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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 30, 2017

Chris Ash

Piscataway, New Jersey

CHRIS ASH: Appreciate you guys coming. We'll go ahead and get started. Do a quick recap of the game from last Saturday.

Watching the game, obviously very disappointed in the loss. As I mentioned after the game, happy about the steady improvement that we continue to make, but we need to play better, and disappointed from watching it on the film.

We thought we had a good week of preparation. It wasn't a great one but a good one. We played with great effort. I thought we played with good toughness. We just didn't execute, and our football team needs to learn to put effort and execution together to be able to win games. It requires paying attention to detail, having a lot of discipline, and that's how you win football games.

It starts with me as a coach. I've got to coach it better. Our staff has got to coach things better, and we've got to eliminate some of the mistakes that we've made and some of the losses that we've had that prevent us from having an opportunity to win games.

The thing I did like, like I mentioned, we didn't quit. We kept fighting. We went at halftime down 21-7, there were a couple plays in the first half that kind of killed us, 3rd and 19 that they were able to run the ball, get it to 4th and 1, converted, moved the sticks, ended up getting a touchdown after that, and then real critical holding call against our offense late in the first half there, the second quarter. We had run for a 1st down, got called for holding, put us off schedule, went back to like 2nd and 20, got us off schedule, had to punt, gave them the ball back before halftime, they were able to go down and score again to make it 21-7 in the locker room that really took a lot out of us, that sequence.

But to the players' credit, they bounced back, they fought and played tough in the second half.

Offensively I thought we improved. We mixed it up more, got Janarion Grant involved, obviously made some plays, and we've got to continue to do that.

Defensively the last two weeks we've had some run fit issues, some new things that we're struggling to get adjusted in the game and get it fixed, and we've got to do a better job with that.

Special teams, I thought we played okay, didn't necessarily help us in the game, didn't necessarily hurt us in the game, either. There's some solid things that we did do where we continued to improve in that phase of our football team.

Just moving forward, I love our team. I love our locker room. These kids have really bought into what we're doing, how we're doing it. They work really hard every day. They really are focused on improving. They're not worried about bowl games, not worried about how many wins, they're worried about improving, and I really appreciate that about this team and the way they go about their business.

But like I mentioned before, effort and execution have to get matched together, and we've got to really clean up the details and discipline how we do things if we're going to go and win games here down the stretch.

Next game obviously against Maryland is a very big game, good football team coming to our stadium, excited about being here in our stadium for that game, excited about the fans to show up and create a great environment. We're going to need it. And we're going to have to have a great week of preparation to go out and have a chance to win a game against a good team with some really good skill players.

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

Q. What stands out to you most about Maryland's skill players? You just mentioned them, but what makes them so good?
CHRIS ASH: They're fast. That's usually what makes a good skill. They're fast. They've got great change of direction, both at running back and at wide receiver. You know, the wide receivers got really good ball skills, they've got good body control. They can go up and make plays on the ball. But that's what really jumps out at you when you watch their football team, it's the skill players, they're really good. They're good in the return game.

Q. Given all the injuries that's happened in the secondary, two questions: One, are you pleased with how the patchwork backups have played, and then, two, when you look at their -- building off what Sam said, their skill players, one guy accounts for more than half of their receiving yards. What do you do with DJ Moore so explosive and everybody else not really doing much?
CHRIS ASH: Well, I'd hate to call our secondary patchwork. You know, it's next man in, and I think they've done an outstanding job. Damon Hayes has played well, Jawuan Harris obviously has done some good things, got two interceptions, K.J. Gray has done some good things. I'm really happy with those guys and what they've been able to do, and they continue to get better.

When you talk about a guy like DJ Moore, he's not the only player they've got. He has been targeted a lot in certain games. He's had more production than others, but we have to know where he's at at all times. We have to try to minimize his explosive plays. He's going to get some because he's that good. And we've got to tackle well, and we've got to keep vertical control on him and make sure he doesn't get behind us. I think he's an outstanding receiver. I think he's a game-changing receiver. I think he can catch the ball vertically. I think he runs good routes. He has good hands. He can make you miss. I mean, it's going to be a tremendous challenge, and we've got to know where he's at at all times.

Q. The fact that this game was supposed to be at Yankee Stadium before the venue change, did you get a sense that the players were excited to play in an uncommon place like that?
CHRIS ASH: Honestly, we didn't even talk about it. That's not even been talked about at all. I know I heard some players that were from New York make reference to it, that they were excited about their families coming and stuff like that, but for the most part our focus has been on the opponent that we've been playing each week. We got together yesterday. There were no conversations about it. It was about putting Michigan to bed and resetting our focus for the game. Regardless of where it's played, we've got to go play it.

Q. About the secondary, you have 10 interceptions this year, you had eight last year. Was that a focus in the off-season? Is that a focus during the week, get interceptions?
CHRIS ASH: I mean, it's a focus all the time, getting takeaways in general. I don't care if they're fumbles or interceptions, we need to create more takeaways. We want to be plus in the turnovers takeaway battle, and we are right now. It's two part. One, we haven't turned the ball over in the last two games and we've got to keep that going and we'd like to get three a game. If we can get anywhere from two to three to four range, we feel like we're doing some good things.

But it's an emphasis all the time to try to take the ball away when it's snapped. We've got an opportunity to force a fumble, we've got an opportunity to go force an interception, we need to go do that. It's not just going to happen by one week's worth of work. It's just -- like tackling, it's part of our system, it's part of our philosophy. It's something that we stress and teach and emphasize in meetings, walk-throughs and practice every single day.

Q. It seems like some people want to compare Rutgers and Maryland just from the standpoint they came into the Big Ten at the same time, they play in the same part of the country. Do you find those types of comparisons unfair?
CHRIS ASH: I'm not into comparisons. I think I was asked about Purdue before, about comparing their situation to ours. I don't know what everyone else's situation is. I'm not there. I've never been there. I know what ours is, so I'm not into comparisons, I'm into preparing our football team, coaching our guys, developing our guys, recruiting to our University, our program. Everybody's situation is different.

If you want to compare the two that we came into the Big Ten the same year, great, but that doesn't mean that the situations are the same or they're different. I don't know. I don't think about it. I'm focused on our football team.

Q. Steadily coming up on the new signing period; has that changed anything you're doing recruiting-wise, and what do you think about that dynamic?
CHRIS ASH: We've talked a lot about it, thought a lot about it. For us right now, no, there's not a lot of changes that have been made. I've talked to a lot of people around the country. It's still really an unknown process in my opinion because nobody has gone through it before from a football standpoint, so it is relatively new, and nobody has the manual on how to handle it.

I think right now, a lot of it is left up to the recruits. I mean, they've got to decide are they going to sign in December or are they going to wait until February, and they're the ones that really hold the cards in the whole situation.

Obviously with what we went through with the NCAA investigation, we're limited with official visits. Our concern is more probably focused on that than it is anything else in that process is making sure we can manage that properly and get the right people on campus that we feel like we can sign.

We'll see how it all plays out as we continue to go, but right now today there's nothing that's really changed as we go through it for the first time, we evaluate it, we get back to a full allotment of official visits, we get spring official visits next spring, then we'll really look at how it is different probably next year more so than right now.

Q. Obviously this has nothing to do with Saturday's game, but big picture, would you like to see -- Rutgers-Maryland has been the last game of the season the first three years in the Big Ten. Would you like to see this become a rivalry, and at the same time you've been places that have had some of the best rivalries in the country as an assistant coach. Rutgers never really had a rival. How important is it to have a rival, and what does that change for a program?
CHRIS ASH: I'm not worried about rivalry games. You've got to go win some games, and they're created a lot of times off the field through recruiting and things like that. And then when you play competitive games on the field and they go back to back or back and forth, a lot of times fans create rivalry games for you.

But our focus is trying to build a football team and get as good as we can possibly get. We've got to play any team that is on our schedule. They're all big games for us, I don't care if they're east, west, north, south. We've just got to get better, and we play the teams that are on our schedule, and that's all we're worried about.

Q. I know you have the Scarlet Walk and doing all the other stuff, but the wrestling match beforehand, will you keep an eye on it? Are there any plans to check it out?
CHRIS ASH: No. I mean, to be honest with you, I don't even know the whole timing of the day and all that stuff. That's for other people to worry about. I'm excited about the event. I love our wrestling team. I think Coach does a great job. Those guys are outstanding. I love going to watch them wrestle. Unfortunately won't be able to watch the meet. We're going to be focused on what we need for our game, but it should be great for fans. Really excited that we can provide an event like we're going to be able to provide with wrestling and football together. I think it's a great opportunity for a lot of fans to come out to our stadium and cheer on Rutgers athletics, and very excited that we can provide that type of event, and hopefully wrestling goes out and takes care of business to start the day off and really gets everybody enthusiastic and jazzed up for the football game.

Q. When you're recruiting kids that have wrestled, what do you like about that because I look at Kevin Wilkins that have experience and it turns them into successful linemen.
CHRIS ASH: You know, I don't know that wrestling necessarily equates to a successful lineman. I think there are some characteristics that wrestlers have that can help in that process. Some of the ones that I have seen become successful linemen are guys that are -- one, they're tough because you've got to be pretty tough to be a successful wrestler. That's mentally and physically. But I think the use of your hands is very important, and I think that's a characteristic that can help you both on the wrestling mat and on the football field.

And leverage, I think as a wrestler, leverage comes into play in wrestling as it does in football, so I think hands and leverage and just the mental and physical toughness, the training that you go through as a wrestler. I mean, it's very difficult, and I think all those things can help you become a better football player. It doesn't mean you're going to be a good football player. No, it doesn't. Just because a football player can use his hands and understands leverage and all that stuff and trains for football doesn't mean he's going to be a good wrestler, either. But there are some things that I think can transfer over to help you become a better football player if you've been trained to be a wrestler.

Q. I noticed in your opening statement you didn't really address any of the injuries. Anything you can tell us about Janarion or Blackshear or Lewis, or any of those guys back this week?
CHRIS ASH: We actually anticipate they'll be ready to play, but we'll go through the week. But right now I fully anticipate all those guys being able to play.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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