PJ said they went back to fundamentals at practice, and that it’s similar to a win where they focused not on the result but how they played, and where they need to improve. They will pull some redshirts, and will play a lot of young players, so they need to get them ready quickly.
Justin Gaard asked about the leadership at practice after the team’s first loss. PJ commented that the energy level was high, demanding excellence even after a loss. The win/loss shouldn’t affect energy level. “That’s why football is the greatest game in the world, it is very directly correlated to life. You can’t worry about the result, they have to be able to get over things in their life and move on.”
The staff meets as a staff and watches the film immediately after games, then the whole staff meets together. Afterwards, Coach Fleck addresses the team to discuss controlling the ball, before the players break up and meet into individual position groups. It is evident by how much he mentions it, that Coach values the football, and winning the turnover margin.
As for what they need to work on, PJ thought we need to eliminate big plays and take advantage of opportunities on defense.
Not tackling well was an issue against Maryland. “Those are four of the best offensive playmakers in the league. We need to get our athletes to that point and recruits those types of guys.”
“The deeper the teams, with more talent, usually win football games.”
PJ heavily emphasized that we must take advantage of opportunities given to us (threw a pick in the red zone, dropped interception, etc.) for us to be a successful team.
“We lost on first down.” PJ commented of his team. He also mentioned that the whole game plan was built around Antoine Winfield following around #1, so the whole game plan changes once he leaves. Team had to be very basic in their calls due to lack of depth in the secondary.
Duke McGhee is out this upcoming week. “If you don’t do the right things, you will not play. I will not sacrifice wins if my players do not do the right things.”
Kendarian Handy-Holly played in his first collegiate game this past weekend. “The only way he’s going to continue to grow is to gain experience, is to fail, is to grow. The best way of do that is by throwing him in there. People are really going to like this player.”
Gaard questioned the process of how the coaches decide on where to redshirt a player, or whether to take away their redshirt. “I do it as a whole like every third day to tell them what is going on, and who will play. I told Big O (Esezi Otomewo), I will not break his redshirt, he’s one of the best defensive ends we have. Nate Umlor, however, I will play him. We have 13 freshmen in our two-deep.”
PJ also talked that he wasn’t going to fill it with JUCO players, but high school players.
“If I’m going to burn a redshirt, I’m going to play him. He won’t play only a few snaps. I have to make that decision on Tanner Morgan here soon.”
Gophers tried running outside zone a couple times against Maryland, but both went for negative gains. Fleck said they are not going to run a play just to run it, they have to run plays that they run well.
Coach had a lot of good things to say about Conor Rhoda, saying he was confident and made good decisions. “If we wanted Conor to keep the ball more, he would keep the ball more.”
Corey Davis was the freshman offensive player of the year at Western Michigan, however PJ joked he dropped as many balls as he caught that year. Failure is growth.
Fleck name dropped Eric Carter and Phillip Howard as two guys that are emerging. He also said he’s very real with the players post-game, telling them in the film room what they did well, and what did they did not do well.”
PJ does put a lot of blame on himself for not coaching well enough, and not getting these players ready to play.
Connor Olson, a redshirt freshman, is starting a center. We are very young. The next guy behind him is a true freshman. The type of runs we call is dependent upon what type of runs they are good at. “If we aren’t good pullers, we won’t run counters, power, etc.”
A lot of the criticism Fleck heard was not running the quarterback enough. As seen in Mark's film breakdown, a lot of the time it may appear we are running zone read, however we are running just straight zone. It all depends upon if we are willing to lose that guy, and in our situation, it is not. Maryland lost their first two quarterbacks by running them.
Justin Gaard asked about the leadership at practice after the team’s first loss. PJ commented that the energy level was high, demanding excellence even after a loss. The win/loss shouldn’t affect energy level. “That’s why football is the greatest game in the world, it is very directly correlated to life. You can’t worry about the result, they have to be able to get over things in their life and move on.”
The staff meets as a staff and watches the film immediately after games, then the whole staff meets together. Afterwards, Coach Fleck addresses the team to discuss controlling the ball, before the players break up and meet into individual position groups. It is evident by how much he mentions it, that Coach values the football, and winning the turnover margin.
As for what they need to work on, PJ thought we need to eliminate big plays and take advantage of opportunities on defense.
Not tackling well was an issue against Maryland. “Those are four of the best offensive playmakers in the league. We need to get our athletes to that point and recruits those types of guys.”
“The deeper the teams, with more talent, usually win football games.”
PJ heavily emphasized that we must take advantage of opportunities given to us (threw a pick in the red zone, dropped interception, etc.) for us to be a successful team.
“We lost on first down.” PJ commented of his team. He also mentioned that the whole game plan was built around Antoine Winfield following around #1, so the whole game plan changes once he leaves. Team had to be very basic in their calls due to lack of depth in the secondary.
Duke McGhee is out this upcoming week. “If you don’t do the right things, you will not play. I will not sacrifice wins if my players do not do the right things.”
Kendarian Handy-Holly played in his first collegiate game this past weekend. “The only way he’s going to continue to grow is to gain experience, is to fail, is to grow. The best way of do that is by throwing him in there. People are really going to like this player.”
Gaard questioned the process of how the coaches decide on where to redshirt a player, or whether to take away their redshirt. “I do it as a whole like every third day to tell them what is going on, and who will play. I told Big O (Esezi Otomewo), I will not break his redshirt, he’s one of the best defensive ends we have. Nate Umlor, however, I will play him. We have 13 freshmen in our two-deep.”
PJ also talked that he wasn’t going to fill it with JUCO players, but high school players.
“If I’m going to burn a redshirt, I’m going to play him. He won’t play only a few snaps. I have to make that decision on Tanner Morgan here soon.”
Gophers tried running outside zone a couple times against Maryland, but both went for negative gains. Fleck said they are not going to run a play just to run it, they have to run plays that they run well.
Coach had a lot of good things to say about Conor Rhoda, saying he was confident and made good decisions. “If we wanted Conor to keep the ball more, he would keep the ball more.”
Corey Davis was the freshman offensive player of the year at Western Michigan, however PJ joked he dropped as many balls as he caught that year. Failure is growth.
Fleck name dropped Eric Carter and Phillip Howard as two guys that are emerging. He also said he’s very real with the players post-game, telling them in the film room what they did well, and what did they did not do well.”
PJ does put a lot of blame on himself for not coaching well enough, and not getting these players ready to play.
Connor Olson, a redshirt freshman, is starting a center. We are very young. The next guy behind him is a true freshman. The type of runs we call is dependent upon what type of runs they are good at. “If we aren’t good pullers, we won’t run counters, power, etc.”
A lot of the criticism Fleck heard was not running the quarterback enough. As seen in Mark's film breakdown, a lot of the time it may appear we are running zone read, however we are running just straight zone. It all depends upon if we are willing to lose that guy, and in our situation, it is not. Maryland lost their first two quarterbacks by running them.
