P.J. Fleck Show: Gophers football at the State Fair

our how is everything how you do something matters culture how necton mentality that better be first the PJ Flex show starts now welcome in to another installment of the PJ Flex show I'm Ahad Hicks alongside Justin guard Ron Johnson and none other than the man himself PJ Flex so I had a rundown built but I'm going to deviate from that real fast Mo Ibrahim your former running back just signed with the Minnesota Vikings I need your thoughts on that first oh we're soic couldn't be more excited for Mo I know he's been really working hard in the off season coming back for his hip injury uh he's healthy he's been at our facility a bunch uh during training camp which has always been good to get around him and Chuck fanga got signed as well so good to have those two Gophers with the Vikings today does it make it even more special for you as a coach when your guy signed to the hometown NFL team well absolutely I think I think it's there's a special place in your heart for the hometown especially us being right across the river from them uh and not only that knowing them so well and uh I know what kind of offense they want to be able to run and Muhammad such a hard-nosed runner and hopefully uh they make a really good connection and he can make it all right that's PJ Flex thoughts on his former running back Muhammad Ibrahim who just signed with the Minnesota Vikings now we're going to get to the 2024 State Fair coach you had a couple players uh take our place get a microphone go taste test some food J Joiner Danny strial and Darnell Jeff uh I we have some video here of them walking around what can you tell your guys before they get here do you have to tell them hey watch your calorie intake don't eat too much no actually we don't have any regulations uh they get so much money and then they I promise nobody comes back with with leftover money uh but this is a wonderful day for him Minnesota State Fair is always one of our favorite events um you know we have 38 new players and a lot of those guys never even been to a state fair Max brosman our quarterback has never been to a state fair ever in his upbringing let alone been the Minnesota State Fair so we're starting and setting the bar really high but as you can see these guys are not shy about eating yeah and we don't want them to be this is the Big 10 yeah supposed to be big huh and I understand Max I had never been no state fair either until I came to college here so I get it um this is ridiculous the number of people here I mean it's the craziest thing I've heard of and being here about it but talking about Max brosmer you have a quarterback now Tanner Morgan had been here for years moves on to Athan C manison now Max brasmer what has it been like having him in the building I mean he's closer to your age probably to some of the high school kids he's recruiting so how is that well it's it's a really unique recruiting process because what we were looking for was an immediate impact starter a person that would come in and be able to run the team from day one and really there wasn't a ton of competition around him you know Drake Lindsay number three as a true freshman quarterback he's really really talented we brought in Dylan from Virginia Tech really talented but we needed somebody right off the bat to be the guy to capture the entire team and he was able to do that and he was mature enough to handle that responsibility so recruiting him was a very different recruiting style than bringing somebody in and say hey you're coming in to compete we got a bunch of other guys guys it was really he had to accept and handle and be mature enough to have the keys to the kingdom right away and he has exceeded all of our expectations he's an unbelievable leader he's very curious very very smart and I'm glad he's our quarterback much to Ron shagrin Minnesota has always been a program that loves to run the ball and has always run the ball really well the pair and a spare is something we've talked about forever last year you've really had to test that depth here the last couple of years 38 new players a couple of them are running backs tell us a little bit about the depth behind Darius Taylor yeah I mean that was one thing that I think we got in trouble last year was we didn't have a lot of depbt for one of the first times we didn't have a lot of depth at running back and we weren't deep at a lot of positions played a lot of young players had some guys get hurt early and we had to reach into that depth really quickly this year I feel like we're one of the deepest football teams we've ever had you know Darius I think it's well documented what he was able to do we brought in a kid by the name of Marcus major from the University of Oklahoma um uh who has been unbelievable in terms of workload uh work ethic uh he's been he you'd think he's been here 10 years already and he's only got one year left uh you got him and then we brought you know JoJo nubin had a really good year brought in CA bangura uh we brought in jiren Magnum from Michigan State we've got some young players like FEI is your boy we've got some really six guys that can really play the position and not only that they can catch the ball out of the back field be really good receivers so hopefully we're able to expand what we're able to do that's the whole plan and obviously we'll listen to our players of what they show they can and cannot do as the season starts coach you talk a lot about offense and we all know offense feels The Stance but defense wins championships how do you even start to replace a guy like Tyler nuban and his magnitude in that defensive secondary room yeah I think everybody's looking for all right who's that next guy I think we have so many guys in the secondary uh that are going to play football for us whether it's rotation at nickel or rotation at free safety whether it's a rotation at corner uh same thing with the dline I mean we have so many players on defense that have earned the right to play and have earned the right to be starters I think that's what's really exciting about this football team of course there's the Cody lindenberg there's the JW joiners there's the Danny strial I think everybody knows that but this is one of the deepest teams we've had on defense and we have so much versatility so even in the secondary there's so many different packages that we can create that can match up uh with offenses and not let offenses get a beat of what we're doing what does it mean to bring in a four-star recruit like Coy Perry keep them in state and how big is that just for your recruitment landscape it's tremendous I mean you know everybody talks about what you can't do these days and the nil and the transfer portal and and what we're not capable of doing this was the best recruiting class we've ever had at the University of Minnesota since we've been here in our time and it wasn't because we were the highest bidder that had nothing to do with it in fact we weren't the biders um we had to do it based on relationships selecting and fit is way more important than it used to be even more important where you have to be able to put your arms around the value systems of families more than ever because if money is what they're valuing the first chance they make more they'll go for that money's important we all know that but if it's one of the first things that you value you're always going to be chasing that we want them to Value other things and money enhances those values eventually and I think our guys have a great understanding of that Coy Paris is one of those guys had a great understanding of that he's a really talented athlete a really talented player and keeping in state was critical for not only this year but for years to come as you can see the top two players in the state of Minnesota for 26 are already committed to the Gophers and uh we haven't had that since we've been here which that's what we talked about with that culture sustainability yeah and I mean Drake Lindsey Parish both wear number three so I got to follow them uh those are my guys uh but moving on you know talking about young guys coming in we know Daniel Jackson is a guy Chris Chris opman Bell he's finally gone after 11 Seasons um you look at lcky Brockington you got Christian driver you got Williams you got a lot of guys that can potentially be that two three4 receiver what is that depth looking like right now and how are you challenging these guys because you're a former receiver yeah I mean I I love our wide receiver room right now and again it's like you said there's Daniel Jackson who's the well big name that we have you talk about Tyler Johnson and you're talking about Rashad baitman and you look at all those guys Daniel's that guy under him and there's a lot of guys like Elijah Spencer I think he's had maybe as good of an offseason as any body lamei Brockington is a a journeyman within our program who has done a lot of things for us uh and then you get into you know Donald Driver son Christian driver who's a transfer from Penn State he's been a pleasant surprise and kind of exceeded a lot of our expectations and then you got a lot of guys who are in that red shirt freshman category the new K's TJ Mick Williams the Kendrick laners it's their time to really kind of bring some depth to that room and eventually they'll be the guys that take over but I feel good about where we are there and then also in the tight position with James gears and Nick callup off the top you talked about wanting the lines to be big it's the big 10 right they're eating all their food n money is completely gone today but is this maybe the biggest and deepest that you've been both offensive line and defensive line some pretty big dudes up front yeah I I think when you're talking about one through nine yes uh with experience uh with length with size um with strength yes I mean the answer is yes and we need to be able to play really well at those positions when I look at those two positions they're two of our best positions on the field so the expectations within our program we very transparent about that needs to match the reality once we hit game day and our guys know that our coaches understand that but uh we feel good about where we are there and we feel good about what we can do package wise with the depth that we have so our guys I know are going to meet those expectations and we look forward to watching them play Thursday night one guy who I know will benefit from having a good defensive line is linebacker Cody lindenberg last season missed nine games still finished 10 10th on the team in total tackles just talk about how important he is to this team win healthy he's everything I mean I mean he is he's the Puppeteer on there on defense I mean he's making sure everybody gets where they're they're going to he might be one of the most single-handedly important people on our roster because of the glue that he keeps everybody together with and that's what he is I mean he is the defensive coordinator head coach of the defense he's so smart he's so intelligent he's played a lot of football for us he's so athletic he can play multiple positions even from the linebacker position uh and he's so versatile so when we lost him last year that was we lost a lot of the glue that kept our defense together and uh this year we have more depbt behind him lot more experience but he's healthy he looks great he's had a great offseason and we look forward to a great year from him yeah the NFL had the flate gate college football had sign stealing so now they moved on a a new technology that it's been around forever but college football finally adopted the Green Dot I knew six months ago but I mean you know the truth I didn't know um like the green dots on your helmets for I was like really I was I had no idea but when you talk about I talked to Max Brar and he said you know what he loves it him and Coach Harbaugh are able to communicate quickly he get the plays and he still has a wristband but what has that been like watching the quarterback now being able to get plays quicker well one I think it's you know every one of our players dream of playing in the NFL the more we can make the college game more like the NFL we have a two-minute warning now we have tablets on the side we have the Green Dot I think for the NFL to help evaluate some of that I think is important but two I think it's really good for the communication between the coordinator and and and and the quarterback everybody's going to be able to use it differently um you know we have to make sure there's only one green down on the field at at the time we rotate a lot of players maybe more than the NFL does so we got to keep Awareness on that but I think it's been really good for us I mean teams that go really fast I'm still sure they're going to signal to a lot of the other guys talk to the quarterback it is unique it shuts off at 15 seconds we met with the Vikings earlier in the offseason just about what are the pit pitfalls from it what are the challenges just what do you have to be ready for and if you saw the Vikings first preseason game Sam darn goes out there he's ready to go and bang first series he can't even hear so uh it's interesting to see even at the NFL level that it it it doesn't necessarily always work the way you want it to but you got to be ready for it what have you observed about the relationship with Max brosmer and Greg Harbo is a pretty important one right the offensive coordinator and the quarterback they're going to be talking quite a bit headset or no what's their relationship like they're probably more meshed than any coordinator quarterback I've ever ever had and I mean Max is uh you know taking classes that are non-degree seeking I think that's how they say that but he is there all the time on his own doing so much unrequired work and whenever you see Greg you see Max whenever you see Max you see Greg somehow someway and they're they're just meshed at the hip especially in training camp they're around each other all the time and he's such a gymrat he's he's one of the most curious leaders I've ever had and one of the most curious quarterbacks and when you have a curious quarter back they're always asking why they want to know why and he does that with with Greg Harbo and they're both football junkies so they're a match made in heaven oh look at that you love to hear that the offense should be high powered this year is what we're hearing PJ basically well yeah you do everything you can to make it high powered every single year it's not like our intentions not to we've had high-powered offenses I think and in some years we've struggled at at certain things but uh the players tell you what they're going to be able to do as the season unfolds injuries are a part of that depths a part of that I feel great where we are right now going into game one all right now we're going to talk defense on the other side of the break we have to burn one of our TV timeouts plus we're going to talk about the North Carolina Tar Hill seeing how it is game we for the Golden Gopher stick around more PJ Flex show when we [Music] return you're watching the PJ Flex show welcome back welcome back to the PJ Flex show so PJ was just giving us his rundown on how to stay alive at the safe Fair basically you don't eat a lot to begin you just kind of nibble along the way so for those coming out here take PJ Flex advice small portions and allows you to eat a lot more yeah they don't give you small portions though like you have to have some kind of I suggest multiple people in the group everybody sharing a little bit that's what our producer just said Lori said we need to share yeah yeah yeah it's like a family style there you go make it collaborative So speaking of collaborations Joe Rossy and you had a pretty good one for a long time going all the way back to 2018 when he took over Midstream he's now Michigan State you have a new defensive coordinator Cory heatherman what's it been like to develop a rapport and relationship with him and also for the players as well it's been a pretty seamless transition because the system is the system and we've had the same system for 12 years everybody's made it their own we've adapted to it we've uh we've changed it we've modified it and Cory's done the exact same thing it's very similar we didn't change the terminology so our players could be able to transition pretty quickly but I have a lot of respect for Greg shano and all of our coordinators that come out of that same tree and Cory's no different spending time over there with shano and and and Joe Harris simc who used to be with us um so I think it's been really good for us you know there's a lot of similarities between him and Joe and I think the players love playing for him I mean he's he's an all ball all the time tight kind of guy though all the time I mean he's a football junkie as well Ronnie you are the only one up here with a beard how would you evaluate Cory Heather's beard it's a fellow bearded man it's elite you know you got to you got to keep you got to keep the products in there moisturized you know I think PJ could give you a run here's the thing whatever your wife likes do it okay I heard that cares what everybody else thinks that's great marriage advice anybody out there some gu just what what is he doing oh my I I was I was going to color my beard and my wife's like no I like the grap I'm like all right I'm keeping it great um so when you when you think my fault all this is my fault think about North Carolina's defense they're older we talked about that they they return a lot of veterans but also when you look at they have one sophomore right now quote unquote in their depth chart um grat transer gr transer grer senior how do you prepare when you know you're going into a veteran defense like that yeah I mean I think when you're going against a team like North Carolina who's really good really talented really deep and older you you've got to be you got to be a lead at the details I mean you you got to be fundamentally sounding game one uh this isn't like a a game that you're you're ironing out all the wrinkles I mean this is not bad at all this is the complete opposite it's going to test how fundamentally sound you are how good you are at the things that you do and it's really going to expose what you're good at and what you're not good at very quickly they've got almost everybody back and everybody that they did lose you can make an argument that they brought people in that are better so we got our work cut out for us that's for sure they're well coached really good football team and uh should be a great night on Thursday night sounds like brosmer is going to have a test but certainly for UNC they're having to replace Drake May what do you know about them offensively and what are you expecting next Thursday night yeah they brought they brought in some quarterbacks that can really play though uh Brad Johnson's son Max Johnson uh former you know quarterback of the Vikings uh he's a big Lefty who can throw it around they've got another quarterback who can really get it done with his feet and his arm I mean he's incredibly Dynamic so they've got they haven't named a starter we're going to prepare for both uh but they've got a lot of experience at that position maybe not just at North Carolina but other places and guys been able to wait their turn and now they're time to shine so we got a work itut out for us that's for sure it's G to be a fun day and I'm sure a lot of gophers fans are anticipating that opening kickoff now we have to burn another TV timeout but when we return we're talking about new uniforms and PJ Flex final thoughts on the Minnesota State Fair stick around more PJ Flex show when we [Music] return welcome back to the PJ Flex show all right welcome back to the PJ Flex show I'm Ahad Hicks Justin guard Ron Johnson and The Man himself PJ Flex so PJ uh we're a little too big to throw on these jerseys but uh these are your new jerseys that you guys have for this season uh what do you think about the small details that you guys have and uh what's your favorite detail on this jersey well I think it's the state of Minnesota right on the back uh also the stripes on the sleeve I know when Nike approached us about new uniforms we wanted to be able to bring back and connect not only now but our past and um you know it's interesting to listen to our fans of what they want and what they're looking for and what they put out on social media I mean everybody wants those M on the shoulders I don't know if I can I can get to that point the Chris darkin era yeah this this is this is where I think it just connects our our past present and into the future I think they're really Sleek I think they look really good and and U and they're brand new I did have a fan come up to me on the Kayan Booth though and talk to me about why we have black uniforms and we're maroon and gold she was like 8 years old so have you seen the new uniforms and she said no so I was like all right well we need to do a little bit of our homework how exciting are the player cuz I know like for me I see the releases I see the excitement but how often to do the players try to tell you like hey coach this is the color scheme we want this week well the great thing is is as players have had more money power whatever you want to call it it's been great because we've had a a Leadership Council for a lot of years anyway you can call it our own player Union for the last eight years and I let our players make a lot of the decisions that we have for our football team especially the jersey colors they get to pick out the combinations I'm not passing the buck about what they get but they get to pick out what we do and what we wear because I think they're the ones that have to wear them yep when you look good play good all those sayings that people have they get to be able to pick the combination PJ when the UNS change listen I take it we're the ones that pay for right so uh but I think it's really important that the players have the the decision to be able to make those how jealous are you just oh I I mean I would have swagged out the all gold like it would I had to Gold tape everything oh yeah so basically Ron saying he need you to cinem a jersey so he can wear he does that every year year year how many you gotten zero year eight we're working on it I did get some t-shirt shorts though so I appreciate that oh good good PJ I want to ask you a question I want to shift Back to Football a little bit when you look at expectations I know you're not one to look at the outside noise but the world is saying that you guys are only four to five wins this year how do you use that as motivation for your guys or do you use that as motivation at all uh we're not into using external to motivate our players but we did have one meeting where I said listen I'm not one to sit there and say we could have would have should have if we would have done this it would have been differently but we lost two games in the last second last year right and and again those are heartbreaking losses we have 16 of 17 eligible returning starters back and if you happen to pull those two wins out and I'm never want to do that maybe you finish seven- six or eight and five something like that and I think the narrative would have been completely different because of the record because that's what external looks at internally we feel like we're a really good football team we have a lot of depth uh we keep the outside noise as noise I'm really proud of our team for doing that and they believe in each other they have committed so hard to one another in the offseason and I get to see that every day the outside people who make those predictions don't get a chance to see the heart the soul and the spirit of your team and really what they're made of and that's what we get to see and I love our football team I'm really confident in them and uh look forward to the season as a guy who grew up in the heart of big 10 country Illinois what will it be like for you this year to play conference games in Piscataway New Jersey and Los Angeles California listen it'll be unique I but I've played all over the country we've played all over the country I I think it's so healthy and so great for the Big 10 that we're coast to coast once you're on the plane you're on the plane but I do think it's the greatest conference because of where it expands from from coast to coast it is it's very unique it's going to be very unique for our student athletes but also very exciting as at the same time and I know everybody has circled that Rose Bowl game of a lot of our there's 20 25,000 gopher fans already I think going there or something like that I think that gives our fan base the ability to go to certain places that maybe they haven't been since the 60s we got 30 seconds left Ryan you got one quick question no I was just say we got the fair you're out here you're excited about it what are you looking forward to with the rest of your day at the fair I think I have a bunch of interviews left but I I love to eat uh I do love to eat so I've already had the fried olives I've already had sweet Martha cookies I got a Euro waiting for me um I got a steak sandwich and I got some cheese curds remember moderation and I got A's over there with like the whole table of that's right I've got great I've got a great staff who helps me out a lot and uh they get the benefit too well coach we appreciate your time the next time we'll see you on the center stage that's next Thursday for the big game vers can't wait see everybody there roll the boat Scotty M Gophers that's PJ fle Ron Johnson Justin guard I'm a mod Hicks thank you all for watching another installment of the PJ FX show we'll let coach get out of here so he can go eat and moderation guys have a good day