The 2022 Big Ten Football season unofficially got underway on Tuesday morning as the conference kicked off its annual media days in Indianapolis. Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck was one of six Big Ten coaches to take to the podium on Tuesday joining Nebraska's Scott Frost, Maryland's Mike Locksley, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Indiana's Tom Allen, and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh.
Fleck covered quite a bit of topic in his brief 15 minutes on stage and here are the biggest takeaways.
One of the biggest takeaways from Fleck's media session is that the sixth-year Minnesota head coach (10 years total) said that this team has been "probably his most committed". He would go a bit further into detail and what he means by that, "Always has to do with like half two versus want to, right there, there's this decision to be made." Fleck said.
"Here's what I have to do, here's what I have to do, and then do I really want to do that have to part and then after that what is the unrequired work that I'm going to do on my own that's going to make me a better football player. Our leadership on this football team is fully committed to all of it, they want to do the have-to stuff. They can't wait to do it. They're off the field on their own doing unrequired work."
Fleck would continue to praise his team for their efforts this offseason, "This team is fully committed to each other and it's been fun to watch. You get that vibe when you go down and watch them work. You can kind of weed through all the other things that don't matter and get right to the heart of what matters with this football team and that's what I appreciate about them."
One of the major storylines surrounding the Gophers and their buildup to the 2022 season is the return of offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. The 56-year-old play-caller returns to Minnesota after two years away from the program, spending one year at Penn State as the Nittany Lions offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before spending a year at West Virginia as an offensive assistant.
When Fleck decided to move away from offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr following last season, it didn't take long for Ciarocca to take his old post with the Gophers.
During his time at the podium on Tuesday, Fleck was asked about Ciarocca's time in Happy Valley and his eventual return to the Twin Cities. "Besides letting me know on Christmas morning, I said there wasn't really anything that I was mad about," Fleck stated as he recited a brief story about being asked his feelings regarding Ciarocca's departure in 2019.
"I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing Kirk did. Take an opportunity, he's from Pennsylvania, he had some family things going on. It was a great opportunity for him especially financially and I supported him 100%."
"But when the opportunity came back to hire him, him and I, it was easy." Fleck would of onto say. "What I respect about Kirk was Kirk wanted to know how that would affect the kids and I wanted to know how that would affect the kids ... He addressed it head on, talked about why he left, talked about why he's back. We're excited to have him, I know Tanner's really excited to have him."
Additionally, Fleck was asked about the balance of the offense this upcoming season. "Doing what it takes to win football games, I think that's how we define balance. It's the easy thing to say, okay run for 200 (yards), pass for 200 (yards). I think what Kirk Ciarroca would tell you and you know we talked about this a long time ago, if we have to throw for 350 (yards), we need to be able to throw for 350 (yards). If we have to run for 350 (yards) to win, then we need to find a way to run for 350 (yards)... balance to me means you do exactly what you have to do to win that game and have the ability to do that on a weekly basis."
Fleck's first question from the media on Tuesday was regarding Mo Ibrahim and his return to the field. Part of Minnesota's "Encore Four" (WR Chris Autman-Bell, RB Mohamed Ibrahim, QB Tanner Morgan, C John Michael Schmitz.), Ibrahim is returning in 2022 after a devastating Achilles injury suffered against Ohio State in last year's season opener.
For Minnesota, getting Ibrahim back will be a huge boost for the Gophers' offense that still averaged 25.5 points and 199.3 rushing yards per game in his absence. His decision to return was also a big one for the Gophers' roster, especially in regards to the Encore Four.
"They (the Encore Four) made choices based on what Mo was going to do. Mo could've gone to the National Football League." "He did it for the team, he did it to put a different ending to what happened."
Fleck also noted Ibrahim's leadership qualities that he brings to the program this season, "His leadership has become really infectious based on real-world experiences," he said. "Here's a guy who had a lot of NIL right, and you run for 170-yards in the first half and you got all this stuff and then boom it all ends, and he can share a lot of those experiences with our team and those life experiences."
But most notably, "It means the world to us that he's coming back, he's at full strength he's ready to roll and we're excited about having him a really positive 2022."
"I look at everything through the lenses of the University of Minnesota," Fleck said when asked about the Big Ten adding USC and UCLA to the conference come 2024. "We have a ton of living alumni out on the west coast and now that Big 10 footprint is really stationed there for all of our alumni." He would later add, "I do think it's really positive for the conference and the league, we're excited about it ... It's a positive blueprint for the Big Ten and change is really healthy and that's a big change and we're excited about having the LA Market in the Big Ten."
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