P.J. Fleck is expecting some rough waters on Saturday afternoon when his Minnesota team hosts Rutgers football. The Scarlet Knights, Fleck said, are an improved team and look that way on the field.
Speaking with the media on Monday, the Golden Gophers head coach sees Rutgers as improved from a season ago. Rutgers (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten) has an identical record to Minnesota, even down to their conference record.
Last Saturday, Rutgers got their first Big Ten win of the season in a 24-17 victory over Indiana.
During his Monday media availability, Fleck was asked about Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak. This offseason, Harasymiak left Minnesota where he was the program’s defensive coordinator to join the Scarlet Knights.
“They’re playing at a high level, they play incredibly hard. That’s what I know of it right now. I mean, I haven’t studied it enough from last night and this morning to sit there and give you a whole analysis of it, but I know they’re gonna be really good,” Fleck told reporters.
“They play really hard and way, way more improved; a much-improved football team over the last year, especially during the season.”
Fleck has Rutgers ties himself, having served during Greg Schiano’s first stint with the Scarlet Knights. Fleck was on staff for two years as a wide receivers coach beginning in 2010.
Fleck then joined Schiano’s staff with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before becoming head coach of Western Michigan in 2013 and eventually taking over at Minnesota in 2017.
This week, Schian spoke highly of Fleck. In turn, Fleck sees a lot of Schiano’s fingerprints in this current rebuild of Rutgers.
“I just know that they’re a lot better football team than they were last year. They’re really good defensively very aggressive. Greg’s teams are always going to be sound, discipline – play really well on defense – always have,” Fleck said.
“Offensively, they have some weapons, (the) quarterback is playing a lot better. And, you know, they’re able to do a lot of different things. Again, too early to really kind of dive into all the things just because it’s, you know, it’s Monday morning. But that’s what we’re doing right now. But we got to focus on us. We got to get back to playing complementary football.”
Minnesota is looking to bounce back following a 45-17 loss at No. 13 Penn State last week.
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