📅 Published on: 2024-12-05 06:12:04

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🕵️‍♂️ Transcript:

e e e for I e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I guess the uh stopwatch has started so here we go right all right Daniel house I’m taking the under by the way just so you know so we’ve started and we’re underway first of all just uh what a great day in college football uh this is a really exciting time for our program uh when you look at what today entails and we had our first Bowl practice today uh we got national Signing Day uh the portal opens Monday uh met with about 80 players already over the last 70 two hours just sitting down in my office and talking about who’s staying who’s going what they expect and things like that uh for the 2025 season as well as bull prep um we had a few guys that had some minor things that they’re working on um so we’ll uh we’ll just keep going keep rowing that boat so to say that it’s not a busy time is uh is untrue this is one of the busiest times of the year for us the best part about the new rules though is we don’t have to go out recruiting in December uh we’re all in here and if you threw that Wrinkle in that would be very interesting right now with coaches out there on the road but we’re with our players which is really good and um talking to them so first foremost just want to thank uh our entire staff for all the work that they put in to put this class together remember we’re probably going to take anywhere between 10 12 15 uh transfers right in between there as we add to this group as well don’t know how many don’t know what we’re going to do just yet just depends on who stays who leaves the program as we build our team uh for 2025 but our staff worked tirelessly our recruiting staff our operation staff our coaching staff our general manager Garrett chernoff uh director per player Personnel Marcus Hendrickson his entire staff I want to thank our Administration and Mark Coyle for all his support that he continues to give us over these eight years and I never take that for granted being the head coach here I want to thank all the the restaurants and the businesses and all the owners of those companies that helped us in the recruiting cycle in the process um you know being able to go out to to Lake minetonka and and and and beond beond the lake for a recruiting visit and all the restaurants that we visit and everybody in support of what we’re able to do I just can’t thank you enough and this is this class is a credit to all of you and we’re all in this thing together so just means a lot that we have this so with that I’ll I’ll kind of talk a little bit about the class talk a little bit about each player and then we’ll open up for some questions but we signed 20 players uh today and this morning uh I think sometimes we have way more information than other people about people that are committed we’re not allowed to talk about unsigned players whether they’ve already decommitted whether they’ve moved on whether we knew they weren’t going to sign uh so 20 student athletes signed which was really good for us we signed five fourstar athletes depending on which uh publication you look at we had two four stars from the state of Minnesota which we’re excited about we signed second most players from Minnesota in our tenure keep talking about taking care of the instate players the number one two and three player from the state of Minnesota stayed home which now we have that Trend and I think more and more players are staying home because they want to stay home and if you go back eight years ago to when these kids were you know they’re 17 now but they were 9 years old uh when we first got here 8 n they were at our little kids camp and a lot of them were here at our little kids camp uh and had a ton of fun and that’s the point of it is to start producing and and having Gophers be Gophers from a really really young age and not just rely on that from our Legacy families and Legacy players so that was really big for us um in the nine classes we have been here we’ve added the number one player out of the state of Minnesota seven times so when we talk about nine of our classes I think that’s a pretty uh pretty dominant statistic about doing what we said we were going to do from the day we got here about taking care of our instate players and one thing I love to watch is when our players are in rivalry games and we’re only five days removed from our biggest rival and you watch how hard our players play um and more than a I think a quarter of our team is from the state of Minnesota they grow up understanding that rivalry and we want to keep adding to that because I thought our players had to have it fought for it and played their tail end to to bring the axe back to Minneapolis and you understand that rivalry more if you’re from this state and I think we’ve done a good job of building that and our staff really understands that but if you go back and know those names here’s a few from the state Blaise Andre brevan span Ford Quinn Carrol in 19 uh Jackson Howard in 2023 Ki perit in 24 and now Emanuel Carmo in 25 pretty cool to have those names being announced uh as we said that’s what we wanted to do with the state of Minnesota we had five signies from the west coast and that’s the most signies from the West Coast except for the former Pack 12 schools that are now in the Big 10 which it should be you know the Oregon Washington’s UCLA and UFC’s but that was great to be able to really make that Pipeline and connection out on the west coast which now will continue to recruit at a very high level and again I’m all about fit uh we’re going to take care of the state of Minnesota but from there we’re a national recruiting base we have players from all over the country different countries if they’re the right fit for what we’re looking for we’ll bring them in from anywhere but uh really excited about the class we have look forward to talking a little bit about each kid which we’ll do here in a second um so first and foremost one of our early enrollees Enoch at aagala and uh he’s from Avon Indiana Avon High School uh he’s an early en rolly think boy MAF uh that’s the type of physique he has the twitch the explosion that’s the best comparison I can give all of our gopher fans he had 43 tackles on the year but he had 23 yes 20 23 quarterback pressures five sacks uh was offered in the spring after a workout committed three days later and we appreciate his commitment and appreciate his loyalty for a long period of time you’re going to see him he’s a good-looking young man uh and again boy maf’s type physique next up Nate Cleveland from Hoffman Estates Illinois Hoffman Estates High School uh ranked as a top 55 linebacker in the country uh he was extremely productive as senior year this is a young man who plays almost every position besides Center uh on his on football team I’ll give it to you linebacker safety quarterback running back wide receiver tight end listen to these stats he had 72 and a half tackles he had 10 tackles for a loss but he had 1765 offensive yards and 27 touchdowns rarely do you find an individual that can play both sides of the ball that well these days and when they do we’re still looking for multiport athletes and players that go both ways on each other side offense and defense he’s a dual sport athlete also plays B basketball one of the best players in the state of Illinois and we’re excited to get him with our connections uh in the state of Illinois another early en rolly an offensive lineman Mark handy uh from Albuquerque New Mexico um he was ranked a four-star offensive lineman a top 275 player nationally Elite student this is what’s great when you sit guys down and he wants to be uh Premed when you hear Premed you know you’re in the right academic institution with all the medicine that we have here uh in the state of Minnesota with all the great uh hospitals and and and medical device companies he couldn’t be in a better place for that Premed degree um his senior season they were 12-1 lost in the state championship unfortunately but again a dual sport athlete great wrestler and you know who a great wrestler is Danny strial so when you start to see that aggressiveness come out on field on the film and on the field you can also match it why that is all the way back to high school there’s reasons why those kids play the way they play and Mark’s one of those young men another instate product from Byron Minnesota Colin Hansen we talk about the importance of coming to our camp he came to our camp multiple times and earned an offer and I think that’s what’s critical about now now now it’s not just about transactions and who’s paying the most money it’s about still going to Camp proving yourself earning a scholarship earning nil money earn earn earn I can’t say that enough the given piece I’m not a big fan of that uh I’ve earned everything I’ve got my entire life our staff has earned everything our players will earn every single thing they’re going to earn their degree they’re going to earn their GPA they’re going to earn doing the right things on and off the field right they’re going to earn relationships to have in their spiritual life like every day you’re earning it and um in the world of college football I don’t think there’s much difference you got to keep earning it and this kid came to camp and earned it he looked like a real skinny really tall basketball player a few months later gained 20 25 pounds looked like a football player and uh we we were ready to offer at that point uh but he’s a developmental athlete um you know he 65 250 lbs but he holds it well what does holding it well means arante urser is 345 pounds arante urser looks like he’s 285 I’m not sure if you know what 285 looks like but but he holds it well meaning he doesn’t look that weight and uh same with Colin he looks a lot lighter but he’s 250 lbs three sport athlete football basketball and track excited to have him our first commit which at the time we’re like wow this is a long time before signing day and this is a very good player um from Newton High School in Georgia which is the same high school as Darius green on our football team Um Zack Harden Jr first commit that is one of the most recruited high schools in the country when you go down to Georgia and for him to stay committed and stay true with everybody coming after him from the SEC says a lot about this young man from the first commit to the first sign this morning so that was pretty cool not only did you commit first the papers came in the picture came in the text came in whatever you want to call it we don’t facts anymore but uh it came in it was the first so Darius green Darnell Jeff from that school helped us out a lot on Zach um you know his dad is actually the running back high or running back coach at at his high school and Coach Darius green as well his senior season had 41 tackles eight tackles for a lost five picks got great ball skills he returned three of those picks for touchdowns he also had two other returns for touchdown downs but got called back so uh he can catch it and go uh this is not going to be when he does it here it won’t be his first time like Justin Wally Justin Wally right out there in that corner over there had his first pick six ever in his entire career so this guy’s three ahead of him plus two that didn’t count ahead of Justin Wally um he also had six catches for about 400 yards three touchdowns he had three carries for 123 yards and one touchdown that’s a pretty good average uh you’re talking like 40 some yards a carry uh pretty good so we’ll take those statistics but he’s a dual sport athlete he’s an Elite basketball player where he’s averaging over 20 points per game that’s hard to do listen I average more than 20 points a game but very different high schools uh and very different competition so sorry to throw that out there if you didn’t know that that’s why I’m a football I thought I was going to play in the NBA so well so funny so all right another instate product or I’m sorry cross the border product uh from Fondulac High School in Wisconsin uh uh Rett uh havlak really excited to have him he’s an early en rolly uh here’s what I’ll tell you about Rhett uh Rett again came to Camp uh but this kid his basketball film uh was the reason we actually decided to go on him so it’s not just a football film but it’s a basketball film his basketball film his windmill dunking he’s behind his back dunking and at the size he is we’re like we got to get this kid and see him and we got a chance to see him absolutely loved him knew he was across the border uh didn’t know what was going to happen with the Border school so we ended up offering him he committed to us and the rest is history but you talk about a great body type 66 245 already coach niichel can’t wait to get his hands on him this is a guy that can get on the field because he’s such a great athlete you could see him on the field pretty early um can’t wait to coach this kid and uh you need to look at a lot of his basketball film because that just shows how great of an athlete he is um Daniel Jackson um yes Daniel Jackson’s coming back some of you go oh I don’t he’s not uh this is another Daniel Jackson but now we have another Daniel Jackson in the program so uh from Alexandria Minnesota um where uh coach Simon’s actually from uh we got a a great great kicker um committed um immediately in May a dream of being a gopher uh since he was a little kid we’ve been recruiting him for years you talk about a young man coming here at 8th grade nth grade and sitting there going okay you’re a few years away from us offering you and watching them in camps and watching them k uh made the second longest field goal in State history of 54 yards this year he’s a dual sport athlete where he also runs track and field not very often you have a kicker that runs a 108 600 meter so might have a few fakes here and there so so and for those we talking about the trick plays our little little like quarterback tush push handoff that was a trick play that worked where’s that article the one that didn’t you write about the others that work no no credit for for that one anyway be ready for that with this guy if he runs a 10 8600 meters so get ready to write those articles again because we might do it a few times so see Andy’s already writing something down all right really excited to have Daniel Jackson in the program all right the number one player in the state of Minnesota which everybody was kind of holding their breath for uh rightfully so uh but this guy stayed true from day one and I give him a lot of credit from that uh he’s from Willie uh Howard High School uh and Jackson Howard uh Jackson Howard obviously being part of our program and Willie actually coaching them uh at Robinsdale uh Cooper High School which we’re really really proud to have another member of their High School in our program he’s another early and rolly ranked the number one player in the state of Minnesota Emanuel Carmo um ranked the 253rd best player in the country um you know you talk about a guy who’s very flexible meaning he can play linebacker he can play R he can do a lot of different things in our defense and you can see that we use our Personnel really uniquely uh we can play multiple safeties at a time we can play a lot of defensive linemen a lot of linebackers mix up our third down packages and I said at the beginning of the year our versatility is our strength Emanuel brings a lot of Versatility to our program uh every blue blood in the country came after him and I just give him a lot of credit for staying true to the to to the maroon and gold and uh giving us our giving the US his commitment and I can’t wait to coach him he’s a phenomenal football player and Elite young man uh Jackson KCK quarterback out of Laguna Beach High School uh in Laguna Beach California another early en rolly uh can’t tell you that I didn’t love recruiting this young man every chance you get to go to lagona uh lagona Beach that’s not a bad thing uh I haven’t seen a bad day in lagona Beach yet and you know coach Harbo who’s the one that actually recruited him and Coach Harbo I’ve never seen him more excited in my life than go recruiting uh he’d spent multiple days out there in lagona and uh it was he’s got a tremendous family really really supportive it’s a family full of uh student athletes uh and athletes uh up and down from his brothers to his sisters um Everybody Plays Sports they’re really really supportive parents they’re everywhere in every direction all day uh they just run around and transport their kids like a lot of you did uh in so many sports so um he’s ranked a composite 4star a top 20 quarterback in the country over the last three seasons he’s thrown for over a 100 touchdowns three sport athlete he plays baseball track and field football but you talk about a really competitive young man a lot of you know who he is especially if you’ve been to our camps you watched him attend our camps do a great job and really go out there and earn it and that’s you know you bring in 10 quarterbacks and you’re sitting there telling yourself the best quarterback’s going to get the scholarships and then we move on and Jackson earned that committed and um he was able to to keep his commitment true which we appreciate next up offensive lineman protecting him is Kavon Lee from planfield Central High School in Illinois in the Chicago land area uh he was offered in September okay so not too long ago I took an inseason official visit here for the Penn State game and ended up committing when we were in a hotel in Madison a few days ago so that was great news we got two pieces of great news leave in Madison one was him and then one was the axe um he’s ranked the top 32 offensive tackle in the country top 10 player in the state of Illinois you know how love how much we love recruiting the state of Illinois he’s a big big long tackle body uh that’s really athletic and reminds you of that AR anti ursery type body and athleticism not saying he is just saying that’s the type of athleticism uh that you sit there and look at say all right we want to develop him next up um from Cina uh California Legend lions from Charter Oak High School uh he’s a phenomenal phenomenal player think of Tyler Johnson body control body frame structure length um you talk about a young man who dominated Games 55 catches almost 900 yards receiving 12 touchdowns um he’s a ranked the top 100 wide out nationally but he’s got a lot of physical traits that uh is really really positive for us to have it’s got a great family really supportive family and I’m really glad he came out from California and uh having Jack and him from the state of California uh really helps that connection at wide receiver and quarterback another receiver from the Naples area from F First Baptist Academy in Florida uh Bradley Martino uh he’s a ranked a fourstar athlete uh he’s W of the Navy 2025 Navy All-American uh bull part participants you’ll be able to watch him on TV here coming up ranked as a top 30 wide receiver in the country he could play any position on the field he’s long he’s athletic and you talk about an over-the-top great kid great great young man um we’re getting here in in Bradley great supportive parents and um you talk about holding them accountable it’s hard to be able to keep yourself committed all those months and and years it’s tough uh but he’s been committed from day one and been incredibly loyal he doubl doubled his receiving totals from last year with over 950 yards and 15 touchdowns he’s incredibly productive he’s a dual sport athlete also runs track and field uh from the Freehold New Jersey area uh went up to New Jersey to get a corner Bergen Catholic High School one of the most historic high schools in all the country especially in New Jersey Naim Parish he’s an early en rolly he’ll be here very soon very very productive athlete uh committed during our OV Big Splash our Summer Splash ranked the top 50 National quarterback four-time State football champion so winning is in his blood uh Bergen Catholic all-time interception leader with 15 that is saying something one of the most prestigious most Traditional High School F of pageantry 15 interceptions to break the record 100 plus career tackles he’s a dual sport athlete he’s a really good basketball player um second on his team in points first in assists first in steals and then the season senior season they went 11- one and again won their fourth state championship in a row he knows how to win he’s going to bring that winning DNA and blood to the University of Minnesota next up uh Luke ryy which that name hopefully sounds familiar his brother played for us too uh from Woodbury Minnesota East Ridge High School uh one of the best punters in all the country uh he flipped from Alabama actually he’s committed to Alabama to play football and baseball he’ll do the same here at the University of Minnesota so we’re glad to keep him in State uh he’s ranked the number four punter in the entire country uh 45 a half yards per punt on average 95% kickoff Touchback and as you know with Crawford leaving and Dron kesich leaving we need to be able to focus on some Specialists that can come in and have the possibility of playing as a true freshman so they’ll have an opportunity uh to compete for the starting job but it was great to have Grant here it’s really good to have his brother Luke here as well next up going out to California again uh an East fail Corona Centennial High School again a Powerhouse in California an early and rolling offensive lineman offensive tackle DJ ship uh we saw him in the spring recruiting cycle and offered him at his workout he plays left tackle for one of the top high schools I said in the Pro in in the country but a prototypical offensive tackle body he’s 66 270 long he’s got an 80in swings span some of you’re like how long is that 80 Ines and that’s a that’s that’s a long ways everybody that’s a long ways uh next up went out to Arizona to get another offensive tackle from Poria Arizona and Liberty High School out there Nick Spence uh the recruiting Services have him ranked in the top 85 as an offensive tackle he was 11- one in his in his senior year playing for the state championship he’s actually playing still right now Arizona’s got a little different weather they extended a little bit longer so he’s actually playing in the state championship here coming up dominated his senior season he was an all uh region first team uh performer again dual sport athlete throws the shot put uh Ethan stendel from calonia Minnesota Cody lindenberg Jr just think of that that body type is a linebacker again Cody when you look at him now to when his Camp film really skinny really long but this guy’s got all the traits that Cody had maybe even just a tad more at the level that he’s at vers where was at uh ranked the number two player in the state of Minnesota and it’s not even close that’s exactly where he should be he’s a long uh athletic tough hitter that’s got great range uh great close good reading diagnose uh after an elite camp this summer we offered him immediately and he was committed to us uh grew up a gopher fan wanted to stay home and uh plays for legendary uh Minnesota high school coach Carl Fry if you guys know him uh over there at calonia so we’re really excited to have one of Coach fr’s players in us uh he lives on also this is great for all of our Minnesota Farmers who lives on 60 Acres good farm boy right staying home in Minnesota uh next up playing defensive line jquan stubs from Cleveland Ohio Cleveland Heights height School uh he committed to us over multiple Big 10 offers multiple power four offers but uh it’s great because his head coach is ma Stevens and a lot of you know who ma Stevens is uh 1990 uh gopher Alum played linebacker here so there was it was great to have a former gopher in the high school every day never told told him where to go but was really really supportive can’t thank coach Mack enough with all he’s got going on in his life uh to really support the Gophers and talk so highly of us and his experience here at the University of Minnesota which meant a lot to us uh he’s a dual sport athlete also plays basketball he’s really light on his feet uh kind of looks like Devon Eastern if you kind of think of that type frame uh has been playing on varsity basketball though from since his freshman year and you think of Cleveland Heights High School that’s a really really athletic high school with a really good team so um really really proud that he’s going to be a gopher uh Abu Tera uh defensive lineman um from uh Providence Academy High School right there in Eden Prairie in Minnesota top the top three high school player in the state of Minnesota ranked number three you can order them how you want to order him uh but one thing I love about him is he wanted a Life program and you know recruiting was way more than football you know he wants to be a a neurosurgeon and again I’m on a different planet I’m an elementary school teacher so like when people say like they want to go into neurosurgery they want to be in Premed I mean I’m not I’m not sure how I how I can help them uh except go to class and listen to your professors um but you know it’s interesting because his dad travels some of you travel to and from work you know 30 minutes 45 minutes you have a little bit of a commute here did have a commute some go across the border to Hudson you know a lot of people traveled to Hudson and us uh his dad travels between the US and Africa for work so I that’s that’s some good bare miles uh that he continues to build up but Abu is a three- sport athlete basketball track and field and football but really appreciate abu’s commitment what I loved about Carmo him Ethan really connecting the class with their commitments and uh really forming I think one of the best Minnesota commitment classes we’ve had so really excited for a booze future next up running back out of St Na’s High School famous high school in the state of Ohio Grant Washington um Joanie and Gary are his parents tremendously supportive people uh uh same thing came had a great Camp performance we were able to put our eyes on them loved them able to offer them get them committed we saw him at a satellite Camp a few weeks prior to that got him to drive up and our coaches because I’m not at every satellite Camp so sometimes you see a guy you like at a satellite Camp drive him to campus so I can see him and then we can go ahead and put the offer on guys because we got to be right and uh you all know that so love to be able to put our eyes on them here at the University of Minnesota uh track and field athlete as well really excited to have Grant with us so there you go bang clock stops take the under told you so really excited about our class like I said there’s a lot going on in college football right now one of the most exciting days of the season I can’t thank everybody enough that’s in this room one media uh and ALS all seriousness and and fairness thanks for covering our team the way you do thanks for covering us thanks for creating the stories that you do and the conversations you do however you do it you create conversation and content that’s about the University of Minnesota all the time and all publicity is good publicity as people are talking about the University of Minnesota and the Twin Cities and I appreciate your coverage there’s so many donors and and and boosters here that I can’t thank you enough for your support we could have put the class together without you we are not able to put our transfer class together without all of you and like I said between 10 and 15 is the number we’re looking at in a lot of key positions we’ll know what that looks like uh exactly once we kind of get through all of our meetings get through the bll game get through the portal first portal cycle and see what happens so can’t thank everybody enough couldn’t do it without you love being the head coach at University of Minnesota look forward to a great bowl game here coming up in a few weeks when we find out who we play on Sunday so rad the boat Sky M Go Gophers I’ll answer uh any questions that you have just under 43 minutes 44 let me know when we’re at 42 G all right PJ it stands out to see Five Guys from the west coast and the Southwest what were the elements that made that such a kind of stable of your class here yeah I think when people asked me before you know just because we expanded the Big 10 from coast to Coast will you recruit the West Coast only if we find the right fit remember we recruited Las Vegas for a little bit of time um because we had a coach that had connections uh to Las Vegas and were’re able to get Jordan Howen to come here as a walk- on from Las Vegas and we technically hadn’t recruited Las Vegas a lot when we were here Greg har Harbo and and and Keegan have a lot of connections and EK have a lot of connections on the west coast and so we felt like let’s let’s see U see what we can do out there let’s see what kind of luck we can have have but it wasn’t about just the student athletes it was about finding the right fit as a student athlete and we’ll go anywhere Andy as long as the fit is there because again you can find 20 players in the country that want to love their life academically athletically socially spiritually and pour everything they have into it there’s 20 players in the country that want that and that’s what’s so great about expanding our our our map a little bit and gives us more options and we’ve made some great connections already to some high schools that we’ll just continue to keep going to every year and I’m sure when we’re out there we’ll connect to other high schools it’s not like you can spend you know two weeks just hitting 150 high schools there you have to be very surgical of where you’re going why you’re going there who you’re going there for in my opinion and we were treated tremendously on the west coast it it was I I can’t say like surprising to me but like people know University of Minnesota people are rowing the boat we got a lot of alumni out there uh we got people who have been fans of ours that are ads and and teachers that wanted to see us and talk to us as we came into the school that was awesome I guess that’s the best way to have your kid get recruited know who we are and then I’m like well I really like this school you know really like this place so really really excited to have those guys from California sign with us I can hear you don’t worry yeah uh COI perit you all know Koy uh I don’t think you have to instill confidence in Koy uh I think he’s uh he’s pretty good with his own self motivation he doesn’t need to be wound up he doesn’t need to be motivated um you know he’s he’s a really really confident young man and you know I I think that’s what one thing that you have to have if you want to play as a true freshman he’s really really confident uh and he knew this was his plan he wanted to come here he wanted to play as a true freshman I could say that all I want and I said the same thing he said but it’s very rare to come here in June and then also start I think that’s really really critical uh to have success if you want to be able to do it you’ve got to be able to do it at an elite level and he never has doubted himself he’s walked in played as a true freshman has produced from day one it’s not shocking to us um we planned on that it’s why we played him but I think what impressed me was how fast he was able to adapt to the speed of the game that quickly wasn’t if he could play or not how fast could he adapt to the speed because it’s going to be different than Esco and you’re coming right into the Big 10 and you lose out on Spring ball you lose out on that so that’s I think what was the most impressive piece the mental piece the emotional piece and the speed of the game but uh that doesn’t shock you with Koy he he you know he he doesn’t lack confidence PJ PJ it seems like uh the last year or so with Max and Drake and Jackson you’ve had a a good run of of quarterbacks um what would you say has maybe helped you in the recruit recruiting of uh high level prospects and and with Max somebody who of course has really delivered yeah I think well moving forward I think it helps uh you know we haven’t had a quarterback drafted since 1972 uh but I know this if I’m an NFL team I’m drafting Max brosmer period And I that’s all I keep telling everybody and you look at the final Co like production from quarterbacks you look at all the qbrs you look at all those things he is towards the top of the list and there are a lot of teams in the country country that would have done a lot to get that kid to play for them this year and I’ve never been around a young man who processes information like he processes information uh can take something that he doesn’t know and master it as quickly as he can Master it he’s the ultimate connector and he’s a curious leader you put all that together you see what kind of season he had and I wish we had him another year uh you know but some NFL team’s going to benefit from that he’s going to be an NFL head coach an NFL coordinator shoot might be the head coach at University of Minnesota one day I would not run it by him I would not let that uh you know slip by your mind because he will and then obviously play in the NFL but what I think it’s been great is you know as we start to look at our quarterbacks that will stay and go and we add to that group you look at what he’s done with Drake Drake has attached himself to Max’s hip as well as Dylan but they are they you you see Max somewhere and Drake’s right there and it wasn’t just the football piece it’s the manorisms it’s how you lead it’s what you say it’s when you say it it’s how you say it ma uh you know Drake’s been able to to really kind of take all of that and now go apply it now in Bull prep and practice is one thing and the by practices are one thing but now it’s bull prep bull prep is a a cap of the 2024 season it’s a reward it’s a celebration for the players it’s also early spring ball right and that’s why it’s so critical it is early springball it’s already a jump forward to 2025 so it’s critical every rep that he has and holding them to the same standard and it’s so fun to watch Max brosmer at times we’re calling plays Max is calling the plays when we play it in practice Max is the offensive coordinator calling the plays to Drake Lindsay it’s really really cool to see that connection that they have so um it’s it’s huge progression for us again like I said we’ve had we we got a streak of our own to break with the quarterback position but I would love to be able to see that with Max because he’s definitely a draftable QB you’re very high on Drake Lindsay and you were able to bring in Max brosmer from the portal last year you plan on bringing in another portal type of starting quarterback here in the next few weeks or how do you kind of view how you want to attack quarterback in the portal yeah I’ve been very transparent with all of our quarterbacks at our meetings we absolutely are going to bring in a transfer uh quarterback uh to compete that’s what we’re going to do and I think that’s really good for everybody and Drake understands that Dylan understands that Max understands that everybody understands that piece Jackson understands that but like we said go in there and compete and that’s what’s so fun about is you create that competition that makes everybody else better but yeah we plan on bringing one you added several offensive linemen with big frames and athletic potential what’s your philosophy on creating o line depth in this current roster building landscape yeah I think that you know we have to find guys that are willing to develop and I’m talking everything mentally physically emotionally on the field off the field uh but you’re taking the clay and knowing that I think nobody produces and develops offensive lineman better than Brian Kellan and you give him an unfinished product they’ll leave a finish product and I think that’s what’s so good about our guys being drafted in the National Football League people are starting John Michael SMI starting for the New York Giants Aron is goingon to be a first round pick plug himself into any NFL team and and and go play and but he couldn’t have done that at 240 pounds when he got here you have to be able to project and you have to look forward that’s very difficult to do not only do you have to do it you have to get the young man to think about that too uh because their dreams have to be really big and what they want for their life has to be really big they can’t think small and I think our offensive linemen have always thought big no pun intended there uh but I think coach Kahan does a really good job of it and a progression a lot of it has to do with the weight room Dan niichel and our strength staff do a great job the weight room the nutrition that’s the biggest piece for offensive linemen because you can be high school strong that’s one thing being Big 10 strong is another thing and a lot of that is just the the maturation process of the body and how old you are and how your body grows where you can just be bigger than somebody in high school well when you get to this level you’re not just bigger everybody’s the same size as you if not bigger so now you got to catch up in the strength category and then obviously the the the the schemes are very different at this level too but I think it’s a whole combination of all those Daniel you mentioned the wide receivers you have coming in is that something for the people that’ll be throwing to are you going to attack for a number one type wide receiver in the portal yeah I think that when you look at you know I don’t know who’s going to be number one two three and four when you look at this year I mean Daniel Jackson I mean he’s our number one receiver but there’s a lot of times elah Spencer is our number one target Jameson gear is our number one target I don’t know if you can just look at it as 1 two three four five we need a we need pass catchers to come in our pass catchers that are within our program to develop which they are which they’ve got a great opportunity that when nobody’s here to keep developing and really set the tone for what they’re going to be in 2025 that’s exciting met with all of them they’re excited to do it it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch how that position settles into the positions when you watch him in 2025 come September of next year uh but yeah I mean we’re we’re going to continue to create competition in there uh continue to support uh the quarterback next year with a ton of resources uh but I love our tight end room too uh I love our wide receiver room I I love our back field there’s going to be a lot of people that come in at every position like I said 10 to 15 we all deserve a little bit of attention each position I’m not sure what team doesn’t at each position you’re always looking at depth you’re always looking at strength you’re always looking at need you’re always looking for some older guys if you have a young room every room’s a little bit different take one more yeah uh PJ talk about what it takes to create cultivate and maintain these relationships with instate coaches and players yeah I think it’s just about it’s not just about a phone call here and there it’s about coming to Camp it’s about having you know coaches breakdown sessions in the offseason coming during spring ball practice being with our staff those are some old school things that I think our staff does a really good job of especially during spring ball it’s a great time for High School coaches to come out and spend time with us uh chop it up on the X and O board sit there and talk culture with them and they all have the ability to do that uh and that’s what’s so fun about it some use it more than others but I think that when you’re looking at us we’re still a transformational program with transactions in it there’s some transactional programs only with a little bit of transformation in it so you have to look out who you are you got to be yourself and then you’ve got to again talk to the high school kids or the coaches and and players about exactly what you’re looking for you can be a really good player but it might not fit and a lot of people like why didn’t you take this guy why didn’t you take that guy maybe it wasn’t a fit for him to us or US to him it it has to be a marriage and sometimes you don’t have the ability to date for three years like all of you did right you don’t have the ability to do that you got a speed date literally you just have to be able to date somebody for a day and see if you want to marry them like that that is the new world I mean you have to that’s that’s tough you see all these shows that shoot Heather watches all these like 90day 60-day 30-day marriage 30-day breakup 90 what 90-day fiance I don’t know if I’m getting the days right you could tell how much I actually watch it but I see it on those saved things on on the uh DVR I see it save shows but that’s that’s kind of the difference I think and you have to really work hard not just work hard it just has to be what we do it’s just what we do I think we’re able to maintain them because that’s just what we’ve always done PJ there were a couple players that that didn’t sign today that were previous commits what are you willing to share about them and then kind of positionally at running back and safety we add in that in this class still given the last couple Windows of the day yeah I mean we’ll definitely add like I said at every position you know as we look at it um in terms of the guys that didn’t sign again we know different information that you guys don’t know and we’re not allowed to talk about a player until right now you know so we’re not allowed to say their names and do those types of things but we have 20 players that signed and that’s our Focus uh 100% and I’m really excited to have these guys join um you know when you look at throughout anybody’s you know recruiting class from two years ago when we started this thing I mean who commits and decommits and flips and moves and that’s just the world of college football let alone the portal so again I have very transparent honest conversations with our players and I have no problem doing that and sometimes when you have transparent conversations it leads to somebody leaving and our my job is to get them to where they say they want to be and if that’s not staying at the University of in Minnesota I do not take that personal I do not um they can go somewhere else and play more get more playing time uh help their career help their dream you got to support it 100% And I’ve learned that you know three years ago the portal was very different than I think it is now where everybody’s just we didn’t have any money it didn’t matter you know players would leave and you couldn’t even you know talk about even keeping them or they’d leave for that reason well now you’re having conversations about what’s best for the student athlete and it’s fun yes there’s money involved but at the end of the day they’re still transformational and these guys want the best for themselves uh and the team and sometimes leaving is the best for both sometimes it’s just best for one uh but that’s why you have to have those TR transparent conversations and not be selfish uh you have to make sure that everybody has the the right information to make the best decision for themselves which um I agree with so um really excited about the team we’ve we’ve brought or the the the high school players we signed excited about the team we have today uh as we prepare for the bowl game uh the portal opens on Monday pretty busy time look forward to seeing everybody at the Bull game thanks for all your support over the years and this year especially uh it’s been a lot of fun seven1 possession games they were definitely exciting you can’t say the season wasn’t exciting uh it was really exciting uh in every game so um some of us got aged a little bit more than than we did in years past uh but it was because the games are so exciting it came down to the wire and the the new Big 10’s really exciting and this new college football playoff ERA with 12 teams is really exciting so thanks for your time everybody enjoy the rest of your day celebrate Minnesota football Row The Boat Sky Ma and go Gophers thanks

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