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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 7, 2015

Kyle Flood

Piscataway, New Jersey

COACH FLOOD: Good afternoon. Happy Labor Day. I appreciate everybody coming in on the Holiday. This is an exciting week for us. We are looking forward to hosting Washington State AT 3:30 in High Points Solution Stadium. Should be a great crowd, a crowd I know is going to do everything they can to affect the game.

They are a very well-coached football team. Coach Leach is one of the more prolific coaches of the passing game in the history of college football. So it's a tremendous challenge for us this week. And they have a new defensive front coordinator, somebody with a Missouri background. They have played really, really good defense on a high level at Missouri the last couple years. I know he's bringing some of that system with him to Washington State, and that's going to present some challenges for us on offense.

Questions.

Q. Did you name Chris Laviano as a starter?
COACH FLOOD: Chris Laviano is our starting quarterback.

Q. Is that a week-to-week thing?
COACH FLOOD: The only thing that I'm focused on right now is being 1-0 this week.

Q. What went into the decision to make him the starter over Rettig?
COACH FLOOD: The body of work. Yeah, this process went longer than I expected it to. As I said Saturday after the game, I didn't anticipate it going this long.

But what it did for us was provide a large body of work, two scrimmages, an actual game where we could watch them play in the stadium, and all those things factored into it.

Q. What was Hayden's reaction when he got the news?
COACH FLOOD: Any player who is a competitor is going to be disappointed. So that's not surprising to me. But Hayden is a great teammate and somebody that also understands that he's very close to being the starting quarterback and those things can happen real quick.

So he'll be ready. We're fortunate that we have got two guys on our team right now that played at a high level in a college football game. That's exciting for me and I know it's exciting for the staff and it's exciting for the players in that locker room.

Q. I guess the question is: What more could he have done in this competition?
COACH FLOOD: It's not about what more anybody could have done. Ultimately I've got to look at the body of work and make a decision based on what gives our team the best opportunity to be 1-0, just like we do at every position.

Q. Be it Chris or anybody else, does the off-field transgression play into that at all? Obviously one guy didn't get in trouble and one guy did, and the battle was close all camp. Did you consider that at all?
COACH FLOOD: I think everything gets weighed in. We had a curfew situation in training camp. We dealt with it. Chris didn't play in the first half because of it. And we've moved on. At that point we've dealt with it and we're moving forward.

Q. In the second quarter after the run by Rettig to get that first down after he was flushed out of the pock, the next play he finds Patton, Patton makes a great catch to keep the drive going. Can you talk about his contribution to the team and what he means? People talk about Leonte and Janarion, but how important is Patton to this team?
COACH FLOOD: We've got multiple receivers that I think that can really affect a football game. Andre did a phenomenal job. Andre was our Player of the Week on offense. He was our X (ph) Player of the Week, partially because of some of the catches he made, partially because of his impact in the run game with how physical he was blocking corners, blocking safeties and ultimately we had some other people maybe could have gotten that award.

But I love the way he started the game. From the very first play, he was trying to impose his will on the opponent, and with Leonte not being available, obviously other people have to step up and he took it upon himself to do that.

Andre has really done a nice job of moving to the next level. Now he's got to be consistent doing it week-to-week. We saw flashes of it last year and we had some games that he really affected and now I think he's getting to that point where if he can continue to do it, he can show that he can be a guy who affects every game.

Q. Do you plan on playing both quarterbacks on Saturday?
COACH FLOOD: Chris is the starting quarterback right now. And I don't want any player in our program looking over their shoulder worried that they would be pulled out of a game because they made a mistake. Right now Chris is the starting quarterback.

Q. Do you have any position changes to help out the secondary? Maybe Justin Goodwin, I know last season he made a big play against Washington State. Is there any thought going into that?
COACH FLOOD: Not at this time. As I said before, everything's on the table every week but to this point we have not.

Q. Did Portland State did give you a map to beat Washington State the way they controlled the ball?
COACH FLOOD: What they did was they ran the ball very effectively. Now, the way and the method they used to run the ball is a little different than what we do. They run the quarterback quite a bit. They do it from spread sets quite a bit.

Did we see some formations and things like that that looked like things we do? We did. Did they play a physical brand of football? They did. Is that something we like to do? That's certainly something we like to do.

Every game film you look at, you try to pick out what applies to us. Now, that game was also a bad weather game, and that factors into it, as well.

Q. Can you talk about your confidence in the young corners, and how many of them you plan to play on Saturday against the air raid attack?
COACH FLOOD: Yeah, we plan on playing them all. I think they are all going to be out there at one point or another. The good thing is as you move them in and out of the game, you continue to coach them through the game and I think that's important.

My expectation level is just that they are going it continue to get better. I believe that. They performed better in training camp at times than I thought they did necessarily in the first game. And that's part of being a young player, part of being a young player out there for the first time in a game.

But this it week won't be their first time in a game. They will be challenged in a much different way because they will see a passing offense as complex as any passing offense in college football, run by somebody who has probably had more success throwing the football than anybody in college football.

So we are going to be challenged in different ways. But I expect them all to play and my only expectation for them is that they will continue to get better.

Q. Do you feel that Austin and Wharton progressed as the game went on? It was a little shaky in the first series obviously.
COACH FLOOD: I thought both players got better as the game went on.

Q. You said you wanted a quarterback to win the locker room. Did Chris win the locker room?
COACH FLOOD: I really feel like they both did. As I said on Saturday after the game, I really expected seven to ten days to decide it, and I thought somebody would pull ahead and it would be very clear. This was a very difficult decision because both players played at a high level.

So that's both an issue, but a real positive for the football team. It made the competition move out a little bit longer in the calendar than I expected it to. But ultimately, as you talked to our players, you'll get a chance to talk to some of them today, you're going to find out that they have got tremendous confidence in both those quarterbacks. And as we go through the year, there's always a good chance you're going to need two of them, at least.

Q. Is there anything specific that you can share that separates the two of them?
COACH FLOOD: I wouldn't want to do that because I don't really want to share what we see as a staff as maybe the deficiencies of any of our players and give those thing up in game planning to our opponents.

Q. What makes Josh Hicks dynamic as a running back and how has he improved since last season?
COACH FLOOD: He's powerful and explosive. When I say "powerful," I mean, he's very difficult to tackle with one guy with an arm. If you don't fit the tackle perfectly, he's very tough to get on the ground. And then as he does get through the first and second level of the defense, he's explosive and can run away from you. That's a unique combination. Josh is a special guy.

What is the second part of the question?

Q. How has he improved since last season?
COACH FLOOD: I think he's a more experienced player. Very talented runner. Running back is a position that you can affect the football game at an early stage of your career. Josh did that last year for us. Robert Martin did that. We've had other players do it.

But now he's got more experience. And as you get more experience, you become a better pass protector, you become a better receiver and you understand how you fit into some of the pass concepts even when you're not going to get the ball.

So he's a much more complete player now than he was last year. But he's not the player he's going to be as we move forward. He's still got some things he can improve on and is going it continue to do that because he's working hard at them.

Q. There were some question marks on the offensive line coming in, you discussed the rotation, maybe up to seven guys. What's your assessment of their first week and did any player on that line stick out to you specifically?
COACH FLOOD: I still feel like we have five starters. I believe there is a separation there. I think Dorian Miller has done a really good job of moving himself along as a player. I'm pleased and eager to get back out there with him. We had a run-through today. We'll practice tomorrow. I'm pleased with what they did. I really believe we can better. And I think we can better in the run game, I think we can be better in protection.

And to answer the final part of your question, I thought Keith Lumpkin really played like a fifth-year senior left tackle should play. I was very pleased with how Keith played, not just in his performance but in his effort and in his ability to finish plays.

Q. Does he have a sticker on the helmet for the fumble recover?
COACH FLOOD: It's not necessarily a sticker on the helmet but it's a big play in the game. We have not in the past put stickers on helmets for that kind of stuff.

Q. Obviously the schedule of the games are made long in advance, but for your young secondary and the air raid offense, you said Mike Leach, prolific passing coach. Do you look at it as you wish your young secondary was more eased into it, or do you like, this is the toughest offense you're ever going to face basically?
COACH FLOOD: I don't look at it either way. I look at it as, hey, this is the team on our schedule. This is the group that we've got scheduled to play. So we as a staff have to do everything we can to put our players in the best position to be successful. And as we do that, what makes it great is we've got competitive players. Our young secondary may be a little bit inexperienced but I know that they are eager for the challenge and they are looking forward to the challenge.

Q. Last year Mike leach had some things to say about recruiting New Jersey. Has that come at all this week in getting ready for the game?
COACH FLOOD: It hasn't come up. It hasn't come up. I remember I made a comment about it last year.

I know this: In our state of New Jersey, we have some of the best high school football programs in the country, some of the best high school coaches in the country, and we produce a lot of good players and a lot of those players are going to be playing in scarlet uniforms on Saturday, and I'm excited about that.

Q. Looking at the X's and O's in the game, you said in training camp that you could see two fullbacks having roles in this offense. Now that Anthony is that second guy, what do you like about him and could you help out Sam at fullback?
COACH FLOOD: When we recruited Anthony, I would say I was -- I didn't see him in that role. I thought he would be the traditional on-the-line tight end and that was the evaluation that we had made. As we get the tight ends in our program, we always put them in the backfield, because we want to see which guys will be able to give us the flexibility to move them on the ball, to move themselves off the ball and to flex themselves out.

We were really impressed from the very beginning with Anthony's ability to do some traditional fullback-type stuff, and that's why we've got him in that position right now. The fact that he's been able to do that as a true freshman -- I think actually, we recruited him thinking we were recruiting a traditional Y and he was going to be an impact player for us. But he actually ends up being a little bit more versatile than even we thought in the recruiting process.

Q. I know teams change from year-to-year, but obviously they are running the same offense. How much does last year's match up help you guys?
COACH FLOOD: They ran the ball more in their first game. It was a little bit more of a commitment to running the football. I don't know if that was based on the elements that they were dealing with or if that's going to be something that will continue. We certainly see them as a pass-first offense just traditionally when W what they have done and they have quite a few players; they have over ten players on their offense who have played significant time who will return. It's very much a veteran group.

Q. Have you had any contact with the players dismissed from the program since their dismissal?
COACH FLOOD: I have not.

Q. It seems like Andre Hunt (ph) always seems to make a play when he's in there. What does that say about him; that seems to step up when he's in there?
COACH FLOOD: He knows what his role is going to be. He may at times play a little bit more in base than maybe what he anticipates but I think he knows what his role is. For every player in the program, they have to be ready when called upon. To his credit, Andre does an excellent, excellent job of preparing every week. And because he does such a great job preparing, because he's such an intelligent player what's great about that is you can put him in different roles week-to-week and trust that he is really going to -- by game day, have mastered those roles mentally, because they are challenging.

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