After the bye week, Minnesota’s staff made a point of talking to players about next season, even with the Gophers staring at one of the toughest stretches on the schedule.
That’s not usually how teams operate in the middle of a season. But this is where college football is now, and P.J.
Fleck wasn’t trying to pretend otherwise. Minnesota used its lone bye week to begin working ahead on retention, with the aim of getting current players signed to deals for 2027 before the NCAA transfer portal opens for a two-week window on Jan.
“I think it can be distracting, but everyone around the country has to have those conversations,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “I think you can either have them in secrecy or you can actually let them know that it’s, ‘Here we go.’ ”
The timing is especially notable because the Gophers are in the middle of a brutal run. They opened the second half of the season with a 13-10 upset of then-No.
15 Iowa last week, but now they head into Saturday’s game against reigning national champion and fourth-ranked Indiana, then return home next weekend for No. 7 UCLA.
It’s Minnesota’s first stretch of three straight ranked opponents since 2015.
Still, Fleck said the bye week gave the staff a chance to start conversations that would have been easier to handle later in the year.
“People were starting to get into a rhythm of what we like to do, and we’re getting closer to negotiating or being done,” Fleck said. “I just think it’s just a little harder midseason.”
The approach is designed to be proactive. Minnesota wants to lock in starters, important contributors and developmental players quietly and smoothly before the portal chaos ramps up. And the chaos is already building.
USA Today reported this week that the transfer market is “super active right now,” according to a general manager of a College Football Playoff contender. Fleck said he’s already dealing with that reality on his end.
“You’ve got portal stuff going on right now,” Fleck said coming out of the bye on Oct. 19. “You’ve got all types of guys and agents reaching out about contracts, all things like that.”
The Gophers are making sure the football side stays separate from the negotiations. General manager Gerrit Chernoff and Director of Player Personnel Marcus Hendrickson - not the coaching staff - are handling talks with players’ representatives, whether that means agents or family members.
“The two people that are going to be having the conversations with your representation are going to be people who have nothing to do with the game plan,” Fleck said. “So, you’ll never lose the football aspect and dedication from the coaches and you can focus on being a player.”
There’s also the money piece, and Minnesota doesn’t have endless room to play with. The Gophers are estimated to be near the bottom of the Big Ten in roster spending, with roughly $20 million this season, according to The Athletic. That means every decision has to be made carefully, and Fleck and athletic director Mark Coyle are in regular contact about it.
Coyle said the U is trying to avoid short-term thinking.
“We’ve got of be very smart in how we allocate our resources,” Coyle told the Pioneer Press. “… What we look for as we go through Year 2 of (revenue sharing) is how can we allocate our dollars to the right people in the right way?
“We can’t make a short-term decisions because those usually backfire on you; but how can you make the best long-term decision for the student-athlete for your program to maximize the dollars that you have?”
The market only makes that calculus tougher. USA Today quoted one agent saying one school “could spend up to $5 million on a quarterback next year.”
Minnesota quarterback Drake Lindsey isn’t getting anything close to that, but the comment underscores how fast prices are climbing. Fleck even joked about it on his radio show this week while talking about the U displaying its three rivalry trophies - Floyd of Rosedale, Little Brown Jug and Paul Bunyan’s Axe - together for the first time since 1978.
“Another $20 for Drake Lindsey,” Fleck said on KFXN-FM.
It was clearly a joke, but it landed in a moment where the business side of college football is impossible to ignore.
The Gophers are also working within the new NCAA eligibility rule, which gives players five years to play five seasons. Minnesota’s current roster includes 11 players listed as fifth-year seniors who are set to run out of time after this season.
That means the school can shift money now being used for those outgoing players toward younger pieces it wants to keep for next year, while also leaving room for transfer additions once the portal opens in January.
For the Gophers, the plan is simple: get the deals done now, and let the players keep moving without the distraction hanging over them.
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