Fleck on Lindsey’s clutch drive: ‘I just love his guts'
On Saturday afternoon at Huntington Bank Stadium, Minnesota Golden Gophers starting quarterback Drake Lindsey faced the biggest drive of his young career so far.
With his team facing a 17-10 deficit to the Michigan State Spartans with less than two minutes remaining, Lindsey led the Gophers on a nine play, 65 yard drive in just 83 seconds. It was an impressive drive from the Gophers’ redshirt freshman who completed six of seven passing attempts on the drive for 39 yards.
Following the Gophers’ 23-20 win in overtime, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck was asked about what he learned about Lindsey at that moment.
He’s growing up. He’s not grown up. He’s growing up,” Fleck said. “It’s hard. He did well. We didn’t start fast. He accelerated in the middle. We didn’t necessarily finish strong, but then we finished strong, and then overtime he took over.”
“I think when you look at this — this is all part of the investment,” he continued.”It’s not pretty because people look at, like, the win-loss record. These are all the things that are necessary on the road to 500. We talk about the road to .500 all the time. You’ll never arrive.”
Fleck believes the ups-and-downs of a young quarterback are critical not just to the future success of the player but also their team as a whole.
“If you’re not willing to invest in your quarterback as a freshman and go through some highs and lows, you’re never going to get any better,” Fleck said. “In the world of, like, “Oh, he did bad, replace him.” That’s the demise of a lot of NFL quarterbacks that are pretty good.”
Overall, the one thing that Lindsey has done now more than not in his nine games as the Gophers’ starting quarterback, is the stat that matters the most; winning. Through the first nine games of the season, the Gophers own a 6-3 record including 4-2 in Big Ten play.
“This kid’s really good. It is not easy to win in the Big Ten, especially as a freshman. And he just continues to find a way,” Fleck remarked. “He rallies. He takes accountability. I mean, his preparation is tremendous. Never seen a freshman prepare like this young man.”
“Doesn’t mean he’s perfect. Doesn’t mean he’s going to play well all the time. I mean, our first two drives couldn’t have gone worse. Row the boat. Lower back in the water and go. Fail and grow. Learn from it.”
Fleck also believes that the culture of the Gophers’ program has put Lindsey in a place to succeed.
“That’s what this culture has allowed our players to do, and I’m proud of that,” he said. “Nobody’s just getting ripped on the sideline. The quarterback’s not getting ripped to make me look good. He’s getting coached. He’s a freshman. Everything you say to him matters. Every single proper moment matters.”
Fleck also wants his quarterback to remember the mistakes and failures that come and go with the ebbs and flows of a game and on a bigger picture, a season.
“You’re building scars. Scars are okay. Scars tell us where we’ve been,” Fleck said as an analogy. “Some people want to get rid of their scars. No, no, no. Leave your scars.”
“I just love his guts,” Fleck said in closing on his quarterback. “And the team believes in him and when you’ve got a team that believes in your quarterback, and he’s really young, you feel really good as a head coach.”
