PJ opened joking that he thought the game went well last week, but that he still got emails from Minnesota fans that he didn’t get to 80 points (Nebraska beat Minnesota 84-13 in 1983).
Coach knew the team had to start fast since they felt both teams were at a pivotal point in their seasons, and our team had to be the first team to create doubt in the other team’s mind. He also said that Duke McGhee’s 4th down stop in the 1st quarter was the biggest play of the game, creating doubt in the other team’s mind.
“What everybody got a chance to see on Saturday what a chance to see what Gopher football can become in all three phases: offense, defense, special teams. I thought the last time we played together like that was Oregon State.”
Fleck is considering this year as a success since the team is continually getting better in all aspects of their lives: academically, socially, athletically, spiritually.
Rodney Smith took back the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. Mark Rosen questioned at what point they tell their players to take the touchback instead of returning it. Coach replied that it is the other returners duty to look down and see where in the end zone the return man is, since the Coach doesn’t want the actual returner to ever look down.
On Demry Croft, “I think the biggest thing is he’s grown. Every single week we’ve sat here and we haven’t talked about wins/losses etc., but what we have talked about is the growth of each player. Demry is a better quarterback here today than he was four weeks ago. He’s only started four games, so if you expect him to be Joe Montana and Michael Vick wrapped into one, that’s not going to happen. He has to continue to make decisive decisions. He was 9 of 15, four were drops, and two were throw-aways. He played as close to a perfect executed game plan as he possibly could’ve.” Coach also mentioned that he’s seen growth from Croft in his grades.
PJ gave compliments to Ed Warinner for bringing this offensive line together throughout the spring only having four healthy offensive linemen, to now having to get different lineups to play together.
Wide receiver drops have been an issue this year for the team. Coach said that there are three stages of a player: role player where a guy may get in for a few plays a game, a starter where a player plays every play, and then there’s a playmaker. “When you are thrust into those roles before you may be ready, you have to fail a lot. It is a different mindset.” Mentioned Drew Hmielewski, Rashad Still, Tyler Johnson, Phillip Howard, Mark Williams.
Coach Fleck said 90% of the players they recruit play multiple sports at high school and they highly encourage that. The only tough thing that comes along with that is if a player does basketball, track, etc. and doesn’t want to enroll early.
Fleck is a fan of the early signing date in December. He likes the idea that he can get his class signed in December instead of February, and then he can focus on the next years recruiting class for that January, since the team is not able to recruit during the spring due to NCAA rules.
“We keep a few spots open [for guys that decide to de-commit from other schools late] so it’ll be an interesting finish for us.”
The threshold for a medical redshirt is the player has to play less than 33% of your season, and it has to happen early on in season. The team is lucky that Antoine Winfield fell into that time frame, and the team is expecting Antoine Winfield Jr. to receive the medical redshirt.
Cool thing the coaches do with the players: the coaches have young guy practices and individual drills throughout the year for redshirted players and freshmen. On Sunday night they had a young guy scrimmage where Conor Rhoda called the offense, and Jonathan Celestin called the defense. “It was amazing. I can’t tell you how many delay of games we had. The coaches were ripping the players. That’s what it sounds like on the headsets.”
The team is always preparing for a bowl game. The first week of the bowl season the team typically gives the starters a week off to rest, and focus on recruiting. The practices get a bit shorter to about 50-55 minutes, and then the last 25 minutes is strictly young guy development.
Mark Rosen talked a bit about the Wisconsin game coming up in a couple weeks. Fleck, “That’s one of the reasons why I was brought here. Barry Alvarez didn’t win one Big Ten game his first year. Four years later they won the Rose Bowl. They’ve beat us 14 straight times, we’re going to get to that point. We need to get that cultural sustainability.”
PJ called Northwestern “the hottest team in the Big Ten.” The quarterback is a three-year starter, and the running back is a four-year starter. They’ve won three in a row in overtime, five wins in a row total. Northwestern linebacker Paddy Fisher is just a redshirt freshman, however is already a big-time player for Northwestern. He had 17 tackles against Michigan State on October 28th.
The Gophers may look at adding some different uniforms for special occasions in the future. Fleck had to remind the fans, “Remember, the demographic of people I am trying to impress is 17-22 year olds. The uniforms will be different.”
Closing thoughts on the game against Northwestern: “We need to have an extension of what we did last week. We need to take care of the ball, get some more take-a-ways, and start fast. We need to continue to execute at a high level. It should be fun.”
Coach knew the team had to start fast since they felt both teams were at a pivotal point in their seasons, and our team had to be the first team to create doubt in the other team’s mind. He also said that Duke McGhee’s 4th down stop in the 1st quarter was the biggest play of the game, creating doubt in the other team’s mind.
“What everybody got a chance to see on Saturday what a chance to see what Gopher football can become in all three phases: offense, defense, special teams. I thought the last time we played together like that was Oregon State.”
Fleck is considering this year as a success since the team is continually getting better in all aspects of their lives: academically, socially, athletically, spiritually.
Rodney Smith took back the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. Mark Rosen questioned at what point they tell their players to take the touchback instead of returning it. Coach replied that it is the other returners duty to look down and see where in the end zone the return man is, since the Coach doesn’t want the actual returner to ever look down.
On Demry Croft, “I think the biggest thing is he’s grown. Every single week we’ve sat here and we haven’t talked about wins/losses etc., but what we have talked about is the growth of each player. Demry is a better quarterback here today than he was four weeks ago. He’s only started four games, so if you expect him to be Joe Montana and Michael Vick wrapped into one, that’s not going to happen. He has to continue to make decisive decisions. He was 9 of 15, four were drops, and two were throw-aways. He played as close to a perfect executed game plan as he possibly could’ve.” Coach also mentioned that he’s seen growth from Croft in his grades.
PJ gave compliments to Ed Warinner for bringing this offensive line together throughout the spring only having four healthy offensive linemen, to now having to get different lineups to play together.
Wide receiver drops have been an issue this year for the team. Coach said that there are three stages of a player: role player where a guy may get in for a few plays a game, a starter where a player plays every play, and then there’s a playmaker. “When you are thrust into those roles before you may be ready, you have to fail a lot. It is a different mindset.” Mentioned Drew Hmielewski, Rashad Still, Tyler Johnson, Phillip Howard, Mark Williams.
Coach Fleck said 90% of the players they recruit play multiple sports at high school and they highly encourage that. The only tough thing that comes along with that is if a player does basketball, track, etc. and doesn’t want to enroll early.
Fleck is a fan of the early signing date in December. He likes the idea that he can get his class signed in December instead of February, and then he can focus on the next years recruiting class for that January, since the team is not able to recruit during the spring due to NCAA rules.
“We keep a few spots open [for guys that decide to de-commit from other schools late] so it’ll be an interesting finish for us.”
The threshold for a medical redshirt is the player has to play less than 33% of your season, and it has to happen early on in season. The team is lucky that Antoine Winfield fell into that time frame, and the team is expecting Antoine Winfield Jr. to receive the medical redshirt.
Cool thing the coaches do with the players: the coaches have young guy practices and individual drills throughout the year for redshirted players and freshmen. On Sunday night they had a young guy scrimmage where Conor Rhoda called the offense, and Jonathan Celestin called the defense. “It was amazing. I can’t tell you how many delay of games we had. The coaches were ripping the players. That’s what it sounds like on the headsets.”
The team is always preparing for a bowl game. The first week of the bowl season the team typically gives the starters a week off to rest, and focus on recruiting. The practices get a bit shorter to about 50-55 minutes, and then the last 25 minutes is strictly young guy development.
Mark Rosen talked a bit about the Wisconsin game coming up in a couple weeks. Fleck, “That’s one of the reasons why I was brought here. Barry Alvarez didn’t win one Big Ten game his first year. Four years later they won the Rose Bowl. They’ve beat us 14 straight times, we’re going to get to that point. We need to get that cultural sustainability.”
PJ called Northwestern “the hottest team in the Big Ten.” The quarterback is a three-year starter, and the running back is a four-year starter. They’ve won three in a row in overtime, five wins in a row total. Northwestern linebacker Paddy Fisher is just a redshirt freshman, however is already a big-time player for Northwestern. He had 17 tackles against Michigan State on October 28th.
The Gophers may look at adding some different uniforms for special occasions in the future. Fleck had to remind the fans, “Remember, the demographic of people I am trying to impress is 17-22 year olds. The uniforms will be different.”
Closing thoughts on the game against Northwestern: “We need to have an extension of what we did last week. We need to take care of the ball, get some more take-a-ways, and start fast. We need to continue to execute at a high level. It should be fun.”
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