That 9-4 season and Holiday Bowl victory? Great finish, but it's in the past.
The controversy over a threatened players' boycott of that bowl? They're turning the page.
The changing of coaches and attitude? Full steam ahead.
As the Gophers football team prepares to open its first training camp under high-energy coach P.J. Fleck, players expressed a mix of optimism, curiosity and confidence during the team's media day on Monday at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex.
"We have a lot of good players, a lot of talent on our team. But in terms of record, we're just focusing on getting better. Change our best,'' said junior center Jared Weyler, echoing one of Fleck's catch phrases he's used to set a new tone after being hired in early January to replace the fired Tracy Claeys.
Weyler and his teammates open training camp on Tuesday, 30 days ahead of the Aug. 31 season opener against Buffalo. That's roughly four weeks for Fleck to fine-tune his system — and for his players to learn it on the fly.
"It's an exciting time, the opening of training camp,'' Fleck said. "It's kind of like opening the gifts on Christmas morning — you get to see what you have.''
What Fleck has won't be known until the Gophers take the field and throw a block in anger against an opponent. But his aim is to have a team that has fully bought in on the changes he's made.