P.J. Fleck is one of the hottest names in college football right now, a ball of fire with four children who is recently engaged, embodies the Row The Boat mantra he instills for program unity and is also the highest paid head coach in the Mid-American Conference with an $800,000 salary.
He's known for his rapid rise up the coaching ranks, which started at Ohio State as a graduate assistant in 2006, weaved back through his alma mater Northern Illinois — where he was a first-team All-MAC wide receiver and even got a shot in the NFL — then headed east to Rutgers and south to Tampa Bay with Greg Schiano before landing in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Western Michigan. Those six jobs in eight years, along with a massive turnaround of the Bronco program, earned him that hefty raise and a six-year extension following the 2014 season.
Saturday, Fleck brings his 1-2 Broncos to Ohio Stadium to face off against Urban Meyer and the nation's No. 1 team. The Buckeyes are trying to get things ironed out offensively, particularly at the quarterback position, with Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett each trying to secure the starting job.
It's resulted in back-to-back underwhelming offensive performances by Ohio State, but Tuesday, Fleck said there's no reason to fret if you're a Buckeye fan.
"I know this: Urban Meyer is the greatest coach in college football right now. He’ll figure it out, I’m sure," Fleck said Tuesday during his weekly press conference, according to the team's official site.
Fleck hardly minced words about Meyer — who's .848 career winning percentage is the best among active coaches — and Ohio State, who boast a massive horde of talent on offense even if the stats haven't been what they've expected early in 2015.
“I wish I could tell you our game plan, but that’s why we’re sitting in the office late at night going, ‘Now what? OK, well that presents this problem. We solved that one, but now we got this issue.’"
Even though Meyer hasn't named his starter at quarterback for Saturday (though he alluded Tuesday on the Big Ten teleconference that he would Wednesday after practice) Fleck knows this about Barrett and Jones: They're both Heisman Trophy candidates.
“It’s a challenge. It’s definitely a challenge. And it’s the biggest challenge we're going to face all year. We gotta be ready for it.”
Fleck added that the Broncos plan on getting to Columbus early Thursday in order to take a tour of campus and the stadium in order to get some of the aura of its size and history out of the way.
“It’s like the Yankees of baseball — truly a special place. We’re going to go there the day before so our players can get the ‘aha’ out of their system. Because it is a special place and I want them to remember it for the rest of their lives. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life."
The full video of his press conference is below, courtesy wmubroncos.com.
