COACH FLECK: Oh. No, I will get you a pair. I have an extra pair. I will get you some. You okay with that? I will give you some.

Transcription

1 P.J. Fleck Press Conference, Oct. 31, 2017 Q: Describe how you are dressed today. COACH FLECK: What's that? Halloween elite. How's that? I got my socks on for my boys. That's my Halloween costume today. Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk. Q: You must have lost a bet. COACH FLECK: Oh. No, I will get you a pair. I have an extra pair. I will get you some. You okay with that? I will give you some. Thanks everybody for coming. Appreciate all your coverage. I know today's a busy day. I know today's a busy day. And you've had to rearrange some things, so appreciate you being here. With that, I'll open up for questions. Q: Coach, what did you see out of Brandon Peters once he took the lineup for Michigan on Saturday? COACH FLECK: Well, I think he's a very efficient quarterback. I think he can do a lot of things on their offensive side of the ball. I mean, he's going to present some challenges, you know. The one thing is, you got to kind of go back to even high school film. You got some film, a little bit of film. You got to go back to high school, like get a highlight tape film and continue to do that. But their system I think obviously is going to stay the same. I mean, you have ten other players on offense that know their system and he'll step in there and execute it. But he's being developed by Jim Harbaugh, one of the best quarterback developers in the country, and I know that he's going to be really, really excited about getting his start. And, you know, that's opportunity, you know. That's why people talk about Wally Pipp, and that's why people talk about Lou Gehrig, you get your opportunity, take it and go. We saw what happened when we played against Maryland, kid had his opportunity and played one of the best games of the year against us. So, you know -- but we've got to be ready for a lot of things and, you know, maybe expect some of the unexpected as well. Q: PJ, is that typical Don Brown defense, blitz, press coverage? COACH FLECK: It is. I mean, they're in your face, they're going to press you, they're going to man you up and they're going to make sure they stop the run. It's typical done brown, you know, in the best way that's a commitment right when you start to say that's typical Don Brown. Even when Boston College didn't have really good teams their defenses played really well. You know, he's kind of a defensive genius and always has been. And I have a lot of respect for him and what he's done. Their front four are very, very active. And not that they're active and undersized. These are grown men. I mean, they're very, very talented. Big, strong athletic linebackers and the front four all play in sync, which I think that's what stands out to me the most. Usually when you kind of watch game film you can be able to see a distinction in that and find some weak holes, and what do they really flow well to, what do they not flow well to, what do they react to, what don't they react well to, then game plan from there. Michigan's front seven, it's hard to be able to do that, then they're in your face and press-man coverage the entire game and they challenge you. So we have a lot of challenges ahead of us, but those are opportunities that we talked to our team about this morning, and we look forward to it. Q: [Unintelligible] you think press as much as [unintelligible] you'll see on the outside? COACH FLECK: Yeah, they have. Q: Is that just -- is it going to be imperative to have your timing with your --

2 COACH FLECK: We're going to have to. First of all, you know, we're going to have to get off press coverage. One thing is we've seen a lot of press this year, we've seen a lot of man coverage, but I don't know if we'll see as much as we will from Michigan here coming up. And our receivers have to understand, until you're able to make plays down the field, make the plays, not just be open or have a good ball thrown, to make the plays down the field even when you're not necessarily a perfect ball or a perfect route, then people are going to do that to you. I mean, that's just how it goes. So we have to be able to understand that. And we've been working on that for a long time because we see press-man all the time. So that's how people are defending us, and that will be no different on Saturday. Q: How do you feel your offensive line has developed the season with the redshirt freshmen in there? COACH FLECK: How have they developed? You know, I think they're doing really well. I think we're number 2 in the country in terms of sacks given up. You know, that's a stat that you look at and you say: Okay. Well, that's a good stat to pull and why is that happening. I think our quarterbacks are doing a really good job of getting the ball out of their hand. I think -- you know, last game I thought we did a nice job of taking our quarterbacks' strengths and making the game plan around that and then eliminating weaknesses. So Demry was out of the pocket a lot more last week. We did a lot more draws. We did a lot of other things, nakeds, bootlegs to be able to get him out of the pocket. So -- but you can't just get a guy out of the pocket, you know. You've got to be able to set other things up too. So -- but I give them a lot of credit. Ed Warinner is doing a phenomenal job of developing our offensive line. There's two freshmen up there and then three others that are playing at a high level. Donnell Greene is really improving. I think Jared Weyler has really come on, you know, toward the last two games. I think he's played really well. He needs a whole off-season to get strong. Remember, he just got done with his surgery and basically went right into training camp, and he was not even going to make training camp, then he got hurt in season. So he hasn't even had a whole year to train and build his body. And Garrison Wright, I tell you, I think he's improving every single week. It's so important to him, especially finishing up his senior year, then he got the two freshmen. And they're going to fail and grow. I mean, Sam Schlueter got beat a lot off of the edge, but that's okay. And I told him: That's okay. Yeah, you failed in those parts, but you're going to be way better this week than you were last week because you continue to change your best. So I'm proud of how they're gelling. Offensive line plays all about how you play together, not just how good you are as an individual. Sometimes other positions you can get by by just being a really good receiver and beating a guy man coverage. Offensive line you all have to work in sync all the time. And that's what we've been missing because we didn't do that in spring because we didn't have the full unit in spring, but we've been able to hopefully expedite that as fast as we could. And Ed's doing a tremendous job. Q: [Unintelligible] your system has the center make all line calls? COACH FLECK: He makes a lot of them, you know. I mean, he does a lot of things. A lot of it's on our quarterback, though. Our quarterback changes protection, our quarterback helps with the Mike identification, but our center will make sure the O line hears it too. It's one thing for a quarterback to point out, but if it's in a loud arena, sometimes, you know, it's got to be distributed amongst the O line as well. So Jared does a really good job identifying the Mike. The quarterback does it as well. We actually have two guys identify the Mike. That way there is no confusion because the running back has got to be able to hear it and see it as well. And then once we change plays, if we do do that, we've got to reidentify or we're sliding the protection here or there. That's up to the quarterback. Q: What would a signature win mean for your program and do you need one this season? COACH FLECK: Well, I think winning in general I think is significant. I never take one win for granted. I don't necessarily think one win is more important than any other win. You know, we've got coaches that are getting fired for ten wins, nine wins, you know, so they're all significant in my opinion. I think for our past, present and future alum, right, of your institution, I think that's where you get into significant wins of people that have bled, sweat, gone through it to defeat rivals to bring home -- you know, bring home something, trophies, bring home material, bring home something, you know, that you pass on through

3 the years. I think that's really special. But I'm not sitting there saying we're in a dire need of some type of big, big, big win. We have to keep getting better. We have to keep progressing. Our process has to continue to get better. We have to execute better. It can't be just: Hey, we got this signature rivalry game and we have to play so much better just because of that. We have to play better because it's the next game. For everybody else, it happens to be the rivalry, and we have top 25 opponent, and one of the polls that we're going to play in one of the most traditional venues in all of America. So I think it's really important. Every game is important. And that's kind of how I teach our football team. Now, we teach what the rivalry means and the importance of the rivalry, but that doesn't mean it's okay if you play up here one game and play down here another game. We have to keep evolving. Q: Coach, what kind of impact has Ryan Santoso had as a leader, not only on the special teams but on the team as a whole? COACH FLECK: Can I give you a few stories? Q: Sure. COACH FLECK: I asked my team that: Can I tell you a story? They say: Yeah. They have to say yes, but one thing I'll say is Ryan Santoso is a phenomenal person. I think he might be one of the guys that lead our entire football team in community service serving and giving. He's always at fish and loaves he's always serving and giving any way he can, Children's Hospital every week. He's constantly out there in the community serving and giving. Kobe McCrary, prime example, because Ryan's playing really well, right? He's having a lot of really good results, performance. Kobe McCrary, great example. Eight months ago, start of that spring semester, he was academically ineligible. So if we played in the spring, he would not have been able to play. Well, Kobe McCrary through the spring semester, out of all the stuff that was going on, got a 3.0 GPA. Now Kobe's got a 3.1 GPA, and you see Kobe running for 150-some yards. I mean, coincidence? I'm not into coincidences. Better people, better players. You understand the process of becoming a better person, you're going to be able to play a lot better, and you get held accountable for that and know the importance of that. Payton Jordahl, our long snapper, doesn't get enough credit. Payton Jordahl has a spirituality class. And we talk about spirituality here in terms of believing in something bigger than yourself. The other day -- I hope he doesn't mind me telling this story. The other day he has a class in this spirituality class, has an assignment through the class and they said: I want you to go do something that's spiritual to you, something different, something outside the box. So most people go visit a different religion than they were. Payton Jordahl finds two people that are homeless, a man and a woman, sits down with them wherever they're at and asks them: What's your story? Interviews them. Not only interviews them, 30 minutes after talking to the both of them, asks them if he can take them to lunch. Takes them to lunch, learns more about these two and learns about what happened. Sometimes when we go down the street, we see people and that's all we see is what's there. Well, what's the story? What happened? At some point, what happened? And the stories these two people told Payton would change all your lives. And it's a great lesson of not judging somebody. And we talk about that all the time in our program. Don't judge yourself. Don't judge yourself. Just row. Just be better today than you were yesterday. Don't let all these other outside expectations of people who think what you should become affect you. Be the best you you can be. Kobe McCrary has done that. Payton Jordahl's done that. Ryan Santoso has done that. I can name a bunch of guys who have done that. Donnell Greene's done that. Now again, we're not 7-1, but that's not what this program's going to be about. We are eventually going to have 110 people that are all doing that, and you are going to see a significant improvement on the field in terms of wins and losses. So that's the way we run our program. And that's the way we'll continue to run our program. So Ryan's done a fabulous job. Sorry about storytelling 101, but I think you need to know those things. Q: What's the Michael Jackson theme this week?

4 COACH FLECK: Did I say that? Q: Uh-huh. COACH FLECK: Oh. Halloween. Michael Jackson is -- we talked about they week, we've got to start fast, accelerate in the middle, finish strong. If you've ever been to a Michael Jackson show, which now you're not able to go to those, but if you did in the past, you started the show with just: Oh! Every show was started with: Oh! And then in the middle of the strong it was like: Oh, did you just see that? In the middle of the concert, it was like: Oh, my gosh! Don't want this to end. And at the end, it was like: Holy cow, what a grand finale! The end of the song always ends with: Boom, something, right? Or it pulls at your heartstrings. And so that's kind of the dissection of Mike-how Jackson. And we pick a how theme and -- Norries Wilson came in here this morning and did his nice rendition of Thriller; since it is Halloween. Happy Halloween, everybody. Norries Wilson, you should have seen him dancing up here for the players. But yep, got to keep things exciting. Late October, Big Ten play. We're 1-4 right now. We've got to keep them smiling and keep the oar in the water all the time, get them to go out there to practice and had our best Tuesday practice we've had. And we've got to keep that energy up. And again, how do we want to make it look? It's finding cultural ways to teach the lesson you want. They all know Michael Jackson, and they have all seen his songs as and they have all seen his performances. And if they don't, they can all go look it up on YouTube and check it out. So that's why we did that. Q: Did you ever see him live? COACH FLECK: Call it another gimmick or whatever, but that's just how we do things. Q: Did you ever see him in concert? COACH FLECK: Yeah, I did. Yes, about half a show. But yes, I got a chance to see him. I tell you, he's one of the greatest performers of all time. I'm a country music fan, so I would compare that type of concert, you're probably thinking: There's no way. In country music, there's Garth Brooks. You go to a Garth Brooks concert, he is really, really good. I mean, he's one that had how many concerts in one night; two shows in one night. And he did that for three days in a row or four days. And you watch him sweat up there. You feel like you know Garth Brooks. Not sure why we're talking about Garth, but free pub for Garth. Hey, Garth, please come to the University of Minnesota. We'd love to have you join us. But it's true. It's one of those things that you have to show them: Okay, so if we're going to start fast, accelerate in the middle and finish strong, what does it look like? Yeah, coach. They'll just nod their head: Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, what does it look like? How does it look like in terms of their world and what does it look like in the football world? And that's my job to continue to show them examples of what that looks like so it's not just this thought of: Oh, yeah, we have to do this. But they want to do it. Q: P.J., third down, offense is obviously important in every game, but you're facing the best third down defense. I mean, do you just have to -- everybody's got to focus on that down and then being manageable down in distances there, you're not third and long all the time? COACH FLECK: Yeah, I heard a joke one time. This is not me saying this. I heard this a long time ago when we were -- Don Brown's defense is the best way to attack Don Brown's defense is a punt on third down. But that's not what I'm saying. That's a joke and a quote I heard about Don Brown. That's a compliment to him. But we have to win on first and second down. Their third down defense is exceptional, and they are going to do things on third down that we haven't seen, and we haven't prepared for it. That's why they're so good. They are going to come up with creative ways to attack or protection. They're going to do what they do but always have a few wrinkles. Don always does. But we have to win on first and second down. And we have to be very creative; but not only just creative, but we have to be creative enough that it highlights the strength of our football team. And we have to make sure that our players can play at a very, very high level and we ask them to do what they're capable of doing and eliminate the weaknesses. Again, like I said before, that's creative and that's shrinking the plan. You shrink the game plan. That's expanding and doing some things that we have to get better at

5 and rep those during the week that maybe we haven't done before, but we have to get it out there because it's the best play, then we'll do that. So we have to be able to get some experience before we get into our true system, all right, and get that depth and get all that knowledge first. Q: Coach, is that healthy competition that you talked about in the past with Croft and Rhoda, is that still -- do you see that in practice even though Croft kind of has had these last two starts? COACH FLECK: Yeah, I think you see it in the game too. The first one to meet our team off the field, whether it's offensive, defense, special teams is Conor Rhoda. He's a class act. He understood. We have a conversation after the sixth game that I was going to make a change. He understood. Whether he liked it or didn't like it, he understood. Very mature about it. And I have seen zero change in a negative way toward Conor's leadership. If anything, he's taken it and it's made him grow, because he's one play away from playing again. And I'm not saying I won't play him the rest of the year at some point. So he's always ready. But he is learning life lessons as he goes. But he's been a big-time influential leader now maybe even more than he was when he was the player because it's not the measure of a leader when things are going really well; it's when it's going the way you necessarily don't want it to go. What are you doing? And that's a prime example of what he's showing everybody, and I'm very proud of him. Q: Go back to McCrary real quick. When he came in, and he has -- you know, he's one-nine or whatever. Are you thinking he's probably not long for this place? COACH FLECK: Absolutely. Because you don't know anybody. All you're looking at is statistics, right? That's what it would be, whether it's GPA, whether it's in trouble, whether it's cases or whether it's whatever. You're looking at just data. You haven't got to the real core of the person. But I know, as I continued to meet with Kobe, Kobe wanted something significant for his life. And for that to happen, Kobe was going to have to change, and Kobe's changed. And I'm not -- I didn't know Kobe before. All I know is Kobe's changed every day, and I give him a lot of credit for that. And he's been able to show on the field. And that's just a prime example of what change your best is all about. Don't judge yourself, just row, just change, just continue to do better today than you did yesterday. And that's all we can control. There's so many factors outside for a student athlete that we can't necessarily control for them, but we can give them the tools to make sure they change in the right way. And I think Kobe is a prime example of that. I'm very proud of the young man, and I love him. I'm very, very proud of him. Q: A few weeks ago you mentioned Jared as a leader in that class. How have you seen that play out? COACH FLECK: Well, I think he's becoming more comfortable leading, being more vocal. It's really hard when you are not playing a lot or when you're hurt or you're coming off of surgery, that's one thing, right? But if you've played before, that's not that hard to do to lead. But now you got a new coaching philosophy, you got coaching schemes, you got new coaches, period. And now they don't know you as that leader. And so now you're hurt, and now you're trying to show you can lead, but we don't know what you can do yet. We've watched film of you. I think he's expanded his role and now he's a lot more comfortable being vocal. He's more comfortable in the system. He knows everybody on the offensive line. He's getting the most of out of them. He's not wasting his opportunities, but he's being a lot more vocal than he used to be. And you could tell he's getting a little bit more comfortable in his role. Like I said, I can't wait to see his future, because he's basically had a year and two months really of no training in terms of development; it was just recovery. And now we got to get him where he can develop. And that's why I'm really excited for him into the future. But I think he's really evolving into a really, really polished offensive lineman. Q: Coach, can you talk a little bit about Nick Connelly, what kind of [unintelligible]? COACH FLECK: Well, like I said before, I'll continue to say this, and I quote Bo Schembechler at Michigan. Those two states will be champions. This program's for some, some it's not. Some decide that they don't want to play football anymore, some want to play football forever. There's just so many decisions that get made, especially -- this is just part of when you take over a program. And he's had some injuries and

6 he felt it was probably in his best interest to not play football anymore, focus on some other things that are really important in his life. And when a young person comes and tells you that, you know, these are your children, these are players are your children, they are. And I know people get on me about children, well, people ask me about my kids all the time. I call my kids children. When they're 29, they're still my children. So that's how I'll always do that. But I care deeply about Nick, and I want what's best for him. And that's what we talked about. We had talked about this for a long time, and then it came one day, he said: I think I'm ready to do this. I said: Listen, I support you 100 percent. We're going to do everything we can for you here and continue to get you through school and get your degree and do those type of things and have you around here to help in some areas. But he's going to be missed. That's for sure. Because he's a really good player. But again, that's another hole that we have to be able to fix now as we continue to go forward and recruiting. Appreciate it. Row the Boat. Ski-U-Mah. Go Gophers. Thank you.