How will the Minnesota Golden Gophers remain consistent with the expansion of the Big Ten?

[Music] all right let's take a trip up to the Twin Cities just spent a lot of Summers up there my auntie stayed right next door to Prince's mom the purple one and help us break down break down gopher's football of course from the Pioneer Press we have the one the only Andy Greer joining us to talk football we gotta know what's going on with PJ Fleck and that team Andy how are you doing today I'm great thanks for having me on listen I want to start right with Fleck you know there's been a lot of commotions over the season the offseason I should say um flirtation perhaps with the UCLA job and the commitment to you know maintain it's something that's kind of a fear I feel like within the Big 10 of having our good coaches Cherry Picked away uh what's going on with PJ Fleck and how long can we expect him up there wi around the Twin Cities yeah so I mean last February once Chip Kelly left UCLA to go to Ohio State they put out lists of likely candidates and PJ was on the top of that list uh last February and uh there was certainly real interest between the Bruins uh towards the Gophers head coach and you know the Gopher ad Mark Coyle and PJ talked throughout that weekend and and PJ decided to make an announcement that weekend that he was committed to staying in Minnesota and then got a a new kind of amended seven-year contract that has quote unquote retention bonuses of hundreds of thousands of dollars money that we can only dream of and right reporting and and broadcasting but uh they kind of recommitted to each other and then when they went to Big 10 media days in Indianapolis PJ fight got up on stage at Lucas Loy stadium and said it's okay to love where you're at and he says he loves Minnesota um but this has been a kind of a constant thing is is whenever there's an open job a power five job PJ's name comes up to some varying degree of of seriousness obviously it came up with Florida State it came up with Tennessee um so it's been a re reoccurring themee and and each time it happens PJ Fleck gets a new contract out of it you know he's been successful in Minnesota a place that it's been difficult to win at he won 11 games in 2019 won nine games in 2021 and 2022 uh which is above what they historically do here and he's he does things the right way uh he's a salesman which I think you know some people really enjoy it rubs other people the wrong way um but you can see the appeal and why he'd be coveted for some of these jobs and and why he K keeps getting contract extensions because of the overall success he's had in Minnesota and I want to ask you a question this close to us here in the state of Illinois um we're hoping that a coach like Brett BMA can kind of get to where PJ has Minnesota what our true expectations for these schools Minnesota may have a a sto a better story football history and I would say that perhaps we have you ofi but what's the realistic expectation with the team going six and seven last season but PJ Fleck not having consecutive losing season since he's been with the Golden Gophers yeah you know I think you know it's you know being consistent I know that might be a kind of a boring answer but kind of putting together pieces to have a year where if it all comes together you're able to win nine 10 games you know maybe challenge for a spot in Indianapolis I that obviously that's much more challenging in the 18 team Big 10 with some of the powerhouses that are coming from the West Coast uh but just kind of putting together a recipe that if things go their way they can pop and and you know have kind of a Dream Season I I think you also need to realize that there are going to be years where it's not going to work out where there are going to be injuries where there's going to be inconsistency say at the quarterback spot that the Gophers had last year and you kind of are struggling and and losing games consecutively so kind of taking the good with the bad and and hoping for the best I guess is kind of maybe a recipe for for fans to have over how a you know program like Illinois or Minnesota can can be successful or find success in a in a very challenging environment and there's been a lot of upheaval on the offensive side of the ball when you look at skill positions you have two new quarterbacks four new running backs and a couple of receivers what are your expectations for for Max brosmer coming over from the SC FCS I should say and stepping into the Big 10 yeah I think it's going to be interesting to see how he does make that adjustment and obviously in in Spring ball it was moving very fast for him uh the linemen were much bigger than he was used to the windows to throw into were much tighter and you could see that he was very much in a learning curve with that experience so uh you know we've seen him kind of meet that level uh in spring in excuse me in Fall Camp um but yeah I mean it'll be interesting to see how that happens once the the live bullets come because obviously the Big 10 is much different than FCS and playing against you know Michigan and Iowa is much different than playing against Rhode Island at at New Hampshire like he did for so many years so yeah I think it's it's really to be determined at this point I think what he's done that's been impressive thus far is he's kind of assumed a leadership responsibility within the team um he says the right things he does the right things he puts in the right hours that are necessary uh so all of those things I think are are pretty important um and I think he's been doing those those kind of off the field kind of preparing himself well being kind of cerebral and leading so kind of off the field intangibles he's certainly shown that he can he can do it what C what are your expectations for the second year of Darius Taylor but also with that because we know running the ball that can happen with the golden golfers but what can Greg harbar Jr and Matt Simon do to marry that with the passing game this season yeah I think you know we're looking for Darius everybody around the Gopher program saw how talented he is in the in the five games he was able to play at that time was leading the nation leading the Big 10 and and rushing uh so you saw the kind of talent that He has straight out of off off a high school field uh but what his problem was is that he wasn't able to stay healthy and missed the second half of the Year came back in the balll game and played well against Bowling Green and the Quick Lane Bowl so number one it's to stay healthy we were just at practice today and and he came off with an injury it doesn't sound like it's anything serious but obviously people hearken back to what happened last year as far as kind of mirroring the running game to the passing game well that's been uh kind of an age-old question that followed PJ Fleck throughout his tenure in Minnesota you know he he obviously jokes about how you know row the boat is rtb and rtb also means run the ball and that's how he looks at at how his offenses go he loves to do it he does it uh at nauseum at times sometimes 70% of games um and kind of really limits what they can do in the passing game and sometimes that is due to the inconsistency of the of the passer like it was last year where they think CC Manis and other times it's due to standof players like Mo Ibraham who probably deserve 30s carries a game and can really handle that kind of workload so yeah I think you want to see kind of maybe a 6040 balance of of run to pass I think that's kind of a goal I know Max brosmer loves to include running backs in the passing game and include tight ends and we've certainly seen that in Fall Camp to kind of have a a shorter passing game complement a a longer passing game and complement the running game as well so you they're they're certainly working towards figuring out what that balance is going to be and it needs to be something that's more Equitable if they want to have success what other pass catches can we expect to relieve some of the pressure after off off of Daniel Jackson yeah I that's another great question you I think Elijah Spencer the secondy year transfer from Charlotte is a guy who uh kind of underwhelmed last year lamei Brockington also dealt with injury issues a year ago Christian driver Donald driver's son a Penn State transfer he's kind of challenging for that third wide receiver spot uh but that's been an issue for the golfers for a number of years is ever since 2019 when they had Tyler Johnson and Rashad baitman and Chris Alman Bell and their dream season they haven't had a full kind of compliment of wide receivers to kind of take the pressure off of one guy you know as Chris Alman Bell for a number of years and now it's Daniel Jackson and you're really left wondering who those other guys are gonna be so it's it's the same kind of storyline going into this year of are those guys that I mentioned going to be able to step up and and take the pressure off Daniel Jackson who's shown himself to be a very good wide receiver who you know had nearly 60 catches and 800 yards and half a dozen touchdowns uh which is even better when you consider how infrequent the go first pass last year how Stout would the o line be with looks like will be who is a nice tackle in arante urle you have Tyler Cooper but also Greg Johnson perhaps moving and taking over the center position going forward yeah I mean it's an experienced group um AR on A3 is a potential first- round draft pick at left tackle obviously that is kind of the their leader up front Quin Caroll I think also has some Pro Prospects he's moving inside to guard Greg Johnson who you mentioned is a sophomore who's transitioning from guard to Center you mentioned Tyler Cooper and then at right tackle it's uh Martez Lewis and and Philip Daniels competing for that spot so and PJ Fleck talked today about maybe feeling like they have seven or eight guys to be able to rotate in there it's probably one of their better position groups that and defensive line are are number one or two or or two in one depending on how you want to look at it so they're good up front uh and that's that's obviously key to how PJ wants to rtb run the ball U uh listen unfortunately I host our Bears podcast here so I gotta ask you an arante question just because I'm kind of in the left tackles you know we kind of may need one in the future so what are the traits What are the pluses and where can arante grow as you mentioned he's a prospect to be in the first round and we always love talking left tackles here in Windy City yeah you know he's he's uh he's very athletic uh all of 68 330 uh wears that that size pretty well uh great run blocker uh certainly trying to improve in in pass sets uh I think he only gave up two two sacks last year and 15 pressures and I think 300 and some pass sets um so yeah you know kind of athletic kind of stable kind of left tackle that you can probably sit and play with for you know 10 or so years a guy who was very underrated coming out of Kansas City uh but was someone that was plugged in kind of early on in his career and has certainly grown into be kind of an all-around type of left tackle and and also a guy who has personality is willing to kind of share his his musical interests and his his willingness to dance and and all of those kinds of things so I think he's he's certainly rising up on draft boards and and we're seeing him kind of do well in the pass game and Run game as well flipping to the defensive side of the ball I think in the Big 10 we get a little spoiled with Minnesota's defense it was good and we kind of expect it to be better than what it was last year um you mentioned the the defensive line what about the versatility in that defensive line and what can we expect from him moving forth this season yeah I think J Joiner uh is looking to have a double digit sack season he's a guy who could probably go in the first three rounds of the NFL draft he'll be coming off the edge uh Daniel Danny strigo uh Jaylen Logan reading Devon Eastern are three of the four three of the four other guys along that defensive line they feel like they've got some ability to rotate some guys that they feel can play interiorly if they usually play on the edge and and vice versa kind of mix in some different looks as far as kind the defense overall that needs to improve is Cody lindenberg who's been honored for some of the national defensive watch lists uh this this week uh it was a middle linebacker who's really kind of what PJ I FL called The Heart of the defense and they missed him a lot last year and their run defense was among the worst in the Big 10 because of it uh in the back end Tyler nuban a second round pick of the New York Giants he's gone obviously and they have to re retool in the back end and safety is going to be kind of a wide openen position group so there's some versatility up front some guys that mix in match and then some guys that need to stay healthy in the back end for this team to bounce back from like you said which was a pretty poor uh showing a year ago uh bosmer is bosmer isn't the only guy coming over from the FCS you also have defensive coordinator Corey heatherman what's difference in the scheme moving forward and also how complex can it be with him taking on a higher level of competition within the Big 10 yeah you know Cory heatherman comes over from he was a defensive coordinator last at James Madison the FCS he's been with Ruckers for the last couple years as their linebacker coach so he's he's been in the Big 10 I think he's familiar with the league and and what's required of it you know when he was at James Madison he was known for a very aggressive Blitz happppy type of approach and uh they're pretty tight lipped on how much they're going to be blitzing this year I think they want to keep that to be a surprise but you kind of also wonder about their personnel like I said at safety spot kind of are they able to man up back there as much as necessary if you're gonna be blitzing as heavily as Cory heatherman did at at JMU so that's kind of to be determined um but I think they they like the fact that they've kind of simplified things up front to kind of Joe Rossi was known as as the Guru at Minnesota before he left to take the same job at Michigan State and things got a little complex for them after they kind of De dealt with the defense for a number of years kind of at more of a graduate level and once they had those injuries some of the young players that were stepping in especially at linebacker last last year were playing too slow and getting exposed for it so I think they've tried to simplify things and try to be multiple uh to kind of throw uh other offenses off but I think like like we talked about so many things with this team it'll really be shown once they once they take the field August 29th against North Carolina I'm I'm interested and please inform me like how much can you Blitz within this big 10 as it's changing it's always going to be a run kind of conference but now you got to throw it through the air and as you mentioned now it could just be with Minnesota where the backend guys have to be better because as you said they're going to be singled up but then it gets to the point where you're putting your team at a disadvantage if you're sending kitchen sink well I'm sure he's not sitting in the kitchen sink but if you're blitzing a player all the time with regularity yeah you know I I I tried to kind of probe around how aggressive they're going to be and I think it'll be pretty um strategic in how they do it right if they're able to kind of get some favorable down in distances they'll probably bring you know one or two more and try to maybe drop a defensive end and kind of Bring It some sort of exotic type of way to not like you said bring the kitchen sink but try to overload and find where the weakness is and and try to exploit it so it'll be interesting to see how how they're able to do that I think the versatility on the defensive line will be able to create some opportunities to bring in more you know third long type of looks because they have so many you know defensive end type guys that they can they can do that um but yeah it'll be interesting I I think that like you said I mean if you're not able to bring that pressure and uh you can give up an explosive player or a touchdown really quickly and change the course of a game and I think we've seen over the years especially offensively how conservative PJ Fleck can be especially on going for it on fourth down or you know running the ball on Third and long and those kinds of things so I wonder how much he'll be keeping the Reigns on Corey heatherman when how much he wants to Blitz just given how conservative he can be on offense with the versatility but also having good defensive ends is there a chance where you could you could see a Twist between a 4-3 and a 34 scheme to get more Lineback SL defensive ends out there particularly like in passing Downs where it's clearly you could go after the quarterback yeah you know I think PJ PJ you know like I said is more of an offensive type of Coach but he really likes a 4-3 type of look defensively you I've seen a little bit more dime you know they always have a nickel package but I've seen some dime in Fall Camp so maybe they do that to kind of change the the packages a little bit um you know I think they probably will have I mean they they do sometimes s Danny strigo one of their defensive ends um you know dropped in coverage today and had a nice interception and and returned it a long way so they can you know kind of look like they're bringing four and we still kind of end up bringing three to to throw off defenses so I think it'll be kind of more of mixing and matching and trying to disguise it more than kind of really lining up with a nose because I don't think they have that type of personnel a guy to kind of two Gap it yeah um so and I think when you have the versatility if you can if you want to if that's your best position group put more guys on the field that that can do it so I think that's probably where they'll lean good old NASCAR package last question for you um listen you have six top 30 opponents this season what's realistic expectations for this record this isn't a cakewalk uh for Minnesota golfers moving back in to get into a winning season yeah it's going to be a challenge there's no doubt about it um I think Vegas has them anywhere from four and a half to 5 and a half so it will be a challenge to to get to that six wins to go to a bow game um yeah like I said I mean they're going to have to stay healthy at Key spots and they're going to have to have a little bit of luck in some of the guys that we talked about needing to step up at safety at wide receiver are really going to need to be able to do so in order to get to you know six seven wins um yeah it's challenging especially straight out of the gate with North Carolina and then you end the month with with Michigan and rival Iowa you got Penn State you got USC got rival Wisconsin uh it's going to be a challenge no doubt so yeah I think it'll be kind of coming down to November and needing that sixth win I think that's kind of where they're going to be at Andy we appreciate you joining us and look forward to talking to you down the Linea season man yeah take care it's fun congrats you finished the video if you want to build on that success download the NBC Sports Chicago app it's got highlights exclusive insights and push alerts tailored to you everything you need to be a real Chicago sports fan download it now