INDIANAPOLIS — Head coaches and player representatives from seven Big Ten teams participated in the first day of the conference’s 2021 media days on Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Daily Iowan has reporters in Indianapolis covering the event, and they compiled some of the best quotes from coaches around the conference on Day 1.

Here they are:

Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck comparing himself to his academic All-Americans:

“I got an 18 on the ACT, everybody.”

Fleck on Minnesota running back Mohamed Ibrahim:

“[He’s] kind of like a bowling ball going downhill with razor blades on it. Not the biggest guy, not the strongest guy, not the fastest guy, but one of the toughest guys in the country.”

More — out of context — gems from Fleck:

“You know I saw the Mona Lisa and thought: this is it?”

“I would have had some sort of John Deere sponsorship through Sears.”

“You gotta get the potato salad.”

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten:

“We’re going to do it or die trying.”

Harbaugh on what he likes on corn on the cob:

“Butter and salt. What else do you put on it?”

Nebraska coach Scott Frost said of preseason predictions having the Huskers toward the bottom of the Big Ten West standings:

“We’re picked where we deserve to be picked. My second year we were picked first for no good reason.”

Frost on what’s separating Nebraska from Wisconsin, Iowa, and Northwestern at the top of the Big Ten West:

“I think it’s a tight gap.”

More from Frost:

“I think we’re better almost everywhere. But we have to show it.”

“Without a doubt, this is the most excited I’ve been about our team and most confident… We have to go earn whatever respect we get.”

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald on the Big Ten Championship Game trophy displayed at media day:

“There’s a trophy around here somewhere that I haven’t gotten yet.”

Fitzgerald on players now profiting off their names, image, and likeness:

“I’m a little jealous. Think about the mid-90s and the dough I would’ve made.”

Penn State head coach James Franklin after opting not to comment on Oklahoma and Texas seeking to join the SEC, despite saying he has strong opinions about it:

“One of my other goals coming to this media day is to say something that does not end up as a national headline.”

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema on tamping down egos in college football:

“Men, all of us think we’re Superman, right? So, when Superman sees kryptonite, his ass doesn’t look at it, smell it, or touch it. He just goes, right? He flies. As men, we’re normally wired that same way. We tend to run away from what we know brings us down, right? As young men that are confident and look great, that are in the prime of their life, you know, 21 or 22 years old, got a full education paid for. They’re the big men on campus. It’s hard to make them human, right? To make them realize they have weaknesses.”

Bielema on speaking his mind:

“I’m not afraid to say some things. We also haven’t won a game yet, right? So, I have learned a little bit of, until you do some things, you probably need to, you know observe. . . The game should not be about the coach, right? People come to game day, they buy tickets to watch players play, right, and essentially going to watch coaches coach. You surely don’t come to watch referees officiate, right?”