Fleck Reflects on Koi Perich’s Departure, Praises Gophers' Retention Rate

Perich took his talents to Oregon after two years with his home state Gophers.

Oct 11, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck and defensive back Koi Perich (3) are interviewed after the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Gophers head into the 2026 season with a lot of questions to answer about a roster with 36 new players. While P.J. Fleck's staff welcomes in a large new class of talent, acquired through high school recruiting and the transfer portal, Minnesota also boasts a significant amount of returning production.

According to ESPN on Monday, Fleck's Gophers rank seventh in the entire country by returning 68% of their total production from 2025. Offensively, that number jumps up to 71% of their production, which ranks 10th in the nation. Meanwhile, defensively, Minnesota ranks 12th in the nation, returning 65% of their production.

One of the names on the defensive side who did leave in the offseason was safety Koi Perich, whose departure generated significant attention due to his stellar play as a freshman and the fact that he's a Minnesota native. After two seasons with his home state Gophers, Perich left to go play for Big Ten powerhouse Oregon.

In his sophomore season, Perich's production slumped a bit from his star-making freshman season. While his tackle numbers nearly doubled — from 46 in 2024 to 82 in 2025 — Perich grabbed four fewer interceptions in 2025 (1) than he did during his freshman campaign (5). According to PFF's grading system, Perich graded out worse during his second season in Minnesota across all defensive categories.

Still, he's an immensely talented player who could have an NFL future. On Monday, Fleck publicly commented on Perich leaving for the first time.

"He did so much for our program," Fleck said when asked about the reasons for Perich's departure. "Really appreciative of what he did and, you know, wish him all the best in the future."

Koi Perich | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Despite the high-profile loss of Perich, Fleck boasted about the program's ability to retain many of its stars, saying he's "very, very proud" of his staff's ability to keep key players in the program.

"I know I get asked in the media about maybe the one person that everybody knows, or one person a year, but we're also retaining a massive amount of elite players who can still go anywhere in the country," said Fleck. "So, we're going to focus on those guys, keep doing what we're doing, and learn from every reason why people go."

Fleck mentioned defensive end Anthony Smith, linebacker Maverick Baranowski, running back Darius Taylor, and quarterback Drake Lindsey as star players who chose to stay in Minnesota, some of which could've instead turned pro. He added that some of the reasons for players leaving are things that are "out of our control."

Fleck added that there is "no program in America that's immune to transfers," noting that transfers are now just "part of the business of college athletics."

With Perich gone, Minnesota will look toward Kerry Brown to pick up a lot of the slack at safety. Fleck noted that beyond Brown, there are "three or four guys there that are ready for their opportunity." The Gophers will also look to versatile sophomore Zach Harden, who appeared in 11 games last season across a variety of different positions. Minnesota also added a pair of lower-division safeties through the transfer portal in Lehigh's Mekhai Smith and Southwest Minnesota State's Parker Knutson.