On Monday, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck met with the media and here's everything he had to say.

All right. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being here. First and foremost, tonight is one of our favorite events we put on as a football program throughout the entire year. It's our Hope Kids Halloween event, which I think is our players' favorite event and definitely our coaches' favorite as well. Many of our coaches and their families will be there. Our players dress up, and we host the Hope Kids—children with various medical needs who require support mentally, physically, and emotionally. It’s one of the most rewarding events, where our players get to lead, have fun, and just enjoy being kids at a great Halloween party. Our development team does a fantastic job organizing it, making it a truly special event. I know our players are really looking forward to it, so if you get a chance to speak with them, you can ask about it because it truly is a special evening as we approach Halloween on Thursday.

Now, I’m sure you have questions about last week and the game. We’re obviously excited about getting the victory. The goal was to be 1-0 and to improve, and I think we accomplished that. We played a lot of complementary football across offense, defense, and special teams and learned a lot from it before moving on. The approach was to learn the lesson, leave the event, and move forward. Yesterday was about living in the truth—not looking at the score but evaluating how we won and how we can improve offensively, defensively, and in special teams.

With that, we’ll open it up for questions.

Yeah, it's always a work in progress. It always will be. Always has been. We've had some very generous donors, step up. Big time for us and continue to do and work with Dinkytown athletes and the collective. I mean it's it's really special to see what these these people are doing for our student athletes. I think everybody sees the importance of and I think everybody, you know, people can report what is they think is actually there. But when you start to see what people are doing and how they're doing it and where people are because of it and the investment into their student athletes and investment into their football programs, that goes a long, long way in building football programs in 2024 and beyond. So I'm really excited about where we are and the progress we continue to make every. Single day, Dave, you know this. As we talked before, I mean the job of the head football coach is, is even more important now in fundraising, not just for facilities and stuff, but for your student athletes and getting out there and making sure people are really, really aware of what's going on in college football and how people can keep things together and then go get the needs that you need to be able to get. So I think people are really becoming more aware of it, especially our fans, our donors, our boosters, our support staff, our our supporters and I can't thank them enough and we got to continue to keep doing more. I got to continue to keep working. Order and making sure everybody understands that, but I think we have a really good understanding of where we are and our administration and the people that are involved in our NIL and and and Dinkytown. I know are working really, really hard as well.

Yeah. Good question, Andy. I think it was just, you know, we wanted to be able to move the football without only relying on the run game. I know that sounds both simple and complex, but to do that, you have to have a lot of trust in your players. You have to have a lot of consistency, and they have to be able to process at a high level. I talked to you afterward about the number of plays that were actually called—I don't know if we've ever called as many different plays and concepts since we’ve been here, but it was simple for us because that's what the players have been working on since January. You can see the evolution of where Max was from the North Carolina game to now. You can see his growth as a leader from January to now. It’s night and day, and that’s a compliment—it was never bad; it’s just different. The processing of information, the ownership of the system, the consistency, and the performance have all improved.

I think when everybody knows they’re going to get a piece of the pie in some way, the pie tastes better, and you’re more willing to work for more. This team has embraced that selflessly from January onward. It’s become more real now that we’re in the season, and it’s being tested. Throwing to set up the run was something we planned back in January. Last year, we struggled to finish in critical situations where we needed to throw to win but didn’t execute. This year, we knew we’d need to close that gap. You look at games like North Carolina, Michigan, USC, and UCLA—all could have gone either way. People might say we could be something different, but I don’t live in could-have, would-have, or should-have. You live in what’s real and the truth.

We’re 1-0 in the Maryland season and have already turned the page to Illinois, a really good, ranked team. We’ll need to play better than we did last week, and our players know that. So whether it takes throwing to set up the run, running to set up the throw, or any combination, we’ve got to find a way to execute. Execution is what’s helping us stay ahead of the chains and create a balanced offense.

Yeah, I think he's being very humble when he says he doesn’t even realize how much he understands. But I think that when your quarterbacks—and I say quarterbacks because everyone is working as hard as Max, which is great—and your coordinator and quarterback coach see things very similarly, it makes a difference. I don’t like to say “on the same page” because the page can be pretty big depending on the book, with a lot of words that aren’t all aligned. I’m talking about true alignment. Our coordinator and quarterback room are aligned in understanding what we can and cannot do, what’s too much, and what’s just right. They know how to keep defenses off balance and use as many weapons as possible to get the ball into playmakers' hands.

Again, everyone is striving toward the same things. I mean, we all are. I told you I watch many press conferences on Monday—my press conference day—to see what other teams are doing. We’re all talking about the same things, but consistency is the truest measure of performance. If you can keep doing it at a high level, over and over, and keep improving, you're going to win a lot of games. If not, press conferences tend to sound the same.

But I love it. It’s so much fun to listen. It’s not just a coach and a player—it’s a conversation. It feels a lot like an NFL-style quarterback room. I give them a lot of credit because that takes a lot of trust and a relationship that really meshes. Coach Harbaugh, Max, and all the quarterbacks are doing a great job.

I think they have one of the most unique defensive schemes in college football, and it’s really hard to peel back the layers and dissect it for tendencies. You can’t simply say, “OK, they’re doing this, so they’ll be in this coverage.” They can run their man coverage better than most teams, play cover three, play cover two—those are very different concepts requiring different plays, yet they can run them all from the same looks. Everything looks identical until after the snap.

It’s not just about a player going to a certain area and staying there; they can all get to the coverage in different ways. This guy could be playing the deep half this time, and another could be there next time. They have a system that works really well, forcing you to be decisive and make good decisions. They do everything they can to force mistakes and capitalize on them. They’re excellent tacklers, play hard, swarm to the football, and are smart. They understand their system and execute it at a high level.

They play for each other; it’s a typical Brett team—hardworking and cohesive. They’re a very good defensive football team. Offensively, they can run and throw the football. They play smash-mouth football on both sides and are disciplined, especially in key situations. They understand their scheme and play it well.

He’s a great athlete. We’ve watched him over the last year and then this year, and he’s a really good athlete who can create on the run. He’s cool and calm under pressure in the pocket. He stays in the pocket and delivers accurate throws, even while being hit. He’s also a strong runner and has a lot of confidence in the people up front, and I think that shows. He’s in complete control of the offense, and they do a great job. His high completion percentage shows he’s processing at a high level, going through his progressions, and getting the ball to the open guy.

Well, you know, you always want to be on the attack, but you also want to be smart. Sometimes it’s OK to take a knee, and other times it’s right to attack. That was a perfect time for us to go on the attack, especially with the ball out of bounds and around 20 seconds left. We had a timeout, and with only 20 or so yards needed and the wind at our back, I trusted Dragon from long distance.

You see how that first play goes—it goes for a chunk, we’re moving, and we did. We got to the 47-yard line, used a timeout, and were in a position where we didn’t need any more timeouts. After getting the first down, we could clock it and potentially get four or five more plays in those last 24–25 seconds if managed smartly.

With seven seconds left, knowing we’d get the ball in the second half, we wanted to counter their score with points to make that seven-point gap feel more like four. The worst thing you can do is run a play that takes seven seconds, where the ball gets tipped or something else happens, and you get no points. For us, it was smart to take the three, come back with the ball, and score a touchdown. That makes it a three-point swing in our favor over those last three possessions: their score, our field goal, and then our touchdown to start the half, turning it into a 10-7 swing.

With Max, I feel confident in our attacks because he can process information at a high level, which is the greatest trait a quarterback can have. Pairing that with accuracy is key—beyond leadership qualities, that’s what we’re talking about. It’s not about how far he can throw it; it’s about processing information and delivering accurately to the open guy. He made some huge throws in that game, which I’m sure you all remember.

I think it's always hard to be a one-year transfer. Max is in a really tough position, and I’d love to have him for another year. You can see it too—another year with him would really count. With Elijah, if we had only one year, I think he’d still need more development. You’re now seeing what he’s always had in him, which is why he came here to grow. Everyone develops at their own pace. Elijah had to develop, fail, grow, and go through that cycle a lot last year, maybe even before he was truly ready to play at that level.

This year, you see the confidence, growth, maturity, and understanding of his role. He’s showing the complete skill set of a receiver: the release, the break points, separation tools, catching the ball from different angles, the conceptual and blocking parts of being a receiver. Last year, he understood it, but he hadn’t mastered it yet. I think it takes a few years to do that, especially in our system, and he’s done that beautifully.

He’s a young man who is incredibly confident yet very aware. He’s in tune with his body and mind. We have great conversations, and he challenges me with his high-level, outside-the-box thinking. I'm just glad we have him, and he’s matured beautifully. You can see the type of player he’s going to be, and NFL scouts are asking about him. It's fun to talk about him because he’s come so far from last year. He never quit on himself, stayed consistent every day, and is one of the hardest workers on our team. When your hardest workers are also your best players, you've got something really positive, and Elijah is an example of that.

It's going to bore you, but all we want to know is being 1-0. I have a lot of respect for Coach Bielema and what he does. He always has a hard-nosed, smash mouth football team, no matter where he’s been—Wisconsin, Arkansas, or Illinois. It's in his DNA. We have to play our best football against a ranked opponent on the road. We know we have to do it better.

I don’t know if “struggles” is the right word; I wouldn’t call it that. I’d say there are a lot of things we can continue to improve, but we’re doing many things well. Just because people see we’re not having as many rushing yards as before doesn’t mean we’re not performing. All-purpose yards for certain players are close to last year’s totals, just achieved differently—through receiving, for instance.

We’re doing things a little differently. As we move forward, I think the guys are getting better. We’ve had more moving parts this year than in the past, but the players are seizing their opportunities. They’re in here all the time, and they’re a really close-knit group. I like what they’re doing, but we need to continue to improve.

We didn’t have any sacks this week, so I don’t think there’s anything disappointing about that. I don’t see any struggle in that regard. However, there are areas for improvement: Can we come off the ball better? Can we strike better? Is our first step where it needs to be? Is our pad level correct? Those are all the attention-to-detail aspects we dissected yesterday and will aim to fix tomorrow. This focus on improvement applies to every position and every coach; no one is immune to it.

I had no idea what "bring the boom" was. We actually had to look it up in a staff meeting. Chili, our video guy who’s been with me for 11 years, was in that meeting. Sometimes I can go off on a little tangent, and Chili always pulls up my tangent on YouTube to explain it to everyone because some people have no idea what I’m talking about.

At one point in the meeting, we started talking about players. We have an interception or turnover song in practice, and it changed. I thought, “Wait a second, if we’re going to change it, I have to know what we’re doing.” I’m so accustomed to hearing the old song that I know the defense needs to take it away. Sometimes I’m on the offensive side and don’t see it, but I want to run over and celebrate with them or at least praise them.

Then they changed it to this boom thing, and Chili pulled up the boom family. I understood it; I just didn’t get how it tied to Costco. It’s not a hard dance, and that’s why I did it. I think they got a kick out of it.

I only did it for my players because I saw them laughing about it all week. They were taking this boom thing and the dance very seriously, along with the importance of getting takeaways. I didn’t participate with them all week until that moment. Anyway, that’s part of the “1-0” celebration, I guess.

I don’t know if it’s the only focus we have, but it’s something we emphasize. Bringing players up from the FCS who are really talented requires them to fit us. Gratefulness is the number one thing that connects a locker room. When you bring someone from an FCS facility—resource, stadium, support, and brand standpoint—they are usually pretty grateful. They look at their meals and say, “Wait, I get a meal? I run a meal?” Not to mention NIL and all the other resources they have.

Academically, they might say, “Wait, I have a tutor for every class?” or “I have learning specialists for every class?” Socially, there are many people here; there’s a city, an incredible university in the Big Ten. I think that gratefulness is a huge factor.

I can say the same about Jack Henderson, Ethan Robinson, and others who have come through here. I’m not saying that this is the only place you can have success, but for us, it fits our philosophy. If my philosophy is that you connect to a locker room through gratefulness, then that’s a characteristic we look for in our players.

I’m not perfect; I don’t always get it right, but we look at this holistically. From a helicopter view, we see who can fit that mold. For the most part, players coming from the FCS don’t have the resources we offer, so they are often pretty grateful to start with.

However, I think it’s harder for them because it’s such a jump. They are skipping the group of five and going directly to the Power Five, the Big Ten, or the SEC. That’s a big leap, and it can be even harder. For example, with a guy like Elijah coming from a group of five, it sometimes takes multiple years.

Max is a bit different than most, but to answer your question, yes, this is something we completely focus on because of the resources we have here. I’m not saying it’s solely because of what we can afford, but it fits our resources and our ability to have grateful players in this university, our program, and our locker room—academically, athletically, socially, and spiritually.

They are really good players and good people, and I think it’s something we’ll continue to focus on. It won’t be our only focus, but it’s definitely where we start.

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