What did Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck have to say on Monday during his weekly press conference? Gophers Nation transcribed the weekly press conference below.

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Good morning, everybody. Appreciate you being here, really excited for homecoming this week, getting all of our alumni back, all of our fans back. We've had three sellouts this year, so Mike Wierzbicki and Mills do such a great job of creating an elite atmosphere at Huntington Bank Stadium, and we look forward to another one this week.

Coming off our bye week, one of the main objectives was to get healthy, get some players back, and go over some self-scouting of what we've done well and what we need to continue to improve on. It gives you time to reflect and make changes offensively, defensively, and in special teams. We’re doing everything we can to have a five-game sprint towards the end of the season. We're looking forward to adapting those changes and improving where we feel we can get better. We also got some recruiting in there as well with our staff this past weekend. I thought we accomplished everything we wanted during the bye week.

Now, we’re on to Maryland. Last night we had a Tuesday practice in the stadium on Sunday night, which I thought was really good for our players. It was good to see them, good to be back. During the season, when you're away from them for a day and a half or two days, it feels like a year. Everybody was like, "Oh, it’s good to see you." I was like, "We saw each other two days ago!" But it feels like forever.

So it was really good to get back around them again last night. We had great meetings, a really good practice, and now we’ve got a tough opponent coming into Huntington Bank Stadium for homecoming with Maryland coming to town. They just beat USC. I'll leave it open for questions.

Yeah, I think that when we fire off the ball and we know what to do and where we're going, we're pretty good. We're playing against some really good defensive lines, though. Nobody's just going to allow you to run the football. I think our pass protection could use some tweaks here or there, but for the most part, I think our pass pro is doing a really good job against who we're facing and what we're facing.

It's not just about who you're facing; it’s also about what people are doing against you in the X's and O's department, what you could expect in the next five games, or identifying potential weaknesses that people might exploit. But like I said, I think our offensive line is playing really, really hard. I'm really proud of those guys. They're fighting, scraping, clawing, but we've played some really good football teams, and that's what the new Big Ten is. Every week, they just keep coming at you. This week against Maryland, they're twitchy, they're stout, they're good, they're long, and they're athletic. It just keeps coming at you. That's the good and bad of our league—one after another, they keep coming at you.

But I'm really proud of the progress they are making. As the head football coach, when I look back, I ask, "Are we getting better?" In every area, at every position—are we getting better? And when I go back and review, I take a lot of pride in the development of our football team. That's how we find a way to win here at Minnesota. We're getting better at every position. We're getting better.

And again, I get to be the judge of that and how we’re doing. That doesn't mean we don't have areas to continue to improve on, but this team is really together, really connected—just like our offensive line. They want to get better. They want to find out what they're not good at and improve those things, and that's half the battle in coaching. It's having guys who are willing to go out there, want to get better, and be transparent and honest about what we have to improve. I'm proud of those guys.

Yeah, I mean, we've had some really good times and some hard times, but who hasn't around the country? I think everybody's chasing perfection. We're writing for perfection, coaching toward perfection, and our players are working to perfect all those things. You'll never get there.

I think every head coach watches a lot of press conferences. I watch about ten press conferences a week, and they ask the same questions to each head coach as you’re all asking of us because you can only ask so many questions in football. It’s all pretty similar, and something's got to give—something always has to improve.

We've been consistent in a lot of areas, but we've also been inconsistent in some others. There's always room for improvement. I think we’ve identified some areas where we can do better, but we also have some things that we haven’t had in a while that I think have really helped us make special teams more of a game-changer.

We just need to continue to be more consistent. I know it sounds cliché, but we need to be really consistent. We always analyze three things: the ball, tackling, and explosive plays, and that applies to every single phase. That’s what's great about having a core philosophy and belief in how to win football games; you can always go back to it.

So if I’m talking about 78%, which is a nine-win, three-loss season, or winning 78% of the time within that game in terms of the ball, tackling, and explosive plays, then we need to focus on that. You can focus on that in special teams, in offense, and in defense. In those areas, there’s always room for improvement.

Yeah, I mean you, they can do a lot of things from odd to even. They can get to a lot of, you know, we got a chance to be able to get into him a little bit last week, then confirm what we saw and continue to game plan based on their game against USC. But they're biggest strength up front. They're twitchy. They got a lot of length, size, and strength. They're really good at center of gravity, shedding blocks, and making plays with defensive linemen. Linebackers are really active; they come downhill really well. They're stout, you know, they tackle really well. I mean, getting to multiple fronts and multiple pressures where they can create things you haven't seen has really been the flavor we've seen the last 3-4 weeks, starting with Michigan and going all the way down. That's a challenge because you've got to be really good at game adjustments because you're going to see things that you haven't prepared for, and they can get to a lot of things you haven't prepared for because of the variety of fronts that they have.

I think it, you know, it's gonna sound boring, Andy. I mean, it really will. It's gonna come down to, you know, we've got to be able to get more takeaways. I know that we’re doing really well in that department right now, but when you look at the games we don't win, we don't get enough takeaways. We've got to play complementary football. You know, complementary football's not just playing good offense, good defense, and good special teams. If something's not giving on one side or not doing well, it’s got to be made up on the other side of the ball, and then it’s got to be bridged with special teams and vice versa, right? You want to play really well in all three phases, but every single press conference, there’s something that the head coach is talking about that last week they didn't do very well. I haven't seen one press conference where they say we have nothing to work on and we're doing pretty well. We won in all three phases. I'm not sure what we're going to do on Tuesday and Wednesday; we'll figure it out though. We're going to read books, you know, and nobody talks about that, right?

So defensively, we've got to, it’s kind of like when you look at your team at the beginning of the year and you play your first game. That tells you everything you need to know, and then you've got to make all that up and get better at that throughout the year. We've got to be better at our tackling, not only in space but in holes. We've got to be better at tackling at the point of attack, using our tackling circuit right with the appropriate tackle. We've got to be able to continue to get more takeaways and be more advantageous, not just with interceptions, but getting the ball out in the run game. Then we've got to be able to eliminate explosive plays, whether in the run game or the pass game. When we do those three things, Andy, we're a really good football team. That doesn't mean people aren't really good offenses. We did all those three things against USC, and they still scored 17 points. Now, 17 points in Big Ten football could be considered a lot or not enough; it just depends on who's looking at it. But that is what was needed to hold that high-powered offense for us to be able to win the football game and score one more point than they did.

I think when you go back through it, Andy, it sounds cliché, but it goes back to the three things we’re always going to focus on: how can we creatively get better at the ball, get better at our tackling, and eliminate explosive plays? Just saying you want to eliminate explosive plays—how are we setting the edge? Are we setting the edge of the defense properly? Are we setting the edge violently enough? Are we doing a really good job on our coverage and our attention to detail within the fundamentals and in our coverage techniques?

So again, it sounds broad, Andy, but within those things, there are so many details that we’ve got to get better at: the discipline, the details, and the how. There's always those built within those.

I’s hard to compare. I think he’s making a huge impact. I think I mentioned before, have you had a true freshman and Corey Davis at Western Michigan was pretty good, ended up being the 5th overall pick. He played as a true freshman. But when you're talking about the impact that he's making on offense, defense, and special teams, that’s hard to do as a true freshman. He came in June. I think that's a great lesson for everybody that said they have to start early or they're coming early to be able to play. That’s true. I would have loved to see where he is if he came in January because that puts you six months ahead. But just remember he came in June; he hasn't even been through the strength program and offseason program yet, but that's a credit to him. That’s a credit to Danny Collins, his position coach, and his preparation, making sure when he got here, he was ready to go.

I think everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to be able to impact as a freshman. That's really, really difficult to do, but you better be doing a lot of things leading up to you coming here to give yourself even a chance. Then when you get here, you’ve got to make up a lot of ground. Some people say they want that, and it tests you when you get here. Cory's one that really answered the bell.

It’s amazing. I just went up there. He's eating string cheese, just pulling the string apart one by one. Just eating it like it’s— I like string cheese, but it’s just like I said, when you get a chance to see them all the time, they’re kids. It’s pulling apart string cheese, you know, like my kids do. You know, we put them at this level of like these professionals, and you know, with the salary cap next year and the NIL, and they’re still kids. So he’s refreshing, that’s for sure.

Yeah. I mean, it's hard to sit there and say who is the best, but he's one of the best that we faced. Yes, with all due respect to all the wideouts we played prior leading up to him. But they not only have him; they've got two others that are really, really good. When you look at the whole, this is very similar to USC, where there are four guys on the outside that any one of them can beat you. One gets targeted a little bit more than the others; you know, #10 gets targeted more than probably all of them, but they all can beat you, and they all have very similar skill sets where they can contort their bodies, make back shoulder catches, win the one-on-one matchups, find spots in zones, and play big or small. They can do it all, and their catch radius is ridiculous. The quarterback extends plays, which is one of the most dangerous parts. When everything breaks down, he can extend the play. He’s a really good athlete who finds a way to get the ball to the open receivers, and if they're not open, he allows them to go make a play on the ball and give him a 50/50 ball, which they’re making more catches than they’re not on those 50/50 balls.

Yeah, I think that, you know, we're having more former players back than ever, and I think that’s a complement to the program and the culture and our alumni connecting with each other. You know, this is not just about the eight years we've been here. This is about the entirety of being a Gopher. Again, I think one of the number one jobs as a head football coach is to get your players to absolutely love their alma mater and have the greatest experience they possibly can so that when you're gone, they come back and feel really welcome, no matter what, no matter who the head coach is, no matter what culture is here, or what the row the boat has done, or what the next thing with Sky U Maud is that attaches them to everything. Remember I said Scott Thomas, the tradition of row the boat is now and the culture mixed with that tradition, and that’s how we do it now. There’s going to be another one that comes in eventually down the road. So I think it’s really big that nobody’s bigger than the program, and everybody understands that: past, present, and future. I just can’t thank our alumni enough, not only just in the NFL but everybody that's out there supporting our program and supporting our student-athletes. They do a great job. So our job is to go out with the best product on the field, and that’s a fact. That’s our job. We want alumni to come back and have a really, really good time and a really good experience enjoying the game and all the homecoming festivities outside of football.

Yeah, I mean, we play, we hopefully play a really physical style of football where it isn't just about catching passes. You’ve got to really block at every position, and I think we’re looking for complete tight ends that can block inside zone, outside zone, and can pull on gap schemes. They can help us in the pass game vertically, side to side, and in the quick game. I think our tight ends are doing a really good job of that, and I think they’re a really connected group. I think Eric Koehler has done a great job in that room of really bringing everybody together. Eric Koehler’s got a lot of energy; he's a really good football coach. I think they respond really well to him, and it’s been a fun position to watch grow. We’ve got a lot of young players that are in the stable and getting better too. When we have our Sunday night practices, especially in the bye week last week, we got a lot of young players some reps and really got to see who’s going to emerge come next year. I thought that was really positive, and a lot of those guys are in the tight end room, so it was good to see. But you’ve got to be able to do a lot of things to play tight end, and I think our guys are doing what they’re asked to do at a high level.

Yeah, I think that, you know, for people that don't know, Cody wears the green dot on defense, meaning he can have coach-to-player communication, and he's the only one on defense that can have that. I think there's a lot of coach-to-quarterback talk, but I think there's not enough talk about the defensive guy who has the green dot, and you can talk to him for up to 15 seconds. I think that has been awesome for us. The days of yelling onto the field like, "Hey, hey, look over here. We're changing something. Tell #12 to do this"—you can't hear that at a whiteout at Penn State. You can't hear that at our three sellouts here that we had this year in Huntington Bank. Those days are over. Part of the reason why my voice is the way it is. I still think I can do that. But the coach-to-player communication on defense has really helped us, and I think Cody does a really good job of orchestrating that because you're still a composer. You know, and that's what that person’s gonna know: what's the director? Dang it, the composer writes the music. Am I right? I played the trumpet for three weeks, everybody. So. But the director? Yeah. And I go to enough musicals to understand that I should know that. But he is the director of the defense, and so he's making sure everybody's where they need to be. He’s got to be really good in his communication to make sure everybody gets what Coach Hetherman wants communicated—not only in the play and the adjustment, but also making sure everybody gets those few things that are like, "Hey, we need you to tell this guy something," and he does. I think he does a really good job in his own way of leading that defense. And you know, we're a better defense with him healthy, and I think we've shown that.

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