PJ Fleck on Sports Huddle 10-21-18

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Gopher FB Coach PJ Fleck appeared on the WCCO Sports Huddle on Sunday.

Sid - what about game?
PJ: we didn't win. had a lot of good efforts by young players. lost key players during game, and weren't able to recover got down 28-0. we're not built to come back from that. kids continued to fight. proud of effort. give them (Nebraska) a lot of credit. they should be a 5-1, 4-2 team. very good team. could tell they were going to be good team. their QB is amazing. we didn't tackle well. they made us pay. they're so athletic at different positions. proud of Morgan's effort.

Sid: why was the defense so different from the way they played against OSU?
PJ: we have a lot of youth and inexperience. we lack consistency. we had to put a lot of different people in. it all falls on me. sometimes you know your weaknesses, and you have to rob peter to pay paul. take away one thing to try and stop another. you know what your personnel is capable of, and you design a game plan to try and protect them. then you miss a tackle. they game-planned us well. we missed tackles, and when you miss tackles, they go for big plays. it's not like the defense changed. we didn't execute well

Sid: Nebraska had lot of big plays -
PJ: had 2 long runs for TD, both due to missed tackles. on the last TD we had a blown coverage. we have some really young guys out there who really shouldn't be playing. still gaining valuable experience for the future. we're not going to take shortcuts to get there. we're the youngest team in the country. youth leads to inconsistency. we have to keep it very simple for them, but still do a better job of executing.

Mona: Annexstad had to go to hospital
PJ: on the way into locker room we noticed that (something was wrong). our doctors sprung into action. took him to hospital. they ran tests, cleared him. he met us at the airplane. Tanner did a great job. played well. we're putting people in a position they're not ready for - but they have to be, based on our depth. we stlll got close to 500 yards offense. we had plenty of opportunities to score. we make decisions based on how the game is going. when we're playing catch-up, we call the game based on that. got to be able to make plays. young guys have to learn how to make plays at crucial situations.

Sid: what about Spielman?
PJ: he's a tremendous player. give him a lot of credit.

Max: preparing for Friday night game?
PJ: like it to be 7 days for rest and health of players. when you have short weeks, we have a plan for it. I was in the MAC, where you play on Tuesday, Saturday, Monday. we have a plan for any combination you can have. need to get players healthy the best we can. we play so many young guys - they're not ready to play, but you have to play them. their bodies aren't made for that yet. haven't gone through strength program. I said all along that year 2 would get worse before it gets better, because we're playing so many young people in key roles.

Mona: are you Comfortable in how you're using the 4-game red-shirts?
PJ: sometimes it means you rest a player with experience, vs playing guy with no experience. those are the hard decisions you have to make. want to put our best players on field - but our best players are the youngest players. if you take an older guy out, hard to play with no subs, put inexperienced player in. want to do both - win now and set up for the future. have to focus on both of them. difficult to balance.

Sid: Johnson had fantastic day.
PJ: he had a good game. Douglas played well, Autman-Bell, Bateman. Ty Johnson gets more targets. he's got to be consistent. makes spectacular catches, but you'd like the routine ones to be more consistent. we get ourselves in a hole, and it's hard to dig out of. need to be more consistent on both sides of the ball, and on special teams as well.

Sid: wish for better days. Murray's.
PJ: RTB, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers.
 

SON, you're one tough SOB to sit through that today. As always, thank you.

JTG
 


Thanks Son for being a true Gopher! Nice recap.
 

Thanks, shorty! More deep disappointment in Gopher football. Glad I'm so optimistic, it would be easy to get down.
 


Nebraska is a really good team that should be 5-1? It is like reading Face the Facts posts. Getting to the point of eye rolling silliness.
 

While I don’t always agree with PJ, this is one time where I do agree. Starting the season again, with their QB healthy, they would be 5 - 1 or at worst 4 - 2 at this point. Even though I can’t stand Frost and his “look at me smirk”, he has set the foundation for Nebraska to be a problem for the Gophers.
Anyway, thanks SON appreciate your time and effort.
 

“we play so many young guys - they're not ready to play, but you have to play them. their bodies aren't made for that yet. haven't gone through strength program. I said all along that year 2 would get worse before it gets better, because we're playing so many young people in key roles.”

Glad you captured these quotes. So in 2 years we can hear Fleck say that his players bodies are prepared, they are so much older and stronger than everyone else, and that due to these individuals all playing in key roles, the reason they still lost was because of what? What then?
 




Gopher FB Coach PJ Fleck appeared on the WCCO Sports Huddle on Sunday.

Sid - what about game?
PJ: we didn't win. had a lot of good efforts by young players. lost key players during game, and weren't able to recover got down 28-0. we're not built to come back from that. kids continued to fight. proud of effort. give them (Nebraska) a lot of credit. they should be a 5-1, 4-2 team. very good team. could tell they were going to be good team. their QB is amazing. we didn't tackle well. they made us pay. they're so athletic at different positions. proud of Morgan's effort.

Sid: why was the defense so different from the way they played against OSU?
PJ: we have a lot of youth and inexperience. we lack consistency. we had to put a lot of different people in. it all falls on me. sometimes you know your weaknesses, and you have to rob peter to pay paul. take away one thing to try and stop another. you know what your personnel is capable of, and you design a game plan to try and protect them. then you miss a tackle. they game-planned us well. we missed tackles, and when you miss tackles, they go for big plays. it's not like the defense changed. we didn't execute well

Sid: Nebraska had lot of big plays -
PJ: had 2 long runs for TD, both due to missed tackles. on the last TD we had a blown coverage. we have some really young guys out there who really shouldn't be playing. still gaining valuable experience for the future. we're not going to take shortcuts to get there. we're the youngest team in the country. youth leads to inconsistency. we have to keep it very simple for them, but still do a better job of executing.

Mona: Annexstad had to go to hospital
PJ: on the way into locker room we noticed that (something was wrong). our doctors sprung into action. took him to hospital. they ran tests, cleared him. he met us at the airplane. Tanner did a great job. played well. we're putting people in a position they're not ready for - but they have to be, based on our depth. we stlll got close to 500 yards offense. we had plenty of opportunities to score. we make decisions based on how the game is going. when we're playing catch-up, we call the game based on that. got to be able to make plays. young guys have to learn how to make plays at crucial situations.

Sid: what about Spielman?
PJ: he's a tremendous player. give him a lot of credit.

Max: preparing for Friday night game?
PJ: like it to be 7 days for rest and health of players. when you have short weeks, we have a plan for it. I was in the MAC, where you play on Tuesday, Saturday, Monday. we have a plan for any combination you can have. need to get players healthy the best we can. we play so many young guys - they're not ready to play, but you have to play them. their bodies aren't made for that yet. haven't gone through strength program. I said all along that year 2 would get worse before it gets better, because we're playing so many young people in key roles.

Mona: are you Comfortable in how you're using the 4-game red-shirts?
PJ: sometimes it means you rest a player with experience, vs playing guy with no experience. those are the hard decisions you have to make. want to put our best players on field - but our best players are the youngest players. if you take an older guy out, hard to play with no subs, put inexperienced player in. want to do both - win now and set up for the future. have to focus on both of them. difficult to balance.

Sid: Johnson had fantastic day.
PJ: he had a good game. Douglas played well, Autman-Bell, Bateman. Ty Johnson gets more targets. he's got to be consistent. makes spectacular catches, but you'd like the routine ones to be more consistent. we get ourselves in a hole, and it's hard to dig out of. need to be more consistent on both sides of the ball, and on special teams as well.

Sid: wish for better days. Murray's.
PJ: RTB, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers.

Thanks for the recap. Glad you're not young.
 

Thanks SON.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
 


As much as I like PJ, he needs to develop a much better feel for the MN audience. Talking about being young is no longer working. Nobody buys that we are too young on defense. It’s either ability or coaching. I don’t see too many young horses on defense on the horizon.
If you are a casual gopher fan, you might hear him talk about being young 3-4 times. If you are a big fan, you’ve heard it 40-50 times at least. Same with everything he says. Find a way to mix in some new sound bytes.


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As much as I like PJ, he needs to develop a much better feel for the MN audience. Talking about being young is no longer working. Nobody buys that we are too young on defense. It’s either ability or coaching. I don’t see too many young horses on defense on the horizon.
If you are a casual gopher fan, you might hear him talk about being young 3-4 times. If you are a big fan, you’ve heard it 40-50 times at least. Same with everything he says. Find a way to mix in some new sound bytes.


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The Gophers have 11 FR or SO on the defensive 2 deep. https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/minnesota/91188

Nebraska has 7 https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/nebraska/91303

The most telling is at S. We have three freshmen for the one position, a SR and a SO at the other.

I'm not giving Fleck a pass on Saturday as I thought they were completely out coached, but to say this team isn't young on defense is silly.
 

The Gophers have 11 FR or SO on the defensive 2 deep. https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/minnesota/91188

Nebraska has 7 https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/nebraska/91303

The most telling is at S. We have three freshmen for the one position, a SR and a SO at the other.

I'm not giving Fleck a pass on Saturday as I thought they were completely out coached, but to say this team isn't young on defense is silly.

Depending on how you break it down it could be argued that we are young on defense, so let's assume you are right and say this a youth problem. I am not sure I look at the young guys out there and say, wow when these guys get some games under their belt and physically mature a little more they will be pretty good. And I do see that on offense. Bateman, Faalele, Annexstad and Ibrahim to name a few, who I think will be very good in years to come.

You watch this team and most of the plays are being made on defense, by Coughlin, Cashman, Huff, and occasionally Barber. None of which are young. I am afraid that we might be young AND bad on defense, which is a distinct possibility.
 

The Gophers have 11 FR or SO on the defensive 2 deep. https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/minnesota/91188

Nebraska has 7 https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/nebraska/91303

The most telling is at S. We have three freshmen for the one position, a SR and a SO at the other.

I'm not giving Fleck a pass on Saturday as I thought they were completely out coached, but to say this team isn't young on defense is silly.

Howden and T Smith are the 2 freshmen playing key roles. But we have plenty of sophs and jrs at corner who could be playing instead. It's not out of necessity that T Smith is starting. Howden, we have Swenson, Huff, and Shenault. Again, not out of necessity. Those other guys aren't bad players.
Our LBs are all veterans. Our D Line is mainly veterans. I don't really care about the "2 deep". I care about the guys who are playing. It's not a young defense.
 

Depending on how you break it down it could be argued that we are young on defense, so let's assume you are right and say this a youth problem. I am not sure I look at the young guys out there and say, wow when these guys get some games under their belt and physically mature a little more they will be pretty good. And I do see that on offense. Bateman, Faalele, Annexstad and Ibrahim to name a few, who I think will be very good in years to come.

You watch this team and most of the plays are being made on defense, by Coughlin, Cashman, Huff, and occasionally Barber. None of which are young. I am afraid that we might be young AND bad on defense, which is a distinct possibility.

Exactly right. We had a successful defense here for several years. To change that defense when we don't have the personnel for the new defense is DUMB. Fleck always says that we find out what these guys do well and that's what we do. Well, we had a solid defense in place that shut down a prolific offense in our bowl game, and that was with a MUCH YOUNGER DEFENSE than we have today.
 

Exactly right. We had a successful defense here for several years. To change that defense when we don't have the personnel for the new defense is DUMB. Fleck always says that we find out what these guys do well and that's what we do. Well, we had a solid defense in place that shut down a prolific offense in our bowl game, and that was with a MUCH YOUNGER DEFENSE than we have today.

That's not even close to being true. The entire starting defense for that game was upperclassmen, except for Durr. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/minn/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/122316PositionChart.pdf
 




Wow. All Juniors and Seniors other than Coney Durr. That's as old and mature as you can get there.
Also, the two Huff's appears to be the only Sophomores on that two-deep.

Cashman, sophomore at the time, started the game and he's not listed on the 2 deep. C'mon Face the Facts....face the facts. See link in my above post.
 

Cashman, sophomore at the time, started the game and he's not listed on the 2 deep. C'mon Face the Facts....face the facts. See link in my above post.
8 guys who played in that game are still with the program. 5 of 8 are linebackers. How does that translate to an experienced defensive unit today?

Most of our current issues are DLine and Secondary where we have next ro nothing leftover from that juggernaut team



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8 guys who played in that game are still with the program. 5 of 8 are linebackers. How does that translate to an experienced defensive unit today?

Most of our current issues are DLine and Secondary where we have next ro nothing leftover from that juggernaut team



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I never said it did. Just correcting the facts that were stated above. Don't forget Shenault and Winfield were suspended, and Shenault is still playing on this unit. He started 5 games in '16 (played in 11) and started 1 game in '15 (played in 12).
 

I never said it did. Just correcting the facts that were stated above. Don't forget Shenault and Winfield were suspended, and Shenault is still playing on this unit. He started 5 games in '16 (played in 11) and started 1 game in '15 (played in 12).

Shenault is also not very good.

As far as correcting my mistake, ok so 2 underclassmen. That defense still wasn't 'much younger', which was the quote I responded to. It was still older.
 

Shenault is also not very good.

As far as correcting my mistake, ok so 2 underclassmen. That defense still wasn't 'much younger', which was the quote I responded to. It was still older.

Do you ever wonder why we didn't notice this a couple years ago? cough cough perhaps, it is the system!
 

Do you ever wonder why we didn't notice this a couple years ago? cough cough perhaps, it is the system!

No, I definitely noticed Shenault wasn't very good a few years ago. That's why he was a backup, and was relegated back to a backup role this year before injuries forced him to start.
 

No, I definitely noticed Shenault wasn't very good a few years ago. That's why he was a backup, and was relegated back to a backup role this year before injuries forced him to start.

Huh? He started 5 games in '16 and you noticed he wasn't very good. Weird, teams and coaches weren't able to cash in on that very effectively in '16. The stats show that defense was pretty good...even with them having to play someone you noticed wasn't very good. According to the narrative I'm reading, the secondary and one player in particular is being targeted. They should've tried that "a few years ago". Perhaps you should consult professional coaches. A
 

Shenault isn’t very good and routinely picked upon by opposing teams.

He sees the field the amount he does out of necessity.


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