if anyone remembers that saga but he is transferring from Iowa. He’s gotten passed up on the depth chart and got in a little trouble when he didn’t travel with the team to a road game.

I think a player that lies about official visits etc might have other issues. Probably dodged a bullet there.

Nebraska 3
Kentucky 0

Nebraska, Illinois, and Wisconsin all advance to regional finals

As you all know, Minnesota’s pretty much full, so there’s not much room left. The Gophers are looking to add players to the class at OL, DL, DB, and possibly a RB/WR, but numbers are tight so it follows more of a best available/homerun type basis. The Early Signing Period is December 19th to 21st and JUCO Signing Period is from December 19th to January 15th. Minnesota expects all commits to sign as early as possible.

Skill Position

Former Maryland commit, and 5.7 rated three-star athlete Ahmarean Brown received visits from Illinois, Minnesota, and Syracuse this past week. Brown also told TGR, that he would be a part of the Gophers big visit weekend. He has no other visits scheduled, and has told us that he would like to decide in December so he is for sure one to keep a close eye on down the stretch.

Demariyon Houston is a recent Texas decommit. He’s been hearing from Minnesota for a while and his high school coach tells us he’s going to visit Minnesota. That could be this weekend. Oklahoma is currently interested in Houston, as well.

Offensive Line:

The fact that Minnesota got 5.7 rated three-star offensive tackle Isaiah Hookfin to come on an official visit is impressive. He’s told TGR that he likes the energy that the coaching staff brings. Along with that, he likes that not only do the coaches have a clear direction they want to head in, but they are “certain” they’re going to get there. His relationship with Coach Callahan is solid and he’s talked to Coach Fleck a few times. He visited Illinois back in October, Baylor on the last weekend of November, is visiting Minnesota on December 7th, and Texas on the 14th. We’ve heard that Texas seems to be the favorite and believe that at this time it’s likely he has a committable offer to the Longhorns. Texas has been visiting him in-home and he’s had the official visit there set for a while.

Patrick Paul does not have an offer yet, but at 6’8”, 320 I get why they’re intrigued with him. Tulsa right now is hard after Paul and his brother plays there and started last year as a redshirt freshman. Tulsa sources believe he’s a strong Tulsa lean, but Houston also believes they’re a favorite. He said he really likes Minnesota, the school, facilities, and coaches. He would definitely consider Minnesota if the Gophers were to offer.

Defensive Line:

Keonte Schad is currently committed to Minnesota, but his recruitment has blown up a bit lately. Offers from Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia are the ones to look out for. He took a visit to Starkville this weekend. Reports from Rivals affiliated Volquest.com state he is likely to take a visit to Tennessee in the next few weeks. Schad is scheduled to visit Minnesota this weekend. If Keonte’s commitment isn’t solidified after this weekend, I’d expect him to take visits to Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Chris Daniels took a visit to Missouri on the weekend of November 23. To our knowledge, he will still be coming to Minnesota to visit on December 7, and so long as he does, I think it’s fairly likely he’s a Gopher. He’s been pretty quiet all along about the Missouri visit, so it’s hard for us to gauge his interest in Mizzou.

MJ Anderson decommitted from Minnesota by surprise. Minnesota’s still recruiting him and will continue to visit him until Signing Day. Kentucky is heavily involved with Anderson. We’ll have another update on Anderson soon.

Kristian Williams is visiting Minnesota the last weekend of November and has a final five of Indiana, Memphis, Minnesota, Missouri, and Tennessee. Williams told TGR that his only other visits would be to Missouri this weekend, and he wants to make it to Tennessee on the 14th, but that is not set yet. As we said last week, it’s not clear that Tennessee has a spot for him in their class right now. He said a decision would be coming soon after visits. Here are some of his thoughts following his visit to Minnesota:

“Absolutely the visit was a 10 out of 10. The facilities are phenomenal, the coaches are phenomenal again. They gave me a good look at what Minnesota has to offer. I liked how the fact that they weren’t just talking to me about football. They were talking to me about my life, and my character. They cared about me physically, socially, spiritually, and academically. They were talking about Row The Boat and I just feel like that was something that I can see myself being in and following as a guideline. The environment and culture there is just amazing. If you go anywhere else, nine times out of 10 you wouldn’t get the same type of feel that you would get at Minnesota. I just felt like that’s somewhere that I can be. Not just from a football perspective, but from a business standpoint. Just the culture is something that I love and can see myself being in.”

A somewhat new name that got an offer from Minnesota in November is Niadre Zouzoua. Coach Rossi was at his practice this past week. He told TGR he’s still learning about Minnesota. He was very impressed with their win over Wisconsin. He also received visits from Baylor, Temple, and Tennessee. He is visiting Temple, and has a visit set for Tennessee on the third weekend of December. He told TGR it’s always been his dream to play in the South, so Tennessee may be the team to beat. He wants to make his decision on the JUCO signing day so the Gophers have time.

Another defensive end name to keep an eye on is 5.7 rated three-star Darius Robinson. He has already taken official visits to Colorado, Syracuse, and Missouri. Michigan and Michigan State are both ones to watch in his recruitment as well. Not long ago, he named a top four of Colorado, Michigan State, Missouri, and Syracuse, but Minnesota has now visited him twice. He has one official left, so it will be big if Minnesota gets to make the last impression. Robinson recently told Helmholdt his last visit could be to Minnesota. “Talked about the city of Minneapolis with Coach Burns. It has a lot to offer for me wanting to be a business major and how they play kids early.”

On November 11th, 5.7 rated three-star defensive end Rashad Cheney came up to Minnesota for an unofficial visit. Minnesota has been keeping tabs on him, and visited him this past week along with Maryland, Syracuse, and a few others. Houston is also in play. According to sources, Rashad Cheney was a Georgia Tech lean but things may have changed after Paul Johnson decided to retire. His only official visit set was for Georgia Tech on Nov. 30th, but that ended up not happening. He is likely to visit Minnesota and they are in a solid spot for Cheney.

Prince Okituama got a visit from Coach Rossi on Thursday, and he has a visit set for December. 14th. His only other offer right now is Kentucky, which he got on the same day that Minnesota came to see him. He told TGR that Minnesota did not offer him a scholarship. According to his high school coach, Okituama is 6’8”, 230 pounds. He’s listed as an athlete, but Minnesota has told him he would be playing defensive end if he were to be a Gopher. His visit being set up for Dec. 14th and not the 7th, and no offer extended, may mean that there might not be a spot for him by the time he’s meant to visit.

Coach Fleck took a visit to see 5.7 rated three-star defensive end Keith Randolph. Randolph told TGR that it meant a lot that Minnesota’s head coach was the one who came to see him. Minnesota, although not listed in his top group of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, and Virginia, is “definitely” being considered by Randolph. He’s likely visiting Iowa this weekend or next weekend and said he’s open to visiting Minnesota. One thing that’s important to Randolph is early playing time, and he’s said that Minnesota’s told him he’d have the chance to compete for early playing time.

Another name to know is Jeremiah Byers. He got visits from Stephen F. Austin and Minnesota last week. I don’t believe that an offer is coming soon for Byers but if they were to extend one, TGR thinks he would be pretty quick to jump in the boat. Here’s what he said about Minnesota.

“Minnesota visiting went well. Coach Callahan was just telling me about what they have to offer at Minnesota and the future at Minnesota and that I will know soon if they are gonna offer or not. I haven’t seen Minnesota yet but the football is great. I love what the coaching staff is doing up there and how they are trying to change the culture and move in the right direction. Maybe I could be apart of it, hopefully.”

Defensive Back:

Damarion Williams will be taking an official this weekend and visited UTSA last weekend.

Independence CC DB Dontye Carriere-Williams just received an offer from Minnesota. He transferred from Wisconsin and went JUCO for one season. Carriere-Williams was teammates with current Gopher Benny Sapp at St. Thomas Aquinas years ago, and the two have a good relationship. He will be in Minnesota this weekend for the visit weekend. He’s a mid-year enrollee and would be eligible for two years.

Three-star defensive back Darius Gooden received an in-home visit on the same day as his teammate Prince Otikuama from Coach Rossi. Gooden also got an offer from Kentucky that day, but unlike his teammate, he does not have an invite to visit as of right now.

In other DB news, Iowa visited Solomon Brown last week. Iowa’s looking for another corner and visited Solomon Brown last week. The Largo coach told Hawkeye Report that Brown’s locked in with Minnesota.

They're upset Big Ten teams are getting pushed out of the playoff and think that this would help. As a Gopher fan, I prefer they keep the divisions if we ever want a chance at winning the league.

https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/12/06/jim-delany-big-ten-divisions-realignment-playoff

For the purposes of this thread I see business and SEC football schools in her background. Good signs.

David's preview: https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/scouting-nebraska-2

Highlights:

• This is a talented top 25 Nebraska team. The Huskers have one former five-star and four former four-stars on their roster.
• Nebraska plays as positionless of basketball as you'll see in the Big Ten. Offensively, they often play five or four out and run a lot of ball screens. Defensively, they play mostly man and will switch on screens.

Vegas line: Nebraska by 3.5
Kenpom: Nebraska No. 22, Minnesota No. 55
Massey: Nebraska No. 15, Minnesota No. 63

Login to view embedded media Didn’t notice until now, but the Gophers have another four-star. Tyler Nubin also received a bump and is a 5.8 rated four-star as well. Congrats to him, also very well deserved.

Login to view embedded media Jacob Clark received a bump and is now a 5.8 rated four-star. I was really impressed by his film all season long, and the numbers he put up against some of the best teams in Texas. Definitely well deserved, in my opinion.

Next year it appears they're playing Stanford and Pitt for non-conference opponents. Those are solid teams, but doesn't seem like enough to help their cause. In future years it shows they're going to play UNC, Georgia Tech, and Louisville. Those are worse than next year. UCF argues that better teams don't want to play them out of fear.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/s...t-of-the-college-football-playoff-once-again/

Wow what an emotional win!

Washington lost by 2 @Gonzaga on a last second shot. That win would have done wonders to gophers NET ranking if the Huskies would have pulled it out. Hopefully the dominate the Pac12

Tim Miles:

• Amir Coffey single-handedly kept Minnesota around. He did a great job defensively on James Palmer, as well.
• Was the right thing to do to have the warmup shirts in honor of Dupree McBrayer. I thought that shot he hit late was quite a moment. I couldn't help but think for a moment what that was about.
• Managing foul trouble was difficult. We didn't do a great job on the glass. We kept sending them to the foul line over and over. It was a cumulative effect.
• Thought the technical foul on Palmer was weak. Said he threw the ball at the opponent, and if that's throwing the ball, what the hell.
• The Barn's noise cascades. It's pretty cool, but when you're on the receiving end, not so cool. It's a different noise, like an all-encompassing noise. It affects you, no doubt about it.

Richard Pitino:

• To find a way to get defensive rebounds was great. The energy in the building was awesome. We stopped going one-on-one because there ability to slip down is good.
• Dupree plays 34 minutes, guts it out, defends, hits a big three to put us up four. I'm happy for Dupree if he got a couple minutes away from thinking about it. I couldn't do what he did.
• I told Amir I'm sick and tired of going into every game where they're talking about Murphy and then the potential pros on the other team. That's on you. I think people will start talking about him now.
• Coffey was defending Palmer, and he went 3/14.
• He finds out his mother passes Monday. I tell him to stay home and don't go to practice. We FaceTime and he's with his girlfriend. I tell him not to worry about basketball. He said he wanted to be at practice. It's heartbreaking to see. She was a great lady, one of my favorite moms. She raised a really, really good kid. She told me over the summer "I'm retiring." I said "why," and she said "I want to see Dupree play his senior year."
• I thought they played as hard as they possibly could for Dupree.

Jordan Murphy:

• Everyone got a little emotional at the end of the game. It was a great feeling knowing we could get that for Pree. I'm proud of him.
• They were running a lot of smash actions and pick and rolls. We had to keep our mid-line help good.

Amir Coffey:

• Taking the charge was big. That could have been my fourth foul, so I'm glad it went our way.
• Postgame locker room was pretty emotional. Can't really put words on it.

Press release:

One hundred and two University of Minnesota student-athletes have earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, announced Wednesday by the conference office.
In total, 1,281 student-athletes were recognized by the Big Ten who competed in fall sports across the conference. To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must be in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Minnesota honorees included 39 individuals from the football team, 28 from women's cross country, 15 from soccer, 14 from men's cross country and six from volleyball.
Of Minnesota's fall honorees, three student-athletes, Patricia O’Brien (women’s cross country), Paige Peschel (women’s cross country) and Payton Jordahl (football), hold a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
Football (39)
Jerry Gibson, Gr., Human Resource Development - MEd
Julian Huff, Gr., Nonprofit Management
Payton Jordahl, Gr., Youth Development Leadership
Gary Moore, Gr., Youth Development Leadership - MEd
Carter Coughlin, Jr., Agricultural & Food Business Management
Clay Geary, Jr., Undeclared
Ko Kieft, Jr., Biology
Conner Olson, Jr., Physiology
Sam Schlueter, Jr., Agricultural & Food Business Management
Bailey Schoenfelder, Jr., Undeclared
Calvin Swenson,, Jr., Physiology
Antoine Winfield Jr., Jr., Agricultural & Food Business Management
Danny Anderson, So., Undeclared
Blaise Andries, So., Pre-Actuarial Science
Brock Annexstad, So., Undeclared
Justus Harris, So., Undeclared
John Mack, So., Business & Marketing Education
Tanner Morgan, So., Undeclared
Casey O'Brien, So., Undeclared
Jake Paulson, So., Undeclared
Malcolm Robinson, So., Undeclared
Joe Russell, So., Pre-Mechanical Engineering
Grant Ryerse, So., Pre-Mechanical Engineering
Jon Santaga, So., Biology
John Michael Schmitz, So., Undeclared
Alex Strazzanti, So., Undeclared
Nate Umlor, So., Undeclared
Harry Van Dyne, So., Undeclared
Clayton Witherspoon, So., Pre-Bioproducts And Biosystems Engineering
Jonathan Femi-Cole, Sr., Recreation Administration
Thomas Barber, Sr., Business & Marketing Education
Colton Beebe, Sr., Finance
Emmit Carpenter, Sr., Supply Chain Operations
Paul Gossage, Sr., Communication Studies
Jacob Herbers, Sr., Mechanical Engineering
Jacob Huff, Sr., Business & Marketing Education
Matt Morse, Sr., Journalism
Quinn Oseland, Sr., Business & Marketing Education
Samuel Pickerign, Sr., Communication Studies
Men’s Cross Country (14)
Alec Basten, Jr., Kinesiology
Evan Ferlic, Jr., Economics
Owen Hoeft, Jr., Kinesiology
Jack Manderscheid, Jr., Mechanical Engineering
Alex Plasencia. Jr., Materials Science
Nicholas Rink, Jr., Nursing
Hunter Staack, Jr., Aerospace Engineering
Hamza Ali, So., Neuroscience
Dawson LaRance, So., Undeclared
Jordan Macintosh, So., Bachelor Of Design In Architect
Joseph Duerr, Sr., Biochemistry
Connor Olson, Sr., Marketing
Shane Streich, Sr., Mathematics
Robert Wagner, Jr., Mechanical Engineering
Women’s Cross Country (28)
Patty O'Brien, Gr., Human Resource Development
Paige Peschel, Gr., Sport/Exercise Science Masters Of Education
Jenna Conzemius, Jr., Marketing
Maria Eastman, Jr., Spansh Studies
Olivia Hummel, Jr., Biology, Society, And Environment
Val Larson, Jr., Kinesiology
Zetta Mason, Jr., Anthropology
Molly Roach, Jr., Finance
Kelli Schmidt, Jr., Electrical Engineering
Sam Baer, So., Undeclared
Bit Klecker, So., Graphic Design
Anastasia Korzenowski, So., Retail Merchandising
Sophie Schmitz, So., Undeclared
Tate Sweeney, So., Undeclared
Jaycie Thomsen, So., Environmental Sciences, Policy, And Management
Kayla Baker, Sr., Biomedical Engineering
Carissa Dock, Sr., Biomedical Engineering
Lindsey Greenlund, Sr., Chemistry
Bethany Hasz, Sr., Kinesiology
Megan Hasz, Sr., Kinesiology
Abby Kargol, Sr., Microbiology
Abby Kohut-Jackson, Sr., Spanish Studies
Abby Lange, Sr., Human Physiology
Elyse Prescott, Sr., Kinesiology
Haley Rasmussen, Sr., Biomedical Engineering
Kelsey Sather, Sr., Chemical Engineering
Ally Smith, Sr., Genetics/Cell Biology
Sarah Werking, Sr., Electrical Engineering
Women’s Soccer (15)
Arianna Del Moral, So., Nutrition
Catherine Billings, Jr., Animal Science
Haley Hartkemeyer, Jr., Kinesiology
T.J. McKendrick, Jr., Statistical Science
Marisa Windingstad, Jr., Pre-major
Athena Kuehn, So., Undeclared
Makenzie Langdok, So., Biology
Maddie Nielsen, So., Undeclared
Celina Nummerdor, So., Undeclared
Nikki Albrecht, Sr., Kinesiology
April Bockin, Sr., Kinesiology
Maddie Castro, Sr., Psychology
Molly Fiedler, Sr., Family Social Science
Emily Heslin, Sr., Marketing
Emily Peterson, Sr., Accounting
Volleyball (6)
Lauren Litzau, Jr., Biochemistry
Lauren Barnes, So., Undeclared
Jasmyn Martin, So., Business And Marketing Education
Sara Nielsen, So., Undeclared
Alice Zeimann, So., Pre-Journalism
Sophie Beckley, Sr., Ecology Evolution And Behavior

Last night's effort was really encouraging for me, for Gopher basketball. I saw the fans and team come together to support their own.. Dupree McBrayer needed that, big time... Amir Coffey needed it big time...It was a chance for our experienced leaders on the team to step up and they did. Now, it is time to ACKNOWLEDGE IT in practice, but use it as a PLATFORM to get even better, not stay the same or go backwards..

Amir Coffey was a BEAST... That is the best I have seen Amir play since becoming a Gopher.. A common mantra in the work environment in the US is "DONT WORK YOUR HARDEST BECAUSE THEN THE BOSSES WILL EXPECT IT ALL THE TIME"... I hope Amir never hears or considers that the rest of his life... He showed, that with an aggressive attitude and play on the floor, that he can take over a game against a good team... That is what is EXPECTED of a player with such lofty rankings coming out of HS..Amir demonstrated leadership in this game. Nebraska played us man-to-man, and Pitino got good motion out of our offense, which allowed us to get the ball to Coffey on the right wing going to his left.. As a left hander, that played into Coffey's strength. Great game for Amir

Dupree McBrayer... I cried at the end and I promise I am secure enough as a person to admit it and not feel I will lose my 'man card'... That 3 pointer he hit was HUGE.... The basketball floor is probably a relief and place to 'be with family(the team)' so I think playing was the right decision for him.. For anyone that has lost someone close to them, it is the QUIET TIMES TO REFLECT ON MEMORIES, HOLIDAYS, BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, WANTING TO CALL ON THE PHONE AND HEAR THEIR REASSURING VOICE, FEEL A HUG OR A KISS THAT THEY CANT HAVE ANYMORE that are the hardest times.. Dupree's hardest times are ahead but IN THE PRESENT TIME, he needed those teammates to rally around him like they did last night... SO PROUD OF THE TEAM, OF DUPREE, OF THE GOPHER FANS AT THE BARN... Life is NOT FAIR and Dupree is a great kid who played courageously in extremely difficult circumstances.. Great effort in a difficult circumstance.

Jordan Murphy.. How are we going to replace his continuous efforts next year?? He is just a warrior out there. He just wont let this team lose and Jordan as well as Amir stepped up so big.. Great timing and effort on rebounds and looks for the contact to draw fouls...Thankful that he is a Gopher...

Now the LITTLE PSYCHOLOGY... Isaiah Washington is so distant emotionally from the team, right now.. At least that is what his body language tells me from seeing it on TV... Kids have different personalities so they each have different things that motivate them. Maybe get some counseling for the young man.. His body language is horrible and he has to understand his play has to become consistent for this team to be at their best. Gotta find what triggers that young man to be a solid contributor or a change of scenery may be what is best for him, down the road.

Lastly, Tim Miles is a super classy coach... What he did for Dupree last night was great, for an opponent.. In our society, unfortunately KINDNESS is really not respected.. It is a sign for others to take advantage of a person who displays it, as a sign for weakness. It is a sign to some as being naive. ALL SAD NARRATIVES as KINDNESS SHOULD BE CELEBRATED AND UPLIFTED... TIm Miles is a kind man and I pray has a lot of success as a result... Tim, you wont read this but I have the utmost respect for you as a person and wish I could talk to you to express how important that is to be like that to those you are able to touch, in their lives... Thank you, Coach Miles!!!!

The schedule allows the Gophers a break from their tough games to date and much needed. The next 4 opponents have a combined record of 9-24 and N Fla (4-5) and Ark St (3-5) the best.

This should give Oturu a chance to gain some confidence and provide valuable minutes for Omersa, Stockman, Stull and also Curry, if he is ready. This is also a key time for Dupree as the holidays are just about here.

Said that, I wonder if the team will be able to be with Dupree for his Mom's funeral. Maybe a donor will step up to pay for trip.

It will be interesting to see how IW plays and if he shows that he really wants to be a team player. My guess is that RP will have a short rope ready for him. I hope the second unit and FR will play well enough so that Jordan and Amir don't have to log 30+ minutes and be fresh for Becky and the BIG run.

This team not only played for Dupree tonight, but they played for Richard! They aren’t ready to give up and pack it in for the Pitino era. The effort displayed showed me they want to make the dance. I’m still not sure that it can happen, but I’m gonna just enjoy this season if they play with that type of effort all season.

We have our warts. We are brutal at the line. We are not a good shooting team at all. But, we play with good intensity and can put pressure on the other team creating turnovers which result in hopefully enough transition baskets to carry us to some wins.

It took a Herculean effort by Coffey to win this game as Nebraska is damn good. I didn’t think he had another game like that in him. The stat line of 32, 6 and 6 is remarkable.

The name on the jersey might not be basketball blue-blood, but beating the Huskers this year equates to beating a Sweet 16 team IMO.

Impressive Gophers! Well done. I hope I’m wrong and we see more of this!

One of the top headlines on ESPN.com right now. I lost my mom this past April and it was quite emotional watching the end of the game tonight. I'm happy McBrayer was able to contribute to a big win at home. Also, I can't say enough about how classy Tim Miles and Nebraska were with the shirts and interactions after the game.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...n-nebraska-cornhuskers-following-mother-death

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
2019 5.8 four-star Demariyon Houston recently decommitted from Texas. Clay Patterson is his area recruiter, and he’s been talking to him all throughout his commitment to Texas. Josh Helmholdt reached out to him after his decommitment to see about possible visits, and he said:

“Minnesota has always recruitied me, so we shall see”

Thanks to Josh for the scoop here. His home state of Oklahoma is another school to watch for. He currently has no visits set.

PJ FLECK

Opening statement: “I just want to say thank you to the Quick Lane Bowl. I want to thank the Detroit Lions, the Ford Family, just thank you for selecting the Minnesota Golden Gophers, our state of Minnesota, our University, for allowing us to play in the bowl game. I want to congratulate Paul Johnson. We have two P.J.s up here—I don’t think he goes by P.J., but you have two P.J.s up here and you throw John (Hanighen) in here and now all of a sudden there are a lot of Johns going on. So, just want to thank and congratulate Paul Johnson on a tremendous season. Not only that, just a tremendous career. You imagine how all things come together in your life. My dad used to say, ‘The Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech.’ That’s all he used to say around the house, and we lived in Chicago. So, I’m not necessarily sure why he always used to say that, but Coach Johnson has had a tremendous career. I still remember sitting and listening to Coach Johnson at the Coaches Convention, I think it was, when you spoke you were the keynote speaker. I was one of those young coaches in the audience taking down as many notes as I can, not necessarily about the triple option, but more of just the way he did things and how he ran his program. So, the deepest admiration from us to you, just to congratulate you on a tremendous career and congratulate you on being here. I just want to thank our President, Dr. (Eric) Kaler, and our Athletic Director, Mark Coyle, just with everything they do. I want to thank our fans, I want to thank the state of Minnesota, our University, for all that they do. We’re excited to be here, I look forward to answering a lot of your questions. We do have the youngest team in America, it’s been fun to follow this team and watch this team grow and develop. I think you’ll see close to, I think, eight freshmen starting on offense, maybe as much as five or six on defense as we keep going forward. But that’s what we said at the beginning of the year would happen. It’s been fun to watch this team mature, end the year winning two out of three. One against Purdue, who had a tremendous season as well, and then losing against Northwestern, (who was in) the Big 10 West champs, in a close game. And then finishing up and winning at Camp Randall against Wisconsin, a really good Wisconsin team that was picked at the beginning of the year in the top four and one of the playoff teams. It was really good to be able to have that victory. We hadn’t won in Camp Randall since 1994. I was 14 years old last time that happened, and to be able to have that victory and bring the (Paul Bunyan) Axe back to the state of Minnesota was really exciting for our fans and for our University, and I know our band and our team. So, to be able to have that victory after 15 years of not winning, that was a huge accomplishment for our players. So, we’re very honored to be here. We love to recruit in the state of Michigan, love being in Detroit. I just want to thank everybody for having us, truly appreciate it.”

On how important the extra two weeks of practice and bowl game preparation is to building his football program...
“Similar. I think people earn bowl games and it’s a reward. We’ve started to practice. Playing Georgia Tech, especially on defense, is a major challenge, not only just because of the players they have and the coaching they have, but the system and the style’s different. You change a little bit of your defensive system to be able to stop the triple option and to be able to stop that type of scheme. So, for us, we needed to get started a little bit earlier defensively, because we have so many young players, that we wanted to get some of those spring practices going to get them better in our own system. So, when we actually do start really kind of game-planning and really zoning in on Georgia Tech, the defense is going to change almost completely, which will help us maybe a little bit because they’re different systems. But we play Georgia Southern next year, so it’ll at least get our guys’ minds thinking of option football, somehow, some way. And (they’re) two different types of styles now, but similar (enough) that they can start thinking. We need to get a lot of our young guys better. Our coaching staff celebrated when we found out we were going to be bowl-eligible, because we knew how much work we have to do with our players, but again, our practices are a lot shorter. Our practices are basically an hour, maybe 55 minutes to an hour right now. I want them on the field, off the field. We’ll probably practice anywhere between 12 and 13 times total, using this week as really Minnesota versus Minnesota. (We’ll) be able to get ourselves better. And then once we get into next week, we’ll start to shift that focus a little bit more towards Georgia Tech. But very similar to Coach (Paul) Johnson in terms of, it’s a reward. They’ve earned it. They’ve earned the right to be in a bowl game and they need to have fun and they need to be able to enjoy it. The last thing you want to do is have your players dread going to a bowl game. On the other hand, we have to get better, too. We just have to find that right balance to be able to do all of that and continue to get our work done.”

On Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer’s retirement...
“Well, being in the same league as him, he’s a legendary coach. What he’s done on the football field is second to none, really, when you look at his record and what he’s been able to do and accomplish. I think as Coach (Paul) Johnson said, usually, there are two types of coaches, coaches that have been fired and coaches that are going to be fired. And to be able to have somebody go out on their own terms, I think that’s how all coaches—and Coach Johnson’s very blessed to be able to do that. I think he’d be able to tell you that, as a head coach, when you decide that maybe it’s time to be able to spend more time with your family or maybe stop or to continue to keep that option down the road. As Coach Johnson said, there are no breaks in this profession. I think that’s what’s difficult for a lot of our families. There may be people who are around us that don’t necessarily understand that. I still have family members that ask me, ‘So, when you’re not playing games, what are you doing? Why aren’t you here? The season’s over.’ And they don’t understand the time commitment that we have and the time we spend away from our families. And it’s what we choose. We love to be able to be a part of education and teaching young people, not just the game of football, but now, our game is turning into life coaches as well because of the way our society is changing, too. And the issues and the problems and the challenges, and the opportunities, these young people are facing in front of them every single day. So, it is a 24-hour job, 365 days a week. There is no break, as Coach Johnson already said. And I’m sure if he compared 40 years ago when he started to where he is now, the type of break that’s possibly needed is drastic. So, (I) just want to congratulate him on a tremendous career. Being in the same conference as him, I’ve had time to spend around him over the years and hats off to his career.”

On how important the Quick Lane Bowl is to the Minnesota football program...
“We talk to our kids all the time about the next right step whether that’s a workout, whether that’s a week objective or whether that’s a season objective. From where we were at the beginning of the year to where we are now—we started the year and we lost our six best players and we knew that going into the year we couldn’t lose anybody. We said, ‘All right, if this team looks this way, I think we have shot to be pretty good.’ On paper you sat there and go, ‘Wow, we’re young, but if these guys can stay healthy we can still be somewhat experienced.’ Those six guys got hurt and we lost them and now we got so much younger so fast. So, we just took it one day at a time like we always do in our program. We call it row the boat, just keep your oar in the water, just continue to go and continue to grow—academically, athletically, socially and spiritually and our guys have continued to do that. And it’s been fun to watch their growth, physically, mentally and emotionally. When you’re dealing with some freshman, that’s one thing, when you’re dealing with the majority, almost all on offense are freshman especially the trigger (quarterback) guy, and the running backs, and the offensive lineman, and the wide receivers, and the tight ends. You’re not only dealing with just the physical part, you’re dealing with the mental and emotional part of young people coming and adapting to college. Usually they have a few years before they have that pressure and that expectation of you have to perform at a high level. But we recruited a lot of this class to be able to do that and that was why a lot of them turned down other opportunities to come down to the University of Minnesota and play for us. I’ve just seen steady growth and its hasn’t always been success. The growth—we define failing as growth, failure is quit. They have just continued to fail enough to be successful at the end of the year to earn a bowl game. But, we have the highest GPA in the history of the program and they just continue to find ways to be able to get better and I think this team really enjoys being around one another. And I think that was one of the objectives that we had when we first got here with what was going on, we had to be able to connect this team, not divide this team. And that was the challenge over the last two years. So, we’re exactly where we should be. People always say, ‘Are you ahead of schedule? Are you behind schedule?’ We’re exactly where we should be and we’re exactly what we’ve earned. So, we’ll talk about next year when we get to next year.”

On preparing to face the Georgia Tech triple option after facing Georgia Southern and Air Force in the past... “Well as Coach (Paul) Johnson said, they’re similar, but they’re very different at the same time. And as he said, a lot of people have some type of option or some type of zone read, it’s very similar. Now the style coach Johnson is there’s a lot of it and there’s a lot of moving parts. You almost have to change your defensive scheme. Sometimes with some others that dabble in it, you don’t have to change your scheme as much, you just have to be ready for it. But, yeah, we don’t play Georgia Southern and I forgot who was talking to me, one of my head coaches in the past, and they said, ‘Listen, I have great advice for you, never, ever, schedule Georgia Southern or that Paul Johnson guy.’ And here I am, Georgia Southern twice I’ve played as a head football coach at Western Michigan. One time we went to Statesboro—I don’t even know how I got out of Statesboro, it is one of the most difficult places to play I have ever seen. And then they came to Kalamazoo, Michigan and we lost in Statesboro and we won in Kalamazoo. And so now we play them again next year in TCF Bank Stadium in Minnesota. So again, we’re going to have a lot of practice at it and then when we played Air Force in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, again, we dealt with that as well. We have some experience in being able to go back to our past of what we’ve been able to do, what was successful, what wasn’t. You do have four or five games to able to draw from – that’s good.”

On what it means to him personally to return to Michigan to play a bowl game... “This is really important for our university and it’s really important for our state just being a bowl game period. But to be able to do it in a place you recruit, a place where you lived, a place where your wife is from—my wife, Heather, is from Michigan—and it’s a very special place. The high school football here is absolutely tremendous. I love recruiting the area, we had a few home visits last night, which was really nice to able to tie that into the event. But it’s a very special place to me, it always will be. Kathy Beauregard at Western Michigan—you always have to have somebody take a shot on you. We’re all up here because somebody believed in us somehow, some way. We’re all where we are based on somebody else, it’s not because of just us. And Kathy Beauregard as Western Michigan University changed my life forever. She took an opportunity on a young 31, 32-year-old NFL wide receiver coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that she thought could really do something special with their program. And going back and looking at those opportunities we had at Western Michigan taking that team from 1-11 to 13-1 and going to the Cotton Bowl and having those experiences with not only the players there, but the town, you remember all of those things. We were up here talking about Urban Meyer earlier, he was at Bowling Green then Utah then Florida and then Ohio State, it’s those places, it’s the players, but it’s those towns too. And you have those connections with that town and that city forever, for the rest of your life, but as well as the entire state. It was really good to get back into Michigan yesterday recruiting, plus being at the bowl game here because everybody was talking about it, which was really nice.”

On the passing of President George H.W. Bush... “I didn’t know President Bush at all. But I will say—we talk to our players all the time about people. Our country is about people and how our people feel about our different views on our country, we’re talking about people. We’re talking about the leader of our country and a person that sacrificed a lot for all us to be able to be here as well as our service men and women on a daily basis of what they do. It’s a national day of sorrow and of mourning anytime you lose a president. So, all of our thoughts and prayers are with not only our nation, but the Bush family as well.”

On wide receiver Tyler Johnson...
“Tyler Johnson, our wide receiver, number six, he’s gotten so much better. I think he’s become such a better route runner. When we first got here we knew he was going to be a good player, but he needed to do a lot of things. He needed to be able to sharpen his game and that’s what I think Matt Simon, our wide receiver coach, has done a tremendous job of doing. I think Tyler is way more dedicated, he’s a tremendous student of the game. His route running, his core strength, understanding leverage, understanding center of gravity, understanding how to become an elite route runner, how to be able to create the separation and create the space. It’s not just catching the football, it’s about being a position where you can do that and giving yourself the best chance to do that. So, I think that’s where he’s grown the most. I think his leadership is getting better and it’s at a point where you want to see him completely take over the football team as he continues to grow, and he becomes more comfortable with that role. We don’t have many seniors on our football team, I think maybe you’ll see four of them play or be in the two-deep with our seniors. So, we rely on a lot of our young guys leading and we always have game day captains and I can’t tell you how many days whether it was a junior, sophomore, freshman, who were our game day captains. So, Tyler has really grown up and we expect really big things for him as he continues to go on a daily basis. But tremendous individual and wonderful young man.”


PAUL JOHNSON

Opening statement: "Congratulations to P.J. (Fleck). They had a great finish to get bowl-eligible and to be here. They have a team that’s fun to watch. I’ve started to break them down the last couple of days and it ought to be a heck of a game. It’s kind of a contrast of styles, so it’ll be interesting, but we know it’ll be a huge challenge in front of us. So, looking forward to being here and look forward to answering any questions that people might have.”

On his retirement and on the emotions he has with the Quick Lane Bowl being his last game...
“I don’t know. I guess it’ll hit you when you’re out there. You don’t really think about it. My big focus on this game is it’s about the players. It’s not about me. And everything I want to do, I want to do about the players. They’re the ones who got here, they’re the ones who won six of the last eight games. I’m sure that you’ll think about it when it’s over or maybe towards the end or whatever, but as I told somebody before, this is my 40th straight year of coaching without a break, and it’s probably time for a break. That’s kind of unheard of in this profession. Usually they take you out before then, or at least you have a break somewhere along the line. So, I’ll take a break and re-evaluate, and who knows? If it’s the last game, it’s the last game. If I decide I can’t live without it, I may come back. Right now, I just don’t know. I know that I’m going to take a year off and evaluate where I am. It’s hard to tell you how you’re going to react. I don’t know.”

i feel guilty on chiding McBreyer on his play this year. Obviously with his Mom’s situation he had things much more important to deal with than basketball. My prayers go out to his family and friends.