By Jordan Hansen
Minnesota head coach Tracy Claeys spoke to members of the media at Big Ten Media Days to discuss the upcoming 2016-2017 season.
- “Very proud of the way our kids competed, they had to fight through a lot of obstacles.”
- Brings up Kill, how the end of his career at Minnesota went.
- On losses: “We had a opportunity to do some things in the fourth quarter and we weren’t able to do that.”
- Says that winning the bowl game brought some energy, but not that ultimate goal.
- Has a lot of nice things to say about quarterback Mitch Leidner, who played through some injuries. It’s also the third time Leidner has been at Big Ten Media Days
- On receivers: “It’ll be tough to replace K.J. Mayes, made a lot of plays for us.” Says it’s a position where the team has to prove itself. Needs the passing game to open up the running game for his backs.
- Doesn’t want a bunch of “experiments” on game day, wants to run the things Leidner can do well.
- Says removing kickoffs hasn’t been explicitly talked about in coaching meetings, but says it “could be in the best interest of the game” to get rid of it.
- On offense: “We have to get back to being physical and running the ball.” Big on removing negative rushing plays, says it was especially noticeable on first-down plays.