11-02-2019, 07:14 PM
From Mlive.com
GRAND HAVEN, MI – P.J. Fleck was standing several yards from Billie Roberts Saturday at Grand Haven’s Gene Rothi Field and Roberts didn’t even know it.
“Oh, was he really?” Roberts said, when he was told that University of Minnesota’s high-energy head coach was taking in some of Muskegon’s 69-7 first-round playoff victory over In fairness, it wasn’t like Fleck was dressed head-to-toe in Gophers garb. He was prepared for the chilly Michigan elements, sporting a black down jacket with a small Minnesota “Row the Boat” logo on the front and a black stocking cap. He blended in pretty well.
Roberts, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound senior two-way lineman, holds nine Power-Five scholarship offers, including one from Minnesota. The three-star prospect, according to 247Sports, also has an offer from Michigan State, among While Fleck cannot comment on prospects until they sign, he did take a few minutes to speak with MLive. Topics of discussion included his success at Minnesota this season and his recruiting radius, especially as it relates to the state of Michigan.
Fleck became very familiar with Michigan as Western Michigan University’s coach from 2013 to 2016. At WMU, he often spoke about drawing the core of his recruiting classes from within a six-hour radius of At Minnesota, he’s on a similar arc. The Gophers were 5-7 during his first season in 2017, they went 7-6 last year and now they’re off to an 8-0 start this season.
“(The radius) still exists in Minnesota, and Michigan’s going to be some place we always recruit,” he said. “Matt Simon recruits the area for us, Brian Callahan recruits the area for us. We have so many connections and ties to Michigan high school coaches, so many teams, that it’s a special place and always will be for us and we’ll continue to recruit it very heavily.”
Fleck was 30-22 in his four years at WMU. He was 1-11 in his first season in 2013, then followed with back-to-back 8-5 campaigns before the Broncos program reached unprecedented heights in 2016 with a Mid-American Conference championship, Cotton Bowl berth At Minnesota, he’s on a similar arc. The Gophers were 5-7 during his first season in 2017, they went 7-6 last year and now they’re off to an 8-0 start this season.
GRAND HAVEN, MI – P.J. Fleck was standing several yards from Billie Roberts Saturday at Grand Haven’s Gene Rothi Field and Roberts didn’t even know it.
“Oh, was he really?” Roberts said, when he was told that University of Minnesota’s high-energy head coach was taking in some of Muskegon’s 69-7 first-round playoff victory over In fairness, it wasn’t like Fleck was dressed head-to-toe in Gophers garb. He was prepared for the chilly Michigan elements, sporting a black down jacket with a small Minnesota “Row the Boat” logo on the front and a black stocking cap. He blended in pretty well.
Roberts, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound senior two-way lineman, holds nine Power-Five scholarship offers, including one from Minnesota. The three-star prospect, according to 247Sports, also has an offer from Michigan State, among While Fleck cannot comment on prospects until they sign, he did take a few minutes to speak with MLive. Topics of discussion included his success at Minnesota this season and his recruiting radius, especially as it relates to the state of Michigan.
Fleck became very familiar with Michigan as Western Michigan University’s coach from 2013 to 2016. At WMU, he often spoke about drawing the core of his recruiting classes from within a six-hour radius of At Minnesota, he’s on a similar arc. The Gophers were 5-7 during his first season in 2017, they went 7-6 last year and now they’re off to an 8-0 start this season.
“(The radius) still exists in Minnesota, and Michigan’s going to be some place we always recruit,” he said. “Matt Simon recruits the area for us, Brian Callahan recruits the area for us. We have so many connections and ties to Michigan high school coaches, so many teams, that it’s a special place and always will be for us and we’ll continue to recruit it very heavily.”
Fleck was 30-22 in his four years at WMU. He was 1-11 in his first season in 2013, then followed with back-to-back 8-5 campaigns before the Broncos program reached unprecedented heights in 2016 with a Mid-American Conference championship, Cotton Bowl berth At Minnesota, he’s on a similar arc. The Gophers were 5-7 during his first season in 2017, they went 7-6 last year and now they’re off to an 8-0 start this season.