The concept of “One Minnesota” became mainstream with state government initiatives in 2018 and often flows into sports with professional and college teams wishing each other good luck with #OneMN in social media posts.
Gophers football, in particular, is grateful the Vikings take it above and beyond quick well wishes slapped with a hashtag. In the last three years, the college program has increasingly benefitted from the NFL team’s willingness to open up its doors to talk ball.
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck thanked Vikings’ General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell for the access. That includes watching practices and sitting down with the NFL staff at different times of the year. The Vikings already turn out en masse for the U’s annual Pro Day.
“The access (O’Connell has) allowed us to have as a staff, it’s humbling because that’s not normal amongst NFL teams,” said Fleck, beginning his ninth season at Minnesota. “It wasn’t even (there) before (O’Connell) got here.”
Given the cutthroat pinnacle of the NFL, it would be easy for Vikings to not pay much attention to a local college football outfit — even if they are in the Big Ten Conference.
“An NFL coach can easily just be like, ‘Listen, I’m gonna run my own organization, and you run your college program,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “I think Kevin’s really kind of looked at it as One Minnesota and what’s good for us can be good for them. What’s good for them can be good for us. Really kind of connect this whole city and this sport.”
Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh incorporated a red-zone concept used by O’Connell and peer OC Wes Phillips to success during the 2024 season, while new U defensive coordinator Danny Collins has lifted some of the versatile sub packages that’s been a hallmark of fellow DC Brian Flores’ units for early usage at Huntington Bank Stadium this fall.
When the NCAA added helmet communications between coaches and one player on the field before the 2024 season, the Gophers leaned on the Vikings for best practices and for troubleshooting when things might go awry.
Fleck asked O’Connell about the Vikings’ vast experiences with the technology. O’Connell talked about identifying the quarterback needs: Does the QB want a lot of information to be fed into his ear? Or is it a less-is-more situation, with a point of overload before each snap?
Then the two leaders discussed how to handle it if the headset communication cuts off, slips to a low volume or becomes scratchy.
“There’s all these things that you don’t know when you’re using it for the first time,” Fleck said. “Those are simple pieces of advice that go a long way.”
When Harbaugh sat down with the Pioneer Press last December, he pointed to a few plays with Vikings fingerprints on them. On Wednesday, he shared how a summer project dove into the Vikings’ system. In previous years, he dissected the Buccaneers and Lions.
“I studied a ton of it,” Harbaugh said of the Vikings. “I use a lot of those things, whether it’s under-center stuff or two-back game, drop-back, play-action versus run action. Coach McConnell does an awesome job with all that, manipulating it and making things look the same.”
When the Gophers went to TCO Performance Center in Eagan in June, Harbaugh had done his homework and was able to ask questions to McConnell and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown.
“It was cool to be able to have that,” Harbaugh said.
In Collins’ new leadership role, he used athletic young linebackers Emmanuel Karmo and Matt Kingsbury in a unique 3-3 front in early-down sub packages in the 23-10 win over Buffalo on Aug. 28. Flores does similar things to confuse opposing quarterbacks.
“That is very rare in the history of this defense to have packages like that on first and second down,” Collins said. “That is just a glimpse of what can happen.
“The relationship we have with Coach Flores, what he does and that whole Vikings staff has been huge for us to open up our minds.”
One benefit to the Vikings was the glimpse of quarterback Max Brosmer they received during the U’s Pro Day in 2024. It was a full year before Brosmer entered the NFL draft process, and he was throwing to other draft-eligible pass catchers in front of talent evaluators.
But it left a mark on O’Connell.
“Then all Kevin hears about is me talking about this kid every time I’m around Kevin,” Fleck said. “Anytime Kevin came to the house, (I’m) talking about Max.”
Brosmer went undrafted last April, but signed with the Vikings and made their 53-man roster. He joined a growing list of former U players to wear purple in recent years: Blake Cashman and Esezi Otomewo as well as short-timers in Mo Ibrahim, Tanner Morgan, Sam Schlueter and Chuck Filiaga.
“I would have loved to see (Brosmer) get drafted, and I think everybody knows he probably should have been drafted,” Fleck said. “But if he would have got drafted, maybe he wouldn’t have went to the right fit. When you’re a free agent, you get to pick the right fit. He had offers from the Jaguars and some other suitors, but he knew Kevin was the right fit.”
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