P.J. Fleck discusses Gophers after spring practice on Saturday
Following Minnesota's open practice on Saturday, Minnesota Golden Gophers' head football coach P.J. Fleck met with the media to discuss his team. Here's a few of the major takeaways from his time with the media.
FLECK HAS NO HESITATION ON RUNNING BACK WORKLOADS BUT WOULD 'LOVE TO SHARE IT' IN A PERFECT WORLD
When asked if he was worried about giving his running backs a heavy workload after seeing Darius Taylor and others go down with injuries in 2023, P.J. Fleck had a quick and swift "No," answer on Saturday.
"Not at all. I don't have any hesitation about giving a running back 30 plus carries," he added. "We're looking for people who want to take as many carriers as they can. Now, is it perfect for the same guy to take 30 plus carries every single game? Not a perfect world. We have a guy who could do it."
The Gophers leader believes the program has three to five guys they believe could carry the ball any given game and that in a perfect world, he'd love to split carries but "that's not promised either," he would add while noting a running back could get just a handful of injuries and still get hurt.
"But to hesitate on that? No way. In my opinion, that's why running backs play running back. To touch the ball, to have the ball in their hand more than anyone on the team, as best as possible. I don't have any hesitation in all that but in a perfect world you'd love to share it."
Notably, last season after taking over the running back duties against Eastern Michigan, true freshman running back Darius Taylor had games of 33, 22, 31, 16, and 35 carries for the Gophers. In just six games, he totaled 138 carries for 799 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 11 receptions.
Fleck and the Gophers throughout his tenure have not ever shown hesitation of giving the ball to their "bell cow" running back with Mohamed Ibrahim notably recording games of 25+ carries in 16 of his 40 career games. Furthermore, in his final 20 games as a Gopher in the 2020, 2021,and 2022 seasons, Ibrahim had 18 games in which he recorded 20+ carries and 12 games of 25+ carries.
ON DEFENSIVE BACKS JAI'ONTE MCMILLAN AND ETHAN ROBINSON
"Jai and Ethan are joys to be around, they're football guys," Fleck said. While the Gophers are still working through practices without pads, the growth of both players from their prior schools has been evident.
"We knew both of those kids coming from where they were coming from, once they got into this program, were both going to accelerate," he added about both players who saw progression off the field as well through winter workouts.
Both McMillan and Robinson both came into Minnesota with the mindset of wanting to get better and willing to work for it, Fleck would go on to say about the two cornerbacks and that through two practices.
McMillan and Robinson entered the Minnesota program this offseason after transferring away from TCU and Bucknell respectively. Robinson is expected to play a significant role on the Gophers' defense this fall while McMillan projects as a potential starting safety for the program.
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRESHMAN QB DRAKE LINDSEY
"A long way to go," P.J. Fleck said about Lindsay, "but boy, is he fun to coach," the Gophers head coach immediately said afterwards. "You can tell, the kid has won a state championship, he's had all the pressure and expectations on him since he's a little kid. Gatorade Player of the Year in his state. He's got an unbelievable family, his work ethic is through the roof, but I think pairing him with a guy like Max is just accelerating his growth.'
This spring Lindsey is only one of two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster for the Golden Gophers behind New Hampshire transfer Max Brosmer.
Fleck would go on to add that Lindsey has been impressive early on when it comes to understanding the Gophers' offense, play installs, and execution on the field. "What he's been able to handle in two practices and the install Max is given, he's getting the same thing, and executing it at the same level Max is, I haven't seen that before from a true freshman," he added.``
"It's going to come down to reps and experience and gaining that stuff as he keeps getting better," Fleck said. "Drake is exactly what we thought he was."
ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE
After an up-and-down 2023 on the offensive line, the offensive line is going to be one position group under close scrutiny by P.J. Fleck and Brian Callahan this spring and fall. "We need to see consistency and there's got to be 'no leave doubt about it,' ' he said. "Just because a job is open doesn't mean the next guy is going to have a job, because it's open, you have to earn and win the job. Nobody earns or wins the job? Then somebody is going to move over that earned a different job."
Fleck highlighted redshirt senior Martes Lewis and redshirt freshman Phillip Daniels as two offensive lineman that have been standing out this offseason. Fleck called Daniels "an unbelievable athlete" who also "plays violently." Additionally, he said that the Gophers have 9 or 10 offensive lineman that have been ready for their opportunity this spring.
Last season, the Golden Gophers offensive line allowed 21 stacks across 13 games. They also allowed redshirt senior Quinn Carroll especially struggled, allowing 22 pressures on 342 pass blocking opportunities. However, of those 22 pressures, he only allowed one sack as the Gophers' right tackle. The Golden Gophers this offseason saw the departures of offensive linemen Nathan Boe, Karter Shaw, J.J. Guedet.
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