Gophers coach P.J. Fleck likes the 'back-and-forth-ness' of training camp

With training camp reaching roughly the midpoint for the Gophers football team, coach P.J. Fleck was asked to give an assessment of how his team has progressed as it prepares for the Sept. 2 season opener against No. 4 Ohio State.

"It's the middle of training camp; not everything is clean,'' Fleck said Monday. "The effort's there, the execution is there, the willingness is there, and the back-and-forth-ness is there. That's what I want to be able to see as a head coach.''

Fleck pointed to the balance he's seen so far between the offense and defense. "We've had one practice where one side of the ball completely dominated, in 10 or 11 practices,'' he said. "Other than that, it's gone back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.''

During Monday afternoon's practice, the first-team defense had the upper hand late in the session against the first-team offense during 11-on-11 drills. When the defense makes a big play such as a sack or third-down stop, Gophers staffers play the menacing audio clip of "I am the danger'' as uttered by the character Walter White in "Breaking Bad.'' That clip got frequent play Monday.

Fleck likes what he's seen from the battles between the veteran offensive line and a deep defensive line.

"Iron sharpens iron,'' he said.

Bits on the Buckeyes

* Ohio State coach Ryan Day isn't ready to name his starting quarterback for the season opener against the Gophers, but he gave a big hint.

"C.J.'s separated a little bit here over the last couple weeks,'' Day said of redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud. "We'll see what this week brings. Certainly, not making any decisions right now.'' Stroud has been competing with redshirt freshman Jack Miller and true freshman Kyle McCord for the starting job.

* Ohio State is No. 4 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25, released Monday. The Buckeyes, the College Football Playoff runners-up last season, received one first-place vote. Defending champion Alabama, with 47 first-place votes, was ranked No. 1, followed by Oklahoma (six first-place votes), Clemson (6), Ohio State and Georgia (3).

The Gophers have three other opponents in the top 25: No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 17 Indiana and No. 18 Iowa. The only other Big Ten team in the top 25 is No. 19 Penn State. Minnesota, 3-4 last year, did not receive any votes in the poll.