University of Minnesota Athletics
Tim Brewster Press Conference Transcript
8/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Tim Brewster Press Conference Transcript 8/28/07
Let me begin by saying how excited I am about the opportunity we have Saturday night. It’s obviously something that I’ve worked towards a long time in my life, and the opportunity to be the head football coach at a place like the University of Minnesota is so, so special. I’m extremely proud of the way our team has prepared for this game. Like I said, I’m extremely excited and this week is going to go very, very slow for me. We’re prepared to play a game; we just have to keep pushing for the rest of this week. And Saturday night at 7 o’clock we’ll find out what kind of football team we have. I think everyone is excited our players, our coaches are excited to see (what happens).
In the National Football League for the past five years, I had four preseason games to ready and see what we’ve got. In college football, we’ve got no preseason games and you’ve got play against each other. We’re all a little tired of playing against each other, and we’re ready to go play a game.
Bowling Green...I think is a quality opponent. I think it’s a great first-game opponent for us. They’ve got a good football team. They’re coming off a 4-8 season... They’re going to be a better football team. Gregg Brandon’s a heckuva football coach; followed Urban Meyer and has done a real good job there. Offensively, they’re starting a new quarterback just like we will be (Tyler) Sheehan, big kid, strong arm. They want to get back to throwing the football more, I know that. They were the 14th-leading rushing team in the country last year, so they’re committed to running the football. But I know Gregg wants to do a better job throwing the football also. Their center, Kory Lichtensteiger is an NFL player. I think he’s an outstanding prospect, a really, really good football player. They’ve got good tackles. They’ve got a young guy named (Freddie) Barnes that used to play quarterback and is now playing receiver who we really think is their best athlete on their team.
That’s the thing that strikes me about their football team is that they have excellent athleticism. Corey Partridge, the slot receiver, (is a) really good player. Defensively, the thing you notice right away is all the different multiple fronts. They do a great job with their zone blitz package. They stun the front, they move the front, they create confusion in the opponents’ offensive line. Again, there’s speed, there’s athleticism, so I think Bowling Green is a really good football team.
Now, saying that, I know Gregg Brandon is telling his team the same thing it’s more about us than it is them. It’s how we play, and not so much how they play. The first game, you never know how much you’re going to see... You think you have a pretty good idea. This summer we did a four-game scouting report. We studied them extensively. They’ve got a new offensive coordinator, they’ve got a new defensive coordinator. So what we think they might do, they might not do. We’ve got to do a great job of making game-time adjustments on the sideline. We’ve got to look and see exactly what’s going on and we’ve got to adjust to it. And I think we’ll do a great job of that. Our coaching staff is outstanding.
Special teams-wise, that’s another thing. We think that they’re going to do certain things, but you never know. Again, I think it’s a great opponent for us in the first game, we’re ready to play the first game. It’s an exciting time for us all.
I’ve challenged the state of Minnesota to get behind this football team and sell the Dome out Saturday night. I truly believe that we can do something very, very special this season if all Minnesotans get behind this football team and show them how passionate we are about this football team. These players deserve it, and hopefully we’ll have a great, great crowd on Saturday night and we’ll begin something very special at home.
Q: Can you go through the quarterback decision?
A: We had great competition at the quarterback position all training camp. We just feel like at this particular time Adam Weber gives us the best chance to win. He’s done an outstanding job at becoming a student of the game, understanding the offense better. We think he has excellent talent, we think we can win with him. Obviously, saying that, we know that Tony Mortensen’s got to be ready to play also. Our quarterback is going to have to run the football in this offense. He’s going to run the option, he’s going to take hits. We’re going to need more than one quarterback to play. Tony Mortensen knows he’s one snap away from being the starter. Tony competed outstanding. Mike and I just decided at this particular point in time that Adam Weber’s going to be our guy.
Q: Is the only way that Mortensen would go in be because of an injury?
A: There will not be no quick hook on Weber. We have tremendous confidence in him, tremendous confidence in his ability to lead this team. He’s showing that in training camp, and we’re going to give him every opportunity to succeed. My challenge to our football team on the offensive side of the ball is to take care of a young quarterback. That offensive line needs to do a tremendous job in protecting him and keeping the quarterback clean.
Q: What will be done with Clint (Brewster)? Is he going to be redshirted?
A: Right now Clint is our number three quarterback. We’ll see where we go with that. He could possibly redshirt, and depending on injuries, he could possibly be playing week two. As I’ve told all of our guys, you’ve got to be prepared to be a starter. You never know when your opportunity is going to come. Don’t ever think for a second that you’re going to be redshirted.
Q: Was there ever a point with you (with Adam Weber) that you said Hey, he’s starting to get it’ or was it more of a gradual thing throughout camp?
A: I challenged Adam to become a better student of the game, and I think that’s the biggest thing that he did. What he’s doing right now is studying the offense. He’s spending a bunch of time in here studying the game, studying film; he’s got his playbook in here. That’s given him the confidence to allow his athletic ability to take over. Everybody knows Adam Weber’s an outstanding athlete. Now, what he’s becoming is a quarterback. And there’s a big difference.
Q: Is this a complicated offense for a freshman to learn?
A: Yes, I would say so. We ask a lot of our quarterback. We ask him to make protection calls at the line of scrimmage, we ask him to package four and five plays at the line of scrimmage, depending on fronts and coverage, changing out of plays and such. There’s a lot to it.
Q: Tim, can you talk about the defensive depth? Will we see things drop off as much after the front guys come out?
A: Well I really feel good about our depth on the defensive line. We think we’ve got some outstanding guys there that can play. You look at left end Lee Campbell, Derek Onwuachi, Ray Henderson there’s three pretty good football players playing left end for us. Eric Small, Garrett Brown, Todd Meisel, Neel Allen, Barrett Moen, Willie VanDeSteeg, Matt Stommes, William Brody. So we’ve got some real solid guys in there. We’re going to rotate those guys a lot.
I broke the season down into four three-game quarters. In these first three games, we’re going to have to play a lot of players. We’re going to have to get a lot of players ready to play, and it’s going to be critical that we’ve got that depth. We don’t have that same depth at linebacker. We don’t have that same depth in the secondary. Those guys are going to have to be warhorses Steve Davis, Mike Sherels, John Shevlin those guys are going to a lot of football. They’re also going to play a lot of football on kicking, on special teams. We’re not going to sacrifice our special forces to get some young guys or some guys that are not playing in the game. We’re going to play our best players on special forces.
Q: What’s your assessment right now of the cornerback situation?
A: I think it is what it is. Desi Stieb is a guy that’s got to become a player; he’s got to become a consistent player for us. Jamal Harris has got to be a player for us. Those two guys have got to do a great, great job. Mike Chambers is playing behind Jamal Harris, and he’s played on the offensive side of the ball (before this year) so he hasn’t played much. Ryan Collado is a true freshman. These true freshmen we’re not going to allow them to be true freshman for very long. They’re going to have to play, and they’re going to play opening night.
Q: What’s your assessment of Curtis Thomas?
A: Curtis Thomas is an outstanding player. He’s made great progress. He’s going to be a player that’s going to be an All-Big Ten football player at some point. He’s got tremendous talent, speed, physicality I like everything about Curtis. Everett’s doing a lot of things defensively that puts a lot of pressure on those safeties. A lot of communication back there, but I don’t think it’s going to be long before Curtis Thomas is a guy that’s going to be in the secondary playing for us a lot.
Q: How comfortable are you playing so many freshmen so regularly?
A: I don’t mind it at all. As long as they’re talented freshmen... If they weren’t talented, then I’d be real concerned. But they’re real talented freshmen they’re fast football players. They’re guys that can help us win, and we’re not going to let them be freshmen. We’re going to force-feed them and make these guys come along. We’ll see the lights are going to shine bright Saturday night, and we’ll see how they react. Based on what I’ve seen in training camp, these freshmen are going to be able to help us win and win now.
Q: Do you expect to have the running backs share carries, or do you expect Amir (Pinnix) to have 20 or so carries a game?
A: I think Amir Pinnix is going to get the yeoman’s work. I think Amir Pinnix is absolutely critical for us to do the things we have to do. I’d like to see him rush for 1,500 yards. I’ve talked him about that. We’re very excited about what Duane Bennett can bring to the plate. He’s been an outstanding freshman. Extremely explosive, great cuts and great quickness. He’s going to fall right in line with the rest of those great Minnesota backs. Then you’ve got a guy, Jay Thomas, who’s also in the mix (and has) great speed. Jay’s missed some time, and that’s allowed Duane to step ahead of him right now. But obviously we still have great confidence in Jay Thomas.
Q: You’re going to be running a lot of plays out of the shotgun are you confident in your ability to deliver the ball to the quarterback?
A: We’re still working on that. That’s something that’s got to be absolutely automatic, and I’ve challenged our centers to really do a great job at the shotgun snap, and I have confidence that they’ll do a great job of that. Brinkhaus will be fine.
Q: Did you see the strides on special teams that you wanted to see?
A: Absolutely. Special teams have made great progress, and I think it’s going to be exciting to watch our young guys cover kicks on Saturday. I think we’ll be really good on special teams. It’s obviously been a tremendous emphasis for us throughout training camp.
Q: What are your expectations for this season in terms of the number of victories, something tangible?
A: I haven’t been bashful at all about saying what my goals and intentions are as the head football coach here, and that’s to win the Big Ten Championship. Now, can we do it this season? That remains to be seen. That’s certainly my intention, and that’s our intention as a football team. These kids have bought in. I think they’ve got tremendous confidence in themselves, and I think they’ve got tremendous confidence in the system and in the things we’re doing. I think our schemes are allowing our kids to play fast and aggressive, and that’s what these kids want to do. They want to play fast and aggressive. There’s no limit on what we can do or where we can go.
Q: What is going to be your range of emotions leading up to your first game as a head coach on Saturday?
A: It’s been 21 years in the making, and the reality of it being here has not really hit yet I’m so immersed in work right now. We get up early and we stay here late, working on the game plan, because I’m so committed that our staff present our football team with a tremendous plan. A plan in which they have great confidence, so they know when they step on the field, if they execute that plan, they’re going to win. It’s going slow right now to me. Like I said, we get up early and we stay around here late, but it’ll eventually get here. The most important thing is that it ain’t about me it’s about our football team being prepared and ready to go beat Bowling Green. And I’m certain that our football team will be prepared.
We’re as healthy a football team as you can be at this point in training camp. We’ve got nobody really on the shelf injury-wise, and I promised our guys that we would be fresh. We worked them really hard in training camp. We’ve run a bunch. We ran a bunch yesterday. Yesterday I had that indoor facility closed it was like a steambox in there and we worked extremely hard for two hours, and then ran afterwards. I want to see to it that we are a great conditioned football team, and that’s going to allow us to play for 60 minutes. We’re going to see to it that we’re a 60-minute football team.
Q: Are you going to be able to savor that moment, especially walking out of that tunnel on Saturday?
A: Well what I’ve thought most about is what I say to the team before the game starts. And that’s something that I’ve thought long and hard about, and that’s going to be an emotional time for me without question. But I’m very consumed in what I do and getting that team ready to take the field, so I’ll be brief with my comments. But it’ll be a special, special time for me.
Q: Have you had a dress rehearsal in your mind in terms of calling time-outs, game management, and clock management, that sort of thing?
A: Absolutely. I think about it all the time. When I was an assistant coach, I always prepared as a head coach. I always wanted to know why why’d you do this, why’d you do that. Fortunately, I was with three pretty good guys, three Hall of Fame coaches. But I always did game plans in my mind; I always called time outs in my mind. I always asked myself How would you handle that situation?’ But you never know until you get that opportunity. And I don’t think anybody understands all that goes into being a head coach at this level. You can prepare all you want, but you never know until you’re here.
Q: How will your backup receivers work into the game?
A: Well, we’re going to have to play a lot of receivers. We’re a spread football team, we’re going to play with three or four receivers at one time, and we might play with five receivers at times. That was an area of concern we added some guys late in the process. Ralph Spry is going to be an outstanding football player. Damian White is going to be an outstanding football player. Are we where we need to be at the receiver position? No, we’re not, but we’ve got to make sure that we’re good enough.
Jack Simmons is going to be a guy that we’re going to lean on. Jack Simmons is a guy that we’re going to have to lean on. He’s a veteran guy out of the tight end spot that’s going to catch a lot of passes for us. Ernie Wheelwright has got to step up and be a football player, a consistent football player. And I’ve been in his pocket since day one, pushing him and seeing that he does the things necessary to be a consistent football player. And I know on Saturday night he’ll enjoy not having me there.
Q: Do you think you’ll give a motivational-type talk before that first game on Saturday? Have you been jotting anything down?
A: I like to think that I’ m a motivational guy. I’ve got a lot of passion about what I do. I love what I do. I’m tremendously honored to be the head coach at a university like the University of Minnesota. I want to be motivational, but you don’t ever want to say too much. I learned from Mike Shanahan that the worst thing a head coach can do is talk too much. These kids are going to be ready to play. These guys, on Saturday night at about 7 o’clock are going to be chomping at the bit to get on the field, so I’m going to try and not get in the way too much. But I’m going to say a few words from my heart that I feel really strongly about, and hopefully it will help us.
Q: What kind of coach can fans expect to see on Saturday night? Are you animated, jumping up and down on the sidelines and arguing with the referees?
A: I’m not going to race up and down and challenge referees. If there’s a bad call, I’m going to let them know. I think you’re going to see a guy that’s fairly well composed but is very, very passionate about what he’s doing. And the passions of the game are going to tweak me up at times. But there are going to be no surprises around me. I’ve been around football a long time, coached at the highest levels at the National Football League. So I feel very comfortable going into this football game and how I’m going to be able to respond.
Q: You’ve been giving talks for months do you think you can keep that pregame talk short?
A: Yeah [laughs]. I’ve thought about it so much... I’m going to keep it short and I’m going to let these guys go out there and do what they do. But I promise you this much they’re going to feel my passion. And they’re going to feel the state of Minnesota’s passion because that’s what’s important to all of us.
Q: Are you going to fly in any family or friends to support you on Saturday?
A: Yeah, I’m going to be well supported on Saturday night, without question. My family will be here. My oldest son is going to be in Boone, North Carolina playing against Appalachian State. As you guys know, my middle son is going to be on the sideline and my youngest son is going to be standing on the sideline too, watching the game as my son.
Q: Do you think your guys have responded well to all of the things that you have put them through (in training camp)?
A: Yeah, I think so. You’d like to think so, but I truly believe this is a great group of kids. Change isn’t easy. It’s really, really hard. When there’s change, a lot of times there’s resistance. I think from day one, from the first opening team meeting that we had in here, these kids have embraced this coaching staff and our style of doing things. I think they all understand how much we all love the game of football and what an honor and a privilege it is to play football at such a great university, such a storied university. That’s the biggest thing that I’ve tried to do with these kids is instill a sense of confidence, that You know what guys? You are special being a Minnesota Golden Gopher.’ Think about all the guys six national championships, 18 Big Ten championships. It’s absolutely a special place, and these kids need to understand that. And that’s been a big part of my process, is teaching these players how special it is to be a Gopher.
Q: Are you going to wear something special on the uniforms on Saturday?
A: yeah, we’re going to wear a 35W patch and we’re also going to wear an FK’ for Frank Kara, our compliance guy who died a couple of weeks ago unfortunately. It meant so much for him to be a Golden Gopher, so we’re going to honor those two groups of people. They’ll be in our thoughts all season long.
Q: Can you talk about the process you had with the quarterbacks as far as letting them know who would be starting?
A: I brought both quarterbacks in, sat them down and talked to them both. You know what? Those guys get along great together. I think there was an inkling (as to) maybe what was coming, by the way things had been playing out in practice. Tony Mortensen has been tremendous. He knows that he’s one step away from being the starting quarterback here, and so he’ll continue to prepare as the starter, and he’ll be tremendously supportive of Adam.
I did (have them together). I don’t believe in bringing them in separate, because we’re all in this thing together. I brought them in both together, sat them down in my office and discussed the situation. I thought they both handled it outstanding, and we went out and had a great practice yesterday, which was most important.
Q: Did you discuss it with the team?
A: No, I didn’t discuss with the team. I think the team knows what the deal is. I talked to the offensive line, and I’ve been very, very pointed in letting them know that they’ve got to take care of a young quarterback it’s critical. And they’ve got to take tremendous pride in not letting that young guy get touched.
Let me begin by saying how excited I am about the opportunity we have Saturday night. It’s obviously something that I’ve worked towards a long time in my life, and the opportunity to be the head football coach at a place like the University of Minnesota is so, so special. I’m extremely proud of the way our team has prepared for this game. Like I said, I’m extremely excited and this week is going to go very, very slow for me. We’re prepared to play a game; we just have to keep pushing for the rest of this week. And Saturday night at 7 o’clock we’ll find out what kind of football team we have. I think everyone is excited our players, our coaches are excited to see (what happens).
In the National Football League for the past five years, I had four preseason games to ready and see what we’ve got. In college football, we’ve got no preseason games and you’ve got play against each other. We’re all a little tired of playing against each other, and we’re ready to go play a game.
Bowling Green...I think is a quality opponent. I think it’s a great first-game opponent for us. They’ve got a good football team. They’re coming off a 4-8 season... They’re going to be a better football team. Gregg Brandon’s a heckuva football coach; followed Urban Meyer and has done a real good job there. Offensively, they’re starting a new quarterback just like we will be (Tyler) Sheehan, big kid, strong arm. They want to get back to throwing the football more, I know that. They were the 14th-leading rushing team in the country last year, so they’re committed to running the football. But I know Gregg wants to do a better job throwing the football also. Their center, Kory Lichtensteiger is an NFL player. I think he’s an outstanding prospect, a really, really good football player. They’ve got good tackles. They’ve got a young guy named (Freddie) Barnes that used to play quarterback and is now playing receiver who we really think is their best athlete on their team.
That’s the thing that strikes me about their football team is that they have excellent athleticism. Corey Partridge, the slot receiver, (is a) really good player. Defensively, the thing you notice right away is all the different multiple fronts. They do a great job with their zone blitz package. They stun the front, they move the front, they create confusion in the opponents’ offensive line. Again, there’s speed, there’s athleticism, so I think Bowling Green is a really good football team.
Now, saying that, I know Gregg Brandon is telling his team the same thing it’s more about us than it is them. It’s how we play, and not so much how they play. The first game, you never know how much you’re going to see... You think you have a pretty good idea. This summer we did a four-game scouting report. We studied them extensively. They’ve got a new offensive coordinator, they’ve got a new defensive coordinator. So what we think they might do, they might not do. We’ve got to do a great job of making game-time adjustments on the sideline. We’ve got to look and see exactly what’s going on and we’ve got to adjust to it. And I think we’ll do a great job of that. Our coaching staff is outstanding.
Special teams-wise, that’s another thing. We think that they’re going to do certain things, but you never know. Again, I think it’s a great opponent for us in the first game, we’re ready to play the first game. It’s an exciting time for us all.
I’ve challenged the state of Minnesota to get behind this football team and sell the Dome out Saturday night. I truly believe that we can do something very, very special this season if all Minnesotans get behind this football team and show them how passionate we are about this football team. These players deserve it, and hopefully we’ll have a great, great crowd on Saturday night and we’ll begin something very special at home.
Q: Can you go through the quarterback decision?
A: We had great competition at the quarterback position all training camp. We just feel like at this particular time Adam Weber gives us the best chance to win. He’s done an outstanding job at becoming a student of the game, understanding the offense better. We think he has excellent talent, we think we can win with him. Obviously, saying that, we know that Tony Mortensen’s got to be ready to play also. Our quarterback is going to have to run the football in this offense. He’s going to run the option, he’s going to take hits. We’re going to need more than one quarterback to play. Tony Mortensen knows he’s one snap away from being the starter. Tony competed outstanding. Mike and I just decided at this particular point in time that Adam Weber’s going to be our guy.
Q: Is the only way that Mortensen would go in be because of an injury?
A: There will not be no quick hook on Weber. We have tremendous confidence in him, tremendous confidence in his ability to lead this team. He’s showing that in training camp, and we’re going to give him every opportunity to succeed. My challenge to our football team on the offensive side of the ball is to take care of a young quarterback. That offensive line needs to do a tremendous job in protecting him and keeping the quarterback clean.
Q: What will be done with Clint (Brewster)? Is he going to be redshirted?
A: Right now Clint is our number three quarterback. We’ll see where we go with that. He could possibly redshirt, and depending on injuries, he could possibly be playing week two. As I’ve told all of our guys, you’ve got to be prepared to be a starter. You never know when your opportunity is going to come. Don’t ever think for a second that you’re going to be redshirted.
Q: Was there ever a point with you (with Adam Weber) that you said Hey, he’s starting to get it’ or was it more of a gradual thing throughout camp?
A: I challenged Adam to become a better student of the game, and I think that’s the biggest thing that he did. What he’s doing right now is studying the offense. He’s spending a bunch of time in here studying the game, studying film; he’s got his playbook in here. That’s given him the confidence to allow his athletic ability to take over. Everybody knows Adam Weber’s an outstanding athlete. Now, what he’s becoming is a quarterback. And there’s a big difference.
Q: Is this a complicated offense for a freshman to learn?
A: Yes, I would say so. We ask a lot of our quarterback. We ask him to make protection calls at the line of scrimmage, we ask him to package four and five plays at the line of scrimmage, depending on fronts and coverage, changing out of plays and such. There’s a lot to it.
Q: Tim, can you talk about the defensive depth? Will we see things drop off as much after the front guys come out?
A: Well I really feel good about our depth on the defensive line. We think we’ve got some outstanding guys there that can play. You look at left end Lee Campbell, Derek Onwuachi, Ray Henderson there’s three pretty good football players playing left end for us. Eric Small, Garrett Brown, Todd Meisel, Neel Allen, Barrett Moen, Willie VanDeSteeg, Matt Stommes, William Brody. So we’ve got some real solid guys in there. We’re going to rotate those guys a lot.
I broke the season down into four three-game quarters. In these first three games, we’re going to have to play a lot of players. We’re going to have to get a lot of players ready to play, and it’s going to be critical that we’ve got that depth. We don’t have that same depth at linebacker. We don’t have that same depth in the secondary. Those guys are going to have to be warhorses Steve Davis, Mike Sherels, John Shevlin those guys are going to a lot of football. They’re also going to play a lot of football on kicking, on special teams. We’re not going to sacrifice our special forces to get some young guys or some guys that are not playing in the game. We’re going to play our best players on special forces.
Q: What’s your assessment right now of the cornerback situation?
A: I think it is what it is. Desi Stieb is a guy that’s got to become a player; he’s got to become a consistent player for us. Jamal Harris has got to be a player for us. Those two guys have got to do a great, great job. Mike Chambers is playing behind Jamal Harris, and he’s played on the offensive side of the ball (before this year) so he hasn’t played much. Ryan Collado is a true freshman. These true freshmen we’re not going to allow them to be true freshman for very long. They’re going to have to play, and they’re going to play opening night.
Q: What’s your assessment of Curtis Thomas?
A: Curtis Thomas is an outstanding player. He’s made great progress. He’s going to be a player that’s going to be an All-Big Ten football player at some point. He’s got tremendous talent, speed, physicality I like everything about Curtis. Everett’s doing a lot of things defensively that puts a lot of pressure on those safeties. A lot of communication back there, but I don’t think it’s going to be long before Curtis Thomas is a guy that’s going to be in the secondary playing for us a lot.
Q: How comfortable are you playing so many freshmen so regularly?
A: I don’t mind it at all. As long as they’re talented freshmen... If they weren’t talented, then I’d be real concerned. But they’re real talented freshmen they’re fast football players. They’re guys that can help us win, and we’re not going to let them be freshmen. We’re going to force-feed them and make these guys come along. We’ll see the lights are going to shine bright Saturday night, and we’ll see how they react. Based on what I’ve seen in training camp, these freshmen are going to be able to help us win and win now.
Q: Do you expect to have the running backs share carries, or do you expect Amir (Pinnix) to have 20 or so carries a game?
A: I think Amir Pinnix is going to get the yeoman’s work. I think Amir Pinnix is absolutely critical for us to do the things we have to do. I’d like to see him rush for 1,500 yards. I’ve talked him about that. We’re very excited about what Duane Bennett can bring to the plate. He’s been an outstanding freshman. Extremely explosive, great cuts and great quickness. He’s going to fall right in line with the rest of those great Minnesota backs. Then you’ve got a guy, Jay Thomas, who’s also in the mix (and has) great speed. Jay’s missed some time, and that’s allowed Duane to step ahead of him right now. But obviously we still have great confidence in Jay Thomas.
Q: You’re going to be running a lot of plays out of the shotgun are you confident in your ability to deliver the ball to the quarterback?
A: We’re still working on that. That’s something that’s got to be absolutely automatic, and I’ve challenged our centers to really do a great job at the shotgun snap, and I have confidence that they’ll do a great job of that. Brinkhaus will be fine.
Q: Did you see the strides on special teams that you wanted to see?
A: Absolutely. Special teams have made great progress, and I think it’s going to be exciting to watch our young guys cover kicks on Saturday. I think we’ll be really good on special teams. It’s obviously been a tremendous emphasis for us throughout training camp.
Q: What are your expectations for this season in terms of the number of victories, something tangible?
A: I haven’t been bashful at all about saying what my goals and intentions are as the head football coach here, and that’s to win the Big Ten Championship. Now, can we do it this season? That remains to be seen. That’s certainly my intention, and that’s our intention as a football team. These kids have bought in. I think they’ve got tremendous confidence in themselves, and I think they’ve got tremendous confidence in the system and in the things we’re doing. I think our schemes are allowing our kids to play fast and aggressive, and that’s what these kids want to do. They want to play fast and aggressive. There’s no limit on what we can do or where we can go.
Q: What is going to be your range of emotions leading up to your first game as a head coach on Saturday?
A: It’s been 21 years in the making, and the reality of it being here has not really hit yet I’m so immersed in work right now. We get up early and we stay here late, working on the game plan, because I’m so committed that our staff present our football team with a tremendous plan. A plan in which they have great confidence, so they know when they step on the field, if they execute that plan, they’re going to win. It’s going slow right now to me. Like I said, we get up early and we stay around here late, but it’ll eventually get here. The most important thing is that it ain’t about me it’s about our football team being prepared and ready to go beat Bowling Green. And I’m certain that our football team will be prepared.
We’re as healthy a football team as you can be at this point in training camp. We’ve got nobody really on the shelf injury-wise, and I promised our guys that we would be fresh. We worked them really hard in training camp. We’ve run a bunch. We ran a bunch yesterday. Yesterday I had that indoor facility closed it was like a steambox in there and we worked extremely hard for two hours, and then ran afterwards. I want to see to it that we are a great conditioned football team, and that’s going to allow us to play for 60 minutes. We’re going to see to it that we’re a 60-minute football team.
Q: Are you going to be able to savor that moment, especially walking out of that tunnel on Saturday?
A: Well what I’ve thought most about is what I say to the team before the game starts. And that’s something that I’ve thought long and hard about, and that’s going to be an emotional time for me without question. But I’m very consumed in what I do and getting that team ready to take the field, so I’ll be brief with my comments. But it’ll be a special, special time for me.
Q: Have you had a dress rehearsal in your mind in terms of calling time-outs, game management, and clock management, that sort of thing?
A: Absolutely. I think about it all the time. When I was an assistant coach, I always prepared as a head coach. I always wanted to know why why’d you do this, why’d you do that. Fortunately, I was with three pretty good guys, three Hall of Fame coaches. But I always did game plans in my mind; I always called time outs in my mind. I always asked myself How would you handle that situation?’ But you never know until you get that opportunity. And I don’t think anybody understands all that goes into being a head coach at this level. You can prepare all you want, but you never know until you’re here.
Q: How will your backup receivers work into the game?
A: Well, we’re going to have to play a lot of receivers. We’re a spread football team, we’re going to play with three or four receivers at one time, and we might play with five receivers at times. That was an area of concern we added some guys late in the process. Ralph Spry is going to be an outstanding football player. Damian White is going to be an outstanding football player. Are we where we need to be at the receiver position? No, we’re not, but we’ve got to make sure that we’re good enough.
Jack Simmons is going to be a guy that we’re going to lean on. Jack Simmons is a guy that we’re going to have to lean on. He’s a veteran guy out of the tight end spot that’s going to catch a lot of passes for us. Ernie Wheelwright has got to step up and be a football player, a consistent football player. And I’ve been in his pocket since day one, pushing him and seeing that he does the things necessary to be a consistent football player. And I know on Saturday night he’ll enjoy not having me there.
Q: Do you think you’ll give a motivational-type talk before that first game on Saturday? Have you been jotting anything down?
A: I like to think that I’ m a motivational guy. I’ve got a lot of passion about what I do. I love what I do. I’m tremendously honored to be the head coach at a university like the University of Minnesota. I want to be motivational, but you don’t ever want to say too much. I learned from Mike Shanahan that the worst thing a head coach can do is talk too much. These kids are going to be ready to play. These guys, on Saturday night at about 7 o’clock are going to be chomping at the bit to get on the field, so I’m going to try and not get in the way too much. But I’m going to say a few words from my heart that I feel really strongly about, and hopefully it will help us.
Q: What kind of coach can fans expect to see on Saturday night? Are you animated, jumping up and down on the sidelines and arguing with the referees?
A: I’m not going to race up and down and challenge referees. If there’s a bad call, I’m going to let them know. I think you’re going to see a guy that’s fairly well composed but is very, very passionate about what he’s doing. And the passions of the game are going to tweak me up at times. But there are going to be no surprises around me. I’ve been around football a long time, coached at the highest levels at the National Football League. So I feel very comfortable going into this football game and how I’m going to be able to respond.
Q: You’ve been giving talks for months do you think you can keep that pregame talk short?
A: Yeah [laughs]. I’ve thought about it so much... I’m going to keep it short and I’m going to let these guys go out there and do what they do. But I promise you this much they’re going to feel my passion. And they’re going to feel the state of Minnesota’s passion because that’s what’s important to all of us.
Q: Are you going to fly in any family or friends to support you on Saturday?
A: Yeah, I’m going to be well supported on Saturday night, without question. My family will be here. My oldest son is going to be in Boone, North Carolina playing against Appalachian State. As you guys know, my middle son is going to be on the sideline and my youngest son is going to be standing on the sideline too, watching the game as my son.
Q: Do you think your guys have responded well to all of the things that you have put them through (in training camp)?
A: Yeah, I think so. You’d like to think so, but I truly believe this is a great group of kids. Change isn’t easy. It’s really, really hard. When there’s change, a lot of times there’s resistance. I think from day one, from the first opening team meeting that we had in here, these kids have embraced this coaching staff and our style of doing things. I think they all understand how much we all love the game of football and what an honor and a privilege it is to play football at such a great university, such a storied university. That’s the biggest thing that I’ve tried to do with these kids is instill a sense of confidence, that You know what guys? You are special being a Minnesota Golden Gopher.’ Think about all the guys six national championships, 18 Big Ten championships. It’s absolutely a special place, and these kids need to understand that. And that’s been a big part of my process, is teaching these players how special it is to be a Gopher.
Q: Are you going to wear something special on the uniforms on Saturday?
A: yeah, we’re going to wear a 35W patch and we’re also going to wear an FK’ for Frank Kara, our compliance guy who died a couple of weeks ago unfortunately. It meant so much for him to be a Golden Gopher, so we’re going to honor those two groups of people. They’ll be in our thoughts all season long.
Q: Can you talk about the process you had with the quarterbacks as far as letting them know who would be starting?
A: I brought both quarterbacks in, sat them down and talked to them both. You know what? Those guys get along great together. I think there was an inkling (as to) maybe what was coming, by the way things had been playing out in practice. Tony Mortensen has been tremendous. He knows that he’s one step away from being the starting quarterback here, and so he’ll continue to prepare as the starter, and he’ll be tremendously supportive of Adam.
I did (have them together). I don’t believe in bringing them in separate, because we’re all in this thing together. I brought them in both together, sat them down in my office and discussed the situation. I thought they both handled it outstanding, and we went out and had a great practice yesterday, which was most important.
Q: Did you discuss it with the team?
A: No, I didn’t discuss with the team. I think the team knows what the deal is. I talked to the offensive line, and I’ve been very, very pointed in letting them know that they’ve got to take care of a young quarterback it’s critical. And they’ve got to take tremendous pride in not letting that young guy get touched.
Players Mentioned
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/ FootballMilitary Appreciation Game
Friday, November 07
Fleck Postgame Locker Room
Thursday, November 06
Cinematic Recap: Gophers Beat Spartans
Wednesday, November 05
Coach Fleck Postgame Interview
Sunday, November 02