Fleck on Sports Huddle 3-19-17

Gopher FB Coach PJ Fleck appeared on the Sports Huddle with Sid, Dave (and Mike) on Sunday.

Sid: how was your vacation? (went to Hawaii)
PJF: tremendous

Sid: find any players there?
PJF: went there to relax, not to work. (notes Hawaii does have track record for producing big linemen)

Sid: 3 days of practice so far- what have you learned?
PJF: 2 days so far - 3rd day on Tues. Biggest thing -Players know how we practice. Surprised some of them. Got to see expectations - become expectations. You are the standards. Put pads on Tuesday, get more physical as we more forward. everyone gotten reps - not equal, but gotten reps.

Sid: any more committments?
PJF: can't speak specifically. (said there was another commit recently)

Sid: what about players in spring practice (I think referring to new recruits enrolling early?)
PJF: (didn't address question directly - don't think he understood Sid....) whole team willing to do things we ask them to do. everyone wants to impress. energy level high. long way to go - new system on offense/defense. get them to learn what we're doing.

Sid: same question (about players in spring practice)
PJF: only about 3 guys (in that situation)- only had 2 practices with no pads so far (so can't tell much about any individual player)

Sid: spring game?
PJF: big issue - only 6 OL - not sure it's going to be a game - not enough bodies. I might be playing LT by 2nd quarter. Got to get through Spring healthy. learn system - come together as a FB team. Look at team now as a group - not as a true team. bring them closer every day of practice.

Sid: (NCAA) voted on adding a coach?
PJF: love to see it. necessary with demands of recruiting. limitation in amount of coaches you can have on the field vs. the amount of players. Use to be elem teacher - learned that student to teacher ratio is really important - look at other sports - have better ratio (coaches to players). like to see coach added for teaching factor on the field.

Sid: new signing date?
PJF: no news yet. lot of coaches want it - lot don't want it.

Sid: any (position) switches to fill holes?
PJF: major issue with numbers. we don't have a FR or SO at DT - major gap there - major shortage at OL. not just talent, but depth. have to work on that for the next two years. once we get through this season, we're going to get a lot younger - big youth movement in the course of the next two years. depth issue we have to fix.

Mike: how are practices different?
PJF: not one to use conditioning as punishment. it's mental conditioning. practices last about 1 hour 35-minutes - non-stop, take about 15-seconds between drills - goes for everyone - be moving as fast as possibly can. on offense, move more quickly between plays. we need to learn how to be able to react on the fly - using instinct instead of thinking.

Mona: Kirk Ferentz likes to recruit TE's and convert into linemen
PJF: it all depends. we've got kids committed who might weigh 250 now - might grow into a tackle. If they're 220 (in HS) hard to project - got to gain 80 pounds - look at everything (frame, parents, etc) to determine where is a kid going to go. If they are 240-250 in HS, great chance to become a tackle. I Love very athletic linemen - had very athletic linemen at WMU. We run an inside zone scheme; linemen need to be able to get out in open space, cut and run. At the same time, we're in the Big Ten - got to have big linemen too.

Sid: Murray's certificate.
PJF: row the boat. Ski-U-Mah.

Here's an idea. Have Sid write out his questions prior to the Fleck interview. Then switch them out with ones he hasn't asked 3-4 weeks in a row when he's not looking.

Tremendous.

I'm stoked by the new offensive philosophy, not so much by his stating they're instituting a new scheme on defense. We'll see. The defense was really rounding into form schematically towards the end of the year, utilizing our deep LB corps. If it ain't broken...

Pompous Elitist said:

Tremendous.

I'm stoked by the new offensive philosophy, not so much by his stating they're instituting a new scheme on defense. We'll see. The defense was really rounding into form schematically towards the end of the year, utilizing our deep LB corps. If it ain't broken...

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How would they not need a new defensive philosophy when none of the coaches are there anymore? Anyways I heard Smith is using 3 D-Lineman and a 4th standing LB off the edge.

Thanks for filling in today. Very much appreciated!

Sure hope that Justin Gard will have Fleck on a weekly TV show.

Johnnyboy18 said:

How would they not need a new defensive philosophy when none of the coaches are there anymore? Anyways I heard Smith is using 3 D-Lineman and a 4th standing LB off the edge.

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Maybe because the defense was pretty damn good the last 5-6 years? Like PE said...if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Johnnyboy18 said:

How would they not need a new defensive philosophy when none of the coaches are there anymore? <b>Anyways I heard Smith is using 3 D-Lineman and a 4th standing LB off the edge.</b>

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I would love for us to continue the 3-4 with this roster. Encouraging!


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Thanks SON


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Will note - taking notes is harder with Fleck because he talks a lot faster than Kill or Claeys. I basically had to outline a lot of his answers and go back to fill in later. A couple of times I really wasn't sure what he meant - including the "you are the standards" line - assuming I heard it correctly.

I thought his answer on the OL was the most interesting of the interview - talking about the qualities he wants in OL - Big emphasis on mobility and blocking in open space. That could shed some light on future decisions regarding playing time for returning players and recruiting philosophy for OL. Kill and Claeys seemed to want more road-graders on the line. Sounds like Fleck values mobility over bulk. Also interesting discussion about types of players who can bulk up and move to OL.

PMWinSTP said:

Maybe because the defense was pretty damn good the last 5-6 years? Like PE said...if it's not broke, don't fix it.

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Every coach has a different system even if they run the same scheme.

Johnnyboy18 said:

Every coach has a different system even if they run the same scheme.

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Every coach?

short ornery norwegian said:

Will note - taking notes is harder with Fleck because he talks a lot faster than Kill or Claeys. I basically had to outline a lot of his answers and go back to fill in later. A couple of times I really wasn't sure what he meant - including the "you are the standards" line - assuming I heard it correctly.

I thought his answer on the OL was the most interesting of the interview - talking about the qualities he wants in OL - Big emphasis on mobility and blocking in open space. That could shed some light on future decisions regarding playing time for returning players and recruiting philosophy for OL. Kill and Claeys seemed to want more road-graders on the line. Sounds like Fleck values mobility over bulk. Also interesting discussion about types of players who can bulk up and move to OL.

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These days with nutritionists and dietitians on staff, bulking up is much, much easier to do quickly and efficiently.

PMWinSTP said:

Every coach?

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Yes? No calls, communication, or play calls are the same.

Johnnyboy18 said:

Yes? No calls, communication, or play calls are the same.

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Based on what I've read in the past Robb Smith historically has run a 4-3 under as his base defense, and he and Bielema made indications they were going to transition to a 3-4 this offseason, before Robb resigned/was fired. Obviously teams use a variety of defensive schemes depending on down and distance, type of offense, etc including our gophers. Last year it said seemed we were seeing more and more of 3 down lineman or 2 down lineman particularly on passing downs and we had some pretty spectacular results (the Cashman/Coughlin show ). Personally I liked the move towards more linebackers and DBs on the field and as simply wondering if Robb will continue that transition process. Obviously other things like calling blitzes are high risk, high reward and it will be interesting to see how the overall flavor will be vs Sawvel.

I have no idea what's going to happen. Could be better!

SON, thanks for stepping up to cover the Sports Huddle! Good job. And yes, it is tougher to take notes during the Fleck interviews; he does speak rapidly.


Go Gophers!!

DL65 said:

SON, thanks for stepping up to cover the Sports Huddle! Good job. And yes, it is tougher to take notes during the Fleck interviews; he does speak rapidly.


Go Gophers!!

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I respectively disagree with that. Unless you are fluent in Sid English is easier for most of us.

Johnnyboy18 said:

Yes? No calls, communication, or play calls are the same.

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Okey Dokey.

Thanks, son. To be honest I asm losing a bit of my excitement level over Fleck. Sure hope results pick it back up. 6 OL? You prepare are to have that many injured or at least dinged.

short ornery norwegian said:

I thought his answer on the OL was the most interesting of the interview - talking about the qualities he wants in OL - Big emphasis on mobility and blocking in open space. That could shed some light on future decisions regarding playing time for returning players and recruiting philosophy for OL. Kill and Claeys seemed to want more road-graders on the line. Sounds like Fleck values mobility over bulk. Also interesting discussion about types of players who can bulk up and move to OL.

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The first thought that came to mind when I read this was Connor Mayes. He did not exactly seem like the most mobile lineman.

short ornery norwegian said:

Will note - taking notes is harder with Fleck because he talks a lot faster than Kill or Claeys. I basically had to outline a lot of his answers and go back to fill in later. A couple of times I really wasn't sure what he meant - including the "you are the standards" line - assuming I heard it correctly.

I thought his answer on the OL was the most interesting of the interview - talking about the qualities he wants in OL - Big emphasis on mobility and blocking in open space. That could shed some light on future decisions regarding playing time for returning players and recruiting philosophy for OL. Kill and Claeys seemed to want more road-graders on the line. Sounds like Fleck values mobility over bulk. Also interesting discussion about types of players who can bulk up and move to OL.

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Thought about Mason's OL's. I'm really not that worried about the OL. Plenty of time to get healthy. Being mobile and blocking in space also means being lighter in most cases, so the bulk up stuff is a little bit of a head scratcher.

diehard said:

6 OL? You prepare are to have that many injured or at least dinged.

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Huh?

PMWinSTP said:

Thought about Mason's OL's. I'm really not that worried about the OL. Plenty of time to get healthy. Being mobile and blocking in space also means being lighter in most cases, so the bulk up stuff is a little bit of a head scratcher.

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I wonder if he means in the context of recruiting TE'S for the O-Line. Wanting a lighter faster lineman would still require a kid that played TE in HS to bulk up some. I wonder is his scheme so different that he would not have recruited any of our current lineman? Are they all too big for his system?

Thanks SON. Listening to Sid on this show is the GH equivalent of falling on a grenade. Medal-worthy.

Good fill-in report, SON. Thank you.

Pompous Elitist said:

Tremendous.

I'm stoked by the new offensive philosophy, not so much by his stating they're instituting a new scheme on defense. We'll see. The defense was really rounding into form schematically towards the end of the year, utilizing our deep LB corps. If it ain't broken...

Click to expand...

Yeah, but on the same sense you probably don't want a DC trying to use a system he's not familiar with or used personally and now he needs to learn it then try to teach it. I guess Coach Fleck could have hired a coach who used the "same" system elsewhere, but I assume he has a preference for a different system for whatever reason...

Obviously lots of different defensive systems can be effective if you have the right players. Hopefully what they're going to will be successful with the players they currently have and keep getting more so as they recruit to the new system moving forward.

Lakeville Goldy said:

Yeah, but on the same sense you probably don't want a DC trying to use a system he's not familiar with or used personally and now he needs to learn it then try to teach it. I guess Coach Fleck could have hired a coach who used the "same" system elsewhere, but I assume he has a preference for a different system for whatever reason...

Obviously lots of different defensive systems can be effective if you have the right players. Hopefully what they're going to will be successful with the players they currently have and keep getting more so as they recruit to the new system moving forward.

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I think this ties in with Fleck's comments about getting younger over the next two years. Reading between the lines, I get the sense that Fleck has a very specific idea of the type of players he wants for each position group - and I suspect that some of the current players on the roster don't fit his schemes. Don't be surprised if there is a fairly significant roster turnover during the next two years, resulting in very young teams for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. If I'm on the right track, Fleck is pointing toward 2020 as the big year for his program, because that would be the first season he would have a roster composed almost entirely of "his" type of players.

Seems that Jerry Kill came in with the idea of having a quick, agile OL, but changed that philosophy when he ran up against B1G defenses that pushed the lightweights around.
It will be interesting to see how Fleck evolves to the league in which he now coaches.

short ornery norwegian said:

I think this ties in with Fleck's comments about getting younger over the next two years. Reading between the lines, I get the sense that Fleck has a very specific idea of the type of players he wants for each position group - and I suspect that some of the current players on the roster don't fit his schemes. Don't be surprised if there is a fairly significant roster turnover during the next two years, resulting in very young teams for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. If I'm on the right track, Fleck is pointing toward 2020 as the big year for his program, because that would be the first season he would have a roster composed almost entirely of "his" type of players.

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Coyle has to be pissed as hell.

Coyle in the very heart of trying to sell renewals and new season tickets for 2017 this week, this month.

All Fleck can talk about every chance he gets with Dunkers or Sid is the six oline guys, the zero underclassmen defensive tackles, that he has to teach them "how" to practice. That it will get even worse in 2018.

I would expect Coyle to have a sit down with Fleck and ask for a little help here.

Maybe mention Smith and Brooks?

Maybe mention the great linebackers? Maybe mention Kiondre ran a 4.44? Talk about how big and strong Richardson, Stelter, Moore, Jackson look in the middle?

Throw in something on oline is banged up, but we expect bunch of them back for Summer and we like their experience and size?

Throw out a bone to Sid on Still being a freak athlete who he can mold like he molded the Tampa Bay guys or the Rutgers guy or the WMU guys?

Mention how excited he is to get Lingen involved in Ciarrocca offense?

I will be shocked if Coyle does not have Fleck on WCCO next week or some other media outlet singing a more positive tune. The $3.5 million annual salary and the big money for Warinner and other big name hires and the $7 million buyout and the $180 million facility loan doesn't start getting paid in 2020...it is due now.

Hopefully Winfield, McCrary, Williams all being cleared gives him some reasons to be more optimistic.

I understand Sid being clueless and snowable. I am amazed that Mona, a pro's pro at spinning and pr, and a guy with Gopher knowledge that is second to none doesn't ask intelligent, informed questions.

Doesn't every Big Ten lose 20-30 guys every offseason and have a limited Spring practice roster? Doesn't every Big Ten team have guys get post season work done and miss Spring ball? Aren't there a bunch of oline guys and dline guys arriving in June?

It was good to hear Fleck say that the player buy in has been great, player attitude has been great.

hope the team can get outdoors tue thurs and sat...maybe let Santoso boom some and Carpenter nail some...lift Flecks spirits a little bit.