PJ’s comments as the end of the season approaches: “Year One goes by pretty slow, but at the end of it you don’t remember much of it. We’ve gotten better, we’ve shown how well we can play, and how bad we can play, it about a matter of a seven days.”
Fleck believes that the game would have been a close game (against Northwestern) and said the first two drives showed that. However, when you give a team four turnovers in your own zone, points tend to add up in a hurry. “When you give a four turnovers inside your own zone, they don’t have to do much except move it 20 yards to get a touchdown. We didn’t make it very hard for them to beat us. You have to give them credit. When we say, ‘the ball is the program’ that’s what that means. You don’t even give yourself a chance to win those games.”
Coach said that at the end of the day, players have to make plays. “It’s not an excuse what age they are, but they have to learn to be the guy. It’s a learning experience having the ball hit off your chest and ball going thru your hands, we work on those all the time, but we have to fail and learn to grow.”
Response to that failure is what Coach is looking for from his players, bouncing back after last week’s poor performance. He also mentioned that it is tough when there isn’t enough depth so that if a player is failing, there isn’t many backups to put in behind them.
Tyler Johnson will be four to five weeks and will be back for spring practice. PJ wants him to master his craft and be a leader next year since there will be a lot of freshmen that play at receiver.
“We need more people that love football. That just love it. Where they eat, sleep, breathe football; they get good grades, they make all the right decisions off the field. We are recruiting towards that. We have some guys on our team like that, and we have to continue to develop that. It’s a tough mindset for 17 to 22-year-old youngsters.”
The team wants to send out the seniors with an elite experience playing against Wisconsin. PJ commented that it is one of the greatest rivalries in college football and they have a chance to shake things up in the college football playoff.
A lot of credit is given to the seniors of this team for going thru three different head coaches and cultures throughout their collegiate career. The coaches will be helping them get looks at the next level and Fleck wants a lot of guys drafted year after year at the University of Minnesota. “Anything successful we do going forward I am going to make sure this senior class is there for. I’ve made sure to tell them that.”
Coach Fleck is jumping on a plane after the team banquet on Sunday and going out recruiting.
Fleck did have high praise for Wisconsin’s stability and culture that they’ve established. Western Michigan played Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl last year, so PJ does have familiarity with them. “That culture is 25-30 years in the making. There’s head coaches that have come and left there because they didn’t fit the culture. That is Barry Alvarez’s culture. I have a lot of respect for them.”
The first key to stopping Wisconsin is stopping the run. Last year at Western Michigan, PJ said they didn’t have the size/speed/strength to win the game but were able to keep it within a one score game. “That’s where we want to get to. It’s going to take a bit longer than everyone wants, but we’ve done so many things behind the scenes that people don’t know that you can see coming.”
Coach does feel that fans have the right to feel how they want to feel, and speak what the feel. He sees a lot of fans out in public, and he wants to hear it. He wants the fans to know that he has been through it before. “You haven’t hired a first-time head coach that’s never been through this, we took Western Michigan, in a similar situation, and took them beyond a place that they ever thought could happen. I know we’ll get there.”
The players wrote letters this week to parents/guardians telling them how thankful they are for them. The team also had the first annual Turkey Drive to deliver turkeys to less fortunate families. The players donated their own money for the drive. Players that aren’t from the area are going to coaches’ homes. Every player will be with somebody and somewhere for Thanksgiving, the coaches made sure of that.
As for now and the December 20th date, the coaches want every player to sign on that date, and said they are going to take a few more players.
There was a Twitter question regarding the status of Blaise Andries, PJ responded that he everyday he battled with pulling his redshirt, but that fans are going to be very excited that he’s going to be a freshman next year.
PJ joked that he would pay for the new goal post himself if the team wins on Saturday and fans tear it down.
Coaches do not look at stars when recruiting a kid, they look at all areas of an athlete: what they are like in the classroom, do they play other sports, adversity they’ve been through, etc.
Fleck points to the walk-on scholarship videos when recruiting a player as a walk-on that may have the chance to go to a Division II school. “Just to be a Gopher, a part of the only Division I school in the state of Minnesota. If a kid earns a scholarship, we’ve shown that we this is what it’ll look like.”
Year One has seen good wins, close losses, bad losses, close wins. The team has shown how good they can be in the future when they execute at a high level, add players with recruiting, and add strength in the weight program. “We’ll get there, I promise we’ll get there.”
Fleck believes that the game would have been a close game (against Northwestern) and said the first two drives showed that. However, when you give a team four turnovers in your own zone, points tend to add up in a hurry. “When you give a four turnovers inside your own zone, they don’t have to do much except move it 20 yards to get a touchdown. We didn’t make it very hard for them to beat us. You have to give them credit. When we say, ‘the ball is the program’ that’s what that means. You don’t even give yourself a chance to win those games.”
Coach said that at the end of the day, players have to make plays. “It’s not an excuse what age they are, but they have to learn to be the guy. It’s a learning experience having the ball hit off your chest and ball going thru your hands, we work on those all the time, but we have to fail and learn to grow.”
Response to that failure is what Coach is looking for from his players, bouncing back after last week’s poor performance. He also mentioned that it is tough when there isn’t enough depth so that if a player is failing, there isn’t many backups to put in behind them.
Tyler Johnson will be four to five weeks and will be back for spring practice. PJ wants him to master his craft and be a leader next year since there will be a lot of freshmen that play at receiver.
“We need more people that love football. That just love it. Where they eat, sleep, breathe football; they get good grades, they make all the right decisions off the field. We are recruiting towards that. We have some guys on our team like that, and we have to continue to develop that. It’s a tough mindset for 17 to 22-year-old youngsters.”
The team wants to send out the seniors with an elite experience playing against Wisconsin. PJ commented that it is one of the greatest rivalries in college football and they have a chance to shake things up in the college football playoff.
A lot of credit is given to the seniors of this team for going thru three different head coaches and cultures throughout their collegiate career. The coaches will be helping them get looks at the next level and Fleck wants a lot of guys drafted year after year at the University of Minnesota. “Anything successful we do going forward I am going to make sure this senior class is there for. I’ve made sure to tell them that.”
Coach Fleck is jumping on a plane after the team banquet on Sunday and going out recruiting.
Fleck did have high praise for Wisconsin’s stability and culture that they’ve established. Western Michigan played Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl last year, so PJ does have familiarity with them. “That culture is 25-30 years in the making. There’s head coaches that have come and left there because they didn’t fit the culture. That is Barry Alvarez’s culture. I have a lot of respect for them.”
The first key to stopping Wisconsin is stopping the run. Last year at Western Michigan, PJ said they didn’t have the size/speed/strength to win the game but were able to keep it within a one score game. “That’s where we want to get to. It’s going to take a bit longer than everyone wants, but we’ve done so many things behind the scenes that people don’t know that you can see coming.”
Coach does feel that fans have the right to feel how they want to feel, and speak what the feel. He sees a lot of fans out in public, and he wants to hear it. He wants the fans to know that he has been through it before. “You haven’t hired a first-time head coach that’s never been through this, we took Western Michigan, in a similar situation, and took them beyond a place that they ever thought could happen. I know we’ll get there.”
The players wrote letters this week to parents/guardians telling them how thankful they are for them. The team also had the first annual Turkey Drive to deliver turkeys to less fortunate families. The players donated their own money for the drive. Players that aren’t from the area are going to coaches’ homes. Every player will be with somebody and somewhere for Thanksgiving, the coaches made sure of that.
As for now and the December 20th date, the coaches want every player to sign on that date, and said they are going to take a few more players.
There was a Twitter question regarding the status of Blaise Andries, PJ responded that he everyday he battled with pulling his redshirt, but that fans are going to be very excited that he’s going to be a freshman next year.
PJ joked that he would pay for the new goal post himself if the team wins on Saturday and fans tear it down.
Coaches do not look at stars when recruiting a kid, they look at all areas of an athlete: what they are like in the classroom, do they play other sports, adversity they’ve been through, etc.
Fleck points to the walk-on scholarship videos when recruiting a player as a walk-on that may have the chance to go to a Division II school. “Just to be a Gopher, a part of the only Division I school in the state of Minnesota. If a kid earns a scholarship, we’ve shown that we this is what it’ll look like.”
Year One has seen good wins, close losses, bad losses, close wins. The team has shown how good they can be in the future when they execute at a high level, add players with recruiting, and add strength in the weight program. “We’ll get there, I promise we’ll get there.”
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