PJ Fleck on Sports Huddle 9-16-18

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Gopher FB coach PJ Fleck appeared on the Sports Huddle on WCCO radio with Dave Mona and Sid. (Mike Max was in Green Bay.)

Sid: talk about the defense. Coughlin played great.
PJ: he's a really good player. puts pressure on the QB. plays with a high motor. plays the game the right way.

Sid: Winfield
PJ: he's one of the best players in college FB. we can be really creative with him. he really loves the game. those guys on defense love playing together. playing with high emotion. I love how together they're becoming.

Sid: punting was great
PJ: I think Herbers is the player of the game. The Punter does not get the notoriety, but he punted inside the 10-yard, 5-yard line. great to have a weapon like that. I thought about kicking a 52 yd FG into the wind, but I wasn't comfortable with that, so we punted and pinned them down, got a safety. our defense takes pride in making them start inside the 5 yd line. need to win the field position battle. when the offense struggles at times, we have to be able to win the field position battle.

Sid: special teams were outstanding
PJ: we are getting better ever day. we have high expectations for that group. the coach works really hard, puts together incredible game plans, gets the most out of his players. he's a special guy. the specialists love playing for him

Sid: talk about the FR RB?
PJ: that's why we recruited him. would have liked to red-shirt him and build up some muscle. he hasn't had a chance to be through our whole strength program. he went from 3rd-string to starter. there's a lot of FR out there. he's done a great job. still a lot of room for improvement. want him to break more arm tackles, make more people miss. he ran hard. coach is getting the most out of him. we're expecting these guys to play like seniors. Is that realistic? No, but that's the expectations we have. have to give them a lot of credit.

Mona: odd game. offense played in fits and starts. got bogged down.
PJ: we had the ball inside the 30-yard line 4 times, came away with 3 points. that's the things you want to fix - really look at why that happened. sack, penalty, dropped ball, missed block. we get ready throw a fade TD to Bateman, and a back missed a block - he got the wrong signal from the sideline. QB gets hit - interception. we're not deep enough to make errors like that. lot of young players - got to continue to fail and grow from this. 2nd half was like quicksand. we're on the track sprinting, then we step into quicksand and couldn't get out. we'll analyze it more today as a staff. see what we can do better next week, find more ways, different ways to move the ball on offense

Sid: how good can Johnson be? reminds me of Decker.
PJ: really good player. needs to become more consistent. had a dropped ball here or there. got to continue to be consistent. he's worked hard on his game. WR coach - that's what we do best, develop WR's in our system. Kirk C. coached WR's at one point. we take pride in the way we train WR's. Tyler has handled it in a mature way. as a HC, if his position was your position, you're looked at under a microscope. been mature - worked on his game, becoming complete player. our young guys have got skill, but they're not there yet. they have a great example in Tyler. the young guys are good - but not there yet.

Mona: Annexstad gutting game out. decided to take him out. Fresno St took it to UCLA
PJ: if you're a FB fan, you know about Fresno State. they're one of those teams that's dangerous. they whipped UCLA. we weren't favorites before that game with Fresno State. they'll be a 10-win FB team, maybe challenge Boise St. for Mt West title with a chance to play in a NY's Day bowl. look at our schedule - that's a quality team. we will continue to bring in those types of teams here. Annexstad - he got hurt early, trainers evaluated him. they let me know - can he go back in game? they said he's OK. has a little bit of pain, but he's ready to go. when I thought game was intact, and we had a good chance to play it out for the win, then I figured I'd take him out and get Tanner reps. we're going to need both of them this season. Then Zack could start getting treatment earlier during the game.

Sid: what did you think of QB? for FR, played fantastic
PJ: doing really well. that's the way we thought he would handle it. he's still a true FR. there's a lot more we can give him. he's developing into the QB we thought he can become. he's working on his leadership. wonderful person. great competitor. he'll grow from this game. it was not our best game offensively, but we still won by 23 points. we'll celebrate for 24 hours, then go back to work. Zack is a special young man. he'll have a great career. but failings will happen. that's part of the growing pains as a FR. we're 3-0. mission accomplished for non-conference. now we start all over again. we've got a 1-game season with Maryland.

Sid: fans need to pack the stadium. lot of good tickets, cheap tickets available. support the team. Murray's certificate.
PJ: RTB, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers.
 

Thanks Son! Really hard to say how good this team is going to be. Players clearly have the right attitude though and they will learn from this game as well. They are not afraid to learn as to what they could have done and should have done.
 


Special teams. Wondering if weather guy will admit his mistakes.
 



Thanks again SON.

Special Teams played a solid game. Jacob Herbers was fantastic. He pinned the Redhawks on the 5 & 10 yard line. Emmit is solid.

Now I understand the urgency to get big time kicker Camden Lewis. Emmit Carpenter graduates. Grant Ryerse is a big question mark. I hope that competition will help him come around. The Gophers also brought in SMU RS Junior transfer Alex Melvin to back up Herbers with punting.

The Kicking Team as it stands:

Kickers:
Brock Walker-----------5-10------190-----Fr.--------Sioux Falls, S.D. / Washington
John Mack--------------6-0------- 195-----R-So.----Hartland, Wis. / Arrowhead
Emmit Carpenter------6-0--------200-----R-Sr.-----Green Bay, Wis. / Ashwaubenon
Anders Gelecinskyj----6-2--------200-----So.------Bloomington, Minn. / Kennedy (Mankato St)

Kicker/Punter
Grant Ryerse----------6-2---------210-----R-Fr.----Woodbury, Minn. / East Ridge

Punter:
Alex Melvin-----------6-4----------205-----R-Jr.----Burnet, Texas / Burnet (SMU)
Jacob Herbers--------6-2----------215-----R-Jr.----Battle Creek, Mich. / Lakeview
 



Thanks shorty! We played better against FSU. We will need that kind of game in College Park. D and ST will need to score more than in the kicking game.
 



Thank you SON.
Fleck mentions special teams quite a lot in his post game press conference also.
 





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