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Coach's delight Vikings get QB of future, tight end, defensive help
Posted: Sunday April 18, 1999 07:03 PM
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Vikings coach Dennis Green was grinning from ear to ear Sunday. Flanked by Central Florida quarterback Daunte Culpepper, the No. 11 overall pick, and North Dakota tight end Jimmy Kleinsasser, the Vikings' second-round pick, Green pronounced himself pleased with the Vikings' draft choices. "Everybody knows I'm a happy guy. I love the draft. I really do," Green said. Vikings officials gushed Saturday about how thrilled they were to get Culpepper, Kleinsasser and Dimitrius Underwood, a defensive end from Michigan State whom the Vikings selected with the 29th pick in the first-round. On Sunday it was the newest Vikings' turn to gush. Culpepper, a four-year starter with the Golden Knights and also a four-year starter in high school, has never missed a football game in his career. But he's projected to miss plenty of games during the next few seasons while sitting on the bench behind Randall Cunningham and Jeff George. And he said he couldn't be happier playing behind Cunningham, his boyhood idol. "I think that, you know, coming in here and learning from Randall Cunningham and Jeff George is the ideal situation for any quarterback coming out, especially for young quarterbacks like myself." Culpepper, one of the strongest players on his college team, is not only built like a linebacker at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, but he's larger than any linebacker on the Vikings' roster. "I play the game tenaciously. A lot of people say I'm a linebacker playing quarterback," Culpepper said. Culpepper, who was born in a prison while his mother was incarcerated for armed robbery, has 14 adopted siblings. Emma Culpepper, now 84, adopted him the day he was born. Underwood suffered a high ankle sprain in spring practice. Instead of being redshirted, he opted to declare early for the NFL draft, even though he hasn't played a game since 1997. The long layoff doesn't concern Vikings' officials. "We went basically on what he did as an underclassman," said Foge Fazio, Vikings defensive coordinator. Underwood said he was more ecstatic when the Vikings drafted him. "I almost had a heart attack," he said. "You almost had a corpse down here." Kleinsasser, who Green said will see action at tight end, halfback and on special teams, fills a hole created when the Vikings lost three tight ends to free agency. Green said Kleinsasser should have little trouble making the jump from Division II North Dakota to the NFL. "When you put eleven guys on the field at Notre Dame, those eleven guys are probably going to beat North Dakota," Green said. "But I think if you take Jim Kleinsasser and put him up against the best player on Notre Dame, he can probably whop him, but it's the same thing with Daunte." The Vikings traded their picks in the second, third and fifth rounds to Pittsburgh to move up to take Kleinsasser. In the fourth round, the Vikings filled a need when they took Kenny Wright, a defensive back from Northwestern State in Louisiana, with the 120th overall pick. The Vikings were desperate for a cornerback to replace Corey Fuller, who signed with Cleveland as a free agent. Wright, a junior, played cornerback last year and also played strong safety in college. With their second fourth-round pick, the Vikings selected Jay Humphrey, an offensive tackle from Texas. Humphrey is already familiar with the Vikings' offensive scheme. Tim Nunez, his position coach at Texas, was Randy Moss' offensive coordinator at Marshall. Humphrey was also the Longhorns' deep snapper, which means Mike Morris, the Vikings' deep snapper since 1991 and a fan favorite, could be let go. With their compensatory fifth-round pick the Vikings took Chris Jones, a linebacker from Clemson who some draft observers have compared to Ed McDaniel, the Vikings' Pro Bowl linebacker who was also a fifth-round pick from Clemson back in 1992. Jones is 5-foot-11, 227 pounds; McDaniel is 5-foot-11, 230. In the sixth round, the Vikings traded versatile offensive lineman Everett Lindsay for Baltimore's pick, the 185th overall. Minnesota used that pick to draft Telance Sawyer, a defensive end from Nevada-Las Vegas. Sawyer is a former tight end who can also play linebacker. The Vikings will miss Lindsay, who played all five offensive line positions last season. With their final two picks, the Vikings selected Antico Dalton, a linebacker from Hampton, and Noel Scarlett, a defensive tackle from Langston State.
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