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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 29, 2016

Chris Ash

Piscataway, New Jersey

CHRIS ASH: Appreciate you guys coming. Obviously game week is finally here. It seems like it's taken forever. The last eight months have flown by, but also here at the end it's gone kind of slow waiting for this week to finally get here.

But we're excited as a football team, just like everybody else in the nation right now. We're ready to go play another team. It's been a long training camp. Little longer for us, because school doesn't start until after our game next week. A lot of schools are in session right now and players have a different routine than us. We just moved out of the hotel yesterday, so it's been a long three-week grind in camp, and we're really excited about getting an opportunity to go play.

We're going to go play a very good opponent in Washington. They finished last season extremely hot, playing well on offense, playing well on defense, won their bowl game, a lot of players coming back. So it's an outstanding opponent.

Making the trip across country obviously adds another challenge to it, but we're ready to go. Really excited just to find out where we're at as a program. I think we've got some really good kids. I like our chemistry. I like our attitude. I like our work ethic. Now it's time to go out and find out where we're at when the foot hits the ball and we kickoff. This is going to be a good test for us.

Got a lot of respect for Petersen. He's done a great job at Boise State. He's done a great job at Washington, and he's done an outstanding job with that football team and developing the type of identity that he wants.

They're big, in the right spots, they're fast in the right spots, and they've got a good quarterback. So they're going to present a lot of challenges to us. With that, I'll go ahead and open it up for questions.

Q. This might be a knock-on-wood situation, but how did you come out injury-wise out of training camp? Are you relatively healthy going into this season opener?
CHRIS ASH: We are relatively healthy. We had very few injuries going into training camp. A few bumps and bruises, ankle sprains, things like that. Probably as healthy of a football team as I've been around in a while coming out of the type of training camp that we put these guys through.

Q. What is this like for you to finally be in a game week as a head coach in college football? It's got to be pretty exciting.
CHRIS ASH: I'll be honest, it's challenging more than exciting because there are so many things left for us to do to feel like we're ready to go play a game. Every day is a new day for us as a program. Every day is a new day for me as a head coach, us as a staff, us with these players. Today is a new day, coming into work and having a press conference.

It's Monday of game week. We're leaving on a Thursday, instead of a typical Friday. For a road game we've never done that before, so it's all brand-new.

We had our mock game on Saturday. It was the first time really for me as a head coach to be on the sideline with the head set on and go through a game like we did, and it was different flipping back and forth on the head set from offense to defense and being on the sideline, trying to manage the game, even though it was scripted. Thinking in my head the scenarios and possibilities that would come up and the calls that we need to make. That was all new.

So exciting, I guess, would be a word that a lot of people would assume I would be. But it's challenging, and just trying to make sure we cross every "T" and dot every "I". We just continue to coach these guys on every single detail as we continue to move forward. It will be a game of coaching and preparation until the foot hits the ball. Then it will turn into adjustments from there.

Q. To follow up on that, have you thought about what it would be like for you when you step on to the sideline Saturday? What that's going to be like, your first game day as a head coach?
CHRIS ASH: No, I can't say that I have. Last Saturday in our mock game, as that game was going on, I just kept trying to think about what it's going to be like next Saturday in terms of game management and keeping my poise and focusing on the things that I need to focus on as a head coach and not getting caught up in the emotions of the game like you can do up in the press box and nobody really sees you, you know. Then you can get back down and get refocused. On the sideline, you have to stay focused and locked in all the time because things go back and forth a lot and different scenarios come up that you've got to be thinking about.

But we'll worry about what it's going to be like on Saturday when Saturday comes. But I'm worried about our practice today, to be honest with you.

Q. In terms of the quarterbacks, when will you decide this week between Allen and Rescigno? Do you need to have a penciled in number two guy on game day? Either chance those guys play in any situation or are you hoping Laviano takes every snap?
CHRIS ASH: Laviano is our quarterback right now, and the way someone else would play would be due to an injury or we're up in the game to the point where we felt comfortable enough putting another quarterback in. We'll name a back-up quarterback or at least identify who would be the first one to go in the game if something happened to Chris here this week.

Q. You have Justin Goodwin starting. What did he do to win that role? And how close is it with Josh and Robert behind him?
CHRIS ASH: Going into training camp Robert was our number one tailback. Robert is one guy that's been slowed through training camp with the hamstring sprain. He's going to be fine in the game, but he hasn't gotten as many reps as we wanted him to get throughout training camp and that's why the depth chart is the way it is. It was really a competition between Justin and Josh Hicks because Rob has just missed some time. But Rob will play Saturday, and I think he'll be 100% by the time we play. But we've been very cautious with him because of the injury he's had during training camp.

But Justin's been probably the most consistent in all areas throughout training camp. That's knowing assignments, ball security, that's pass protection, that's all of the above, and he's done a good job.

Q. You mentioned Washington finished really strong. How do you look at a team like that? Because I think they finished 7-6 last year, but they're number 14 in the country. Do you just focus on the last three games? Do you look at all of last season as a hole? Because it seemed like two different teams last year.
CHRIS ASH: Yeah, we focused on a lot of their season, and our cut ups and our breakdowns, we didn't break down all their games, but we broke down a majority of them from the beginning, the middle and the end just to see the differences in the football team. And they had a young quarterback last year and he was really playing outstanding football at the end of the season. We're looking at all of it, not just the last three games, and identifying what they do well, things that they might have struggled with. Just the things that you typically would do with an opponent.

Q. Obviously, there's a lot of emotions going into this game with a new era of Rutgers football, and you go up against a top 25 team right out of the gate. How do you get your players to calm down and enter into that game and control those emotions?
CHRIS ASH: Well, that's a good question. I think it's a benefit to be able to play an opponent like Washington for the first game. It really as a new staff for coaches and players, because they've got your attention. You're locked in, you're focused, you know what you're going up against, versus somebody you feel like you probably should beat. But I'd rather have it this way than the other way. Obviously you'd like to make sure that you're going to go play a game and you feel like your chances of going out there and beating a team easily, you like that.

But I like this challenge. I think our players like this challenge. I think they are excited, but it's a focus and they're locked into what they need to do to take care of their bodies, take care of their assignments. I think they're ready to go out and try to play their best football game.

Q. Obviously, this game was on the schedule long before you got here. I'm curious what you think about opening with a non-conference game 3,000 miles away. And just generally speaking what your thoughts are on how you'd like to see the non-conference schedule set up in the future?
CHRIS ASH: It's not a game that I would probably set to open up on the road clear across the country. But it is what it is and it's set and we're going to play it. I'd rather, like most coaches, probably want to open the season at home, if you had the opportunity to. But this is going to be a great test for us just how we manage the trip and go play in that environment against this football team.

I guess we're turning this thing into a positive rather than a negative, and we're looking at this as a great barometer to find out where we're at. Can we compete against teams like this in an environment like this?

You talk about just non-conference scheduling down the road. We've talked about it before, a lot of it depends on where your team is at and where your program's at. I always want to try to have a team that tests where you're at as a program and as a football team going into the Big Ten play.

Obviously, we're going to play a lot of really good teams in the Big Ten, and you don't want all of your non-conference games to be what you consider easy wins. You need to be challenged at some point in that non-conference schedule, and I always wanted to make sure we had that in there.

Q. For the last several months you've been talking about rebuilding the culture here. How does that project change now that you're into the season? There's obviously less time to worry about those details. You're planning for a game every week. But how do you continue to mold the culture as you get into the season here?
CHRIS ASH: Well, I'll start with, I'd like to use a different phrase in terms of what we want with the culture. It's not rebuilding; it's just establishing the one that we want. When you look at the history of the program there's been a lot of success here over the last whatever, 12 years, 13 years. There's been a lot of success. This is been a lot of positive things that have happened, and it's not about rebuilding a culture. It's just establishing the one that we want more than anything else, and that's the way I look at it.

But that culture building never stops. It's a constant, consistent message that always has to be talked about. And that never goes away and whenever myself or the coaches have an opportunity to continue to build the culture that we want here, we have to do that, whether it's in meetings, whether it's on the practice field, whether it's on games. Just the way we behave and perform and respond to events that come up. So that's a never-ending process.

Q. Talking about Washington for the first time on the road. Regardless of the opponent, is it ever a better idea sometimes to be on the road, to be away from distractions? Guys have been home, they've been around families, they've been around the campus and everything. Is it better to be sometimes on the road, away from distractions and just focus on the task?
CHRIS ASH: Yeah, there are times when coaches feel that way. There are times that I've felt that way on previous teams that I've been a part of. Hey, this is a good week for us to be on the road and eliminate distractions and just focus on ourselves as a football team. And honestly, we're probably in that situation, so I don't really mind that we're going on the road.

I wish it wasn't quite as long of a trip, but I don't mind the fact that we're going on the road so we can just really focus on ourselves and not all the typical distractions that come around with a home game and tickets and family and what you're going to do after the game and all those things. It's just, hey, let's go play football and when it's over we'll worry about it then.

Q. Coach, I believe on Friday, and I don't want to misinterpret the question or your answer, you said you're aware that people don't expect much of this team this season. How much has that been a driving force going into the season or motivating factor going into the season?
CHRIS ASH: We just actually talked about that yesterday. It's easy for coaches to block out some of that noise because we get in our bunkers in our offensive and defensive staff rooms and we just are watching film and worried about practice preparation and game planning you don't watch or listen to a lot of the things in the outside world.

It's really hard for the players to block out those things. They hear it all the time. They're always on their phone. They're somewhere watching TV. When school starts, they're walking on campus and hearing people talk about it a lot, so it's harder for the players to block it out.

So we're not naive to say, hey, you can just completely get it blocked out and don't listen to it. But, hey, it's there. Let's use it as a motivating factor that, hey, there aren't a lot of expectations for this football team according to media, like you guys. But, that's fine. That's the way we want it, and we'll go to work.

We're not really concerned about high expectations, low expectations. We're worried about going out and playing the best football we can. I think right now our players are kind of using that as motivation.

Q. Chris, I know you were smart with Darius Hamilton throughout training camp, but is he full-go in his game? How much can you expect out of him?
CHRIS ASH: Yeah, he's full-go like he's always been. The only time we've limited Darius was in live scrimmage situations. We were careful about the number of reps he got in long practices just because of wear and tear on his legs. But he's full-go. He's going to start the game, and he's going to play as much as his body allows him to play.

Which I would anticipate if we play 70 snaps, he's not going to play 70 snaps. I don't think we have any D-linemen that would play 70 snaps right now. But I would at least expect him to play at least half the snaps of the game.

Q. With yourself and your staff coming in there are a lot of changes being implemented the way this team plays on offense and defense. I'm curious to know how much growing pains are you expecting in this first game? This is the first live action your team is really playing in this new system. And I also like your take on do you feel this could be an advantage to your team? Washington doesn't really have anything to really go off of with all the new stuff you're implementing?
CHRIS ASH: Yeah, I'll be honest, there's not going to be any growing pains. Everything's going to go smooth. It's gone smooth. I won't make one error as a head coach. I don't expect the offensive and defensive players to call one bad play. So it's all going to go smooth. So you can write that down. Everything's going to be perfect (smiling).

You know, as a new staff, I've been on the other side of it like Washington is now, playing against new staffs and their first game. And you're trying to scramble to find videotape on this coordinator, that coordinator, the head coach on where they've come from and trying to figure out what they'll be doing.

Chris Peterson and his staff are a bunch of really good coaches. They're intelligent people. They're doing their homework. They're trying to identify what we're doing and how we're doing it. You guys, I know made a lot about us eliminating the media access to practice, but there was a reason for that, and just like what you brought up, that's one of them.

We don't need everything that we're doing broadcast all over the internet. So we hope it is somewhat of an advantage for us that we're new and we have no video out there of what we're doing.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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