Hartman: Cassel helps out while he's healing

Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel, who was supposed to be the team's veteran starter this season, still can't walk after breaking several bones in his left foot in Week 3 at New Orleans and is moving around on a scooter.

"I think it's a scooter, what the classification level is of it," Cassel said. "Unfortunately it's not motorized, though."

Cassel is still about three weeks away from walking.

"At this point, it's just letting those bones heal," he said. "So you do a little bit of rehab, I'm able to work out and do that kind of stuff with my upper body. Then it's mainly a mental thing for me. I'm able to go in and contribute in meetings and watch film and I ask the coaches to give me little things to do throughout the course of the week where I can help out in any way, whether it's a red-zone review or watching film."

Cassel said he is keeping a good mental attitude, although he has never dealt with an injury like this before.

"It has been very tough," he said. "Anytime you get something taken away that you worked tremendously hard for, it's always difficult. But at the same time, you find different ways to contribute, and I've been in here and going to meetings each and every day, staying involved and helping with Teddy [Bridgewater] and Christian [Ponder] and the other guys and trying to do as much as I can to help the team."

Cassel said the treatment he has received has been the best.

"It has been outstanding. [Vikings trainer Eric] Sugarman here has been outstanding, and Dr. [Robert] Anderson, who did the surgery, has been very involved," he said. "I'm recovering and just have to let those bones heal."

Because of his limited mobility, Cassel hasn't been able to attend games, but he says he is finding other ways to stay positive and his morale is high because his family has been with him.

Cassel said Bridgewater has done an admirable job stepping into the Vikings starting role, and the 10-year veteran is always willing to help answer any questions for the rookie.

"He has done a tremendous job of stepping in in difficult circumstances, and probably before anybody expected him to play," Cassel said. "He has done a great job, and he's getting better each and every week. I think he's going to be a guy that has a tremendous amount of success in this league for a long period of time."

Cassel, who spent a lot of time as a backup before starting, said he also talks to Ponder about his role.

"Of course I talk to Ponder," he said. "He has done a tremendous job as well. He's staying ready to go and that's the thing I always preach to everybody in our room: You have to be ready to go because you never know. Teddy went down [before the Green Bay game] and Christian had to play, so [the motto is] continue to get better and continue to work at your craft."

And what about Cassel's future? Does he want to be out there playing next season?

"Absolutely, I'm going to play until somebody tells me that I can't play anymore or nobody wants me," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting this foot healed up and getting back out there."

The death of former Gophers wide receiver Gordy Soltau, as reported in Thursday's paper, reminded me of the 1949 Gophers, which I consider the best Gophers football team I ever covered, with 12 players drafted into the NFL.

Coach Bernie Bierman, after the No. 5-ranked Gophers went into Columbus and beat No. 11 Ohio State 27-0 to improve to 4-0 in 1949, worked them so hard the following week that they were mentally tired. Despite being a three-touchdown favorite, they were defeated 14-7 by No. 12 Michigan in Ann Arbor. And then Bierman worked them harder yet the following week, and again the Gophers were upset, this time 13-7 at home against Purdue.

On the day of the Wolverines game, Bierman got the team to Michigan Stadium three hours before the game. It was a lesson learned by one of his players, Bud Grant, for when he became a coach: Get a team to the game site as late as possible so they don't get mentally tired.

Following the two losses, a committee of parents of the players went to then-university President James Morrill to complain about the long practices.

Morrill, never a booster of Bierman, scheduled a conference with the coach and as a result, Bierman — to show Morrill he was wrong — cut the time of practices in preparation for Iowa, which had a 4-2 record at the time.

In those days, teams traveled by train. I had a habit of having somebody drive me to the St. Paul train depot and interview the visiting coach on the ride to Minneapolis. I recall how confident Hawkeyes coach Eddie Anderson was after studying films of the Gophers' losses to Michigan and Purdue that Iowa would win.

Well, the final score was Minnesota 55, Iowa 7.

Bierman continued the shorter practices for the last two games of the season, and the Gophers beat Pittsburgh 24-7 and Wisconsin 14-6.

Ohio State finished the season 7-1-2 (4-1-1 Big Ten) and went to the Rose Bowl, edging the Gophers only because they tied Michigan 7-7 in the final game of the regular season. In that game, Ohio State missed the extra point on their first try, but Michigan was called for being offside. The Buckeyes got another attempt and made it, and went to the Rose Bowl instead of Minnesota.

I might be criticized for rapping Bierman, but he wasn't the same coach post-World War II that he was prewar, and that's why he was replaced in 1951 by Ohio State's Wes Fesler, whose Buckeyes beat out the Gophers for the Rose Bowl.

• Ricky Rubio's agent Dan Fegan has pushed for a maximum contract from the Timberwolves, but according to a reliable source, there is no chance that will happen by today's deadline. The point guard can become a restricted free agent following this season if he does not sign.

• Kris Humphries, the lone ex-Gophers player currently in the NBA, made his debut with the Washington Wizards after signing a three-year, $13 million deal this offseason. Humphries, in his 11th NBA season, scored four points and grabbed two rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench in a 107-95 loss to the Miami Heat.

• When Andrew Wiggins started Wednesday at Memphis, he became the youngest Wolves player ever to start a game (19 years, 248 days). Other rookies to start on opening night in team history were Sam Mitchell (1989), Christian Laettner (1992), Stephon Marbury (1996), Wally Szczerbiak (1999) and Jonny Flynn (2009).

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 7:40, 8:40 and 9:20 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com