P.J. Fleck scrambles to salvage first recruiting class at Minnesota - ESPN

[Iceland12]

In the end, the Golden Gophers ended up with the No. 58 class, according to ESPN Recruiting Nation, to rank 13th in the Big Ten, one spot ahead of Purdue. But that was actually an improvement on where Claeys' class ranked before the coaching change, and considering all the factors at play, was a solid showing.

In fact, nine of the 15 players who committed under Claeys left the fold after his firing on Jan. 3. Fleck still managed to bring in 25 total recruits less than a month later, including six prospects who had committed to him at Western Michigan.

"The first thing you do is call the people who were committed to you before and see if they have any interest," Fleck said. "Those guys who traveled with us didn't even see the University of Minnesota. They committed sight unseen. I think that shows the power of our culture."

While taking recruits from his former school surely ruffled some feathers back in Kalamazoo -- just as James Franklin did when he took some Vanderbilt commits to Penn State -- Fleck said it was important to bring with him players he knew well given the compressed time.

"That first class, you want to know them as much as you can, because you'll be with them for four or five years," he said. "You want to make sure it's truly your culture, and those guys exemplify our culture."

From there, Fleck and his assistants worked their previous connections as hard as they could to find some late additions. He kept all of Minnesota's in-state pledges on board, including standout offensive lineman Blaise Andries.

Thought it might have been tempting to simply take the best available players, given the time frame and his lack of familiarity with the roster, Fleck said his staff had to fill needs. Minnesota not only lost several seniors, but 10 players are suspended indefinitely in connection to an alleged sexual assault in early September and could face expulsion.

"We don't have a freshman, a redshirt freshman or a sophomore at defensive tackle on our entire roster, and we have only one junior there," Fleck said. "We're very thin at the defensive back position and will be as we move forward, possibly."

"We became a lot younger, very quickly. In 2018, we'll probably be one of the youngest teams in the country. So we had to be able to look two years ahead, not just one year ahead, when we built this class to at least provide some depth for the future."

Quarterback was another area of need. Mitch Leidner graduated, and two of his backups are suspended. The Gophers signed three quarterbacks in this class, including a junior-college signal-caller who had committed to Claeys and enrolled early. The two Fleck-recruited quarterbacks are Tanner Morgan and Reyondous Estes, the latter of whom could play wide receiver or defensive back because of his athleticism...

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/pos...o-salvage-first-recruiting-class-at-minnesota

 

[MNVCGUY]

On a side note, I really hope this is one of the few times we hear Fleck lean on the young team thing. Drove me nuts how Kill went to that crutch constantly over the years. In year one it is ok to talk about your team being young as a reason for some struggles but it wears thin really fast when you are still banging the "we are young" excuse multiple years later.

 

[jonnyganas]

On a side note, I really hope this is one of the few times we hear Fleck lean on the young team thing. Drove me nuts how Kill went to that crutch constantly over the years. In year one it is ok to talk about your team being young as a reason for some struggles but it wears thin really fast when you are still banging the "we are young" excuse multiple years later.

There seems to be a difference between the two coaches in how they describe the youth of their program. When Fleck described his philosophy of getting Freshmen playing time, it didn't sound like using youth as an excuse for poor performance. He seemed to indicate getting them experience early will keep them engaged and all-in on the culture and will foster future leaders of the team, so that when they are upperclassmen, they won't make mistakes in clutch-time because they have been there already.

Kill took a different approach by tempering expectations. He emphasized that it would take the better part of a decade to deliver the program to where it could be. Kill did a tremendous job righting many of the wrongs of Brewster dumpster-fire years and left the program on significantly more solid ground than when he arrived, but used a very conservative (and one could argue conservative play-calling) to get there. It was what the program needed at the time, but this is a different time.

One thing I like about Fleck is ability to lay out his vision and make his process transparent. These are the goals, here is the process, this is what it takes, and here is how we will make incremental 'wins' along the way. For a Gopher FB junkie, it's refreshing.

 

[the.chucker]

I wonder of the 9 that left, was it the coaching change or was it the stigma of the rape allegations...for me and my kid, the rape allegations would be more of a deciding factor...

 

[dpodoll68]

I wonder of the 9 that left, was it the coaching change or was it the stigma of the rape allegations...for me and my kid, the rape allegations would be more of a deciding factor...

Are you talking about the 9 recruits who committed to Claeys and then left under Fleck? In most cases, it was because Fleck didn't want them anymore.

 

[e.bigelow]

There seems to be a difference between the two coaches in how they describe the youth of their program. When Fleck described his philosophy of getting Freshmen playing time, it didn't sound like using youth as an excuse for poor performance. He seemed to indicate getting them experience early will keep them engaged and all-in on the culture and will foster future leaders of the team, so that when they are upperclassmen, they won't make mistakes in clutch-time because they have been there already.

Kill took a different approach by tempering expectations. He emphasized that it would take the better part of a decade to deliver the program to where it could be. Kill did a tremendous job righting many of the wrongs of Brewster dumpster-fire years and left the program on significantly more solid ground than when he arrived, but used a very conservative (and one could argue conservative play-calling) to get there. It was what the program needed at the time, but this is a different time.

One thing I like about Fleck is ability to lay out his vision and make his process transparent. These are the goals, here is the process, this is what it takes, and here is how we will make incremental 'wins' along the way. For a Gopher FB junkie, it's refreshing.

Really like this whole post and I agree with it. +1.

 

[37score]

Are you talking about the 9 recruits who committed to Claeys and then left under Fleck? In most cases, it was because Fleck didn't want them anymore.

Some of them might have just liked Claeys or one of the other coaches.
Some may have been worried about the U and the allegations / issues.
Some may have decided to switch anyway as the date approached.
Some may have really disliked Fleck for all we know.

In the end, it probably doesn't matter much.

I'd be more worried after you have a coach established for a couple years, then see defections like that our active transfers out of a program.

Too many variable in play to assess this one accurately unless you interviewed each one individually. Even then you might not get the full truth.

 

[dpodoll68]

Some of them might have just liked Claeys or one of the other coaches.
Some may have been worried about the U and the allegations / issues.
Some may have decided to switch anyway as the date approached.
Some may have really disliked Fleck for all we know.

In the end, it probably doesn't matter much.

I'd be more worried after you have a coach established for a couple years, then see defections like that our active transfers out of a program.

Too many variable in play to assess this one accurately unless you interviewed each one individually. Even then you might not get the full truth.

Nah. In most cases, it was because Fleck didn't want them anymore.