand, he went through a struggle catching the ball a little bit."

Well, now the Vikings have given Williamson's agent, David Canter, permission to find a team to give them what they believe is a fair deal in exchange for Williamson. But in part because wide receivers coach George Stewart sees a chance for Williamson to improve, I don't think they will give him away.

James continues to rehabilitate his knee and is making some progress, but after having a third operation on an injury first suffered in September 2006, the jury is out on his future.

The 2007 draft was outstanding for the Vikings, and the 2006 one wasn't bad, either. But they can't afford another draft class like the one from 2005, one reason the team has struggled.

While the Timberwolves are struggling with a young team, the future could be bright with the addition of a player or two, and assistant GM Fred Hoiberg believes this year's draft could produce that talent.

"So, right now we would have No. 2, No. 31 and No. 32. So, we're going to get good players at those positions."

The planned size of the high-definition scoreboard that will be a part of the new Twins stadium is 57 feet high by 103 feet wide, or more than eight times the size of the scoreboard at the Metrodome. ... Despite the fact that the Twins won't have Torii Hunter and Johan Santana in 2008, team president Dave St. Peter said the team has sold more than 905,000 tickets and remains on schedule to surpass 1 million tickets sold before Opening Day on March 31. The team has sold more than 1,000 new season tickets for this year and likely will exceed the 10,000 mark in season tickets.

One reason why the Gophers men's hockey team has struggled so much this season was that it not only lost a number of players from the 2006-07 team, but it also saw Jim O'Brien sign with the Ottawa Senators in September and Kyle Okposo leave for the New York Islanders in the middle of the season. Both are doing well in the pros. O'Brien, playing junior hockey with Seattle of the Western Hockey League, has 17 goals and 26 assists for 43 points in 59 games. Okposo has seven goals and 13 assists in only 20 games for Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. ... In addition to those two departures, the Gophers lost forward Ryan Stoa to season-ending knee surgery the first week of the season.

Since the 1998-99 school year, wrestling is one sport where the Gophers men had dominated Wisconsin, going 7-2 before last weekend. So the loss to the Badgers on the mat was unexpected. In hockey during that period, the Gophers -- following Saturday's 4-4 tie -- are 23-15-4 vs. Wisconsin, but it's sad in football (2-7) and basketball (2-16).

Mike Rallis, who missed most of his junior year at Edina but had a good senior year as a Hornets running back, is one of the top-recruited football walk-ons in the country. Schools such as Minnesota, Miami (Fla.) and Southern California don't have scholarships available or are over the limit, but they might be able to make promises for the future. Rallis met recently with Gophers coach Tim Brewster, who encouraged Rallis to walk on here.