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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2016

Chris Ash

Piscataway, New Jersey

CHRIS ASH: Welcome back. Missed you guys last week. Some of you, I know, didn't miss us, but missed you guys. I hope you enjoyed your time.

But it's good to be back off of a bye week. It was a much needed bye week for us. We had some objectives that we wanted to get done, and I think we were able to accomplish the majority of them. We needed to get our team healthy and rested. By some of the reps guys got this morning on the practice field, hopefully we're getting closer to that, but we're not full speed yet with some of the guys that missed the Minnesota game or were knocked out of the Minnesota game. But we're closer.

We got some practices in last week and had an opportunity to develop some of the younger players in the program. We had a got jump start on Indiana.

We did some thorough self-evaluations through self-scouts, just going back through and looking at all areas of what we've done through the season up to this point and just trying to identify, continue to identify things that we needed to do a better job of.

And then we had a chance to go out and recruit. So I thought it was a good week, but we're definitely excited about getting back out on the practice field and preparing for our next Big Ten opponent.

Injury-wise, we had some guys banged up in the Minnesota game before and after. We got some guys back out today practicing. It will be decisions throughout the course of the week with some of them, if they are going to be able to play or not. J.J. Denman, Rob Martin, Kiy Hester, those are some guys that missed some time. But again, they got a chance to practice today, so we'll see how they progress as the week goes.

Looking forward to Indiana. Indiana is coming to town. They are obviously coming off a big win this last Saturday against Maryland. A lot of respect for Coach Wilson and his staff. Every since he's been at Indiana, I've coached against him during my time at Wisconsin and Ohio State. 2013, when I was at Arkansas, was the only time have not competed against Indiana. And I think Kevin has done an outstanding job with that program. They have continued to improve each year. Went to a bowl game last year. High expectations right now.

Just watching their football team, they're playing with a lot of confidence. Really like watching their offense. Their offensive line is well coached. They play fast. They've got a slew of running backs that run the ball exceptionally well. They've got three wide receivers that are ranked as some of the best wide receivers in the league statistically. So they're doing an outstanding job running that offense. I think they ran for 414 yards last Saturday against Maryland.

The biggest difference with their football is their defense. They're playing better defense, and I know Kevin probably would admit this, than they have in the last few years and it's making a huge difference in that football team. They're sound. Playing good fundamentals, playing a lot faster. It's been a fun football team to watch as we're getting ready to prepare for them.

With that, I'll open it up for questions.

Q. You mentioned the running game and their receivers. How similar is their offense to what you guys are eventually hoping you are?
CHRIS ASH: There are some similarities. Some of the sets are similar. Some of the run plays are similar. They are a little bit more of an outside zone team than we are. There's a lot of similarities both in the run game and the pass game. There's similarities in the formations.

They obviously are operating and going a little bit faster and a little more productive than we are at this point.

Q. Regarding the offense, how much improvement can realistically hope to expect over the final four games with Gio as the quarterback now being more healthy?
CHRIS ASH: Well, I mean, we've got to get Gio healthy. But I hope to see improvement each week. I hope to see improvement in all three phases of our football team through the next four weeks.

Offensively, we talk about the things we have got to do better. I think we are running the ball fairly well right now. We've got to continue to improve our pass game. We've got to continue to improve our production in critical situations.

I think we were better coming out of the Minnesota game with third down and some red zone things, but we're not where we need to be in all of those things. Biggest thing that stands out to me that we've got to improve is our turnovers. We had eight turnovers in the last two weeks. One of them was a special teams. We're last in the league in fumbles, and we're not going to win football games doing that. If there's one thing that I need to see or we need to see improvement on, it's that part of our football team.

Q. You mentioned J.J. progressing and getting back, but in his place is it still Kamaal that's going to step in?
CHRIS ASH: No. Kamaal Seymour right now is our starting right tackle. Kamaal did an outstanding job last Saturday against Minnesota, the last Saturday we played against Minnesota. I actually am really excited about Kamaal and the move he made over to offense. He continues to get better. I think he just needed to get some game reps, which he got against Minnesota. They were productive ones.

Be honest with you, I'm really excited about our tackle position, both left tackle and right tackle, for the future. Him and Cole standing next to each other are two good-looking guys. They've got a lot of time to play together and they continue to learn the offense. Excited about Kamaal.

Q. Starting fast has been a challenge for this team at some points during the season. Coming off of a bye week, how do you make sure that isn't a problem for this Indiana game coming up?
CHRIS ASH: We're not going to do anything different than what we've been doing. The stretch where we had some slow starts was a while ago. I think we've played fairly well in the first quarter here in our last few games. Doesn't necessarily mean that they were good enough to go out and win games, but we didn't put ourselves in big holes.

We got a plan and we'll keep working that plan. We've got to continue to execute it better. As I told the team, talking about our plan to win today before practice and after practice, to get better at our plan to win, we've got to execute it better at practice. We've got to start faster at practice. We've got to be better in critical situations at practice. We've got to better with ball security at practice. We've got to better at special teams and the kicking game at practice.

If we do that, the results will change and be better on Saturdays. But we've got to continue to practice the way we need to, to start games faster and be more productive in all three phases.

Q. When it comes to Gio, getting him healthy, how important was the bye week and how did things go in healing him up and getting him more mobile?
CHRIS ASH: It was very important. If we would have had to play last Saturday, I don't know if he could have or it would have been limited. The bye week was critical for him. Feel good about where he's at right now.

Q. You mentioned Indiana. How much of a curve ball was it what they did against Maryland with using the three guys at quarterback? Dual threat guy, plus the pocket passer and then a running back. I mean, how much extra stuff did that give you guys to look at and prepare for this week?
CHRIS ASH: Well, they've been using two quarterbacks a fair amount. They have used two quarterbacks the last couple of years a fair amount. And you definitely need to know who's back there at quarterback because they're drastically different and their offense is different based on who's back there.

When you throw the third guy back there, the running back, again, it's a whole other element. It is a definite curve ball. Obviously jump started their offense. They had a lot of production using the three quarterbacks the way they did. Again, it's just another guy back there with a different style of run game. You've got a guy that's, I don't know, 260 pounds back there running the football. That's a load. That's a challenge defensively. But it starts with awareness and understanding who's back there and what types of plays they are going to run with that guy back there. Then being able to defend him properly. It's a challenge no doubt.

Q. I think you told the ESPN guys last game that the plan is to play Tylin in every game going forward. How do you balance that with -- Gio doesn't have a ton of game experience too. How do you balance getting both guys enough reps that they are both developing at the same time?
CHRIS ASH: Well, Gio is our starting quarterback. He's the one that's going to get the majority of all reps. Our plan is to try to play Tylin in every game. That doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work out. It's going to be situational based on how the game goes.

That would be our wish to be able to do that. How much we do that, again, it gets back to the preparation each week, the situation in the course of a game. Is it the right time to do it? Is Gio healthy? Is he playing well? There's a lot of factors that will go into determining if and when and how much Tylin will be in a game.

Q. Running back, how do you expect that rotation to go? Do you feel confident with Justin doing more?
CHRIS ASH: I don't know if he can do anymore. He's done a lot. A lot of it will depend if Rob Martin is available to go or not.

Right now Justin Goodwin came out of one of the best games of the year against Minnesota, both running the football and being a receiver out of the back field. He did a great job in pass protection.

Josh Hicks got some reps and did some really good things the last time we played. One of his weaknesses was pass protection. He definitely improved that in the Minnesota game. He had some really good reps back there protecting the quarterback. I was excited to see that for Josh. He had a critical run in a short yard situation. Had a nice run and moved the sticks.

So those two guys I'm happy with against Minnesota. Right now Justin Goodwin would be our starting running back moving forward right now until we get Rob Martin back and healthy and see where he's at physically.

Q. I know you're focused on what's in front of you with Indiana. Speaking of Indiana, is that the kind of team that being the same division, like you said, is it the kind of team that you need to beat to get to where you want to go eventually? You know what I mean, the fact that they are in the same division and you are competing with them for bowls and the like?
CHRIS ASH: You look up and down our schedule, a lot of teams we need to beat to be able to go to bowl games and get to the level that we want to get to.

For us, we don't focus on jersey names and logos. It's all about going out and playing the best that we can play. We don't talk about wins and losses, it's about what it's going to take to win. We talk about the plan to win and practicing the way that we need to practice to see those things show up on game day.

But you look at the schedule, there are a lot of teams right now that we talk about the hunt, that we're hunting to try to chase and need to try to catch for us to get to our postseason goals that we want to have in the program. But, again, our focus is on doing the things that we need to do to try to get there versus worrying about that end result.

Kevin Wilson has done a fantastic job there. I think it's year six for him. Look at what he's done, the way he's built that program, he's got momentum going. I'm sure they are hoping to go to postseason play again this year.

Do we want to be in that position? Absolutely we do. It's not about just beating Indiana. It's about going out and playing our best ability and doing things we need to execute the plan to win. The wins will come regardless of who we're playing.

Q. Ground breaking tomorrow. I know it doesn't really involve football, per se, but to see that type of progress from a facilities perspective, how excited are you about that?
CHRIS ASH: I think it speaks volume to the vision of the athletic department. You say it doesn't help football, it does. Anything that goes up new helps football, because it shows the future. It shows excitement and enthusiasm. It shows making progress, that we're not satisfied with where we're at. We want to get better in all areas.

We've had groundbreaking things here for football. We'll have more in the future. We'll make some announcements here in the future on projects that will be done for football. Anything that we do in the athletic department right now, it's a positive. It's a big deal for football, for everybody here. I think it just shows that our commitment to being the best that we can be and being able to get on a playing field that we can compete in this league, and that's a selling point to recruits and fans and everybody that really cheers for Rutgers right now.

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