Summarizing what Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck said during Monday's press conference
- Wishes all the Minnesota high school football teams good luck as they begin their playoffs
On improvement of the defense:
- Consistency
- Complimentary defense
- Some explosive plays here and there, but we get around it
Is the message the same to the WR room, outside of CAB:
- They need to be
- Have a lot of guys that haven't had a lot of playing time making big plays for us
- Need to do that over and over again though
- Tanner played well, had two throws that were off
- Had four drops, but Tanner is playing better than he did at the beginning of the year
- Catch radius has to continue to improve
On Cole Kramer's play so far:
- Appreciates Cole
- Selfless, understands and accepts his role
- He's working with Kenni Burns going through RB drills, understanding pad level, understanding schemes
- Coaching him as a quarterback and a tailback
- Has to keep improving, lowering his pad level, and run within the scheme more
On challenges Northwestern brings:
- Big Ten West champs, incredibly disciplined
- They are deep
- Pat Fitzgerald has been a staple in the Big Ten - tremendous coach and leader
- Fly around on defense
- Execute at a high-level on offense
- Watched film yesterday and today and will continue to study them throughout the week
On what has clicked for Esezi Otomewo lately:
- Getting better every week
- He's big, long, and physical
- One of the bigger DE's in the league
- Skilled and works hard at his craft
On value Axel Ruschmeyer has provided:
- One of the most improved players on our football team
- We have another year with him after this year
- Self-made guy
- One of the strongest players on the team
- Great personality and is a connector
- Tough in every area of his life
On how the 'one week season' approach helps them throughout the season:
- External vs. Internal
- Have to make the external very quiet and focus on the internal
- Creature of habit with these philosophies
- Really helps us to have a 1-0 mentality
End of first half thoughts:
- Doing everything you can to win
- Have passionate fans, which is great
- Can't get on the intercom and explain what he's thinking to the fans in that moment
- They have to trust me that we're going to do the right thing to score points
- Didn't want to give the ball to Tagovailoa of Maryland, so that went into the decision
- Wishes all the Minnesota high school football teams good luck as they begin their playoffs
On improvement of the defense:
- Consistency
- Complimentary defense
- Some explosive plays here and there, but we get around it
Is the message the same to the WR room, outside of CAB:
- They need to be
- Have a lot of guys that haven't had a lot of playing time making big plays for us
- Need to do that over and over again though
- Tanner played well, had two throws that were off
- Had four drops, but Tanner is playing better than he did at the beginning of the year
- Catch radius has to continue to improve
On Cole Kramer's play so far:
- Appreciates Cole
- Selfless, understands and accepts his role
- He's working with Kenni Burns going through RB drills, understanding pad level, understanding schemes
- Coaching him as a quarterback and a tailback
- Has to keep improving, lowering his pad level, and run within the scheme more
On challenges Northwestern brings:
- Big Ten West champs, incredibly disciplined
- They are deep
- Pat Fitzgerald has been a staple in the Big Ten - tremendous coach and leader
- Fly around on defense
- Execute at a high-level on offense
- Watched film yesterday and today and will continue to study them throughout the week
On what has clicked for Esezi Otomewo lately:
- Getting better every week
- He's big, long, and physical
- One of the bigger DE's in the league
- Skilled and works hard at his craft
On value Axel Ruschmeyer has provided:
- One of the most improved players on our football team
- We have another year with him after this year
- Self-made guy
- One of the strongest players on the team
- Great personality and is a connector
- Tough in every area of his life
On how the 'one week season' approach helps them throughout the season:
- External vs. Internal
- Have to make the external very quiet and focus on the internal
- Creature of habit with these philosophies
- Really helps us to have a 1-0 mentality
End of first half thoughts:
- Doing everything you can to win
- Have passionate fans, which is great
- Can't get on the intercom and explain what he's thinking to the fans in that moment
- They have to trust me that we're going to do the right thing to score points
- Didn't want to give the ball to Tagovailoa of Maryland, so that went into the decision
