Recent feature details Coach Kill’s battle with epilepsy

University of Minnesota head football coach Jerry Kill addresses players and children with epilepsy from the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota’s Shinning Star program.

Back in April, we covered a University of Minnesota football scrimmage at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex. It was a sunny Saturday in April with a fresh blanket of snow outside. That didn’t keep fans from flocking to the open practice to get a glimpse of the 2013-14 Golden Gophers in the spring.

Many of those fans in attendance were from the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota. About a hundred children in attendance were part of the “Shining Stars” program — kids with epilepsy that can connect with others suffering from the syndrome. These children and their families were head coach Jerry Kill’s personal guests for the event and he provided a ‘shining star moment’ for them that afternoon.

That was one of the first public gestures seen by fans and the media with coach Kill embracing the epilepsy condition he has been dealing with and turning it into a positive experience for the children and their families.

On Sunday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune released a more detailed explanation of Kill’s battle. The article by Joe Christensen, chronicles the on-the-field seizures suffered by Kill and the daily struggles that he and his family go through to keep him on the right track.

Kill states that he is in the best shape of his life and with the help of new doctors in the Twin Cities, he looks to continue as the patriarch of the football program for years to come. Based off the positivity that he exhibits about his health and the program as of late, there is no reason to think otherwise.

In Other News…

• The 2013-14 high school sports season officially began in Minnesota and with it practices and training camps throughout the land of 10,000 lakes. That included football training camps for some potential recruits on the Gophers radar. One of the biggest recruits in stature and desire for Minnesota is Frank Ragnow, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound offensive line at Chanhassen HS. Eric Kraushar of the Chanhassen Villager reports on how Ragnow is the ‘center of attention’.
• In his quest to offer every guard in the nation a scholarship, it looks as if Richard Pitino has offered a former player under Tubby Smith at Texas Tech. Brad Winton of JucoRecruiting.com is reporting that the first year Minnesota staff has offered Odessa College (Texas) point guard Josh Gray a scholarship for the 2014-15 season. Gray has also received offers from Arizona State, Auburn, Memphis, Nebraska, Tennessee and USC.

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