Whew! I'm exhausted, and my neck feels like it's permanently glued to my left shoulder. OK last coach in this rundown is Minnesota coach Tim Brewster.

The Gophers are onto practice No. 10 today. Minnesota made one of the more surprising turnarounds in all of college football last year, erasing a 1-11 record in '07 with a 7-6 record in 2008.

Brewster said the Gophers' new outdoor stadium is ahead of schedule and has exceeded all the expectations he had for it. Having permanently left the Metrodome, Minnesota is playing its spring game at St. Thomas University, a local Division III school in Minneapolis.

Eric Decker, who owns one of the nicest pairs of mits in college football, is playing center fielder for the Gopher baseball team this spring as well. Decker led the Gophers with more than 80 catches and 1,000 yards last year.

***
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald pulls a Paterno and goes right to the Q&A.

The Wildcats are coming off a 9-4 season and a loss to Missouri in the Alamo Bowl. QB Mike Kafka is the favorite heading into the fall. Although Fitzgeralds said Dan Persa is pushing Kafka. Again, gotta give a shoutout to the Bethlehem-product who lead Liberty to back-to-back PIAA 4A title games ... getting demolished in both by bigger and better Western PA schools.

The loss of four-year RB Tyrell Sutton will also be tough to replace, but Kafka is a true dual-threat QB who can make-up some of Sutton's run production.

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Paterno is up now. He said he's more concerned with developing players to replace the lost starters in the secondary, offensive line and WRs than he is with establishing leadership beyond QB Daryll Clark and LB Sean Lee.

A.J. Wallace pulled a hamstring the other day, and Paterno said he has not liked much of what he's seen from the secondary halfway through the spring schedule. In fact, Paterno went so far as to say it wasn't even close to where it needed to be come Sept. 5 against Akron.

Clark remains the only guy on the practice field with a red jersey, meaning no one hits him.

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New Purdue coach Danny Hope is up next. JoePa on deck.

The big thing for the Boilermakers is replacing QB Curtis Painter. But talk of this chat with Hope is dominated by '09 being his rookie campaign after the many years of Joe Tiller being head coach in West Lafayette. Purdue is still gonna be the shot-gun, air assault offense Tiller made it known for, but Hope's going to add a few wrinkles to the offense, as well.

Hope mentioned two guys, Joey Elliott and Caleb TerBush, to replace Painter. TerBush is a redshirt freshman while Elliott is a fifth-year senior.

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Ron Zook is up now.

Illinois is about halfway through the spring practice slate. Zook begins by addressing what made Penn State defensive coordinator Larry Johnson so appealing. The talent he recruits stood out most, and Zook said he gained a lot of respect for Johnson in the meetings and talks the two had.

CB Vontae Davis' departure is a big piece the Illini defense lose in '09. Travon Bellamy is one kid Zook likes to step up and replace Davis, who's heading toward a big pay day in a couple weeks at the Draft.

Illinois also has a new offensive coordinator, but Zook doens't think the offense Mike Locksley ran will change too much. In other words, see Juice run. See Juice throw.

***
Bielema is starting to put me to sleep a bit with his talk about what needed to change to get Badger football back on top the conference. Bielema hinted mental errors like jumping the snap, penalties, etc. have been holding his squad back a bit.

Bret Bielema of Wisconsin is up next. I like Bret. He comes off a smug kinda guy on the tube, but he's real polite over the phone.

Wisconsin is coming off a pretty disappointing 7-6 season, when some polls had the Badgers as a top-10 team in the preseason.

QB Dustin Sherer is the frontrunner heading into the season, although Bielema is liking two other QBs pushing Sherer to keep making strides.

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Here comes the only Big Ten coach to hand Penn State a loss in '08, Kirk Ferentz.

Three practice remain for the Hawkeyes. Like Michigan State, Iowa's biggest loss is the ball-carrier. Big Ten Offensive POY Shonn Greene is getting ready for the Draft next week. Not surprisingly, Greene's replacement is the first topic covered. Sounds like Iowa will employ a running back by committee to fill the void.

Not much other big news coming from Ferentz this afternoon.

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Next up is Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who's a little late on the call.

The Spartans are going into practice No. 10 out of 15 today. Two QBs are vying to replace

Bobby Hoyer. But the big loss is RB Javon Ringer. Dantonio says there's a lot of talent to fill in for Ringer. Still, Ringer was a special back.

Could the Spartans use the option in '09? Dantonio said it's a bit of a stretch to say they're going to be an option football team.

Hey, a Colin Neely shoutout. Neely is from my neighboring town Bethlehem. Big boy that Neely fella'.

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Next up is Indiana coach Bill Lynch.

Construction on Indiana's stadium looked to be progressing good back in early March when I was pacing the field.

QB Kellen Lewis is getting some looks at wideout and quarterback, Lynch said. The Hoosiers want to be more "multiple" on offense, specifically running the ball out of the spread. WR Ray Fisher is moving back to cornerback, a position he played in high school. The need for help in the secondary was far greater than WR, and Fisher was more than willing to change sides of the ball.

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Next up is Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez.

The big storyline in Ann Arbor this season will be who the signal caller's gonna be. Rodriguez mentioned both Nick Sheridan and freshman Tate Forcier are deadlocked in a QB battle. Sheridan has a slight fracture in his leg but should be fine by summer workouts.

Michigan already played its spring game and has just one more practice. Former Syracuse coach Greg Robinson is taking over defensive duties for the Wolverines in '09.

***
Mink here embarking on a one-hour, 40 minute conference call featuring all 11 Big Ten football coaches.

We're gonna start things up with Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.

QB Terrelle Pryor missed a couple portions of Friday's practice with some wear and tear on his arm just from throwing so much. Pryor's development as a passer will be the focal point of the Buckeyes' offense with the departure of two starting wide receivers. If the whole gun-slinging gig doesn't work out as well as hoped, the dual-threat QB will use his legs to move the chains. However, the Buckeyes have a lot of young talent on the offensive line, and Tressel said improvement will be made through experience, not so much film study and team meetings.

Defensively, the Buckeyes' lose some serious talent in James Laurinaitis and Malcolm Jenkins.

"We're gonna be counting on the guys up front," Tressel said.