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08/29/2005: "Look who's coming to practice"

Look who's coming to practice

SEMIPRO FOOTBALL: Todd Downing, an assistant coach with the Minnesota Vikings, is giving back to the game by helping out the Duluth-Superior Shoremen.

BY DALTON WALKER


NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER


Most people might spend their vacation away from work relaxing.
Todd Downing isn't like most people. The Minnesota Vikings assistant football coach is spending part of his vacation in Duluth to help coach the Duluth-Superior Shoremen football team.

Downing has been a part of the Vikings' organization six years and has been an assistant coach for three. This is Downing's second straight summer in Duluth and said it's his way to give back to the game he loves. "I'm very appreciative of my football roots," said Downing, a former semipro player for the Minnesota Maulers. "I just like giving back to semipro football. I appreciate the opportunity to speak and be involved with the team." Downing will be roaming the sidelines with Shoremen coach Terry Fawcett as Duluth-Superior (2-0) takes on the Minneapolis Lumberjacks (0-0) at 5:15 p.m today at Public Schools Stadium.

The game kicks off the Shoremen's inaugural season in the Mid-America Football League.

Fawcett met Downing at the Tice Brothers football camp in St. Paul two years ago.
"Todd is a friend of mine," Fawcett said. "He offered to come up on his vacation. It's pretty special for an active NFL coach to come to town. It's Todd's way of giving back and not forgetting where he came from."
Duluth-Superior games have been few and far between so far this season. The Shoremen's last game was June 25 when they pounded the Washington County Patriots 42-0. They also beat the Iron Range Hitmen 7-0 on May 14.
The Lumberjacks, meanwhile, haven't played since losing the MFL league championship game last season."This is a huge deal for our players and our program," Fawcett said. "I am quite confident that we are the only (semipro) team in the U.S. that will have a current NFL coach giving up vacation time to work with their program."
The Shoremen, like other teams, do not receive payment for playing. Most players have regular 9-to-5 jobs. Downing said the people who play in the league have to love the game. "The purest form of the sport," Downing said. "People play for the love of it, not for a scholarship or a paycheck."
Shoremen running back Kevin Guillory works as a house supervisor at Stepping Stones for Living and he was a high school teammate of Downing at Eden Prairie (Minn.) High School. Guillory moved to Minnesota from Louisiana before his senior year of high school."Kevin is a great guy," Downing said. "I've always had a good relationship with him. He was a transfer from Louisiana his senior year and he didn't know anybody. We hit if off pretty good. I have nothing but gained respect (for Kevin)."
The two had to get along in high school. As quarterback, Downing had to hand the ball to Guillory.
"He was one of the first guys that embraced me in the move to Eden Prairie," said Guillory, a former Minnesota Duluth football player. "He helped make the whole move comfortable coming from Louisiana, a predominately black school to a predominately white school."
The Minnesota Vikings start training camp July 27 but Downing, along with the rest of the coaching staff, report July 20. Downing works with the Vikings' running backs.
Downing attended the University of Minnesota after high school. He did not play college football but played semipro for the Minnesota Maulers. He got his start with the Vikings through an internship, but refers back to his semipro football playing days as a major stepping stone."(Semipro football was) a venue that really helped me through my career," Downing said.
SHOREMEN NOTES
In Duluth-Superior's 42-0 rout of Washington County, the Shoremen amassed 379 yards of offense. Quarterback Nate Smithson has four touchdown passes this season with no interceptions, with wide receiver Cedric Taggart leading the team with three TDs and an average of 35 yards per catch.
The Shoremen defense, meanwhile, has yet to give up a point and holds a six-plus turnover differential.
• The game marks the first time MFL veteran and eight-time all-star Garnet Asmundson faces his old team, the Lumberjacks. Asmundson, of Winnipeg, Canada, won a league championship with Minneapolis in 1997 and is a member of the Mayville (N.D.) State Hall of Fame.
• The game also marks the return of Shoremen defensive coordinator Al McDonald, who recently returned from service near Baghad, Iraq, with the Minnesota Air National Guard's 148th Fighter Wing.
• Minneapolis is led by quarterback Will Staple (5-foot-9, 200 pounds), who was named the MVP of the Casino Bowl in April. They also have Edwin Reed (6-4, 210), a former AFL-2 player, and Keith Williams (5-11, 225), a former St. Cloud State player who had a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys in 2003.