Here's everything that Minnesot head coach P.J. Fleck had to say on Tuesday evening after the Gophers' latest spring practice.

Fun to coach.

They get after it. Whatever you put in front of them, they knock it down. They're fun to coach.

I know sometimes at this point, I sound like a broken record, but I haven't said that about every single team. They just give every single fiber in their body to every single practice. And that's why we're getting better.

We're a way better football team from practice one to where we are now. Are we ready to play a game? No, but we did a scrimmage on Saturday. I love what I saw because there's so much to learn from.

And I told him today, what I want to see in today's practice is, I want to see the things that we didn't do well on Saturday applied. That's how I know you're taking your coaching. You might not have done it perfect, but did you take your coaching and apply it from a live situational, live game rep, hundred plays scrimmage? Did you do that? And that's what we're going to evaluate today.

Yeah, I think Greg is just a phenomenal guard. I think we put him at center last year because we needed a center and he's really athletic. It helped him learn the entire offense, especially up front.

I think that, you know, his natural movement skills, his pad level, his get off is, I think it's made for guard. I think Ashton's has grown tremendously. Maybe the most improved lineman we've had this spring, especially in his pad level at center.

I mean, first two practices, he's getting knocked back by Devin Eastern, which I mean, most people do, but he's really high. And we're talking four or five yards in the backfield. And now it's a battle every single play where it's a stalemate or somebody's winning the line, one yard on the other side or one yard on this side.

And it's been fun to watch his growth. I really like where we're at in the offensive line. Again, we're not where we're going to be in the season, but boy, I love the progress that Coach Callahan's making up front.

These guys are nasty and they are nasty. And they're competing with each other. They're a fun, I mean, they are, maybe as connected of an offensive line as we've had off the field, the unrequired work, the time they spend away from the facility, time they spend in the facility.

They're always around each other. I mean, you talk about, you know, moving in droves and staying together. I mean, they really are like a swarm of bees.

Everywhere you see them, they're just, they're working together, they're walking together. I mean, rarely are offensive linemen apart in this building. And that's a credit to Greg and his leadership.

And I love the guys we brought in. They've gelled and connected with our other offensive linemen too. So long way to go, but it's really his athleticism and he's just a better fit at left guard.

And I think the move was beneficial for us.

Isn't that hard to believe? (that Perich didn't have a spring last year) The kid got here in June. I mean, it feels like he's been here four years. What does that allow you to do with him this year? Yeah, I mean, he's a versatile athlete.

The more you can do with Koi Perich, the better off you're gonna be. Simple as that. So you can take that for how you want it.

I mean, you can take a picture of his jersey if you want and then figure it out, but he's too good of a football player not to be on the field somehow, some way throughout the entire game. So not just on one side. I think Coach Harbaugh has done a really good job of giving him what he can handle.

But whatever we give him, we want him to be really good at. This isn't just a gadget thing. We're not looking at him to be a gadget.

We're looking at him to be an athlete on this football team and make plays on every side of the ball plus the return game. And he's done a really good job of handling all of it. Can you talk about the growth and development? Yeah, I think he's made huge strides.

I think it's really hard for young people to come in and especially when they have to grow mentally, emotionally, physically. But I think he's maybe, if you look at the whole team, maybe one of the most improved players on this football team, period. From where he was last year to where he is this year, it is night and day.

He showed flashes of it last year, but the consistency of the playmaking ability, the technique, the separational skills at the top of the break point, the releases, the strength he's playing with, the weight room numbers, he's going through the roof. And it's a credit to him because he works his butt off. He's a really confident young player.

I don't like to throw comparisons out, as you know, but I look back and some of the receivers we've had that have been really young, he's just as good as any of them in a freshman type year, whether it's a true freshman, a redshirt freshman, still a freshman, some just need that extra year, but where he is at the freshman level, as good as anybody we've seen.

I think it goes to the players.

I think coaches always push the players to their limits. I think a coach's job is to take somebody from where they are to where they dream of being, and every day there's got to be a new carrot, right? It's not the old carrot. They might've got a bite of the carrot, the whole carrot, half the carrot, but the next day, the full carrot's back and it's a different carrot.

And I think Coach Harbaugh has a great understanding of what this team can do, what they're capable of doing, maybe what they haven't done yet, but what they still can do, and maybe what we're not going to be that good at and just tossing it out. But this is by far, his statement is very accurate. We've never had this much in, done this type of offense and have this much stuff and be still really good at it.

And that's a credit to our players because they have to do the unrequired in their own time to master it. And the competition is real. Whatever this 105 happens to be, not 105, whatever it is, the competition's very real to make football organizations into the college level right now, to make college football teams.

That is very real and our guys know it and they're competing with each other. There is no against, it's incredible what these guys are able to do and the connectivity of this football team. They're really fun to coach and Coach Harbaugh is doing a really good job on offense of pushing them of what they can handle.

Yeah, I mean, you can see every coordinator has their own personality. Every coordinator has their own wrinkle of what they want to do with the style of defense we have. These aren't host sale change defensively schemes completely going completely haywire and throwing something completely new.

But I think Danny has a combination of so many different staff members. Danny and I have been together 13 years and we go back four coordinators ago and we go back to when he was calling it in a scrimmage at Western Michigan or when he's calling it early days here at Minnesota. So he's a combination of all those guys and then has his own wrinkles of what he wants to do, whether it's the Blitz game or whether that's our coverages, whether that's the skies is whether those are stunts, but you're going to do what your players are capable of doing.

And I think that's always a good sign of a coordinator that knows what he's doing. And Danny knows our personnel so well that I think this could be one of the most versatile defenses we've had. I said that last year, this defense is more versatile.

Our depth will be our strength. That's for sure.

I think Drake's playing at a really high level.

I think he's playing at a really high level. I've got to give him his dues after practice nine. He's playing at a really high level, probably higher than any young player I've ever had at that position.

But I will say the other quarterbacks are playing extremely well too. And we give guys different days where everybody's getting something different, where everybody's playing with different guys, everybody's getting different reps, but everybody's getting reps right now. And we just got done with a hundred play scrimmage where everybody had opportunity.

Now, what you do with your opportunity is up to you. I'm the firm believer in the old school approach that I don't make the depth chart, the players do. And nobody wins the job in the spring.

I still believe that because I don't think spring ball practice, that's it, can win you a job come September. There's too much time in between, too many decisions to be made, too many rights and wrongs and choices. But at the end of the day, the consistency is going to win out.

And right now we have some data, but I think Drake's playing at a really high level, but that doesn't mean the other guys aren't either. They're doing a really good job of learning what they need to learn. Some of them just got here where Drake's been here for a while.

It was great to have Max at practice today. I mean, one thing I do want to say is I love when the alumni are back. I mean, we just did an alumni event.

Guys, we had an alumni event, I think nine years ago, and we did it in the old hall of fame room where our players used to eat. Everybody remember that? I'm not sure how many people actually showed up. It was a tumultuous year in that off-season.

We had over 175 alumni back for alumni day. That was unbelievable. We did it over at the stadium, and that shows that we're just making strides of connecting everybody, past, present, future.

We said that in year one. I take a lot of pride in watching all these guys come back and they connect at practice. You get to feel like the players on our team connect with the past, and we're talking people from the 60s, our last national championship, connected with people that are here right now that just got here.

It's so cool. This is not my alma mater. These are their alma mater, and I'm proud to represent them every day and glad to see so many people coming back to the University of Minnesota.

And I think you can see that as how, in our recruiting efforts as we keep moving forward, what that continues to look like as we get towards that nine to 13-year period.

I'm glad you brought him up. When Devin got here, he was a boy.

Mentally, emotionally, physically. And that's not a knock on him. That's just the truth.

I think young people have a decision whether they want to grow up, mature, develop, take accountability for all their actions and truly want what they say they want. And I think Devin Eastern's a perfect example of what this program can do, what it can develop you into. He is not a finished product by any means.

And you're never finished. But I think Devin has made huge strides. On the field, it's been unbelievable to watch him.

He's almost unblockable for our guys. And we're pretty good up front. But off the field, Leilani, his girlfriend, and their relationship and what they have and what she's done for him.

And he's just refreshing to be around. He's so positive. He's got a lot of energy.

He's grateful. And he's got a bright, bright future, whatever he decides to do on and off the field. But I'm really proud of him because it takes a lot.

It takes a lot to change, to make the necessary changes, to get yourself to where you want to be. And some people do decide to do that, but a very small amount, or a lot of people decide not to do it. Small amount decide to do it.

And I'm really, really proud of him.

Their reps are pretty equal across the board when you look at them.

You know, Zaquan's played some football for us, but there's some guys, we just got to get them a lot of reps to see what they can do and what they're capable of. I think they're pretty equal across the board in terms of our corners reps. But I really like what he provides length.

It's just playing up to this level, as we've talked about in the past, even with Brosmer, it's just a different level. And that's why I'm so glad they're here and they're going through spring ball. And we're in practice nine.

It's April 8th. I'm just glad it's not September 8th. And that's why we have the room.

We have no time to waste with anybody. And the corner position, those guys, they will rise. Naeem Parrish is doing a really good job as a true freshman.

I mean, some of these guys that came in, I mean, they're young. The strides they make from April to August is going to be critical for that room. But they're going to rely on what they learned in the spring.

So Bowden's done a really good job, but we're in a tight competition at corner. That's for sure. All right.

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