2023 Minnesota Fall Training Camp | Players & Coaches On What's Different for the Gophers This Year

welcome in our Big Ten preseason tour rolling on today in Minneapolis top two of 14 along the way I'm Dave rebson great to have you with us this is the Minnesota team that did win nine games a year ago won their bowl game against Syracuse as well but lost a ton of production from that group so a lot of unfamiliar faces in some key spots this season Minnesota holding an open practice Saturday night at Huntington Bank Stadium where they will open their season August the 31st against Nebraska part of a challenging early season schedule that also includes a non-conference trip to North Carolina this is a program that has the fourth best win percentage of the Big Ten over the last four seasons trailing only Ohio State Michigan and Iowa challenge as I mentioned though is that experience only Indiana returns less production in the Big Ten than the Gophers do that includes the departure of their second all-time leading passer in Tanner Morgan and their all-time leading rusher in MO Ibraham two of their top three tacklers going on defense as well against that backdrop we check in for the first time with Howard Griffith and Jerry dinardo thanks Dave as you can see they they lost a lot last year but this is really still a very talented team what are some of your initial thoughts well when you lose a lot and you've been at a place for seven years as PJ's going to seventh year you can tell they've recerted you know I was really impressed I came I thought I'd see a team that had to replace a lot of players and maybe couldn't have couldn't replace them I'm convinced that they can they can replace them on offense Kelly McManus gives him a whole different dimension they lose Mo and they lose Tanner the offense is going to look different uh receivers you know talented so I guess how it my biggest my my biggest takeaway is they've recruited well this is a solid solid program and they have good depth everywhere yeah I think one of the things I think about when I watch this team every year right we sit there and we know how well coached they are because of the way they respond and sometimes it may not show up in the quote unquote recruiting rankings right and I think this is a place where you kind of throw those things out the window because they do such a great job of developing and getting the right players into the program so I think that helps them you know be able to develop these young men into the type of players that they need what were some of the other things that you saw today at practice that jumped out at you well you know to stay on Personnel for a second you know to replace their offense and defensive line I think they only had two restarts two stars back in the offensive line they had I think 21 offensive linemen out there I mean they're deep the defensive line uh they they're skilled they can run you could see it in in the past first drill But to answer your question it's just such a well-organized practice I I mean I and you said this earlier you know even the support staffs running around pretty fast and and so it's well organized they're well coached they've got really good coordinators on both sides of the ball and uh you come away saying these guys can coach the heck out of a team yeah it's it's interesting it's always interesting for me when I I want to see what the practice looks like I want to see the assistant coaches I want to see the gas looking at them uh just to see how they have an opportunity to interact with the players and really everybody's coaching right everybody's coaching here and it pays dividends for them to talk about two nine win Seasons which has really been impressive crossover games Michigan Michigan State and Ohio State and you know PJ talked to talk to us about it you know he's just gonna see if there's a challenge I said if I was still coaching I'd see it as a way I wouldn't be able to get any sleep but you know he's going to embrace it open it up with Nebraska when you don't have a book on him because it's a new staff I mean this is as difficult of a schedule as there is in a conference yeah Dave they've lost a lot but I think they're in good shape with the players that they have coming back in they're going to do a great job for them this year let's throw it back to you just five starters back on offense for the Gophers the biggest star probably Brevin Spann for their outstanding tight end now this does not include Chris hotman Bell he missed almost all of last year with an injury a seventh year player he does a 13 career TV grabs with Kirk sharaka having left for Rutgers and OC duo in the Twin Cities Matt Simon and Greg Harbo Jr with Jerry coaches I have this belief that from personal experience that all between all the people that sit in the stands and all the players and coaches on the field the people that have the most to say about the outcome of the game are the offensive coordinators and the play callers so my first question for both of you is how is it how has it changed your life has how has it changed your work habits to be coordinators yeah I think I think we the preparation that's kind of gone into is from the beginning you know coach Fleck has done an awesome job and obviously the experiences we've had in the past have just being able to learn of of the systems in place and and what it takes in general um and so that's been a big part of it is kind of our past and previous experiences it's been going into being able to put the best foot forward as we go forward Greg you know the the relationship between Matt and I hasn't changed one bit and you know when I was a tight ends coach and and now you know being in the position I am now like we work together hand in hand when we were in that position we did a lot of things together you know with Coach Rocca yes let's do a lot of things together so it's really been a seamless you know transition um you know and it's been exciting you know changing our life like it's just been a lot more time but it's been a lot a lot more good time like we have a great staff um you know that we work together with offensively we love spending time together and it's just a great time to be together and come into work every single day and work with these guys and work alongside coach Simon I think a question that everybody asked when this co-coordinators this play selection how do you go about the play selection anything you guys would share uh without Trade Secrets how are you going to do that you know that's a decision that coach Fleck will make um you know neither one of us and I won't speak for Greg but uh you know we're my coach said I mean we're really close than we have been for a long time and we're it's not one of the things we're focused on and you know we enjoy being able to come in every day and and go about our business about being able to get these young men better every single day have you figured out who's up and who's down on game day no we have we've had discussions but we haven't been able to discuss that yet you know it's just been ongoing we've like we said coach coach Fleck has been very adamant about being collaborative and the biggest thing is what you know what we want to do is is get the guys the ball that make plays and that was one thing that back in January when coach Fleck made this decision you know he made sure he knew that hey we want to get you know certain guys the ball and those guys got to be able to earn it and do the thing so when you say that coach obviously you know you lose Mo you lose Tanner so and your strengths may be different than your the previous year's strength so how do you go about figuring that out I mean you know you have to go into season see what you can do best but you kind of also have to predict run past ratio to some degree especially since you've been so heavy running in the past so how does that develop you know I think it's a process and it went back into January and we had to sit down and decide hey how does our how does our depth chart look how does our Personnel look and then get into the spring and really and really have a trial and error process you know we did a lot of things in the spring that you know we might not do in the fall we we've saw we we thought we could do it maybe we could maybe we thought we couldn't do it and then we did do it and so we had to do a lot of things then we go into the summer and we really sat down coach Simon and Coach Callahan and I and the other guys and we made a decision hey what do we need to get better at and and what are our strengths and what are our weaknesses and we really highlighted those things and worked on those things in in the summer and big thing coach Fleck always talks about with our team is is what you emphasize is what you're going to get and we emphasize a lot of things on offense and we're seeing those things show up now in training camp and I think everybody wants those results right now and when you go through spring sometimes it's up and down it's that roller coaster we talk about the line of success and it's up and down and the thing is is that once we got into training camp you've seen through this first week we've really been able to have some success but the best thing about it is you know the Poise that our guys have had when things don't go the way they want and the way they respond Matt tell us about the wide receivers yeah uh I mean we bring back bring back obviously an experienced group in terms of being able to play a lot of college football obviously Chris is uh going on year seven right you know he kind of set out a tweet and literally the last last one kind of thing and um so Chris is obviously back and doing a really good job in terms of stepping up in in that leadership role um you know a guy like Corey Cruz who's played a lot of football comes in as a as a transfer from Western Michigan a guy like Elijah Spencer comes in as a transfer who's played a lot of football uh and even young guys like Daniel Jackson who would continue to take a step at the end of the year last year and uh lamecky Brockington obviously being able to step into those different roles and so different guys and being able to accentuate those different strengths um you know we go top to bottom with the entire group and uh those guys are the guys that you know ultimately have their own strengths and weaknesses but guys that we believe like we said Can ultimately impact and make a huge impact on the game Greg Kelly McManus looks like he's got a high high ceiling yeah tell me how talented he is he's fun to coach yeah he looks like he's he's a joy to be around honestly you know every day he comes into one into work and he's working to change his best and I've been extremely impressed with how he approached the summer and how he got better you know coach Simon like I said in the last part I you know we emphasize the summer and getting better and Ethan did that you know he we put him in a leadership role he's done a great job with that and and so is Cole you know Cole's done an awesome job of you know leading the offense when he's in as well but both of them are just a joy to be around and and awesome to coach you know the saying the ball is the program yes I say the offensive coordinators appreciate you guys appreciate it appreciate you thanks coach oh no back in the Twin Cities where the Gophers are prepping for that big season opener against Nebraska they will then host Eastern Michigan before hitting the road to Chapel Hill tough crossover schedule Minnesota faces both Michigan and Ohio State while also hosting Michigan State they'll lean a lot on Joe Rossi's defense early Jerry and Howard giving their thoughts on that unit look that schedule the first week Nebraska team that they really don't know what to expect what kind of challenges does that pose for defense well I think it's twofold you want to keep it simple for the players you know if you go back to Temple you go back to Baylor where Matt rule coach I'm not sure you're going to learn a whole lot they'll do it just because that's that's what you do as a coach but but how it relates I'm not sure all that much the other part of it how it I think is Joe Rossi is so good at what he does as defensive coordinator he's he's probably gonna have a bunch of stuff on hold that he doesn't need to teach to players he might come in this locker room at halftime and make some adjustment if if what he has ready does it work so keep it simple for the players but have have a game plan in your head that you can go to at halftime this is a defensive front this defensive line looks pretty talented yeah that they're going to be able to get after the quarterback I think inside the defensive tackles are going to get the push that they need was it anyone that jumped out at you in from that group uh you know no no individual I mean they all look very talented at the end position like you say and they're going to be able to rush the passer and then interior they really they really have some push I think the one adjustment they're going to have to make on defense is this defense took less snaps than anybody else in the Big Ten last year because of the style of offense but caliak Manis is gonna they're gonna probably be more balanced right so it's not going to be Morgan and it's not going to be mo this defense is going to be on the field more than it's been in the past so so that's going to be have to that's going to be something that Joe Rossi is going to have to adjust to I mean your coaching defense you're on the field less than any other team in the conference that's pretty good that's pretty good good kept those guys fresh as well and they were able to really do a good job and third down being able to get off the field one of the guys that jumped out to me was Anthony Smith zero that's an interesting number for a defensive lineman but he looks the looks the part and really looks quick has that quick First Step really bends well so I'm interested to see how he continues to grow as a young player yeah another impressive thing about the way they practice and you and I talk about this all the time they get so many reps you know yesterday we saw Nebraska have a team circuit they were getting a bunch of reps the defensive line was getting a bunch of reps and the offensive line was getting a bunch of reps because they had two groups and the young coach is a coaching the young players and the veteran coaches are coaching the older guys and they probably got more pass rush reps than most teams that we've only seen one but most of them that we've seen a lot of offensive line coaches they don't like to let their guys go defensive line coach is the same way and it was impressive that they split it up in two groups and got more reps and you had a few words with Tyler Newman today our old buddy from our recruiting recruiting show at four or five years ago he kind of got after you a little bit wow the back story was I he came on my blind side and he tried to say hello and I jumped back and I couldn't say hello but he gave me a big hug in between the periods I I felt bad I didn't say hello the first time he flew by you know what one of the coaches of the coaches all the coaches really have just talked about his leadership his growth and he's the guy that's going to play on Sundays he's so versatile he can play on the back end can play the post position get covered hash to hash and then he can get down into the box and in the spring game we saw him catch a touchdown so I'm wondering if we'll see him playing on the offensive side should be interesting but that's it on the defensive side Dave let's throw it back to you Gophers have a couple of stars on the back end of that defense and Justin Wally and Tyler Newman Newman was one of 10 players in the conference to earn official pre-season honors this year they didn't lose their leading tackler in Mariano sorry Maron which thrusts Cody lindenberg into more of a leadership role he is with Howard Cody you guys have gone through this your fifth practice now where do you think the defense is as far as where you guys ultimately want to be oh you know we're changing best every single day we look at failing as growth and I think we do a great job of responding to those um failings you know we look at it as a chance to grow and learn another opportunity another day and you know I think we've done an elite job at that there's been a standard set and I think we continue to raise that standard each and every day talk a little bit about your defensive line those guys look like and get after the quarterback oh absolutely you know they continue to grow you know each and every single day and I think those guys have improved a lot and just everything like their technique the way they do things where they practice you know everything like their bodies they've been taking care of their bodies being healthy the way they've studied film where they come in extra after practice before practice in the training room all that kind of stuff and I just think it really shows out on the field every team is really different thinking about last year's team to the team you're going to have this year as you guys go out there are there some differences that you can tell from last year's seeing this one uh you know there's different guys but at the same time it's same culture same philosophy same mentality we have on defense but you know those guys that left like we said set a standard for us that mentality that we have to have that we're going to have each and every game each and every practice one day at a time that kind of mentality um so you know it's it's just awesome and so awesome to have those guys that came before us and you know have shown us the ways that we have to continue to grow each and every day and the way they have to attack things and approach things so I just couldn't be more proud and be more excited for what these guys have in store having a practice against Mo last year for being having him here now you have new running backs that are there you get a unique perspective from where you get to see these guys talk a little bit about what you see out of their games yeah you know everyone has different strengths different ways of approaching the game and obviously we saw What mo can do and now it's time to see what these new guys can do and I couldn't be more more excited to see what you guys can do because we've seen them all play before some of the transfers um like Sean um some of the new guys like these freshmen like Darius um they're doing a great doing a very elite job like I said they're young some of the other young some of you guys are a little bit older so everyone's going to learn um and develop at a different pace and they've got to play differently you know a lot of it is experience failing his growth a lot of guys have failed differently a lot of guys to approach it differently see things see other guys fail fail themselves um and I'm just very excited to see how these guys continue to grow each and every day what are some of the things you learned about your game that you want to improve on this year um you know I think there's a lot of that is just going back to how Mariano kind of took me under his wing I think he did a his Elite job taking me in doing things inside and outside of football like the way I take care of my body the way I study film um even the way I take care of my business outside of the field completely relates to how I take my business inside of the field and it just comes down to the field you know just playing fast not thinking because as soon as you start to think you're kind of one step behind so just being able to go out there and I have to think about what you're doing is just a complete Game Changer what a couple of keys for this defense to have the kind of season you had defensively last year you know just doing our job with the lead house technique um how toughest and technique you know each and every day we got to take one play at a time we can't be looking forward or backwards you gotta take in what's going on at that moment play in the moment um had a bad play can't think about it you know I had a good play Drop it you know what I'm saying you gotta be in the moment each and every play because what happened before it doesn't matter what's going to happen in the future is only going to be dependent on what you do now so Cody appreciate your time like watching you fly around the dead practice and stay healthy have a great season thank you [Music] Minnesota football is a Life program obviously we want to do the right things on the field and win and take things to a championship level but the Minnesota football program is it's a Life program to me Prairie blue-collar that grit toughness that's what we really pride ourselves on this team that has enormous amount of urgency from January all the way to where we are now that urgency and that Poise need to be shown from an experienced team and also at some positions an inexperienced team so it'd be fun to see once we get there [Applause] oh no EJ Fleck has done quite a job at Minnesota three seasons of nine or more wins he is the only coach in the last 100 years there to have more than one such season here's the coach with Chariot Howard pleased to be joined head coach PJ Fleck practice number five assess where your team is now well we have a combination like we said a media day of experienced guys and inexperienced guys but I love the camaraderie of this football team I mean they're really close they're connected they do everything together it's hard to get them out of the facility uh it's a fun group to coach when you have a team like that coach you lose Tanner you lose Mo you have a change in leadership on offense how long before you can settle in do you think you can settle in on what the offense is going to look stylistically well I think we have a great idea what it's going to look like already I think uh you know coach Simon and Coach Harbo have done a great job in the off season as well as our other offensive coaches I've really designing the offense based on the strengths of this particular team not what we've had success with in the past if it's similar bring it with if we got to change some stuff change it because it's all got to match our Personnel that we have this year which we have very different Personnel than we had last year we still have systematic beliefs we still have philosophical beliefs but when you look at it I really like the changes we're making so you've been through this before with changing leaderships both on offense and defense how involved do you get until you feel like you've got it the way you want it with the new leadership even though the coaches have worked for you in the past well I think the the older I get the more I've realized you got to continue to trust your people I think that's why we have a lot of head coaches who used to who head coaches now who used to work for us at Minnesota and Western Michigan uh it's because you really trust your people to do their job I think the job of the head coach is to coach the coaches keep everybody in the right lane explain why you know philosophically what we believe in but we have some very creative young coaches and it's not up to me to go in there and stunt their growth and say we don't want to do that now we've got to all be on the same page and explain why we want to do that just like our players they can ask us why about anything we do in the program coaches have to be able to answer why to that you know I have to answer that the coaches have to answer that why we're doing exactly that but I'm involved I love sitting in there I have my own chair now last year I'd walk in the office of staff room and I'd look around and I'd have to sit in the bleachers and I think that was by Design you know with uh Soraka over all the years but Coach Harbaugh and Coach Simon have a nice chair for actually has my name on it and I don't have much room I bought him this big new table except I don't get any room at the table I got the little corner on the end so I got my own chair and a little piece of table but at least I've got something in the room when I go in there what do you do if someone's sitting in that chair you I'm pretty nice you know I usually just look at coach Harpo and Coach Simon and just take it out here just make a joke you know like hey I get it guys don't want me in here I don't want to take the notes that I have and then somebody obviously moves but no we actually have my name on it now and I don't think anybody you know comes near that chair it sounds like a ga waiting to happen by mistake hey coach I know you're going to tell me I'm thinking and I'm focused on practice six but an opportunity to have nine plus wins for the third year have an opportunity three years to win nine games what would that mean to the program or what that mean for you well I think you know we're focused on just this season I think what we've done over the last three full seasons went in 11 games nine games nine games I mean that's that's almost 10 wins a year that type of run it's consecutive Four Seasons hasn't happened since 1900 1905. but that's over and done with nobody cares anymore we know the ever-changing landscape of college football what have you done for me lately this team we have the second most opportunistic schedule in the country most challenging in the country some call it the hardest we focus in the challenging and opportunistic because I wouldn't want to go through that schedule with any other team but this team they could care less they're focused on being 1-0 against Nebraska they've really honed in on the first two weeks of training camp all about us getting better the next week is a transition between us and our opponent then they're in the game week they already understand that expectation they understand that we've got to be able to get there and they know what's expected of them daily and they go out there and attack it I have to admit if I was coaching I it would keep me up at night's schedule but you have a much better attitude than I do Nebraska new staff you've been through this again you you you're getting old you've been through a lot of these things so so how do you get how do you gain plan for a staff that you don't know exactly what they're going to do well first of all I mean you're preparing for ghosts you really don't know and so what we've done in every single uh practice up to this point will continue you as we go forward we have a group period at the end which is a group opponent any install we do we do against things we think we're going to see whether that's 353-335 the odd stuff um you know we don't play a ton of under and you might get some of that so I mean there's a lot of things that we're going to prepare for that we might not see on a daily basis our defense might see some two back we're gonna you know we're gonna we're gonna see you know Phil Longo's offense we're going to see Wisconsin's air raid so you're going to see all these things that you have to start preparing for now we've done those studies in June in the classroom as a staff but now we're doing those things on the field and we're doing them at a more rapid rate than we ever have with the installs as we go because not only are we competing with our defense we're competing and preparing for the season even in the first week of training camp coaches talked about some of the veterans who lost talking about Tanner and Mo who are some of the guys now that are stepping up and embracing that leadership role well I think when you look on the offensive side of the ball Chris ottman Bell Brevin Spann Ford Nathan Beau on the Quinn Carroll and then you know eighth and Nicole have grown up so fast before our eyes they've had to they've had you're right I mean you think Ethan's first start it was it was a whiteout at Penn State and I think everybody was like they were talking about that except they they didn't care they might as well have been in you know Antioch High School playing in front of 5 000. it didn't phase them uh so the guys on offense have really kind of embraced that role of Hey listen we're we all need to lead each other it's not just about one guy it's not just about this offense being about one person this is about all of us doing our jobs and that defensive side the ball I mean Tyler Newman Justin Wally Cody lindenberg you know Danny strigau Jalen Logan reading they've really taken this team by storm and you know they're really connected our Specialists are some of the best leaders we have Mark Crawford dragan kesich you know Brady weeks they've been here for a long time they know the expectation and as long as you know what the expectation is and you communicate on a daily basis what that is there is no room for that negativity that void is always that miscommunication and the longer you miscommunicate and you don't communicate with each other that void gets bigger and bigger and every team I've seen it's it gets filled with negativity if you're not communicating this team connects communicates constantly and uh it's done by our leadership coach seventh year here what have you enjoyed about this job the most I'd like to say boy that really flew by because I had hair when I first got here yeah I saw a picture of that yeah yeah I thought it was Photoshop um I think that you know when you kind of look at our our tenure here uh you look at leadership from above then I'm very blessed to have the same athletic director that hired me when we got here we share the same vision of what the program should be academically athletically socially serve any giving uh and really what the order of all that is and um you know he allows me to be myself which I really appreciate we run one of the most transparent transparent programs in the country where mostly anybody can come watch do what we do and and learn from us which a lot of coaches from other sports do but the greatest lesson I've learned here is don't sacrifice what you really want down the road for what you want right now and I think back to the 17 18 19 years of the invest we made and holding people accountable at a really high level and that's paying off now in year seven where that expectation is just it's known throughout the building we selected in recruiting we don't just recruit guys are coming here for that expectation they're coming here for those high standards and um they know that before they get here well coach we really appreciate your time as always it's really a fun practice to watch guys flying around making a lot of plays and I think one of the things is really uh unique to this is to watch your support staff as well flying around they were making sure that they're getting the weather it takes a village and you know that right and Brady Gagnon and his whole staff are trainers our support staff everybody has a role the days of like everybody just stand around watch practice why watch practice let's give everybody your job everybody's involved and uh sometimes they like that price sometimes they don't well thanks a lot good luck appreciate it Michael Gophers [Music] back in Minneapolis the Gophers still have some new faces toting the ball mentioned the departure of Mo Ibraham they're not lacking for options at running back though led by Western Michigan transfer Sean Tyler third in the nation in career rushing yards among active players Bryce Williams a familiar face there as well been a run-heavy offense in recent years back to the guys on what to expect this season coach this is a team that really dominated games particularly in the wins with running the football how do you see that changing this year yeah Howard I want to say there was 70 percent run statistically and you know some of the games they're they're going to shut it down when they have a lead I think it's going to change dramatically Kelly McManus I mean he's got an arm I I mean as good as I've seen really I mean he's just I don't think he has a ceiling they got a good running back room they've got a very good wide receiver room the most impressive thing was the 21 offensive lineman and and I say that because they only had two returners and I think again I say this again the fact that PJ's been here seven years he's done a great job recruiting and rebuilding the the the depth you know the fact that Matt Simon and Greg Harbor are are the coordinators you know they're co-coordinators I asked them who's going to call the place I knew I wasn't going to get an answer because it's it's a tough question answered it's really none of my business uh but new coordinators right and so more change on offense than PJ has had since he's been here Kirk sharaka was here he left he came back and now it's up to Matt and Greg to to get it organized in offense I'd be shocked if they're not 55 45 or a 60 40 but I don't think they're going to be 70 run yeah you think about this offensive line you mentioned the numbers but this is a massive group not only in numbers but also size and it's a physical group as well and I think they do a tremendous job of getting not only the offensive line but also the tight end position really into a position where they can still dominate but it will be interesting um to watch them kind of develop offensively because I think they're going to throw it I'd agree with you when you have a talented quarterback that you have and he continues to to grow and he's gonna get better that's the thing yes he's had he's had some starts but now he has an opportunity to really settle in and relax a little and understand what being the starting quarterback coming into the season really means so that'll be a big part of I think about what this team will be able to do offensively yeah I think a challenge as well as we just left Nebraska they're running the 335 it's not a secret you know we're not giving away anything that that's what their scheme is and that's a that's an uncommon scheme and so a new emphasis on the past game for Minnesota a difficult front to block and so the game plan on offense yeah every pass call starts with protection there's no sense throwing the ball if you can't protect it so you know so they'll they'll have a challenge they have to they may have to make some adjustments during the game but they're going to see an unusual defense that their defense doesn't run it it's always nice to open up with a team that schematically is close to you because you can have ones versus twos and you can get a lot better work in this case you know they'll have a lot of work to do not knowing exactly what Nebraska is going to be doing but at least they know schematically it's a 335. and have a span for a tight end I mean watching him run rout routes working against the linebackers working against uh safety strong safety he's going to win a lot of those match-ups and he doesn't really outstanding job at the point of attack which is important so you really don't know what you're gonna get they also can move him uh off the line of scrimmage extend him into the slot to create some of those match-up problems as well receiver wise did you see the explosiveness that you wanted to see in practice uh tonight yeah I did I saw what I expected to see you know I mean I I had a lot of conference in that wide receiver room uh you know I had done this spring game a couple years ago and some of the same guys are around uh I think they're a perfect fit for what they wanted what I think they're going to want to do on offense again I think the wide receiver room the running back room's fine the biggest positive surprise is how quickly they could rebuild the offensive line and the fact that the new quarterback's gonna come in throw it around a lot up and Bill back for season number seven having that veteran leadership I think will help some of the younger wide receivers as they continue to develop as well yeah no no doubt and again uh they mixed it up pretty good today they gave the wide receivers a lot of shots the secondary played well it was a real competitive practice and you can tell they're you know they're going to get the ball to the the skill and again like every spect they've got the they've got the option involved so they always can have the numbers if they want to run the ball a little bit getting the quarterback involved in the run as well yeah and he can do that he's a he's a big strong guy but but his talent is right here it's that um it's not let's throw it back to you Dave Tanner Morgan's lengthy career in the Twin Cities is now over Ethan kaliak Manus The Heir Apparent played in 11 games last year as Morgan battled some injuries throwing for three touchdowns and four picks also average better than four yards of carry so he is a mobile guy he had one of his top targets spending some time now with Howard well guys after the fifth practice how did you guys feel oh I feel good we got a first week down the training camp and uh I'm thinking the team looks really good and I'm happy at the progress we got yeah man I'm I'm really excited with where we're at right now uh still a long way to go but um really excited with where we're at and happy to just be with my teammates how has your preparation coming into this Camp different from coming in last year yeah I think um coach arbo and are both coach arbo and Coach Simon did a tremendous job uh preparing me um for you know what's going on and just uh this offense and helping me become a better leader um they've just done a tremendous job with me and uh really put me in a better position to be a better quarterback and person have you acclimated to the system um well I I don't have a big leadership role uh this year and uh kind of last year day three is actually when I got kind of hurt in Camp so uh making it through this first week is a very you know I'm saying it means a lot to me and uh but not coach like you said coach Simon and Coach Harbo they uh instill confidence in us every day and uh they make it to they make it to where we want to come out in practice and we enjoy competing with each other and you know I'm saying making plays you know it's interesting we're all interested in what this offense is going to look like sitting here with the quarterback the wide receiver is going to say he can throw it all day right you just give me the rock find a way find a way to do that but but how do you think the offense will look ultimately when you guys get out there as far as the Run pass ratio I think yeah I think we'll be we'll be very well balanced uh we're gonna do whatever it takes to win I mean if we gotta pass it however many times we got to run it however many times we're gonna do whatever it takes to win uh as long as we're up one more Point than the opposite team at the end of the score then then we did our job so that's uh I'll say well balanced going along what he said well balance but um I think we're gonna get the ball of our Playmakers and we're gonna give the ball to the people that make plays um whether that's run or pass um so really doesn't matter whoever's making plays so you had a chance to spend obviously a lot of time with Tanner Morgan what are some of the things you learned from him that you're going to implement into your game yeah um Tanner just helped me become a better person um in all areas of my life really he helped me with my faith um he helped me as a quarterback there was some tough time going on in my life and he was up there with me when he could have been focusing on something else um so Tanner really just helped me mature and I think that helped me in terms of becoming a better quarterback and help leading others because I couldn't lead others before I was too shy too I didn't want to speak up but Tanner taught me how to do those things and today I can never you know not thank him Chris ottman Bill he's been here forever right don't worry he's been here forever this is his last year I think right so what if you had an opportunity to learn from him as he's gone and had success on the field but also had some injuries that slowed him down what have you taken from his game as he continues to move forward uh I really probably the main thing is his positive mindset every day he comes in smiling he comes in wanting to get better within the rehab or if it's on the field uh he he's a dick bro I mean he he showed he paved he's probably an uncle if you say so but uh no he definitely paved the way for a lot of us young receivers and uh he comes in every day and still pushes us I mean he's still working with us and he's getting healthy and ready for bed big final finale success for the Gophers this year looks like winning looks like winning a lot so both of you guys can give me the same answer I guess it's important right yeah but thanks a lot thank you so much you guys have a great rest of training camp and stay healthy thank you sir appreciate it Minnesota's defense has turned into a real Force top 10 in the nation in Total Defense and scoring defense in each of the last two years gave up fewer than 14 points per game last season their best Mark in 55 years the man who orchestrates that the coordinator Joe Rossi now with Jerry oh coach you have to replace more than half your stars on defense going into Camp what were your strength in your defense I think we had a lot of guys that played last year up front we only lost a couple guys and we had a lot of guys that we had played in terms of eight nine ten in the rotation so we had some loss but we had a lot of guys that had gained experience and then at linebacker I think we had some guys that were in and out of the lineup played on special teams Cody had taken over halfway through the season and played really well for us in the secondary obviously a guy like Tyler Newman and Justin Wally have been stalwarts for two years so even though we lost some we feel like we had a lot back and we had some younger guys that were chomping at the bit to get their opportunity I was most impressed with the young guys up front tell me about some of those guys yeah I mean a couple of those guys have been in the program for a while waiting for their chance to get an opportunity to get out there and I think they've been doing a really good job they have size they have length Devin Eastern's a guy who's a Minnesota kid who's got length he's got twitch he's shown that in the first five practices and camp and you take a guy like Anthony Smith who's done really well another young guy with length but also like guys like Jalen Logan reading and John Joyner who were starters for us last year and I think they did a good job but now this year they're really becoming more impactful so I think it's something where we did lose some people but we have some guys waiting in the wings to step up and I think our size and our twitch have improved you know the portals obviously made a big impact with college football has it changed the way you install you get a tradition used to be you get a young guy he'd learned that he'd learn the defense in year one or year two now you may only have someone for years so as your install slowed down at all no but that's a great question I think the thing that you got to look at it is the install starts at different times of the year for different people and we kind of have a process when someone comes in whether they come in in January whether they come in May whether they come in in June and it's different and so we have some things that we do with PowerPoints some things we do on the computer some things we do with self-test our our players are awesome the summer they coached the heck out of each other older guys getting the new guys in the less experienced guys going over film we have teach tapes and cut ups and it's it's the young guys getting an opportunity to learn from the older guys but it's also now the transfer is getting an opportunity to learn from the older guys and the best way to learn something is to teach and so when guys like Cody and Tyler Newman and Kyler ball and Danny striggo and John Joyner are mentoring the guys that are just coming into the program it's helping them learn more as well too you've been through this before where you're getting ready for a team that you know you don't have any video on sure so you open up with conference that's a challenge so how do you game plan for team like Nebraska that you have no video on and no sense of what they're going to do while it is a challenge and we have been through it before I think you have to go back and look at a variety of different things we look at things at South Carolina we look at things at Baylor we look at what was done in the spring game we look at things in terms of last year's Personnel when we play them even though it's a different team it's similar people with similar strengths and weaknesses so I think that's the thing you need to key on key in on it's a little bit different than a mid-season game where you have a lot of Tendencies and a lot of tape to work on so I think you really got to focus on yourself what you do well what your strengths are and be able to be able to adjust within a game and be able to handle what's thrown at you do you go in with less calls than you would if you had a book on the team I think we go in with calls that allow us to be multiple and are successful against multiple things you know you have some calls that are specific calls that are good against one thing maybe not so good against another I think we go in with our calls that allow us to have success against a wide variety of things okay appreciate your time coach always enjoy being here thank you wrapping things up from the beautiful Campus of the University of Minnesota right along the banks of the mighty Mississippi plenty to digest for the guys spirited practice is always from PJ Flex crew let's get some final thoughts from Jerry and Howard as we finish up here coach what are some of the Lasting Impressions you have from this practice typical PJ Fleck practice upbeat fast moving totally organized some good music uh players players flying around I I guess my biggest takeaway is this looks like a program that a guy's been here seven years they have depth everywhere which means he's recruiting uh he's gonna face a challenge to evolve offensively uh the defense is going to have to probably be on the field more than they've been in the past but how it just I go I come away from Minnesota always totally impressed with him they got a good team and we saw a good team yesterday and them in Nebraska in an opener I mean it's gonna be a great opener yeah it's really been interesting because normally we see Minnesota on the backing right right there they're a little tired tired but really seeing them early I think sets the bar for for what we need to see from the rest of the group's teams that we have out there that are left but you know this is the team as you mentioned they really do a great job of maximizing their time on the field not a lot of wasted uh energy just sitting around or standing around it's really about getting their work done and getting off the field as quickly as they can and I think a lot has to do with the coaches really being able to elevate their their abilities as well to get the most out of the players and they really buy into everything that's being coached you know we always talk about from the guy in the front of the room I know exactly what's happening and those things were echoed you know by his players as we have an opportunity to talk with them there's another front of the room and that's the offensive room right and Greg Harbaugh and Matt Simon are new coordinators and you know I asked them this question and I kid around all the time but I really believe that offensive coordinators play calls have more to do with the outcome of the game than any fan any player any coach and so those two guys they've got quite a challenge I I mean they're gonna they're taking over an offense that can evolve has to evolve because I don't think they can continue to win without Mo the way they they won in the past and I think it'll be an exciting offense and I think they've got the talent to do it but those two offensive coordinators there's a lot of pressure there's no more pressure job in college football than being a play caller you've been in that position when you've had to take over what is it like as far as being able to implement what it is you're trying to do do you throw it all in in the beginning or do you kind of you know spoon spin spoon feed the guys yeah I guess it depends on how many returns you have and and they don't have a lot of returns but I think the overriding thing is even if back in the day there was only one offensive coordinator by name in other words Gary Barnett was with me if it was nowadays we'd have been co-coordinates so I don't think anyone's really doing it alone I mean Kirk sharaka had the help of these two guys that are going to be coordinating this year so I think the one thing you you can't do it alone and if you don't have someone upstairs that's really sharp and you're calling from downstairs so you've got to get all those things organized uh so uh you know you just you got to fight through it you know no mistake no learning you just hope a mistake doesn't cost you a game yeah tough schedule if they talk about opportunities yeah PJ talks about the opportunities I talk about lack of sleep I mean Michigan Michigan State Ohio State and open it up with someone that you haven't seen so uh but PJ's got a great attitude about it which means so does coaches and so does the team yeah that's it from Minnesota saw a great practice heading back to Chicago and then we'll see Northwestern on Monday back to you Dave guys thanks next up on the tour a journey to Northwestern been a chaotic off-season of course but that program will be fascinating to see what they look like we will check them out on Monday it's going to do it though for our trip to Minneapolis hope you like this sneak preview of the Gophers stop number two on our tour still a dozen to go I'm Dave Preston have a good one

Channel: Big Ten Network

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Id: B4Q6sn69E7o

Length: 45min 9sec (2709 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023