BleedGopher
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per GopherSports:
GS: The team wrapped up winter conditioning last week. How did that part of the process go?
P.J.: What we wanted to do with winter conditioning was connect this football team. I was very honest. I told our team I thought they were a group when we got here and did not consider them a well-connected team yet. We are getting there. Every day we are getting closer and closer. I wanted to show them the importance of connection and bringing people together and what a culture can do for people. That's what culture is, it's connecting people. We just have a very unique way of doing it. Our players have responded very well to that and they have learned to work within our culture and our system and a lot of them have seen a ton of growth so far.
GS: You and your staff have only been here for a few months, but what players have you seen emerge as leaders?
P.J.: It's hard to identify one because there have been multiple. We just had our first leadership council meeting last week and will have those every Thursday. I think those are very important. There are 36 leaders on our football team right now who were picked by their teammates to learn how to lead. What does it mean to be a leader and to develop those leadership skills as we go? I think that is very important. Instead of being able to separate and say I want this guy here and this guy there, I think our whole team is learning how to do it and they are doing it very well collectively. They are not just saying these guys are the leaders and they are the ones who are going to connect us. They have done it as a whole. They have gone out to dinner and lunch with each other a lot more than they ever have. You can tell when we played whiffle ball, the connection and excitement they actually have for one another. Now that has to come out in spring ball.
GS: Speaking of spring ball, the team will practice two times before spring break. What will be the main point of emphasis for those two practices?
P.J.: We want our players to learn our scheme. We learned how to work in winter conditioning and what our tempo is, but now we have to apply it to scheme and play within the system. I am talking about the techniques and details of football and not just working out and touching a line. Now it comes down to football and applying that. I think that is what we want to see in these first two days. We want to teach them how we practice. Our tempo and how we do things is very different and you have to adapt to that. Just like how we had to adapt to how we did winter conditioning because everything we are doing we are doing for the first time. There is a new system, a new offense, a new defense and a new special teams. Even a new way of moving from period to period. The way things are called is different and there are different names for drills. There are so many things that we have to be able to teach. And that is what those first two days are for. I have never done two days prior to spring break, but I think it separates it from our learning part. Yes, you are going to make mistakes, but I just want everybody flying around and getting to know how we do things. Then we come back from spring break and we are going.
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/030617aaa.html
Go Gophers!!
GS: The team wrapped up winter conditioning last week. How did that part of the process go?
P.J.: What we wanted to do with winter conditioning was connect this football team. I was very honest. I told our team I thought they were a group when we got here and did not consider them a well-connected team yet. We are getting there. Every day we are getting closer and closer. I wanted to show them the importance of connection and bringing people together and what a culture can do for people. That's what culture is, it's connecting people. We just have a very unique way of doing it. Our players have responded very well to that and they have learned to work within our culture and our system and a lot of them have seen a ton of growth so far.
GS: You and your staff have only been here for a few months, but what players have you seen emerge as leaders?
P.J.: It's hard to identify one because there have been multiple. We just had our first leadership council meeting last week and will have those every Thursday. I think those are very important. There are 36 leaders on our football team right now who were picked by their teammates to learn how to lead. What does it mean to be a leader and to develop those leadership skills as we go? I think that is very important. Instead of being able to separate and say I want this guy here and this guy there, I think our whole team is learning how to do it and they are doing it very well collectively. They are not just saying these guys are the leaders and they are the ones who are going to connect us. They have done it as a whole. They have gone out to dinner and lunch with each other a lot more than they ever have. You can tell when we played whiffle ball, the connection and excitement they actually have for one another. Now that has to come out in spring ball.
GS: Speaking of spring ball, the team will practice two times before spring break. What will be the main point of emphasis for those two practices?
P.J.: We want our players to learn our scheme. We learned how to work in winter conditioning and what our tempo is, but now we have to apply it to scheme and play within the system. I am talking about the techniques and details of football and not just working out and touching a line. Now it comes down to football and applying that. I think that is what we want to see in these first two days. We want to teach them how we practice. Our tempo and how we do things is very different and you have to adapt to that. Just like how we had to adapt to how we did winter conditioning because everything we are doing we are doing for the first time. There is a new system, a new offense, a new defense and a new special teams. Even a new way of moving from period to period. The way things are called is different and there are different names for drills. There are so many things that we have to be able to teach. And that is what those first two days are for. I have never done two days prior to spring break, but I think it separates it from our learning part. Yes, you are going to make mistakes, but I just want everybody flying around and getting to know how we do things. Then we come back from spring break and we are going.
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/030617aaa.html
Go Gophers!!