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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 12, 2018

Chris Ash

Piscataway, New Jersey

CHRIS ASH: How is everybody doing today? Just go ahead and get started here. Welcome. Thanks for coming. It's amazing how fast the season is going. I think our "Fun Mondays" are about to end. I think we have one more. Let's enjoy 'em while we can.

I would like to start and thank our game day production crew. I think they did a great job on Saturday with military appreciation day, the pregame events and activities and the flyover was awesome. Those guys have done a great job all year.

Also like to take an opportunity to wish Vivian Stringer good luck tomorrow. She is going for her 1000th career victory. Amazing. I started following her when I was a kid back in Iowa and she was a coach at the University of Iowa. Been a big fan of hers, and it's been great to get to know her in my time here and wish her and her team good luck tomorrow opinion.

This week is senior week for us. It's a big day. We're playing Penn State, which is a big game, good opponent coming to town, but it's more about Senior Day and having an opportunity to send our seniors off on a positive note. I hope our fans will show up and cheer these guys on and show some appreciation for everything they have invested into this program and to this university. I believe that this group of young men has represented this program and university with class and integrity.

Again, they've invested a lot of time and effort to try to make this program go and can't thank them enough. It's really important that we as a Rutgers community send these guys off on a positive note, and I hope the fans will come and do that. With that, guys, I will open up for any questions that you may have.

Q. I'm curious about your relationship with Vivian Stringer. Do you as a coach -- you said you admire her, but do you pick up anything from her, the way she handles her players? What sort of things do you pick up from her as a coach?
CHRIS ASH: Well, I've not been in her locker room, obviously, and we've talked about coaching before in our conversations. One of the things that I do know is she has great relationships with people. She is great with her staff, she has great relationships with her players and that really sticks out. She has been a consistent winner for a long, long time.

Q. From a football perspective, Art went into the game this past week with the longest string of passes without interceptions in the Big Ten, I think it was 70. I know he threw one in the fourth quarter, but what has he been doing differently where he hasn't thrown as many interceptions of late? Has it been consistency? Is it the offense? Why has that string been so impressive?
CHRIS ASH: I think there is a combination of a few things there. First and foremost, I think it's the overall plan. Coach McNulty and the offensive staff putting together a plan that is simpler for him to execute and to try to build confidence.

The second part of it, I think the protection has been better. You look at the number of sacks, we haven't given up a lot of sacks here recently, and I think he's gotten some confidence because of that, and I think Art himself has worked really, really hard to improve. He's improved his mechanics, he's improved his understanding of the offense, he's improved his decision-making on game day. I think he's trying to take care of the ball better instead of force things like he was earlier in the year.

It's hard to say it's just one thing. I think it's a combination of a number of things, and we needed him to do that and we need him to continue to go down that path for our offense to improve. He's worked extremely hard, and I think the offensive line has worked really hard to try to protect him, too.

Q. When you look at Penn State, one thing that stands out is McSorley. I think he is only completing 55% of his passes. What are defenses doing to them? They're still scoring a lot of points. What do they do to combat that inefficiency and have success on offense?
CHRIS ASH: To start, Trace is a great player. He's a tremendous quarterback. He can beat you with his feet and beat you with his arm. Just spent the last five, six hours watching film of him, and he's a competitor. I don't know if it's necessarily anything that a defense is doing to slow him down, because he's still got a lot of production. He's still very dangerous. It's a different team than they had last year. The pieces around him are different, but he's still a great player. He's fun to watch.

Q. How glad are you going to be to see him graduate then?
CHRIS ASH: He's not fun to complete against on game day, I can tell you that, because he's so competitive and he's athletic. He's smart. He makes good decisions.

Q. For this week's game do you take a different approach? Last week the seniors here, last home game? I know the season hasn't gone how you like, but are you trying to give them extra motivation to get this last win at home?
CHRIS ASH: We try to motivate them every week. That's part of our job, motivation, and we take that very seriously. This week is no different. We have a game to go compete in and win, it just happens to be Senior Day so it is a little extra special. There usually is a little extra motivation for the football team. If you've got good relationships and great chemistry on your team, and you've got a group of guys that have invested a lot, there is extra motivation for everybody involved.

That's what it is this week. It's still a challenge to go out and try and play our best football. We've got a great opponent coming to town, but it is about trying to send these guys off the right way, too.

Q. With Pacheco and Blackshear, do you start to look at these next two games to experiment how you might use them going forward? They're both going to be returning and maybe -- we've seen more creativity in the past two weeks and in the wild cat and how you're deploying them, lining up Blackshear here and there.
CHRIS ASH: It's obvious to everybody that those two guys have play making ability, and our job is to get the best players on the field and get the ball into our best players' hands and make things happen, and those two guys can do it. We will continue to look at ways to get both those guys on the field and get the ball in their hands, and we have done that more and more as the season has gone on.

We will continue to do that as we go, and I'm excited that they're both coming back next year and bring us hopefully some play making ability.

Q. There has been talk about Blackshear playing more wide receiver. Do you think his skill set would fit that or is he better off being a running back and having match-ups with linebackers as opposed to cornerbacks?
CHRIS ASH: What he's done so far, he's not been matched up on a corner, and we would not have him do that. His skill set is unique in the fact that he can play wide receiver and running back. That's what he did in high school. That's what we recruited him to do, and finally right now we're getting to the point that where we can do that with him.

He really embraces that role and that opportunity to do both positions. We're excited to continue to develop him and grow the packages that we have with him out there in multiple positions.

We will continue to that as we move forward.

Q. How would you assess the early development of the freshmen class, not Art and Pacheco, but these other guys that haven't played much or at all?
CHRIS ASH: We have played quite a few of them, whether it be for the four games or guys that we have burned the redshirt. I think we've got a really good group of freshmen that we brought in last year, the true freshmen class I'm talking about. There are guys that have done a great job on offense, guys getting reps on defense, guys that are showing up on special teams, so I'm excited about the core group.

And then we have guys developing in practice as we move forward that may not have played in a game yet. So overall if you ask me about the group, I'm happy with the group. Some guys are really close to doing some great things for us, some have a little further to go than others, but they're all working hard and have great attitudes and pleased with what they're doing so far this year.

Q. Every senior class probably has its own characteristics. What stands out with this group? I think this is your third one as a head coach. What stands out about this senior class?
CHRIS ASH: It's a small one. They've been through a lot. They came in with a lot of guys and not many are left. I look at our season this year, and it hasn't gone the way any of us wanted, but I truly believe we have improved, especially as of late, and a lot of that is because of them.

When a senior goes through this type of senior year, it's easy for them to shut it down and quit and start to focus on what's next for them. These guys have not done that. That's unique to me. It's because they have great character, a lot of investment and great relationships, and they've led the charge on our continued preparation and helped us improve. They've kept the young guys focused, and I can't thank 'em enough for that.

That to me is something that's unique in this situation, is how they've handled it, with class, and professionalism, and they continue to work every single day.

Q. And two seniors I wanted to ask about in particular: Trevor Morris, 91 tackles, 9 more he would get over 100, not too many guys in Rutgers history have ever done that, and Wharton starting a game every?
CHRIS ASH: We'll start with Trevor. Trevor has come a long way. I still remember the first spring practice when we got here and he was out there. He really hadn't done anything, hadn't played, and he's really come a long ways, developed, he's gotten bigger, he's matured. He's learned how to study the game. He's pretty serious about playing as well as he can, so I can't say enough things about Trevor and the way he's developed over the last few years.

Isaiah, to look at a kid that started every game over the last four years, I guess, or whatever it is, it's pretty impressive. You don't see a lot of guys doing that in this league and he's been able to do it. It's a testament of him taking care of his body, because that's what he's done. Every year, you know, there is someone trying to beat him out, and he just keeps getting better. He's "Mr. Consistency." He's always in the right spot. You trust him. He's reliable. He's a great leader for everyone in the room.

Again, I can't say enough good things about Isaiah.

Q. I know I asked you about Reggie Sutton after the game on Saturday. Why the number change? Does he have to have an eligible number?
CHRIS ASH: Yes.

Q. This is not permanent, right?
CHRIS ASH: No. Reggie Sutton is an offensive lineman that right now, we wanted to find a role for him.

Q. I know it's been a trying season; your last home game. What's your message to the fans? It's the last time they're going to see you in person until the spring game.
CHRIS ASH: Just what I talked about at the start. Saturday is about our seniors, and it is about the future, too. I think the last couple of games you've seen some of our younger players on display, making plays. And hopefully fans get excited about what they can do as they continue to grow and develop, but it's about our seniors and sending them off on a positive note. Helping to cheer them on in a big game this Saturday.

These guys have invested so much. Their career necessarily as a team hasn't gone the way they hoped, but they have stayed the course and, man, they're all Rutgers, and hopefully fans appreciate that and come out and cheer them on but also get excited about our future and the young players that are out there playing.

Thanks guys.

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