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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 27, 2015Kyle FloodKYLE FLOOD: Good afternoon. Welcome back. It's good to see everybody. This is an exciting time every year for our program, an opportunity for our football team to grow, and when I say grow, I'm talking about personal improvement, and I think that's where it starts with every individual player working on the details of their position and then ultimately the position group, improvement at every position on our team. We want to see them get better this spring, and then unit improvement, offense, defense, special teams and all those things ultimately lead to team improvement, so we're excited to get started on Monday. We've had a great lifting cycle, the longest lifting cycle we've had really in the ten years I've been here, and I thought it was good to us. We broke 19 all‑time records as a football team, and that's exciting, but now we've got to take advantage of the progress we've made in the weight room and on the turf. We do have some players that will be limited throughout this spring. I'll give you their names and then we'll give you a little bit more detailed report when we start on Monday. Paul James will be limited this spring; Janarion Grant will be limited this spring; Zack Heeman will be out this spring; Quanzell Lambert will be limited; Nadir Barnwell and Anthony Cioffi will also be limited this spring. Questions? Q. What are some of your goals for spring camp? What do you hope to get accomplished? KYLE FLOOD: We've got more competition at every position than we've ever had, so I think we've got some obvious situations that we have to see how they play out. We're going to have a new quarterback and we're going to have a new fullback and we're going to have a new tight end, although we have some tight ends that have played. We're going to have to replace three starting offensive linemen and a nose guard, a middle linebacker and two safeties. Our goals are that at the end of spring we're further along in that process of identifying those players than we are today because some of the guys we're considering, we really haven't seen them play within our system yet. Q. Can you talk about the quarterback situation being that you've had battles before but never really where you haven't had a quarterback with experience? KYLE FLOOD: I don't know that any of them are ever identical anyway, but I think there's some validity to what you're saying. We've only got one quarterback on our roster right now that's taken a snap in a Division I football game. When we went through this a couple years ago, we had two that had started games. It's a much different situation, and I think it's going to be something that's going to have to play out over time. What I would tell you is I'm pleased about how all of them have gone about their business, whether it's Chris Laviano, Hayden Rettig, Gio. I'm really excited about how they've operated so far. The true challenge now will be going in the huddle, getting the play called, getting them lined up, getting the ball snapped on time, making your read, making sure we're in good plays. Those are things that are going to be a challenge for us all spring because we're going to be playing against some pretty good defensive players. Q. How important‑‑ like bowl practices are important for those guys who weren't starting to get some extra time. How important is it for their development where in the past it may not have been as important? KYLE FLOOD: I think it's always important. As the players come through your program you're looking for progress every step of the way. The difference to me is this: There's a much different opportunity for them in the spring‑‑ in bowl prep there's an opportunity. In spring practice you are the opportunity. There's nothing else going on. There's no preparation for a game or an opponent at that point. All of our resources right now are going into the players, and at that position it means new players. Q. Talk about some of your opportunities with some of these young corners. KYLE FLOOD: There's no doubt. I've always felt that spring practice is really where you set your preseason depth chart, and we've got some guys, Darian Dailey, Dre Boggs, Isaiah Wharton, a new guy in Bless that are really going to have an opportunity to set themselves up very well for what we do in the fall because the two guys that are limited have played for us, so when they come back, they won't be starting from scratch, but they'll be starting over a little bit because they haven't played as much. Q. How important is Leonte Carroo going to be for this spring in terms of leadership? KYLE FLOOD: When you lose the captains that we did, a guy like David Milewski, a guy like Michael Burton, a guy like Gary Nova who was two‑time captain, they don't get replaced overnight. But one of the advantages we have is having a guy like Leonte Carroo coming back, having a captain come back in Darius Hamilton, so every year there's a changing of the guard on your football team and in your locker room, and I'm excited about how some of the upperclassmen‑‑ it's not always seniors, but in Leonte's case he is, how some of these upperclassmen, Leonte included, have really taken the reins. We ultimately won't decide captains I think until the fall, but Leonte has done a good job of filling that void so far. Q. You had five running backs last year between 300 and 500 yards. Obviously PJ is limited, but how did you decide where to put the other four on the depth chart? Is it realistic to keep five healthy running backs healthy with their production? KYLE FLOOD: I don't worry so much about that last question only because by the time we finished the bowl game we only had two, so I see it as a group of players that are really talented, one of the more talented rooms in our building, and we're fortunate to have the numbers that we do. Really in terms of how they're listed, it's just by production, and it's a starting point. All of them will play with the first team and the second team, and they're going to get as many opportunities as we can have in practice when you only have really 10 offensive linemen that can go. That part is a little bit tricky, and when you say keep them happy, I think they are happy because I think they're team players. I think they're unselfish people, and I think they saw how last year played out and maybe some that might have had their doubts as to whether they were going to get an opportunity by the end of the season starting and playing in a bowl game. Q. How do you anticipate the offense to look? Should there be radical changes? KYLE FLOOD: I don't think there will ever be radical changes here as long as I'm the head coach because we have a philosophy on offense of how we want to play football. But year to year, and this would have been, I don't think, any different had Ralph stayed in that role. To me every year you're looking and saying, all right, where are our playmakers, how can we get them the ball and give them the best opportunity to make explosive plays within the offense, and I think you've got to play to your strengths every year. I'm not sure we know exactly what all those are yet. That's a little bit about what spring practice will allow us to find. Q. What are your expectations for Ruhann Peele and can he still be a two‑way guy? KYLE FLOOD: I wouldn't worry about him two‑way guy right now. I think he wants to come back and contribute as a wide receiver and on special teams, and really that's my only expectation for him is to be a great teammate, give us maximum effort, and go out there on the field and look to help the team in any way he can. Q. But you didn't put him on the depth chart and I remember you saying last year there's no doghouse in this program. Is that just he has to work his way back because he missed a whole year of football? KYLE FLOOD: Yeah, sure, I've used the starting point for the depth chart in terms of where we left off last year, and when we left of last year, he wasn't on it. He's not on it right now, but he'll be out there day one and he'll be taking reps, and as he deserves, he'll move on that depth chart one way or the other. Q. I know he's limited in different things, but how far ahead of schedule is PJ in his rehab and how much do you think he'll be able to do in the spring? KYLE FLOOD: I don't know that I want to speak to ahead of schedule, behind schedule. I think PJ looks great. I'm happy with where he's at right now. He will be non‑contact the entire spring. Q. Any chance‑‑ what would have to happen for you to have a quarterback at the end of spring camp? Is it just a battle you go into knowing it won't be decided until August? KYLE FLOOD: I don't want to say that. I wouldn't say that it can't be decided until August, but we've got 15 opportunities to go out there and practice, and I've really felt at every position, the players ultimately decide that much earlier than the coaches do. Q. Will there be equal reps between Laviano and Rettig who starts the first spring practice? KYLE FLOOD: Chris will go out there for the first snap. Will they both get reps with the ones over time? They will. Will they be equal? They probably won't be equal any practice. Some days one guy could get more, some days another guy could get more. A little bit of that for the players who have never played, a guy like Hayden, a guy like Gio, it's going to be a little bit dependent on how fast they can come along. We've got to ‑‑ certainly deciding who's going to be the starting quarterback is the single most important decision every program makes around the country every year, there's no doubt about that. But ultimately we've got other players on offense and defense that we have to continue to progress, and just like any other position, as they warrant the reps, they will certainly get them. Q. You have four early enrollees this spring. How are they coming along and what are your expectations for them? KYLE FLOOD: I'm excited about how they've come along really because I feel like they've really assimilated into the team very well, and you guys are going to have a chance to talk to them when I'm done. I think they're coming in right now. But watching them go through the winter workouts, watching them go through night week this week where we do five straight workouts at 5:30 a.m. in the morning and just seeing how they were able to work through those types of events I thought was very impressive to me. I think all four of them have brought a level of maturity that's at the high end of what you would expect for somebody that's just come into your program. Q. How do you feel about the middle linebacker spot? KYLE FLOOD: I feel like we need to find out who the middle linebacker is going to be, and I wouldn't discount really any permutation of those players at this point. It's way too early for that. We've got a couple guys on the depth chart, Brandon Russell is going to get an opportunity for a much bigger role now than what he's had, and a guy like Isaiah Johnson who's new to our program, and they're going to get a lot of reps this spring, and ultimately we're going to have to decide who are the best three people out there. But I think also we have to decide who are the players that can help us win football games, and maybe there will be five instead of three and maybe there will be some type of rotation as we go forward. It would be almost impossible to say that now. We've got 15 practices, and then we'll kind of reevaluate it. Q. For the offensive line, obviously three new starters, how big is the spring for those guys? It's not as much contact and stuff, so is it hard to judge offensive linemen in spring? KYLE FLOOD: It is before you put the pads on. Once you put the pads on and you get to some of the scrimmages a little bit midway through spring, it helps a little bit. We need versatility at that position. We're going to need some guys who can play multiple positions so that we're able to make sure we've got the five best guys on the field all the time. I really look at that position and the linebacker position very similarly. It may not be just five. If we've got eight that can help us win football games, we may play eight offensive linemen, and that way we can continue to develop those guys through spring, through training camp, and then through the season, a little bit like we did with J.J. last year. Q. This is your fourth spring camp. Is your preparation for teams different now that you've experienced life in the Big Ten? KYLE FLOOD: From a preparation standpoint, I think the most important thing is that you're looking at your team every year. You don't want to just use the same format you used last year because it was a good format and you felt good at the end of it because your football team may need something completely different. As you guys watched practice, the schedule may seem the same, but there's some tweaks in it, and you guys probably have already noticed a tweak in the calendar; instead of being five weeks, it's going to be four weeks, and there are reasons for that, as well. But I think every year the important thing is to look at your team, and spring is about your team. We'll think big picture, we've done it already, and we'll do it after spring, but for the next four weeks, we're completely focused on developing our players. Q. I know at the end of the season some of the guys talked about how going through the Big Ten for the first time and how physical it was, they need to get bigger, stronger, which you always want to do, but did the weight training change in any way to kind of bolster guys up? KYLE FLOOD: I don't focus on the weight, I focus on explosion. That's really what I'm looking for. We're looking for explosive athletes, and I can only point to the results. When you break 19 all‑time records, that tells me that we're moving in the right direction as a program. When we do it, to answer your question, we don't put the focus on getting bigger. We put the focus on being more explosive, and if we get bigger in the process, that's fine. That byproduct is not an issue for us. I'm pleased with where the team is at right now. I like the way we look. Q. You mentioned the condensed schedule. What were the reasons behind that? KYLE FLOOD: Those were things we discussed in house. I don't know that I want to reveal the strategy behind it, but we just felt like having a four‑week spring practice would be the best way that we could both develop our football team and also challenge them. Q. Without Tyler Kroft here, how do you assess the tight end position now? KYLE FLOOD: We've got a lot of guys that I really like, and they're going to battle for playing time. That's probably about all I can tell you about it right now because we've had a guy like Tyler for two years who's been the starting tight end and certainly the clear‑cut starting tight end and now we don't, and as I look at the depth chart, one, two, three, we've got three guys that I would feel really good about putting in a game today and a fourth that I hope by the end of spring I'd feel really good about putting in a game, and there's a lot of things I think Coach McDaniels can do when you've got four viable tight ends, whether you're playing them one at a time or you're playing them two, three, four at a time. Q. How much of an advantage is having the depth that you have in the defensive line coming back this year? KYLE FLOOD: It's one of the strengths of our team. I believe that. We've got some players, though, at that nose guard position that have to prove themselves, a guy like Sebastian Joseph who's played a little bit for us, a guy like Kevin Wilkins who has not, a guy like Eric Wiafe, who will be down the line at the 3 position. We've got some young guys that look really good, and when you look at them you say that's great to have depth but your depth only gets tested when it gets tested, so we're going to try and test it this spring, and we're going to see how some of those guys react. But I share the sentiment of your question, which is I do think it's one of the stronger position groups on our team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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