Gophers Coach P.J. Fleck Addresses the Media - Michael Hickey/Getty Images via X
Coach P.J. Fleck met with the press to discuss the upcoming season, the culture of Gophers Football, and the character, maturity, and poise of his players. Here is the discussion from the press event almost in its entirety.
Press (PR): How big a role will your special teams play in your team’s success this year?
P.J. Fleck (PJ): Boy, you hit it right on the head. Our special teams have to help us gain advantages. The return game made great improvements last season with a lot of young players contributing. Our kicker (Dragan Kesich) has a big leg. He has been in a lot of situations to win big football games with long-field goals. Some good, some bad.
Our punter (Mark Crawford) is one of the oldest guys on the team. We have both experience and inexperience on these units. A lot of the core special teams contributors are back. You can see it in the young linebackers and safeties. One of the best and deepest special teams units we have had in a long time. Our specialists have all gotten better. They’ve had a great offseason. And that can be a difference maker with the kind of schedule we have. I am excited about these units.
Sustainable Football Team
PR: You talk a lot about sustainability. Are you in a better spot now to withstand roster turnover than you would have been in the past?
PJ: Yes, cultural sustainability is what you are talking about. We’re in year seven. It doesn’t mean the win column will always go up, but I’m looking at how we build the program. When guys leave, you have someone developed in that role whether through the transfer portal or high school development.
We don’t recruit players. We chose them. You want your player to be familiar with the system and the culture. It has to be a complete fit. Academically, physically, socially, and spiritually. The older guys in the program set the example. You should be able to reload instead of having to rebuild all of the time. Sustainability is key for any team, especially ours.
Offensive Line Transitions
PR: You talk about transitions. It is happening on your offensive line. You have a new center in Nathan Bole. Quinn Carroll is moving inside to play right guard. You will have a new right tackle.
PJ: It will be the battle of chaos. Martez Lewis has played a lot of football for us. It’s about the race to maturity level. Kenric Lanire already looks like one of the older players. Martez is so much more mature. He’ll be fighting over that right tackle position with JJ Guedet. Quinn could slide over there. Quinn is such a great teammate; he will play anywhere.
You have Carter Shaw at left guard. He’s played a lot of college football. He can play center or either guard position. You have Tyler Cooper. I told him this is his time to go. Put your foot on the gas and go But there are going to be some exciting battles to watch. I really like some of the new players. The Tony Nelsons and the Ashton Beers have been fun to watch. Greg Johnson has matured very quickly. They want to help in any way they can. They want to be good teammates.
Quinn Comes Home
PR: You recruited Quinn out of high school, and then you had to re-recruit him. What was that process like?
PJ: The second time went much better than the first time. He was always a great fit for us. One of the best players in the state out of Edina. He has his degree from Notre Dame which is important to him and his family. I always run into his parents. We had always talked about if there is a chance for him to enter the portal, we’ll be all over him. It’s important to establish a bond. And hopefully, for Quinn, it was a no-brainer. Come back home and play.
Quarterback Comparison
Growth Of Kaliakmanis
FB: How would you compare your current quarterback and your former quarterback in similar stages of their career in terms of maturity and a word you like to use, poise?
PJ: Taller. We’ve really had two quarterbacks play over our ten years of being a head coach. This will be the third starter that we have invested time in. Athan (starting quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis) is a very different player than Zach (Terrell) or Tanner (Morgan). Athan has some amazing qualities as an athlete and as a thrower and a passer.
The biggest difference I have seen in him where he is now, which is similar to the other two relates to leadership and intangibles. Leading not just with the quarterbacks or offense but expanding that to the whole football team. He couldn’t do that last year. He wasn’t fighting it. Athan just didn’t have the experience or confidence in himself. He was just worrying about his role. Now you see that expanding.
The consistency has to go up because that is the similar piece that Zach and Tanner had. Athan and Cole (backup quarterback Cole Kramer) have to take that up. Coaches have to know what to expect. Athan has that X factor, that moxie, that X factor that he can create that maybe he did not before. He has to keep going, keep developing.
He sure is fun to coach, as is Cole. And Drew (third-string quarterback Drew Viotto) and some of the younger players are like that. I watch them and say, they’re going to be great players. I remember thinking the same thing about Rashod Bateman.
Defensive Improvements
PR: What are some of your major points of emphasis on defense in terms of what you have to do and personnel-wise?
PJ: Personnel-wise, it’s solidifying some positions. I think we have eight or nine defensive linemen who can rotate. Winston (defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere) has done a great job of developing that unit. I have complete confidence in him and coach Rossi (defensive coordinator Joe Rossi). These guys have matured. They are excited to play their positions. They are working on growing and getting better on and off the football field. We have a very grateful group of guys.
NIL and Transfer Portal Effects on College Football
PR: What do you think of NIL and the Transfer Portal?
PJ: I think they’ve been great. We have room for improvement here at Minnesota. Getting people to change thoughts, beliefs, and ideas that they had about giving. People get set in their ways. They may have to change how they donate to the program. They may not like it, but it is the wave of college football now. That is the way you help players stay with their teams. It’s critical to getting players to come here. It’s critical to keeping them here in Minnesota. NIL and the transfer portal were both invented for great and logical reasons.
But you take those things with no bumper lanes or rules, and who knows what is going on? You tie them to recruiting. There is no salary cap. People are feeling a little lost. People don’t talk negatively about NIL. We’re just asking for guidelines. We’re looking for some parity. I think the commissioners are moving in that direction.
PR: Have you determined who will do the play calling on offense, and why hasn’t it been announced?
PJ: We want to keep it in-house for now. We have an idea of what we’re going to do. We will announce it at the appropriate time. I apologize for that. It is really an in-house, cultural matter. We want to give our players all of the advantages we can, so we don’t want to release this information too early.
Theme for the Season
PR: One of the themes you have chosen for the season is “Poise over Poison.” How did you choose that theme?
PJ: Gerrit Chernoff (General Manager for the football team) and I are very close and spend a lot of time together. Every time we end a season and come back from a bowl game; we talk about the next season. We talk about the roster and roster management. What the personality of the next team will be? What will be the biggest challenges that this roster will face? And what are we going to have to do to connect this football team?
Poise
We started talking about this word poise. How were we going to teach the player about poise in a hundred and thirty different ways? We knew this word poise, which is control and balance in hostile situations. And how could we drive this home constantly? That’s where the idea of playing the music of the band Poison came into play. They all bought into it. Now they want just a little less Poison.
PR: You talk about the players that are recruited knowing what they are getting into when they come here. Did that article last week surprise you?
PJ: I spent a lot of time last week talking about that baseless article. I’ve moved on and I am now talking about 2023 and this football team. I spent a lot of time talking about that matter. Too much time. We lay everything out for the players. They see how things are done. They see me. And they know academically what the expectations are. Trust comes down to proof.
We have had 27 Academic All-Americans in the history of this program. And nine have come in the last six years. Coincidence? I don’t think so. They work hard for their grades. Our academic advisors and tutors work very hard to help these student-athletes. You have to value that piece to succeed here. We do everything we can to educate them.
Football, Aacdemic, and Social Accountability
There are also expectations socially. There are consequences. This is the first time that many of these young men have been on their own. “Row the Boat” is directly tied to charity. It’s tied to something much bigger than this football team, this university, or this state.
Also, what we do for discipline is well documented. We are so far ahead of the curve on this. And that’s why it’s hard to apologize for this.
And athletically, football has to be really important to you. It doesn’t mean it’s always a fit. That’s what the transfer portal is for. That’s what is so healthy about college football. Someone has the ability to do that. I’m really proud of how we run this culture and this football team.
PR: Has the team applied for an immediate waiver for Craig McDonald to play and has there been any update on this?
PJ: We definitely applied for the waiver. He’s going to be a really good football player. He had a heckuva day today. So, we’ve applied for the waiver. Now it is out of our hands. Our administration and football team have done everything we can to make him successful. And we’ll see what they do with that.
PJ: Appreciate everyone. Row the Boat! Ski-U-Mah! Go Gophers!
