P.J. Fleck creates pressure on Gophers at night practice in front of fans

team for the first train I like them that's what I learned about them I like them uh we we haven't had one day where I've come out and been like man you know the energy is not there the tempo is not there um the willingness to get better is not there the competitiveness isn't there I mean it it is a very competitive Camp probably the most competitive Camp we've had uh in our eight years here I mean by far so that's what we talked about that's what's on our shirts and um they've been doing it a lot of guys got a ton of reps today was about 150 reps in practice today maybe one of the most reps most amount of reps we've ever had in a practice um but we have to get that in especially early and um you know it wasn't 150 in in the live stuff but throughout practice and then probably about 50 to 55 plays uh that were live which really helped us what do you like I first of all it's it's about creating a little bit of pressure you know uh we talk about the attention to detail that's one thing within the fundamentals and then you have to be able to plug that into a scheme and you practice that but then to be able to plug in a little pressure of the situation lights on this you know I told him this is the end of the first quarter middle of the second quarter start of the second quarter there's fans here there's a little added pressure five days into Camp um you can't get that fast enough and um just appreciate everybody showing up dropping off the diapers uh so many families in need right now and just can't tell you how much I appreciate our fans doing that and and dropping off a bunch of ores as well so um overall really good day do it seem to you the defense uh rebounding the second half of the practice today yeah I mean the good thing is if it's going back and forth you know I'm usually enjoying practice if it's one-sided I'm I'm not enjoying it very much um and there was plays made on both sides uh really liked the competition you know we were pulling guys in and out of here put them in different situations moving guys around uh but I liked it um you know I thought for the most part it was pretty uh give and take and a lot of good battles you talked at media debay but wanted to be more explosive offense defense special teams from what you've seen in through the first week do you think he can I think we can be you know I definitely think we can be um you know we're going to do what our players say they can do and that's what this is about finding out what we can do part of today is you know we've only had five days we don't have we have first second and third down installed green zone still hasn't even been in yet and we get down here in the green zone they're all kind of like looking around and uh we just kept going you know and just figure it out you know we we'll install that as it goes but for the most part you know you're just being a you're looking at more execution at this point you're not looking at hey game planning defense but you're looking at how well do we execute you're setting an identity and a mentality into your football team this early and I think we accomplish that today you look like you used Coy par in several different ways uh what do you like about him so far he loves football I love KY I mean he loves football he's always got a smile on his face ultra competitive uh he wants to be coached you know I think that's that that's hard to find in 2024 guys that really want to be coached want to grow get him to a limit get them to be able to break that wall down get them to tomorrow and get him to change your best Co is always willing to do that we're putting him in a ton of spots you know uh as a coach you wish you would have came in January at the end of the day like you'd love to have him earlier but he's made up so much ground already uh I like where he's at he's got a long way to go trust me he's not ready to play right now um but he's got a long way to go but we're we're putting him in that position that's talking about all those guys we're playing right now he's one of them what's your first impression of a healthy Marcus major yeah he's got a he's not a he's a really good player I mean it's one thing to be able to show it in practice it's one thing to be able to show it in the off season you think you're sitting there going okay I think he's pretty good and then you let him out there and run I mean the first few days of practice has been awesome but then you have to go out there and live and that one run he had down here I mean that's pretty special run so we got to be able to create depth at that we it gives us the at the running back position it gives us the ability to do other things with Darius and him and the wide outs and and um I'm impressed so far you know he's exceeded my expectations and hopefully he keeps doing that how much are you seeing Anthony Smith's confence we play them everywhere uh inside outside the great thing is we have six to seven linemen that you can move around defensive linen you can move around to different positions create different packages we have the same thing in the secondary you know we can put guys at Nickel in the dime package and move guys around and then create some different types of mismatches for us that give us way more speed a speed package we got a lot of things that people are going to have a hard time I think you know being able to keep a beat on who's in there what we're doing out of certain Personnel groupings uh but Anthony allows us to do that I mean he's had a tremendous off season again another guy who loves football who's really coming into his own but we're just moving him everywhere and every time we move him to somewhere else he just continues to perform at a high level so uh got a long way to go uh but it's a good start where do you feel Max brosber has uh improved just just this week just consistency you know I mean being able to take all the things we have in remember I said first second and third Downs in just technically five days into Camp all that's in and not saying we're running all of it but all of it's in and for him to be able to take the protections to a different level I'm really proud of him for that the leadership Point uh we're pushing him to see what he can handle and then getting him to a point where we get him to fail too uh the hard part is getting him to a point where he can fail because he is very good um he he he he thinks differently he's really smart he can apply a lot of things and a lot of tools at the line of scrimmage which he's doing so you know we just got to keep getting him to fail grow fail grow fail grow but he's really connected to football team and you can tell coming out of India talked about that short passing game checks and things like that why was that something that he saw here today as well why was that an emphasis for you guys well it's just implementing our running backs into the pass game you know I mean it's one thing to run the football and I think that when you look at our styles of running backs over the years you know muhhamad IAM he could handle 35 40 carries a game and it was okay you know this is coming you know this is coming you know this is coming um fun for me maybe boring to you but really fun to me because they know exactly what you're going to get get out of that what we have the ability to do now is throw the ball to run the ball as long as we're consistent in catching the football we can throw the ball to run the we can move the ball just like a run through the air and our running backs have the ability to do that our tight ends our wide outs uh the shorter passing game at times different play actions different rpos gives us the ability to do that now I'm not saying we haven't gave that an attempt in the past but we did but we just weren't good at it so we went back to running the football um now I feel like we're way more consistent with it and our guys is just starting to become part of our DNA and they feel it's part of the Run game and that's what you want in your pass game if you can throw above 70% completion percentage you're going to win a lot of games and I think you know when you go back to really explosive offense as we've had here we pushed that envelope um even at Western Michigan being at that 70% threshold and we got to be able to do that now that you've had it for both the spring and a week in the fall how would you like to switch to headset Communications did you like the one at the end we pulled it on them um which you know you want to be to do 26 days out to see how they do so you know Greg's up there calling plays and then all of a sudden there's nothing and you have a plan for it and then you have your you know your backup quarterback in there when you do it and that's like see how he handles it you saw how he handled it and we didn't know you know it it it's the pressure of the situation but now he knows and now he'll take the next right step but it was really good for us to be able to pull that eliminate that then it turns back into high school got to run to the sideline get the play uh can't just sit there and say I don't don't know what to do uh we have a plan for it but under the pressure of the situation can you perform it so glad that happens 26 days uh out and now we can keep working on stuff like that do one or two more for Coach what's the ceiling or prospects for jaw here this year this guy's a limit for him um you know the more he puts into things the more he seems to continue to get out of it um he's fun to fun to coach fun to be around uh he's a heck of an athlete and he's allowed us to be his size length and his work ethic in the offseason dedicating himself to his body uh he's gained a a just he looks better he's gained weight he can play better more efficiently on first and second down but he's so explosive guys he can do so much and he's so long which creates so many problems when he is violent and that's the thing if he can continue to be violent with his hands with his strike in the Run game in the pass game and then condense himself as well he's going to be he's going to be really really good so Sky's a limit for him can't wait to see what he does but uh he's gotten so much better so I'm proud of him for that have you seen that of Jackson Howard so far you know Jackson's been you know you don't know you know I I I haven't coached him before I recruited him but recruiting him doesn't necessarily mean that you know what he's like when you when you coach him I've been pleasantly surprised I knew he was a great kid I knew he had great work ethic but I've been pleasantly surprised by Jackson of how he's been able to come in here work how he's been able to mesh with our football team the coachability of him I mean the way he Sprints off the field I mean he he he's he's all the culture all the time if he keeps doing that he's going to have a lot of success here um he's got to keep learning it's new for him uh but he's he's on that that fast track uh to learn what we do here and if he can learn that pretty quickly you know he'll help us is the beard going to make it in North Carolina well according to Heather no she hates it um it's it's definitely gray makes me look older than I am which I'm pretty old but I I got some patches but I said if I just color it with Sharpie you won't be able they see the patches anymore so I don't know we'll see how many more days it lasts it's not up to me I could care less we're in training camp it's like the hockey playoffs you just let it go uh but I don't know we'll see and when you do see me shave it then it was it was time where mama said no more sky blue suit again before UNC game that was a good promotion for the game wasn't it that was a good promotion for the like the Gophers and the Tar Heels we'll see we'll see don't want don't want to keep it uh we'll switch up the suits so all right thanks thanks for coming everybody appreciate it Ro Bo Sky M Go Gophers thanks for coming