PJ Fleck Interview new - Sunday 6-9-19

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Gopher FB Coach PJ Fleck appeared on the Sports Huddle on WCCO Radio on Sunday, June 9th.

(Sid leads in by praising Starkey for helping him hear better.............insert joke here.)

Sid: what's happening with the players?
PJ: been here 3 weeks. done with May academics. start summer school tomorrow. all the FR are here. will have a team meeting in the morning, then get rolling. working out, lifting, players hold their own practices. coaches can't have a lot of contact. excited to add new players to team. start to create our 2019 team

Sid: any players you're excited about?
PJ: excited about the whole team. had a lot of players start in January; more guys come in in the summer. for them, its their 1st time at U of MN. this is going to be our team. excited to bring the (new) guys along with the varsity.

Sid: rated 4th in country in 2020 recruiting class?
PJ: that signing day is a long ways away. recruiting is a battle. we're going after some highly rated players. there are a lot of people after them. I'm thankful a lot of players have picked the U of MN. with recruiting, there's a lot of highs, lot of lows. glad that a number of players want to be part of what we're doing here.

Sid: Winfield ready?
PJ: he's all ready to go, Sid.

Max: you go to regional camps. what are they like?
PJ: the biggest thing, you try to see as many prospects as you can, but also want to see the right prospects. these are mega-camps that we're invited to. as many as 50 D1 schools will be there looking at players. some of these camps have 1000 kids, 1500 kids. we might be only looking at 20 of them. but, you also get to see players you haven't seen before. we have our own camps - and invite other schools to our place. it's one of the busiest times of year. a time for us to get live evals of 2020, 2021 recruits. we'll go all over the country.

Mona: early signing date. do you have a formula for the number of players you want to sign early?
PJ: 1st year with the early signing date we signed everybody in December. we signed everybody last year, but had 1 or 2 extra. this year, maybe keep another 1 or 2 extra because of the transfer portal. save 3 or 4 just to have on hand. I like where the team is at. I like how we're recruiting. Recruit freshmen and develop them for four years. this is a developmental program. want to get to the point where we have that 24-25 member senior class. not just rebuild every year. next year we don't have as many seniors. that 1st big class we brought in is coming through. we're two years away from having that big senior class. the portal system is still there if you have immediate needs.

Sid: Any position you're worried about?
PJ: I'm always worried. working to build their confidence as players, as men. make them better every single day. Worry am I doing everything I possibly can in every area? that's what I worry about. not specifically in terms of one person.

Max: Walk-on program? how do you decide who to offer?
PJ: need to have an honest conversation. some of hardest conversations you have to have. that's what camps are for. if you feel someone isn't quite there, you talk about being able to walk on. in some cases, the players may be good enough, but we might be only taking 2 WR's, so you offer the 3rd WR a walk-on spot. have multiple instances like that. every story is different. we've rewarded 12 walk-ons with scholarships since we've been here. I was close to being a walk-on. I understand what that's like. Both at WMU or here, we've had walk-ons contribute. they make the program better. they are the life-blood of the program.

Sid: any players who played in 4 games last year going to help this year?
PJ: Spann-Ford, Dunlap, they only played in a few games. they'll really help us this year. I'm thankful we had that rule available last year.

Sid: Murray's. Lot of tickets available at cheaper prices. Great schedule.
PJ: RTB, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers.
 


Thanks a lot!!

SON, not 4th but 43rd in recruiting? Or did Sid actually say 4th and PJ did not correct him?
Interesting note, Western Michigan is ahead of us in recruiting.

Thank you for your diligence in reporting, each week!
 

SON, not 4th but 43rd in recruiting? Or did Sid actually say 4th and PJ did not correct him?
Interesting note, Western Michigan is ahead of us in recruiting.

Thank you for your diligence in reporting, each week!

He was talking about 2021. Our 3 commits have us listed as 4th...
 





SON, not 4th but 43rd in recruiting? Or did Sid actually say 4th and PJ did not correct him?
Interesting note, Western Michigan is ahead of us in recruiting.

Thank you for your diligence in reporting, each week!
Aren't we fourth in 2021?

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

Thanks, shorty. Great job always.
 



Awesome recap Son, very much appreciated!
 





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