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P.J. Fleck has praise for DE Boye Mafe, RB Mo Ibrahim in weekly presser
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P.J. Fleck is fresh off dropping a poop metaphor to inspire his team before last Saturday’s road win over Illinois—the Gophers first of the season—and now he’s ready to praise those players who best shoveled in the manure to turn waste (a dumpy 0-2 start) into the fresh and useful product of a 41-14 victory of the Illini.
The Gophers’ high-wattage head man relieved himself of some thoughts Monday about Minnesota’s star running back Mo Ibrahim, who had his own set of runs against Illinois, carrying the ball 30 times for 224 yards and four touchdowns to help his team pile it on offensively at Illinois.
“The first year he was here, he literally got beat up every single day, but he never missed a practice,” said Fleck of Ibrahim. “[And] he never complained about where he was.”
“Instead of the Scout Team, he’s now doing it with the ones,” said Fleck, without mentioning if Ibrahim had spent any time with the Twos.
Fleck also heaped it on Gopher’s defensive end Boye Mafe, who notched two (let it go) sacks against the Illini as Minnesota buried them in it high and deep in Champaign.
“I think he hasn’t even scratched the surface yet of where I think he can go,” said Fleck on Monday after watching the game film.
The Golden Gophers are staying home this week, awaiting a Friday night visit from the 1-2 Iowa Hawkeyes, a team that clobbered Michigan State 49-7 last week for its first win of the year. Both teams have identical records and enter the game coming off blowout victories. They play for the bronze ninety-eight pound Floyd of Rosedale trophy, a miniaturized mock up of a Blue Ribbon hog who once upon a time knew a thing or two about manure himself.
Mark Schipper is a reporter, sportswriter, and aspiring novelist living in Chicago, Illinois.