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Gopher Football coach PJ Fleck appeared on the Sports Huddle with Sid, Dave and Max.
(note - had a hard time hearing some of the questions and answers - may be going deaf...)
Sid: Do you keep Contact with commitments. How sure are you they won't keep their word?
PJ: not a guarantee. over 640 de-commits last year. (shorty- not sure if I heard that # right) that's about what they're averaging in college FB now. we try to talk to all of our recruits every day - text or talk on phone, or face time. we do everything we can to stay in contact. feel good about class. not done by any means. feel good about the type of young men we're bringing in here. It's a privilege to play for the U of MN.
Sid: talk about the kid from Notre Dame
PJ: Micah Dew-Treadway. DT. we knew we had to bulk up the interior. he's a tremendous resource. wonderful person. his parents live in the Mpls area. excited. big, strong, has a great soul. he makes his life about other people. work ethic is incredible. that's what we want to have here.
Sid: recruiting any JUCO's?
PJ: never say no, but right now we haven't been. this is a HS student-athlete class. that's the way we want to go. this is a developmental program. bring them in as FR, leave as SRs or come out early for draft. excited about the program - you can see the difference from when we got here to now
Max: how does the coaching staff divvy up recruiting assignments?
PJ: big thing. want to find coaches who are well rounded. need to be teachers - to teach the game. form relationships with people and recruit. got to hone in on the best people. every one of our 10 coaches can do all three at a high level. you watch them being fathers, husbands, great recruiters, developers of talent. for us, they've got to be able to do it all. where do we put them - places where they have connections. Callahan recruits Chicago. he knows that area well. so many bonds in area. that's how you do it. Patterson OK and TX - that's where he's from. that's how we do it on a regional basis. also recruit according to the position you coach.
Mona: has the transfer portal diminished role of JUCOs?
PJ: it has. you get a transfer come in, may have them for more years than a JUCO at times. it takes while to develop a player. you bring in a juco, you only have 2 years. it may take them 1 year to get acclimated, and then they've only got one year left. I don't know if it's been diminished, but you could tell, a lot of people would rather take a transfer than a juco - just because of the length of time you have them in the program.
Sid: what are players doing right now?
PJ: players are lifting, going to summer school, doing internships. they're really busy. we've given them a week off per month. when they come to training camp, we want them ready to go. don't want any burnout.
Max: is it automatic that all players take summer school?
PJ: we pretty much require them to take some level of classes. some take more classes. some take internships. some might need fewer credits, getting ready to graduate.
Sid: what about the Redshirt FR? will any of them be able to help you? (aka the Sid Question of the Week)
PJ: a lot of guys will be able to do that. Spann-Ford, Dunlap. lot of guys are very talented. And some of the true Freshmen- Gordon, Nubin. I like our FB team. love the way they've come together. (something about building a team-based program - missed some of it)
Mona: do you have a game-plan for using 4 games (for red-shirts)? does the staff track that?
PJ: it's done as a team. (lists 3 guys' names) in charge of roster management. I'm very involved. Marcus Hendrickson is a former NFL scout. huge asset for our program. looks like the GM. he observes practice. not there to coach, he's there to evaluate talent, depth. see if we need to build in that area. thinking years ahead. like an NFL GM.
Sid: only 12 seniors on this squad
PJ: we're still a very young team. a lot of people use that as an excuse. we were the youngest team in america last year. now we're the 2nd youngest, that's not an excuse - its reality. we're going to be young, but we can develop that talent into something special.
Sid: (missed question)
PJ: of course. 16 commits in June. one of the biggest months in program history, going back to when we were at WMU. it was truly an epic June.
Sid: lot of good ticket plans. they cut price of good tickets. great schedule. buy your tickets now. Murray's
PJ: RTB, ski-u-mah, Go Gophers. Enjoy your summer.
(note - had a hard time hearing some of the questions and answers - may be going deaf...)
Sid: Do you keep Contact with commitments. How sure are you they won't keep their word?
PJ: not a guarantee. over 640 de-commits last year. (shorty- not sure if I heard that # right) that's about what they're averaging in college FB now. we try to talk to all of our recruits every day - text or talk on phone, or face time. we do everything we can to stay in contact. feel good about class. not done by any means. feel good about the type of young men we're bringing in here. It's a privilege to play for the U of MN.
Sid: talk about the kid from Notre Dame
PJ: Micah Dew-Treadway. DT. we knew we had to bulk up the interior. he's a tremendous resource. wonderful person. his parents live in the Mpls area. excited. big, strong, has a great soul. he makes his life about other people. work ethic is incredible. that's what we want to have here.
Sid: recruiting any JUCO's?
PJ: never say no, but right now we haven't been. this is a HS student-athlete class. that's the way we want to go. this is a developmental program. bring them in as FR, leave as SRs or come out early for draft. excited about the program - you can see the difference from when we got here to now
Max: how does the coaching staff divvy up recruiting assignments?
PJ: big thing. want to find coaches who are well rounded. need to be teachers - to teach the game. form relationships with people and recruit. got to hone in on the best people. every one of our 10 coaches can do all three at a high level. you watch them being fathers, husbands, great recruiters, developers of talent. for us, they've got to be able to do it all. where do we put them - places where they have connections. Callahan recruits Chicago. he knows that area well. so many bonds in area. that's how you do it. Patterson OK and TX - that's where he's from. that's how we do it on a regional basis. also recruit according to the position you coach.
Mona: has the transfer portal diminished role of JUCOs?
PJ: it has. you get a transfer come in, may have them for more years than a JUCO at times. it takes while to develop a player. you bring in a juco, you only have 2 years. it may take them 1 year to get acclimated, and then they've only got one year left. I don't know if it's been diminished, but you could tell, a lot of people would rather take a transfer than a juco - just because of the length of time you have them in the program.
Sid: what are players doing right now?
PJ: players are lifting, going to summer school, doing internships. they're really busy. we've given them a week off per month. when they come to training camp, we want them ready to go. don't want any burnout.
Max: is it automatic that all players take summer school?
PJ: we pretty much require them to take some level of classes. some take more classes. some take internships. some might need fewer credits, getting ready to graduate.
Sid: what about the Redshirt FR? will any of them be able to help you? (aka the Sid Question of the Week)
PJ: a lot of guys will be able to do that. Spann-Ford, Dunlap. lot of guys are very talented. And some of the true Freshmen- Gordon, Nubin. I like our FB team. love the way they've come together. (something about building a team-based program - missed some of it)
Mona: do you have a game-plan for using 4 games (for red-shirts)? does the staff track that?
PJ: it's done as a team. (lists 3 guys' names) in charge of roster management. I'm very involved. Marcus Hendrickson is a former NFL scout. huge asset for our program. looks like the GM. he observes practice. not there to coach, he's there to evaluate talent, depth. see if we need to build in that area. thinking years ahead. like an NFL GM.
Sid: only 12 seniors on this squad
PJ: we're still a very young team. a lot of people use that as an excuse. we were the youngest team in america last year. now we're the 2nd youngest, that's not an excuse - its reality. we're going to be young, but we can develop that talent into something special.
Sid: (missed question)
PJ: of course. 16 commits in June. one of the biggest months in program history, going back to when we were at WMU. it was truly an epic June.
Sid: lot of good ticket plans. they cut price of good tickets. great schedule. buy your tickets now. Murray's
PJ: RTB, ski-u-mah, Go Gophers. Enjoy your summer.
