Summarizing what Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck said on Monday ahead of their home tilt with Illinois
On OL play:
- Win games up front in the Big Ten
- Need big, athletic, physical offensive lineman
- Guys have played together for a long time
- Tight-knit group
- Some of our best players are offensive lineman, we build around those guys
- Setting a precedent on what it takes to be an OL at Minnesota
- Haven't had an OL drafted in 15 years, that's changing this year
- Guys behind them are chomping at the bit to play
On Bryce Williams:
- Will be a season-ending injury unfortunately
- Everyone is on deck
- Plans to move more guys over to running back spot
On early down efficiencies:
- Matt Simon and Mike Sanford, Jr. are doing a really good job at knowing what their bread and butter is
- Finding efficient ways to get their playmakers the ball to be successful on first and second down
- Getting Tanner comfortable early has also helped
On Illinois:
- Beat a really good Penn State team
- They have depth and experience on that team
- Playing a ton of guys along the DL
- They want to run the football
- QB is playing consistent and moving the ball down the field
- OL is their strength
- Have one of the best safeties in the league - can blitz, cover, fly around and make plays everywhere
On talking big picture:
- Only two times they talk big picture - preseason and bye week
- Everything else is a one-game championship season
On Justin Walley's snap counts going up:
- A lot of corners playing for us, we need all those guys
- Walley played a lot of reps this past week, but we'll rotate those guys
- Unit has to keep coming together and play for each other
- May be some times you don't play a lot
- Some players were sad they only played 40 snaps, loves that his players want to play every play
On OL play:
- Win games up front in the Big Ten
- Need big, athletic, physical offensive lineman
- Guys have played together for a long time
- Tight-knit group
- Some of our best players are offensive lineman, we build around those guys
- Setting a precedent on what it takes to be an OL at Minnesota
- Haven't had an OL drafted in 15 years, that's changing this year
- Guys behind them are chomping at the bit to play
On Bryce Williams:
- Will be a season-ending injury unfortunately
- Everyone is on deck
- Plans to move more guys over to running back spot
On early down efficiencies:
- Matt Simon and Mike Sanford, Jr. are doing a really good job at knowing what their bread and butter is
- Finding efficient ways to get their playmakers the ball to be successful on first and second down
- Getting Tanner comfortable early has also helped
On Illinois:
- Beat a really good Penn State team
- They have depth and experience on that team
- Playing a ton of guys along the DL
- They want to run the football
- QB is playing consistent and moving the ball down the field
- OL is their strength
- Have one of the best safeties in the league - can blitz, cover, fly around and make plays everywhere
On talking big picture:
- Only two times they talk big picture - preseason and bye week
- Everything else is a one-game championship season
On Justin Walley's snap counts going up:
- A lot of corners playing for us, we need all those guys
- Walley played a lot of reps this past week, but we'll rotate those guys
- Unit has to keep coming together and play for each other
- May be some times you don't play a lot
- Some players were sad they only played 40 snaps, loves that his players want to play every play
