How does P.J. Fleck feel about Gophers football’s roster building for 2025?

The Gophers football program cannot just focus this week on beating Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan’s Axe come Friday morning.

Given college football’s mashed-together schedule, head coach P.J. Fleck and his staff have to multi-task in three roster-refining areas — figuring out the possible retention/defections of current players on the roster; recruiting and signing high school players in next year’s class, and determining position needs for when the NCAA transfer portal opens.

Developments in each category will happen quickly once the final whistle blows in Madison, Wis., on Friday. The early-signing period for high schoolers has been moved up two weeks and will start next Wednesday. And the portal for college kids officially opens a week from Monday and closes Dec. 28, which will be near when the Gophers play in their bowl game.

Fleck already has begun conversations with current players about whether they will be coming back to the U for the 2025 season, pursue NFL dreams, hang up their jersey or find another school. Those talks started during the bye week following the Rutgers loss, continued into the Penn State defeat last Saturday, and will continue this week and next.

Minnesota had near-perfect success in retaining starters from the 2023 season — only quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis transferred out, and the U was going to bring in a player like Max Brosmer anyway. They eventually kept 15 of 16 starters.

“Getting there,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press about the potential retention this season. “With the two portal windows (the second is April 16-25), ask me that same question in July.

“But I feel really good,” he continued. “I feel really good about our players valuing a life program. Again, I think that so many people have choices all over the country about certain things. Do you value just money? Do you value just starting? Do you value the culture and the environment that you get to work in? Do you value the lifestyle that you get to have at that place? Do you value your teammates?”

The addition of NIL (name, image and likeness) compensation for players has changed the landscape of college football and the incoming addition of revenue sharing for players makes dollar amounts a bigger part of the decision-making process.

“I never used to hear, ‘Coach, I think you should talk to my agent.’ Now I know how Mark Coyle feels,” Fleck quipped in reference to how his job has changed and how the U’s Athletics Director has to deal with his and other coaches’ contracts.

The Gophers’ NIL funds have increased “way more” in the last two years, including with a $1 million dollar match this month from Bloomington business Nepsis Inc. Exact figures are closely guarded by the U’s collective Dinkytown Athletes, but Fleck tried to put it in some perspective.

When running back Mar’Keise “Bucky” Irving transferred from Minnesota to Oregon in spring 2022, Fleck said last week that Minnesota had “no money” at that time.

“And he got offered a lot of money” to go to Oregon, Fleck said. “If you know where Bucky comes from and you know his background (with a difficult childhood in Illinois), there’s no way he could have said no to that.”

The Gophers now have growing NIL funds to better compensate players, but Fleck brought up Irving because of the way things have come full circle with the current Tampa Bay Buccaneers player. During his NFL bye week this month, Irving returned to Dinkytown. Over a couple of days, he was at Gophers practice and hung out with players and staff. He fit that trip in while Oregon is the No. 1-ranked team in the country.

Fleck used that anecdote to show how he wants his program to be “transformative” for players — not just “transactional” with NIL and revenue-sharing dollars.

Fleck said when Irving graduated from Oregon, he video called Fleck and his wife Heather as he walked across the stage. Irving also remains close with the U’s all-time leading rusher Mo Ibrahim.

With current and future players, the Gophers won’t be among the highest bidders. If money is a primary factor in those players’ decisions, they will more likely head to other locales.

This is part of the reason why Fleck approaches the situation from a different angle. While the U will still need to offer more money to current standout players, they also might need to re-recruit them to the program’s bigger focus.

Other programs are expected to see if they can pluck away some of the U’s best players. Four of those headliners include freshman phenom safety Koi Perich, emerging force in defensive end Anthony Smith, quarterback-in-waiting Drake Lindsey and versatile workhorse running back Darius Taylor.

“There’s so many things that young people are having to decide what they want, and everybody’s different, and everybody has their own needs, and we’re going to find out, like we did last year,” Fleck said. “I still feel like we’ll have great retention this year.”

One facet is how Minnesota has had success with incoming transfers from the FCS level; Brosmer and defensive backs Ethan Robinson and Jack Henderson are three recent success stories. Fleck has often said prospective incoming players need “gratitude” to order to be a right fit at the U. The Gophers will have plenty of needs in the portal, with more than 20 outgoing seniors, including more than a dozen key contributors.

It is bound to be a busy time in all three categories, and that’s why preparations and ground work happen before the regular season finishes.