P.J. Fleck Press Conference on Aug. 25, 2017, to preview Minnesota s season-opening game against Buffalo on Aug. 31.

Transcription

1 P.J. Fleck Press Conference on Aug. 25, 2017, to preview Minnesota s season-opening game against Buffalo on Aug. 31. COACH FLECK: Hi, everybody. Q. Once Coach gets to the podium, we'll just go ahead and jump into questions. When you're ready, go ahead. COACH FLECK: Yeah, I think I've made enough opening statements for a year, half a year. Thanks, everybody, for being here, appreciate you. Always appreciate the coverage. Q. What will we see in Buffalo now you've had a chance to look at them a little bit, or have you? COACH FLECK: The great thing about Buffalo is we have a past relationship with Buffalo, known a lot about them for the last few years. We played them in November at Western Michigan University. They've got a phenomenal quarterback that we recruited when I was out there. He's about 6'6", 6'7", he can run, he can throw, he can do it all. He did not play in the game that we played against last year but he is going to be the starter, and I can see them investing the time into him as you would expect they would. Coach Leipold is a national football coach, he knows how to win and build a program, and he's doing that right now. They've got some transfer and I think a junior college receiver they've brought in to help them on the outside that we haven't seen before or know much about but I know they're very, very talented, looking at the high school and looking at the junior college film in terms of what they're going to bring to the Bulls. When you look at them offensively and defensively, they pretty much have everybody coming back, you know, from last year's team, so don't let the record fool you. They played a lot of people that maybe weren't ready to play at that time. Well, now they're a whole year experienced, and a whole year can make a huge difference. So, again, we've got a lot of challenges, offensively, defensively and special teams, and you just never know because I still haven't even seen our team play on game day yet, right, so you just don't know what you're walking into or what you have. You have an idea of what you have but in terms of how you know guys are going to respond on game day, that's the fun part about year one, the fun part about the journey. But we have to play our best football. We can't sit there and say, "Okay, this is Buffalo." Our team can't worry about who we play. Yes, the X and O forms the game plan but in terms of us, we have to be the best "us" we can be. Q. Coach, what have you been able to feel or experience and know anecdotally from the TV series "Being P.J. Fleck," and maybe in terms of some numbers that maybe have been shared with you; can you talk about having it in both those ways? COACH FLECK: Yeah, numbers in terms of Q. Maybe viewership or hits or something like that, and then I'm wondering, you know, how have you measured in terms of, you know, impact anecdotally, whether -- with recruits or feedback you've gotten.

2 COACH FLECK: Well, I think any publicity is really good publicity. You know, I mean, when people are talking about you, as long as it's not for such negative, negative things, then I think it's positive. When you talk about doing a reality show, it's the ability to be in all thoses homes when you're in a dead period. It's a dead period, obviously, but there was one team that wasn't dead on national television in August and that was the University of Minnesota four times for 30 minutes in people's living rooms. You make sure people know that we're going to be on TV at this time, and now dad, mom, brother, sister, uncle, recruits are sitting in that room watching it while no one else can really have the contact with them, especially 2019s, '20s, high school coaches getting their team together to watch that, here especially in the State of Minnesota, so I think that's -- that's priceless. I don't think you can ever put a price tag on that in terms of when you talk recruiting, but when you're talking about the number part, I don't know how many viewers viewed, I'm not into the TV business. But I do know it's had a huge impact, had a huge impact on our state. I can't tell you how many s and texts and Twitter messages you have of people that you haven't talked to for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, that were part of your journey and your path but, also, it's the people that you've never met, that reach out to you, that have cancer, that have breast cancer, that have children with autism, that maybe just lost their mom or lost their dad, or tragic things are happening to people all around us and they reach out to you about after watching your perspective and how you run our program, and you say -- and they say how you've influenced their life. That's -- that's more than any money, that's more than any win. That's more than anything and that's the purpose of having the show is to make sure that our culture gets out to as many people as it possibly can, to serve and give through television. And the more people we can serve and give, the bigger our boat will get, right, and the farther we can all go together. And that's part of it, everybody. That's why I'm here. And I've said that since day one in the press conference. I came here to serve and give our state, serve and give our community and that's what we'll continue to do. But it has a multiple of positives in my opinion. I'll be honest with you, I haven't watched a lot of the show. You know, you kind of get sent a day or two before, hey, here's the show and you kind of get to go through, and you don't know what they're going to show. You just live your life for five months, all right, and then, all of a sudden, you see what they're going to show. Okay, they picked that, they picked that. Why did they pick that? Why did they pick that over that? That's definitely good TV. They find me as years old in a Badgers' shirt, that's great TV. The one picture - - my mom and dad had a million pictures laid out and they picked that one picture. Go figure, right. I can't tell you how many tweets I had after that picture showed up. But that's the whole point of it. So, again, I really enjoyed doing the show. I enjoyed being able to share our life with our community, our state, our university, to make sure they get an inside look of what we're like every single day, and it's not like they just show up for, like, 30 minutes and do something. It's like -- it's a five-month period where they're with you a lot. I mean, a lot. So it's not like it's -- oh, that's just for that one act and they did that for that one act, they were with us. They lived our life with us, so... That was pretty exciting, I will say that. I did not pick the name of the show, just so everybody knows, I did not pick the name of the show. I would not have picked that name but that's the name of the show.

3 Q. With your quarterbacks, do you map out a script in terms of how that's going to go or is that a game flow type of thing? COACH FLECK: In terms of the reps and the series, we'll do that this week. Depending how the game plan -- as we continue to go through the next few days, how the game plan comes out and what we have in store, then we'll distribute that, plus even this week of how they handle the game plan, all right? Q. [Indiscernible] changes in the game, you got to sort of one quarterback is going hot and working well, do you adjust it and go with the flow of the game, how it's working? COACH FLECK: I think I've answered that question a few times, and just in terms of, you know, especially when you're having a two-quarterback system especially early. This isn't emotionally based, you know, and this is not what this is. This is two quarterbacks that have earned the opportunity to play. Obviously, as you go through the season -- I should never say "obviously," but as you go through the season, whoever is playing better is probably going to get more playing time. But right away, I mean, I want these guys if somebody makes a mistake, you know, failing is growth. If I think both of these guys are going to play perfect football by putting them in the game and motivate by fear of, "If you make a mistake, you're out," then I'm not a great leader, right? I want to be able to make sure they can play, run the system, and if they make a mistake, have the opportunity to respond to the mistakes, and that's fair and that's what they both earned. So, now, how they go through and how many reps, I'm not saying that's going to be evenly distributed. I'm not going to be sitting there counting that. We might just talk series, we might just talk flow of the game. A lot of things can come into play with that but it won't be strictly emotionally based. Now, obviously, if it's something that's catastrophic over and over, then you make a decision as a head coach, right, but right away, both guys are going to have opportunities to run the system, and we'll divide that somewhat evenly and then kind of go from there. Q. Coach, what do you want to carry forward from when you did this at Western Michigan and what do you think you can learn from in that experience? COACH FLECK: I think the biggest thing I've learned from is, however we say we're going to do it, leave it that way and don't let the emotions change you. Remember, year one, I was pretty emotional being a first-year head coach, first time head coach, playing two quarterbacks, that's the way I've learned from that and that was failing on my part as a leader. I was emotionally based, pull him out and put him in, and you continue to learn as you go on coaching, that's not the best way. So that's what I've learned and that's how we'll approach this season. Q. Your receiver corps overall, talk about them. COACH FLECK: Yeah, I'm very proud of the progress we've made there. Again, you're going to get what your work deserves here at the University of Minnesota, especially in playing time and depth charts, and especially with our culture and how unique it is. When you look at a Ty Johnson, I think he's probably made the most growth out of any receiver we have, and that's a compliment to him. And Demetrius Douglas, number 82, the new true freshman, you're going to see him play an awful lot,

4 Omar Douglas's son, very dynamic player, very explosive. Eric Carter is a reliable receiver, a senior, played a lot of football here, very possession-type guy, very smart, can do a lot, really good in the run game so he's going to be able to help us, as well. You look at Rashad Still, growing up. He's growing up. It's gotten better since training camp but, again, it's not just getting better as a wide receiver, and I mean what I say when I talk about that, everybody. It's a holistic approach, academically, athletically, socially, spiritually, and if you're not growing in all those areas, that's going to affect your playing time, and I've made that very clear to everybody. So, as a whole, we all have to continue to grow that way. But I think he's made huge strides to becoming a more mature player, not just a better player, a more mature player, and, remember, we define maturity when doing what you have to do becomes what you want to do. I think he's been better in those roles. So I'm proud of the progress they've made. We've got to continue to add depth. Chris Bell right now, we're still wondering if he's going to be red shirt or not. He's coming back from a foot injury but another true freshman that I think is very, very talented, but we'll decide and make some decisions as we keep going forward. He's one of those decisions you make that never sacrifice for what you really want down the road for what you want right now, and those types of decisions that you make whether you play them or not down the road. So those are the things we have to look at. Q. P.J., have you thought about the emotion, everything that went into you becoming a Big 10 coach, a Power 5 coach, what that moment will be like when you lead the team onto the field next Thursday? Coaching your first game at TCF Bank Stadium, as head coach of the Gophers? COACH FLECK: That's a great question. I'll be honest with you, because I'm not one of those coaches that ignore what you've done in your life. Just my wife was walking through the grocery store the other day with me and somebody stopped us, and somebody was very positive and somebody else stopped us and was very negative, and it was just amazing. And we kind of got talking about our career and our path and all the lives we've touched and all the lives that have touched us, and you kind of reflect back on your life a little bit and you think we're 36 years old, played in the NFL, coached in the NFL, went to the Cotton Bowl and the Mid-American Conference, took a team that way and done all these things, and now we're head coach in the Big 10 and that's a big deal to me. That's a big deal. That's a big deal to our staff and, you know, I'm never going to downplay that. We play in the greatest conference in college football and you get to be one of the 14 head coaches in that league and be with some of the greatest football coaches that have ever lived. That's an honor. I mean, I am humbled and honored to be in this conference, but just running out in the stadium, that's not the time to think about it. There is a game to play, and that's how I've always approached it. The time prior to games, prior to seasons, that's when you kind of celebrate that stuff or even just think about it and reflect, but in the season, you don't have any time to reflect about anything except getting the job done at hand, and when we run out of the tunnel, that won't be a moment where you stop and everybody looks around and you have a tear in your eye, that is not the time to do that. It will not be the time for me to do that, so -- I think I did that in the spring game. I think that was the time I did that 'cuz I know we'd come out with a victory that day so I knew that I could do it at that point. Q. P.J., how do you go about picking the music at practice and winding it up... [indiscernible] COACH FLECK: That's a great question. Everything is mapped out. Matt Childers, our video coordinator, does an absolutely elite job. I give him eight six to eight songs at times a day that I kind of -- hey, I

5 really want to hear this, this, this and this because this is the feel I want at practice. The specialists always have certain songs when they're kicking or punting. Certain different drills have different songs that are going on in that point. You know, when the solar eclipse was going on, we had our playlist of all the things that blocked the sun or had something to do with the sun or the galaxy or the moon because, again, it's the small details that show that practice matters, that even the music at practice is important to me because music touches all of our souls. Music takes us all somewhere, sometime, some place. It does. And so same thing at practice. If there's some way I want them to think, we do that. You're going to hear even stranger stuff throughout the year, I promise, in terms of just tactics that I feel can motivate and inspire, and that's what we'll continue to do. But, yes, it's well thought out, it's not just, hey, hit "Play." "Put it on Pandora Mix," that's not what it is. It is well thought out and Matt Childers does an elite job. Q. Do you use "Pressure," I saw with a couple specific drills? COACH FLECK: Absolutely. Yeah, "Pressure" comes on when our kickers kick, every single day. In terms of our P.A.T./field goal time, that's the song that stays at that moment, that time. So, again, that's pretty much a proper word when the field goal kickers are out there. Q. [Indiscernible] when do your depth issues show up the two lines? [indiscernible] COACH FLECK: Absolutely, it does. Q. [Indiscernible] Survive that in this conference? COACH FLECK: That's a great question, Chip, you know, that's a great question. We'll find out as the year goes. Right now, I think it was very clear when we were in spring ball, you know, even prior to us ever getting recruits here, you only have four guys at a time going in the spring at offensive line but we're going to have to have some freshmen play, that's the position you're in, and when we put them in there, that means we believe they can play. They're going to have to take some bumps, bruises, they'll have to fail to grow, that's what they have to do. Guys like Blaise, Blaise will have to play. Q. Normal circumstances, you would redshirt them but you don't have that luxury? COACH FLECK: Correct. You would like to be able to redshirt everybody. I would love to be able to redshirt Demetrius Douglas, Nate Umlor, all our freshmen, but when you're put in a position year one, you've got to put 11 out there and then you've got to have some backups out there in case somebody gets hurt, and you have to train that way. But I am proud of our guys on the offensive line because it has not been an easy year for them. You saw spring ball practices when there were only four or five guys at a time. Every rep in spring ball, but, you know, guys like Conner Olson, you can see, thank goodness he took every rep in spring ball. He's a redshirt freshman on our offensive line, possibly going to have a true freshman next to him at some point, right, and you're talking about the Big 10. But, hey, listen, that's the position we're in and that's what we're going to go out there with, and I have utmost confidence in all of them to get the job done. It's not like there's, why didn't you go that avenue? It's not like that, it's not like he went the young route because of the future. That's not the case. I did what we have to do right now to put our best football team on the field and that's the job of myself, but when you have those issues, you deal with them. There are challenges -- they're not only challenges,

6 they're opportunities. Those are all opportunities for someone. And, again, this isn't just -- like I said, this isn't all chip's on red here in one year, this is we're going to develop our players the way that we feel our program can develop. It's not just going to be, oh, let's fix it with just 22 junior college members and hurry up, get a quick fix. That's not what we're doing. Especially with our depth issues. Defensive line, that's something that we have I think our front seven is very, very talented but when you talk about from the one-defensive line to the two-defensive line, that's where you have to continue to take that next step and that growth. Next year, which isn't this year but next year, we have to be able to have some guys play that aren't even here right now, and that's the issue we'll face next year, kind of the same, similar situation we're in the offensive line this year. Q. Team health going into the game. COACH FLECK: I think we're probably like everybody else. We got some dings, we got some bruises, we got some guys hurt here and there but I think we're doing tremendous in the injury department. I think Syp, our head trainer, our new head trainer, Mike has done an elite job of coming here and really kind of changing the culture down in our training room. I think he's done an elite job of that. Arno Rheinberger, who's our director of rehab has done an elite job. And then Dan Nichol, I've said it numerous times, I think he's the best strength coach in America. And our coaches down there have done an absolutely elite job. And that's a direct reflection of how you go about practicing, how you go about your soft tissue work, how you go about team coffee which is what we call it in the morning, which is our team stretch before -- right when we get up to get our bodies healthy. The hydration with Abigail, and nutrition with our nutritionist, those are all the things the investment into your body and the prevention of injuries is incredibly important, so we're getting there. It's a game of football. This isn't where, you know, this isn't golf where you just, you know, where it's a non-contact sport. This is a violent game. There's going to be injuries but I'm very proud of our people from doing what we said we were going to do. We have to keep our players on the field, got to keep them healthy but that takes an investment not only from us as coaches and trainers and weight staff but also from our players to invest in their bodies and make their whole life important to them. Not just football but what they put in their bodies, right, and the commitments and the sacrifices they're making about not doing the other things and, for the most part, we've been pretty good with that. Q. What do you think about the running back depth behind Smith and Brooks? COACH FLECK: Well, I think Glen Mason said it best, you need a pair and a spare. That's at every position, that's not just running back but at every position. Right now, obviously Shannon and Rodney have done an elite job, they've continued to get better. I think Kenni Burns is one of the best teachers at the running back position that I've ever been around and I think they've benefited from being around Kenni Burns. Kobe McCrary I think has really grown probably the most out of any back. I really believe that. Not only just in the way he runs the football. He's 240 pounds but his pass protection has gone through the roof. And that's where I'm really proud of our backs. Our pass protection has been really, really elite, and in the spring I thought we could grow a lot in that area and I was really proud of the progress there. Then you look at guys from there, you know, Mohamed Ibrahim, one of the true freshmen, has really

7 impressed us this off season, especially in the training camp the last three weeks. So I like the depth behind us but, like I said, it's the Big 10, we have to be ready for two, three guys at a time going down especially with the way we run the football, and we'll continue to do that. Q. [indiscernible] Matt Simon on your -- [indiscernible] and Minnesota connections, how do you leverage that given the fact that he's from here and recruits the state? COACH FLECK: Yeah, he recruits the state. He knows the state better than I know the state, being from Farmington, Minnesota. Matt Simon I think is one of the hot, young, up and coming coaches in our profession, I really believe that. I think we have a bunch of them on our staff, to be honest with you, and I wouldn't have hired them if I didn t think that. Matt played for me at Northern Illinois, worked for me at Western Michigan University, and now he's here at the University of Minnesota where he belongs. He's deserved the opportunity to coach wide receivers at the Big 10 level already, and if you look back at how old he is, I mean, shoot, he's farther along than I was in terms of the journey, and I'm very proud of him as a coach, and the process and the progress he's made as a coach, and as a man. But, you know, he's strictly responsible for the development of Corey Davis in terms of what he was able to become, taking two receivers at Western Michigan who hadn't played at all and having them catch 40, 50 balls and being huge supporters around Corey Davis. Daniel Braverman being drafted to the Chicago Bears and leaving early as a junior, that's all Matt Simon, and watching Ty grow the way he has, watching Demetrius Douglas being here three weeks and he's already in the starting three, that's a credit to Matt Simon and I'm very proud of him. But I think Matt's on the rise in terms of what he wants to become and how he wants to live his life as a coach. Q. When you came, Smith and Brooks were already regular team. The way the quarterback situation has developed, has that led you to believe you might have to rely on those two even more than maybe you originally -- COACH FLECK: That's a great question about relying on our backs. We have to -- as coaches, our job is to make sure -- put it this way. If we think we're just going to rely on Brooks and Rodney, I think we're crazy, right, because there's ways to stop them, all right? I mean, we still got to get 10 yards and if eight guys are always in the box, it's hard to get two yards, okay, especially at the line of scrimmage. They can make people miss and run people over, I get that, but there's only so many hits you can take. We're going to have to have people around them make plays. Our quarterbacks are going to have to make plays, tight ends are going to have to make plays, and that's what you're really excited about because, like I said at the beginning of the press conference, I just don't know. I don t know what Woz will do in a game or if Lingen is going to breakout and have a great game. I would love them to but you don t know. I don't know what Demetrius Douglas can do in a game in the Big 10 because I've never seen it. I've only known him for three weeks before we recruited him and really only seen him once in person in those three weeks and then, I've really only seen him in person for about 24 days so you just don't know what he's going to do. Ty I haven't seen in a game and he was kind of in a back-up type role last year, now he's the guy. Rashad Still, in terms of how we've developed him, what's he going to look like. That's the exciting part. Like, that is exciting. Our quarterbacks. I don't know if you get excited for Gopher football or you keep it like because you're the media and you keep it right here but somewhere in your soul, you got to at least be excited, because you cover our team, to see what these guys can do, right? I'm excited just like you. So...I might know a little bit more information than you but I'm excited just like everybody else, and that's where there's going to be guys that emerge that everybody goes,

8 wow! Wow! And then there's going to be people like, well, I think he can play better, that's how the season is going to go, but we need people to step up and not just think of Rodney and Shannon, oh, we got them, we'll just lean on them. I've told you the same thing I've told our football team, I've made that comment to them a lot. If you think we're just going to rely on those two guys, you're crazy. They're going to be a big part of it but there's things as coaches we can do to take them out of the game. Q. Coach, how are you on game day in terms of being involved in play calling? COACH FLECK: You know what, I was very involved early as being a head football coach. I've kind of separated myself, Kirk and I have been so connected for so many years. Situational ball, I probably call way more than the average first and second down things because I'm involved with my players on game day, you know, and that's one thing as a head football coach, I want to go over there and leave at times and go talk to the defense, be talking to the defensive players, be talking to the offensive players as people, not just as football players when they make mistakes, when they do something really good. Have messages for the team, how I want them to respond to the next play. I have some of the best coordinators in the country. Why would I interfere with them doing their job that they spent so much time on, that they're spending time on right now and I'm in here. Right? So every minute is critical but I'm not as involved as much as I used to be but still involved enough. Q. How do you feel that coaching the MAC has prepared you for the Big 10? COACH FLECK: You know, I think -- I think -- I'll be honest with you, I think coaching is coaching, right? It's still football. The field's still 100 yards, there's still situations that come up. It's not like different situations don't come up in the Big 10 than they did in the Mid-American Conference. What I loved about the Mid-American Conference was everybody was on a fair, even playing field. Nobody had the $400 million facility, you know, nobody had the national championship history. You know, nobody had that. And so when you're kind of recruiting and you're playing, you're all kind of in the same category, and what I loved about it was our coaching staff got to do things and we got to recruit in a unique way that I think kind of separated ourselves. And then when you get to this level, you know, especially being at Minnesota, you've had the tradition of the 18 Big 10 championships, seven national titles, but you haven't had it for 50 years and there's other teams that have had it before -- since then, and I don't think it's as equal of a playing field as it was. I think those are the only -- in terms of differences, but I think that you can create as much as you possibly can with facilities and the way you recruit, how you recruit and the success you have on the field, and you can create the next powerhouse within a conference. I think you can create that. I mean, who would have thought Western Michigan would have been the powerhouse in the league four years ago, right? So I think you can create that, but I think it was everybody kind of was in the same playing field and you had to somehow separate yourself to get to the top. And I think our coaches were able to do that. And recruiting and developing our players could do that. Bringing the same formula here, right, and then obviously time will tell if we can be able to do that. Q. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Coach. COACH FLECK: Ski U Mah, go Gophers. Appreciate your coverage.