Outside of losing Athan Kaliakmanis, PJ Fleck and his coaching staff have done a good job of keeping their starting talent from leaving through the transfer portal. So then what happened with Kaliakmanis?
According to KSTP’s Darren Wolfson, speaking on Skor North this week, it allegedly came down to how much of the blame for a disappointing 5-7 season was placed on the redshirt sophomore quarterback.
“As recently as before the Purdue game he was row the boat, Ski-U-Mah, all on board,” said Wolfson on a recent appearance on Skor North’s Mackey & Judd show. “So what changed? Well, they got their ass kicked in West Lafayette. Which, Purdue is rock bottom, so when you lose that game you become rock bottom. But there were some public words, I don’t know how many people were in the room. But there was a heated conversation, well more so a one-sided conversation, where PJ was pointing out stuff about Athan in front of others. That really soured Athan on his situation here.”
You can listen to Wolfson on Kaliakmanis/Fleck from 30:09 below.
Minnesota gave up 49 points to (4-8) Purdue in one of the more embarrassing defeats in a season chock full of them. The Gophers offense scored on four of its six first half drives against the Boilermakers but then Kaliakmanis struggled in the second half, completing just five passes before a garbage time touchdown drive.
The quarterback was hardly the only person to have a bad night at Purdue, though. Minnesota’s defense gave up 353 rushing yards and 251 passing yards to a Purdue offense that averaged 169.1 rushing yards and 211.2 passing yards per game this season.
“If you look at Athan’s situation, three offensive coordinators in three years, his receivers are top three in the FBS in drops. Yeah he made plenty of mistakes but it seemed like those with the Gophers were trying to pin, literally, everything on him. He was willing to accept enough blame but I think he was struggling with literally all the blame being thrown his way,” Wolfson claimed.
There is no way around it, Kaliakmanis struggled in his first, and only, full season as the Gophers starting quarterback, owning some of the worst numbers in all of FBS (92nd in QB rating and 99th in completion percentage). Before the season ended and Kaliakmanis announced he was leaving, Fleck said he needed to see the young QB take a “huge step” in some areas.
“I think he’s better in a lot of areas. I think he’s gotta continue to get better in a lot of areas. I think there’s some areas that he’s been maintained where it’s gotta make a huge jump, but I wouldn’t sit there and say well, ‘OK he’s gotten worse in this.’ I think everything has gotten maintained or better,” Fleck said the Monday after the team’s 37-3 loss to Ohio State.
After the Gophers pulled off their fourth straight loss to end the season, the team needed help to sneak into a bowl game. They got it in the form of a walk-off Hawaii field goal to topple Colorado State. Minnesota are now set to take on Bowling Green Dec. 26 in the Quick Lane Bowl. Wolfson said that game was another reason Kaliakmanis made his decision to leave the program.
“He wasn’t promised, before he announced he was entering the portal, he asked ‘Hey am I good to go to start the Bowl game?’ Behind the scenes he was not told he was a 100-percent lock to start the bowl game,” Wolfson said.
With Kaliakmanis gone, Fleck has handed the reigns to outgoing senior Cole Kramer as the the program looks to avoid it’s first five game losing streak since 2010.
The Gophers will hand the offense over to the FCS’s top quarterback Max Brosmer who announced his commitment to the Gophers Sunday.
