BleedGopher
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per Greder:
In previous years, small Minnesota football programs would contact the U’s staff about a prospect and the U allowed them to attend. Fleck’s shift left the small-school players without a scheduled alternative.
“I don’t ever want to rely on somebody else to make the decision for us on whether our kids can go,” Keller told the Pioneer Press. “I think we learned a lesson where we got caught in the middle. With the (Gophers) coaching staff change and things happening late, it was the perfect storm of how things could go wrong.
“I’m not blaming anybody; there are other programs in America that do the same thing and don’t open their pro day to other kids. This had just never been the practice there, so it caught us off guard.”
On the Gophers Road Trip this week, Fleck explained that his decision was influenced by his experience in the NFL. He was an un-drafted player who caught on with the 49ers in 2004-05 and was the Buccaneers’ wide receivers coach in 2012.
“You start to see every aspect of things,” Fleck said. “Not just from a college side, you start to see it from an NFL side as well. We are going to do it for the University of Minnesota athletes, and then what we are going to do, upon request from the National Football League, (is add) other people that they want to see. It’s up to them.
“We want to help the National Football League, and we want to help college-student athletes. One thing I will say (with) the NFL is if you are even close, they will request you. If they request them, we will make sure that they are on our campus.”
Instead of throwing passes in front of the majority of the NFL’s 32 teams at the U’s Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex, Nelson and Minnesota Duluth quarterback Drew Bauer worked out in front of three NFL teams at Minnetonka High School’s indoor complex that same afternoon.
http://www.twincities.com/2017/06/0...o-day-leaves-small-school-prospects-in-limbo/
Go Gophers!!
In previous years, small Minnesota football programs would contact the U’s staff about a prospect and the U allowed them to attend. Fleck’s shift left the small-school players without a scheduled alternative.
“I don’t ever want to rely on somebody else to make the decision for us on whether our kids can go,” Keller told the Pioneer Press. “I think we learned a lesson where we got caught in the middle. With the (Gophers) coaching staff change and things happening late, it was the perfect storm of how things could go wrong.
“I’m not blaming anybody; there are other programs in America that do the same thing and don’t open their pro day to other kids. This had just never been the practice there, so it caught us off guard.”
On the Gophers Road Trip this week, Fleck explained that his decision was influenced by his experience in the NFL. He was an un-drafted player who caught on with the 49ers in 2004-05 and was the Buccaneers’ wide receivers coach in 2012.
“You start to see every aspect of things,” Fleck said. “Not just from a college side, you start to see it from an NFL side as well. We are going to do it for the University of Minnesota athletes, and then what we are going to do, upon request from the National Football League, (is add) other people that they want to see. It’s up to them.
“We want to help the National Football League, and we want to help college-student athletes. One thing I will say (with) the NFL is if you are even close, they will request you. If they request them, we will make sure that they are on our campus.”
Instead of throwing passes in front of the majority of the NFL’s 32 teams at the U’s Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex, Nelson and Minnesota Duluth quarterback Drew Bauer worked out in front of three NFL teams at Minnetonka High School’s indoor complex that same afternoon.
http://www.twincities.com/2017/06/0...o-day-leaves-small-school-prospects-in-limbo/
Go Gophers!!