DAILY CLIPS SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020 LOCAL NEWS: Saturday, May 9, 2020 Pioneer Press Vikings draftee Justin Jefferson: ‘Be on the lookout for touchdown celebrations’ By Bob Sansevere https://www.twincities.com/2020/05/08/vikings-draftee-justin-jefferson-be-on-the-lookout-for-touchdown-celebrations/ Former Vikings coach Mike Tice having a blast with his podcast. ‘He’s like a kid again.’ By Chris Tomasson https://www.twincities.com/2020/05/08/former-vikings-coach-mike-tice-having-a-blast-doing-a-podcast/ Star Tribune Scheduled road games after short week to test the Vikings again in 2020 By Andrew Krammer https://www.startribune.com/scheduled-road-games-after-short-week-to-test-the-vikings-again-in-2020/570329262/ NATIONAL NEWS: Saturday, May 9, 2020 Maven Media Ranking Every Vikings Game in 2020 From Easiest to Toughest By Will Ragatz https://www.si.com/nfl/vikings/news/ranking-vikings-games-2020-schedule-easiest-toughest Vikings Have 12th-Easiest 2020 Schedule Based on Projected Win Totals By Will Ragatz https://www.si.com/nfl/vikings/news/vikings-2020-strength-of-schedule-projected-win-totals MULTIMEDIA NEWS: Saturday, May 9, 2020 Around The NFL: Can't-Miss Games On The 2020 Schedule By NFL Network https://www.vikings.com/video/around-the-nfl-can-t-miss-games-on-the-2020-schedule Paul Allen Joins Dawn Mitchell to Discuss 2020 Schedule By KMSP http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=b89a71c6-a8b8-4b40-8cff-256fc2b61e92 VIKINGS ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK: Saturday, May 9, 2020 Vikings Historic Season Opener vs. Packers Generates Most Buzz on Twitter By Eric Smith https://www.vikings.com/news/vikings-historic-season-opener-vs-packers-generates-most-buzz-on-twitter Lunchbreak: Experts Think Vikings-Saints Will Be 1 of NFL's Best Games in 2020 By Eric Smith https://www.vikings.com/news/experts-think-vikings-saints-will-be-1-of-nfl-s-best-games-in-2020 PUBLICATION: Pioneer Press DATE: 5/9/20 Vikings draftee Justin Jefferson: ‘Be on the lookout for touchdown celebrations’ By Bob Sansevere LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who led college football with 111 receptions this past season, was the Vikings’ first selection in April’s NFL draft. He chatted with Pioneer Press columnist Bob Sansevere about a lot of things, including his drive to be the best and his affinity for dancing in the end zone after touchdowns. I want to be the best ever to do it. I want to be the best receiver to ever play the game. That’s just something I’ve been looking forward to my whole life. I always was lightly recruited. I always was the last to receive an offer. Those type of things made me want to be the best. I always felt the urge to beat everybody else at my position. I’ll definitely have that feeling going into the league. I’m going to have that my whole career. I wasn’t always this type of receiver. I always was that small receiver. Going into college, I was 6-foot, 175 pounds. I’m about 6-2 and weigh from 200-203 now. I didn’t have those measurables to be that high-caliber receiver. I put in the extra work when I went to LSU. I definitely wasn’t this type of receiver in high school, so I understand why I wasn’t highly recruited. It’s something I keep on my shoulder that I think about whenever I play. I always was a dancer. We always had family events and gatherings. We’d put on some music and all start dancing. When I got to college and started scoring touchdowns, I thought I’d show my personality to the whole world with my dancing. It took off from there and everybody kind of blew it up. (My dances are) kind of whatever I come up with. Before the games, me and (fellow LSU wideout Ja’Marr (Chase) would think of some stuff we could do when we score. We had a whole rehearsal before the games. It was kind of fun. We’d have fun moments. We didn’t overthink things. We’d just be ourselves and let the game come to us. “The Griddy” definitely was one of our favorite dances. “The Beenie Weenie” also was a fun one for us. It’s like a New Orleans-type dance. A lot of people don’t really know the New Orleans culture and what we do down here. So just showing that on national TV in front of the whole world, it kind just shows the culture and what we do down here. The dancing is all self taught. I guess over time, I’d get better and better. After a while, the dance moves look good enough to be on national TV. We all put our own little sauce into our dance moves. I’m a fan of Adam (Thielen) and a lot of the other guys. They have fun in the end zone just like I do. We’re definitely going to be thinking about some touchdown celebrations. Be on the lookout for them. A lot of people have told me that I should be on “Dancing With the Stars.” I might be joining that this upcoming year. I’d have to say I’m a better receiver than dancer even though my dancing skills are up to par. Jets is my nickname. My high school friends gave it to me. I always was pretty fast. I always was pretty quick. My friends would say, “You’re running like a jet because you’re fast and going up and catching the ball and doing these fantastic things on the field.” Ever since then, everybody started calling me Jets. And I kind of like it. My favorite artist would have to be Drake. Drake has been killing the game for a long time now and he’s been making hit after hit. I have that ability to play all over the field and make plays whenever the ball is in my hands. There’s a lot more growing I need to do. There’s a lot more information I need to gather to improve my game another step. My game has been upcoming. I want to be one of the main guys from Minnesota, and I want to do whatever it takes to get us to a Super Bowl. If it has to do with starting or if it has to be playing on special teams, it’s doing whatever to help my team win. If I could time travel, I would go back to last year. Last year was just a dream really, having a perfect season and being with those different caliber guys. Just having 14 players drafted (from LSU), that’s just crazy. My favorite cereal as a kid was Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That was the all-time favorite. That sweet taste and cinnamony taste was to die for. I’m a movie guy. I’m a big Denzel Washington fan. Comedies? I like movies Kevin Hart are in. I have no idea what I’d be doing if I wasn’t playing football. I couldn’t even tell you that. Football has been pretty much everything for me ever since I was 8 years old. I never stopped playing football. Who knows what situation I’d be in if I wasn’t playing football. Fun fact is, I always played quarterback until I got to high school. I was trying to follow the footsteps of my oldest brother. My whole youth career I wanted to play quarterback and be like my brother, Jordan. When I went to high school, receiver was just a right fit for me. When I started as a receiver my freshman year in high school, I was terrible. I wasn’t used to running routes. It definitely was hard at first. It means a lot (to have had 111 catches last season). You have to think about who was at LSU: Dwayne Bowie, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr. Tons of other guys went to LSU and didn’t get to reach that 111 catches. To say I’m the only one to do so, it feels great. It feels amazing. This was just the start of making history. There’s a lot of time left in my career, so I definitely have to make the best of it. I think the worst thing I got in trouble for as a kid was mostly school. School wasn’t for me. I hated school to the core. I mostly got punished and got in trouble for not doing homework or failing a test. I really wasn’t a bad child growing up. I was an Odell fan growing up. Now being able to talk to him and other guys in the league, it feels weird. It feels like I’m living a dream. Just being on the same level as them and thinking about other people that look at me the same way, it feels amazing and it feels good to be that role model. Who would my game remind you of? Odell is one of them. Davante Adams. Keenan Allen. There are a lot of players I have patterned my game after. I’ve watched a lot of film on those guys, seeing what they run and how they run, and imitating that and putting my own little touch on it. It just shows if you watch film and pay attention to everybody on the field, you can go out there and do the same thing.