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Gopher Football Coach PJ Fleck appeared on the Sports Huddle on WCCO Sunday morning with Sid, Dave and Mike Max.
Mona: unique ways for awarding scholarships to walk-ons?
PJ: very well deserved. in our program, we try to create a memory for a kid. make it a first-class experience. it's all about the memories we're creating while these young men are here. Bailey is a young man who is passionate about the military. tried to get into Army, but he was denied because he wants to be in special forces and he has a slight hearing issue. Talked about what we wanted to do - bring in Navy Seals. called a friend, he came by, talked to team, had two paratroopers who were former navy seals. They gave the scholarship to Ko Kieft, who's Bailey's best friend, and he gave it to Bailey. I'm Passionate about scholarships for walk-ons, because I was almost a walk-on. they don't get a signing day. they never get those parties. we have to create that for them.
Sid: you're amazing. never heard of a coach taking players to a concert, or bringing Seals in. how do you do those things?
PJ: it's a teaching mindset. trying to find new ways to reach kids and young people. when you teach 6th grade social studies, and have 35 kids in the class, you've got to find a way to teach 1 lesson 35 ways. we took kids to the Jay Z and Beyonce concert. It's all legal (people asked), we go through compliance. there are different ways you have to do it. wasn't just to have fun - it was for them to understand a fan's perspective. Millenials want to know why. when I was growing up, you were told something, you did it. these days that's not the case, they want to know why. When Jay Z and Beyonce are performing, the fans expect their best. the fans expect to be entertained. they expect a performance to go beyond their expectations. the players need to understand that. when our fans show up for games, they want to see us play our best FB. After the fact, the players got a perspective on the fans' perspective when they go to games.
Sid: it's your 2nd year. how long will it take to win?
PJ: winning is an opinion. last year we won 5 games - I believe the most by a 1st year staff in over 50 years. some day it will be a number that's not good enough. but that one day is down the road. our expectations are not based on that. this is a talented team - but a very young and inexperienced team. they are going to make mistakes. when you're dealing with kids - they don't make same mistakes at age 18 as they did when they were 5 or 8 years old. they grow up and mature. players going to make mistakes. 60% of the team is close to being a FR or RS FR. that's not an excuse - it's reality. it's year two. - I call it year one. we've got our first big recruiting class in here. we'll add to the team with the 2019 class. those are the classes, along with the players who are already here, that will take us through the journey. we're still in the very early stages. it's going to be a process. we have a chance to be good at some point this year. Is that going to be game 5 - game 7 - game 12? that depends on how fast we mature. we need to understand each other - become a really connected team. I will never measure success based just on a number.
Mona: will Shannon Brooks be available to play this year?
PJ: he's on pace to be available. that will be our choice, depending on how far along he is. what types of games could he play in? will it be 4 in a row? I give a lot of credit to our new nutritionist. She came from the Philadelphia Eagles. we're seeing a huge difference in our players. we don't have lot of guys on the injury report. that's also a complement to our strength program, and our head trainer. everybody works together for the health of our student-athletes. everything we do inside the program is for them. we've got some bumps and bruises. that might change. proud of the progress we're making.
Sid: defense has to improve on stopping the run
PJ: there's a lot of reasons for that. when you take over a program, you have different systems. different personnel that might not fit schemes - have to have the right people in schemes. last year we had some people playing out of position, or playing a position they shouldn't be playing. it's about schematics. maybe the scheme calls for a 280lb DE - and you're playing a 230 pound DE. have to be able to recruit to fit the schemes. that will happen as we grow with recruiting and development. players are getting bigger and stronger. we're a littler deeper than last year. last year had a lot of people who had to play the whole game. this year we'll be able to rotate people in.
Sid: any big surprises in practice?
PJ: no. proud of the progress we're making. when you get into training camp, it's 4 weeks before the first game. watch players fail - watch them come back from adversity and grow. it's fun to watch the maturation.
Sid: see great FB, buy some season tickets. great plans. Murray's
PJ: RTB, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers.
Mona: unique ways for awarding scholarships to walk-ons?
PJ: very well deserved. in our program, we try to create a memory for a kid. make it a first-class experience. it's all about the memories we're creating while these young men are here. Bailey is a young man who is passionate about the military. tried to get into Army, but he was denied because he wants to be in special forces and he has a slight hearing issue. Talked about what we wanted to do - bring in Navy Seals. called a friend, he came by, talked to team, had two paratroopers who were former navy seals. They gave the scholarship to Ko Kieft, who's Bailey's best friend, and he gave it to Bailey. I'm Passionate about scholarships for walk-ons, because I was almost a walk-on. they don't get a signing day. they never get those parties. we have to create that for them.
Sid: you're amazing. never heard of a coach taking players to a concert, or bringing Seals in. how do you do those things?
PJ: it's a teaching mindset. trying to find new ways to reach kids and young people. when you teach 6th grade social studies, and have 35 kids in the class, you've got to find a way to teach 1 lesson 35 ways. we took kids to the Jay Z and Beyonce concert. It's all legal (people asked), we go through compliance. there are different ways you have to do it. wasn't just to have fun - it was for them to understand a fan's perspective. Millenials want to know why. when I was growing up, you were told something, you did it. these days that's not the case, they want to know why. When Jay Z and Beyonce are performing, the fans expect their best. the fans expect to be entertained. they expect a performance to go beyond their expectations. the players need to understand that. when our fans show up for games, they want to see us play our best FB. After the fact, the players got a perspective on the fans' perspective when they go to games.
Sid: it's your 2nd year. how long will it take to win?
PJ: winning is an opinion. last year we won 5 games - I believe the most by a 1st year staff in over 50 years. some day it will be a number that's not good enough. but that one day is down the road. our expectations are not based on that. this is a talented team - but a very young and inexperienced team. they are going to make mistakes. when you're dealing with kids - they don't make same mistakes at age 18 as they did when they were 5 or 8 years old. they grow up and mature. players going to make mistakes. 60% of the team is close to being a FR or RS FR. that's not an excuse - it's reality. it's year two. - I call it year one. we've got our first big recruiting class in here. we'll add to the team with the 2019 class. those are the classes, along with the players who are already here, that will take us through the journey. we're still in the very early stages. it's going to be a process. we have a chance to be good at some point this year. Is that going to be game 5 - game 7 - game 12? that depends on how fast we mature. we need to understand each other - become a really connected team. I will never measure success based just on a number.
Mona: will Shannon Brooks be available to play this year?
PJ: he's on pace to be available. that will be our choice, depending on how far along he is. what types of games could he play in? will it be 4 in a row? I give a lot of credit to our new nutritionist. She came from the Philadelphia Eagles. we're seeing a huge difference in our players. we don't have lot of guys on the injury report. that's also a complement to our strength program, and our head trainer. everybody works together for the health of our student-athletes. everything we do inside the program is for them. we've got some bumps and bruises. that might change. proud of the progress we're making.
Sid: defense has to improve on stopping the run
PJ: there's a lot of reasons for that. when you take over a program, you have different systems. different personnel that might not fit schemes - have to have the right people in schemes. last year we had some people playing out of position, or playing a position they shouldn't be playing. it's about schematics. maybe the scheme calls for a 280lb DE - and you're playing a 230 pound DE. have to be able to recruit to fit the schemes. that will happen as we grow with recruiting and development. players are getting bigger and stronger. we're a littler deeper than last year. last year had a lot of people who had to play the whole game. this year we'll be able to rotate people in.
Sid: any big surprises in practice?
PJ: no. proud of the progress we're making. when you get into training camp, it's 4 weeks before the first game. watch players fail - watch them come back from adversity and grow. it's fun to watch the maturation.
Sid: see great FB, buy some season tickets. great plans. Murray's
PJ: RTB, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers.