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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 16, 2015Kyle FloodCOACH FLOOD: ‑‑ backed up area, we'll put the ball in the red zone. We'll create a goal line situation if it doesn't come up, and then they will also have opportunities to move the ball within a drive. We don't have two‑minute in yet so, we won't do that. So it won't be completely game like, but it will be as game like as we can make it. Q. Safety, quarterback and linebacker‑‑ COACH FLOOD: It will have influence. I've always felt that when you go in the stadium, you bring the Big Ten officials in, you make it a game‑like atmosphere. Something we didn't do in the spring that we will do tomorrow. We will have the coaching staff separated. We will have them in the box, and so we want to try to create as much of a game‑like atmosphere as we can. Q. You have the luxury of having some outstanding running backs. But really, this year, in particular, having a new quarterback, the importance of this year's running game to have the new quarterback comfortable, what are some of the things that you want to do? COACH FLOOD: Our identity on offense begins with running the football. The fact that we are going to have a new quarterback under center doesn't really change it from that perspective. What I would agree with you on, I think every quarterback would tell you this: A quarterback's best friends is a good running game. Keeps you on schedule. It keeps the defense away from their exotic third down blitz packages. So again, our identity is going to be to run the football; the more effectively we can do that, I think it certainly helps the quarterback. Q. What are your expectations for Turay in his second year and how high is his ceiling overall? COACH FLOOD: My expectations for him are no different than anybody else. I expect him to come to work every day, work to improve, and on game day, play within the system. Because if he plays within the system on defense, the opportunity to make plays is going to present itself. Now, he is going into his second year. So because of that, he should certainly have a better grasp of what we are doing with the entire defensive package, and I think he will. I think when we get a couple more weeks into training camp here, we are going to feel good about where Kemoko is. Q. Is he closer to being an every‑down guy? COACH FLOOD: Certainly closer than he was at the end of last year. I still don't think he's where he's ultimately going to be. He's got a lot of improving left to do. Q. To follow up, could you just‑‑ most of these kids, Darius, Leonte, had a lot of success in high school, and it's all come kind of quickly for Kemoko not having played that much football. How is he doing with his profile? What do you have to do anything to keep him level‑headed? What do you do with a kid who has not that that much success before last year? COACH FLOOD: I think he's handling it very well. One of the things that I think works to our advantages is because of the media market that we are in, we're in the No.1 media market in the world. I think it works to our advantage. They see you guys around every day. They are answering questions all the time. There's certainly no lack of TV coverage for our program. I think that becomes part of what it is to be a Division I athlete. I don't necessarily think it's good or bad. It's just part of the job and something that you have to manage. I think so far he's done a pretty good job. Q. Defensively, in the run game, you guys struggled last year, finishing I think second to last in the Big Ten. What strides have you guys taken in the off‑season, whether it be in practice, that you guys have improved and what are you hoping to see tomorrow on the field in the scrimmage? COACH FLOOD: Every year is different. Every year, we are going to have a different people out there. We are going to have three new offensive linemen who have worked extremely hard; and the other teams are going to have new people trying to defend us. So I don't know if it's necessarily something that you have to do different. We have to get the pieces of our puzzle this year to work together. There's three new offensive linemen, working with the two that we have back with a lot of experience; working with a new group of tight ends because Tyler Kroft is not here; working with a new fullback because Michael Burton is not here. All of those things are what we work on during training camp, and the more we work together, the better that unit will function, and the more successful we'll be running the football. I think what you saw at the end of last year, when you get to the Maryland game, you get to the North Carolina game and the Bowl game, you see a rushing offense that improved as the year went on. In the last game of the year we ran for over 300 yards, so I was excited about where we were. We've got some new pieces but I think we've got some stuff to build on. Q. You've mentioned a couple times how you guys are being aggressive with the offensive install in training camp. How much of that is‑‑ obviously it's coming from you but something that Ben wants to do to drive his philosophy home? COACH FLOOD: It's something that Ihad ‑‑ I didn't ask for input before I sent it to the coordinators. It was something I felt was important to me. I felt that this team needed that. I thought we had more continuity in our staff than we've had in any of the other years I've been the head coach. So for me, the continuity of the staff, the players returning, it was important for me to challenge those players when we came to training camp. We spent a lot of time with them in the spring, a lot of time with them in the summer and I felt they should be ready to go when we got here. I like the way that they have responded to it. The coordinators certainly were in agreement with it. And ultimately it will be good for our program. Q. As kind of a follow‑up to that, obviously the offense had a lot of success last year and Ben worked under Ralph. How much tinkering do you want him to do? How much do you keep what Ralph installed, what Ralph had; how much do you want them to change the playbook, that kind of thing, or do you stick with what worked? COACH FLOOD: It's always a little different because the play‑caller is different. I'm sure there will be things‑‑ you can ask Ben; he'll be up here in a little bit. There will be things‑‑ I know there will be things that Ben is going to do differently but there's also a lot of really good stuff that we did last year that's going to become part of what we are. But the difference year‑to‑year in offensive football to me is always about your playmakers and about the play‑caller. And we're certainly going to have different playmakers this year without Gary Nova being here, Michael Burton, Tyler Kroft; those are three significant playmakers that won't be on our offensive this year. New playmakers will emerge and you'll have a new play‑caller, so it's certainly going to look different. Q. Jawuan Harris, unique situation playing baseball and football. Have you mapped out a plan with him? I guess he won't be available to you in the spring. What's his ceiling as a football player? COACH FLOOD: His ceiling is high. Jay is a very talented player, runs very well, excellent in in and out of his breaks. Excellent hands. Joel Litterio, our baseball coach, myself, and Jay and his mom sad down together; and we did, we mapped out an entire year of what it was going to be like to be a two‑sport athlete in college, because it's not something that's going to be easy. But it is something he is committed to and something we committed to him when he decided to come to Rutgers. We are going to work with him and work with the baseball program to make sure that everybody's needs are accounted for. Q. Going back to Ralph, do you know what he's planning to come up during camp? COACH FLOOD: We expect to have Ralph here for the scrimmage tomorrow. Q. Has he given any input on the quarterback situation? You said you make the final call; how many people are giving you input on that? COACH FLOOD: Everybody in the staff gives input in their own way. Some more than others. Ralph certainly will give his input, and Ralph has been in communication with Ben throughout the first week of training camp. Ultimately I will make the decision. I need to take the input from everybody and make the best decision for the team. Q. You said the coach will be in the box tomorrow. Will Ben be up or down? COACH FLOOD: Ben will be down. Q. Is it too early to talk about freshmen that you think can contribute? COACH FLOOD: I'm not sure I'd be ready to say who is ultimately going to be a contributor. Tomorrow we'll go a little bit further in terms of making that determination. They have had their first week here. And every day of the first week of training camp, they have gotten ‑‑ they watch it on film, review it and the next day try to do it better. They have to try to do it better with more stuff coming. And that's hard. That's really hard. But as we go through the scrimmage tomorrow, a guy like Blessuan Austin, I watch him on the practice field because he's been here since January, he doesn't strike me like a freshman. He looks more like a guy who has been in our program and is a sophomore. He's one name I would give you, and he's certainly going to have a role for us on this team. Q. Justin Goodwin played both sides of the ball a little bit last year. What are your plans for him this year, and also if I can get your thoughts on Matt Flanagan's progression as a tight end? COACH FLOOD: Justin is a very talented football player and somebody that is going to have a big role on this football team. Right now that role is on offense and we don't have any plans for that to change. As you go through a year and injuries happen and depth changes, would that be a consideration down the road? I would never count that out. But right now he's practicing and doing an excellent job. Matt Flanagan moving through our program has done an excellent job. We are going to play multiple tight ends this year. You're going to see two or three tight ends playing in every game, sometimes playing at the same time. Matt Flanagan is going to be part of that, and day‑by‑day I think his stock is rising. Q. Where are you with the process of naming a quarterback and have either of these guys shown any kind of separation so far or is it something you'll just need a little bit more time to make that decision on? COACH FLOOD: I think I'm closing in on my seven‑ to ten‑prediction, seven‑ to ten‑day prediction. I know everybody's anxious. I think I'll be in that range. We'll make a decision seven to ten days in. I'd rather not talk about separation at this point because tomorrow is a big day. And it's really‑‑ both guys are doing a good job out there. I would like to give them the opportunity to go out there in the stadium and see how they perform when the lights come on. Q. With Paul James this year, what are your expectations of a guy that had so many setbacks now, what are you seeing in him from the standpoint of determination just over the last few years to get back to being a lead player? COACH FLOOD: Paul James is one of the best examples we have in our program of what I believe are the type of players we have in our program: Guys who overcome adversity. Very few players in our history have had more adversity than Paul James has. And when you say, what do I expect: I expect him to be the same player he was the last two years when he was healthy, because I've watched him out there for a week right now. We gave him one practice off yesterday morning. Other than that, he has practiced the entire week and he has looked like Paul James. He doesn't look like Paul James coming off an injury. He looks like the Paul James who was one of the top running backs (ph) for us. Q. After finishing the season so strong last year with the Bowl win and victory at Maryland, how crucial is it to get off to a hot start this year and gain momentum, especially with a difficult conference schedule down the stretch? COACH FLOOD: Every game is important. I don't look at the schedule the same way you just described it. We only get 12 guaranteed games a year. So every week you lineup, you had better be ready to be 1‑0. Right now, training camp has to prepare you for the season. And for us, the way our schedule lines up, we'll play four games, we'll have a bye week and then we'll play eight. So if you want to shrink it down and say, training camp has got to get us ready for the first four games and we'll have a bye week to see where we are at and evaluate and move forward, you can do that. But ultimately as we get a couple weeks further down the road, our focus will be on Norfolk State because we know we have to be sharp that day to be 1‑0. Q. Your first year, you had Gary as a sophomore quarterback. Without talking about separation between Hayden and Chris, are you seeing some of the same things from them, signs that you know, like this is progressing from a sophomore quarterback, I remember this from three, four years ago; are they hitting certain benchmarks you look for for signs of progress? COACH FLOOD: It's not so much a matter of being sophomores; the difference between Gary as a sophomore and these two is Gary played as a freshman. So Gary actually had some game experience when he came back his sophomore year when I became the head coach. What I see from Hayden and what I see from Chris as we got further in the week was their ability to see things and get us into good plays. Those are big milestones in a quarterback's progression, and I've seen both players do it throughout the week. And now you're really having an opportunity to make some explosive plays on offense when the quarterback recognizes something, puts you in a better play and now you've got a numbers advantage. Q. What are your expectations for Quanzell Lambert? I've read where you have him as nose guard, he came here as a linebacker. Can you talk about his ability and the things that he's done to kind of like make him a potential player in so many different places? COACH FLOOD: Any time anybody asks me about expectations for a player, the answer will always be the same and it's not to be redundant. I just expect him to come here every day and work to be a better football player, work to be a great teammate, work to be a better person, all those things. What I will tell you about Quanzell specifically is that he is as unselfish a player as we have in our program. He's another guy, he's going to play a lot of football for us. At times, he's going to start. At times, he may not start. I don't know. I don't get hung up in that. At the end of the game, Quanzell is going to play a lot of football for us. He's going to play on all three downs. It may be at defensive end, it may be a R, it may be at nose guard, it may be at three technique, it might be on nickel and dime and third down. He's going to play in a lot of places because he's the type of player who has an intelligence about him that allows him to do that without having the mental errors that you would worry about. So he's a special guy; because of his unselfishness, because of his intelligence and because of his willingness to be a part of the team. Q. Could you talk about Dorian Miller and how he's doing last year? You guys are very experienced up front and his path was kind of blocked. So how is Dorian doing? COACH FLOOD: I think what you said is probably correct. Dorian is a guy who had we had some injuries last year would have played. We were fortunate, I think we started the same five linemen in every game last year. I've only done that twice in 11 years, 2006 and last year. He made a lot of improvements last year people didn't get to see, not necessarily on game day. Had a good spring. Has learned the center position, for depth purposes, not necessarily to be the starting center, but you can't ever have enough of those guys; and in camp right now is playing left guard, center and right guard. Dorian is certainly going to play a lot for us. But we haven't named starters in the offensive line. We'll wait a little while before we do it. But Dorian is becoming the player we thought he would when we recruited him. Q. When the season was over, was there any time where you gathered the players and to get their feedback on what they thought about being in the Big Ten for the first year compared to what they thought? COACH FLOOD: I didn't need to because it happened before we ever left the Bowl game. We played the Bowl game. We stayed overnight and the next day we had a breakfast. What we do is we give the seniors one last chance to stand up and we clap them out as a program, and then the seniors leave and we have our first team meeting for the next year. When our seniors went out, I went outside the room for a minute to take a picture with the seniors. And then by the time I had come back in, which was probably about two minutes later, Paul James was already taking to the team. And he was talking about his expectations‑‑ and there were a lot of people in agreement ‑‑ for where he wanted the program to go. We've been very public about it. We feel like now we've got an opportunity this season to take our program to places that it has not been before. Going to nine Bowl games in ten years, winning the first conference championship in the history of the school, winning the first Lambert Cup in the history of the school, those are tremendous accomplishments and things that are not easy to achieve. They were never achieved in the history of our program before the last three years, and we are the birthplace of college football. But now, when you start talking about New Year's Day Bowl games, the old BCS system, the BCS Bowl games, Final Four appearances, Big10 Championship game appearances, that's where this team wants to move the program. So the goals were set before we ever left the site. Q. Any update on the T.J. Taylor situation, the injury? COACH FLOOD: I'm going to put out an injury report tomorrow before the scrimmage. Q. You have a guy like Kaiwan Lewis coming in to compete in the linebacker spot with Isaiah Johnson, what does that do to both Isaiah, as well as Kaiwan, to have competition like that at a pretty crucial spot on defense? COACH FLOOD: Competition is good for the players; competition is good for the defense; competition is good for the team. So to have another talented football player at that position I think is going to make everybody stronger. I've been really excited for a chance‑‑ but what he brings to the program, like a lot of other one‑year transfers have, guys like RJ Dill, who came before him; Lew Toler unfortunately got injured as we got into the season came before him; Andrew Turzilli who has come before him. We've had some success in this situation. What he brings is not just an experience of having played college football, but also playing it on a big stage, and he's the right kind of person for our program. Another player who never came here asking for a starting job. He just wanted to be part of the program and you can't ever have enough of those unselfish‑type players. Q. Could you talk about the punting situation? I know Joe Roth from Ridge High and Gleeson, they shared it last year and what could you say about Joey and how he's doing? COACH FLOOD: To date, I'd say Joe has hit it probably a little bit better than Timmy has. Maybe about a week away from naming a starter in that competition. Although last year at times, we used both of them in different situations. Gleeson has a pretty good way of dropping the ball inside the ten‑yard line. I appreciate everybody being here, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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