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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 2, 2019Chris AshPiscataway, New Jersey CHRIS ASH: Appreciate everybody coming on the first Monday after a game. Good thing is we're still 1-0. That didn't change from Friday night. We'll go ahead and get started. Again I appreciate you guys coming and giving us the coverage that you do. AS always, I'll just start with a quick game recap after we got a chance to watch the video and then talk just quickly about our next opponent and take any questions that you guys have. As we looked at the game from Friday night, really, the No. 1 thing is we did what we needed to do and that was to get a win. We played a lot of guys. We stayed healthy. You know, we found out a lot about our team. We found out a lot about some players that played for the first time. We had several of them. We faced and handled some adversity early on in the game, so that was always good. You know, as a coach, you love to have the first game be perfect and go exactly the way you want, but to be able to handle some adversity the way we did told us a lot about our football team, so that was good. There were a lot of positives to build off of in that game, especially after the first few minutes. Really excited about some of the players that played for the first time. They got a chance to get their feet wet. Maybe they were coming out of a redshirt and might have played in a few games last year, but significant starting time was a different: McLane Carter, Matt Alaimo, Raiqwon O’Neal, Paul Woods played a lot. Aaron Young played. Kay'Ron Adams, Elijah Barnwell, Isaiah Washington, Brandon Myers. Those are just on offense. There were a lot players that played, really, for the first time Friday night. Defensively, Malik Dixon, Jarrett Paul, those two guys started at safety for us, really, for the first time for them to play. They needed reps. They didn't start off very good but they really gained some confidence and made some plays as the game went on, and really, really pleased with what I saw out of them later on in the game. But the biggest thing about the victory, again, it was just finding out where our team is at, and it gave our players an opportunity to celebrate all their hard work that they have put in, the sacrifices they have made, and that was the best thing about Friday night in the locker room with those guys. Offensively, just a couple things. I think we showed a lot of potential. We talked about that Friday night. It was not a perfect game by any means, but I do think we had some outstanding snaps on offense. We showed a lot of big play potential. I think you saw some of the play-makers that we have. I think the quarterback and the skill players all played pretty good for the opening game. I thought the O-Line probably played one of its best games an offensive line has played since I've been here. They were clean. At least, they were pretty fundamentally sound. I thought the communication was really good from the offensive line perspective, as well. UMass in the first game presented a lot of different looks. They brought a lot of different players, and the offensive line did a really good job of picking those things up with their communication. Biggest thing coming out of Friday night offensively is just the three interceptions. We haven't have it. We have to eliminate it. It put us at minus one for the turnover margin here early in the season, and that's a big area of emphasis we have to change as we go through the season. Defensively, the tempo got us early in the game. We can practice the tempo. We tried to simulate it but you can never do it quite like an opponent is going to and they were going fast. It really put stress on our guys to get aligned and communicate, as well as just think about what they were going to do, and we had a couple issues early in that game. Once we calmed down, got used to it, we played pretty solid football for the next three quarters. That was really good to see, but again we can't have the early mental errors that lead to explosive plays like we had Friday night. Overall special teams wise on our field goal PATs, we had a lot of them. We were 8/8. I thought the operation was good. Wasn't a whole lot other than make a couple decent kick returns with Tre Avery where there was some potential for an explosive play throughout the season with him back there. It was overall fairly clean. We had a kick kickoff return that got out on us late in the game, but we had a bunch of new guys in the unit going down the field at that moment and we let one get out on us. But overall I was pleased with what I saw on film. A lot of things to work on. We are just really excited to get back to work, work on the things we need to improve and get ready for a Big Ten opener. We are going to go play Iowa. Iowa is a very, very tough opponent. Going to go on the road which is always a challenge, but you're going to go on the road in a very tough environment. It's one of the best environments in our league and one of the best in college football. It's going to be an 11:00 a.m. kickoff, and that provides another challenge. A lot of things that we have to try to get ready for. It will be a different routine for us. A lot of these players have not traveled before with us. So it's going to be new to see them be able to handle that sways, but we've got to get a great week put together. We are healthy, we are 1-0 and we have a better feel where our team is at right now. So with that, I'll go ahead and open up for any questions. Q. We've gotten this question a lot since Friday night. Did you take over the defensive play calling after the first quarter? CHRIS ASH: No. Q. Were you involved at all? CHRIS ASH: I'm always involved in the defense, but no, Andy Buh is calling the defense. I'm always involved in the defense, always communicating with the defensive staff. That will always be the case with my background. Q. You've had the chance to watch some film, what specifically did McLane need to be doing better out there? CHRIS ASH: Protect the football. That's the No. 1 thing. I think in his first start, that was his first start in a while, first significant playing time in a while. I think he was really trying to do a little too much on a couple of the throws and probably put the ball in harm's way. There were a couple others, if he would have gone through his progression, you know, some guys that were open, at least on one of those interceptions, that he should have taken. But he just can't press and try to make the big play all the time. Q. You said in the past that Iowa is a program that you want to model records after, how they are not getting Top-25 programs year-in and year-out and they are able to get players who fit in their culture and retain them and develop them. Still feel that way? And two, four years into it, are you closer to that model? CHRIS ASH: I mean, I'll never say that we're close enough, you know. Like I said before, I feel like this is an opportunity to have our best football team. But Iowa, they have been the model of consistency for years. Kirk has done an unbelievable job. I have got nothing but the utmost respect for him as a person and him as a coach and what he has done with the staff and the program. They try to do things first class in everything that they do. They coach exceptionally well. They develop guys. They recruit guys, like you mentioned that fit their culture, fit their program that, they can develop and they are not worried about headlines and stars or worried about fits and the ability to develop. It's been a pretty consistent and successful formula. Q. Looking ahead to Iowa, what kind of concerns you about them offensively and defensively? CHRIS ASH: Whenever you play Iowa, it all starts up front on the O-Line and D-Line. That's where they are always strong. That's where they are consistently good, and you know, it's going to be a battle at the best of my memory. If you're not ready for that battle, it can get ugly in a hurry when you play a team like this. That's where it begins and ends. They have got experience on both sides of the ball. And you know, watching their game Saturday night against Miami of Ohio, they are good up front on both sides. They just don't beat themselves. We have to be ready to battle at the line of scrimmage and you're going to play a team that doesn't typically beat itself. Q. How do you feel your pass rush did after watching the film on Friday night? CHRIS ASH: It's hard to tell, I mean, what UMass did. We got three sacks, but UMass won the ball out in a hurry. You're not going to get a lot of sacks against a team that does that. If you notice early in that game, it was a lot of quick screens. On a fourth down we messed up our pass rush lanes and let the quarterback get out, and he's able to scramble and dump the ball off. They got a first down conversion. We can't do that. We got the three sacks, but again, that style of offense and what they are trying to do, it's really hard to put pressure on the quarterback. Q. Alaimo made some plays on Friday night. Moving forward, how optimistic are you that he can be a bigger piece of the passing game? CHRIS ASH: Well, he's going to get better every week that we go. The improvement that he's made since last January through spring practice and the summer and training camp has been really impressive. He just was trying to figure out how to put his pads right in the springs, and now he's out there starting and making plays in game one, so he's come a long way. I couldn't be happier for him for what he's gone through in the whole recruiting process and transfer and to be able to start in his first game and make some plays like he did, really excited for him and he's only going to get better. The kid knows football, and he's working extremely hard and I'm excited to see what he can do with our offense going forward. Q. Jay Niemann, back at Iowa, is that a factor and is their defense different enough? Only a couple months ago where he was scheming these guys. CHRIS ASH: I think you guys have asked that question before, like how much does a coach going from one program to another play in a game like this. You asked me about that Ohio State in the past. It's about the players. The players have got to go out and play the game and execute the calls, and you know, whether a coach has been in the program or whatever, and may know a little bit about what you do, the players have to go out and execute and that's what it's about. It's not about, you know, coach-against-coach. It's about a staff that can prepare their players. Their players go out and execute with great effort and consistency on game day. Q. Against UMass you used a lot of receivers, but we didn't see a lot of Shameen or Eddie Lewis. Was that injury or situational or performance-based? CHRIS ASH: A number of different things, but they will both be factored in our offense as we move forward. Q. Nate Stanley, what do you see on him on film? He seems like he's maybe one of the more underrated guys in the conference at quarterback. CHRIS ASH: I don't know about rating him or anything like that. I see a good player. I see a big, strong, experienced player. He's got a strong arm. Understands their offense. Runs their offense with efficiency. Can make a lot of throws. Plays with confidence. You know, he's a good player. Really impressed with what I see on film. Q. Last summer, you were very high on Jarrett Paul. Now that he's started and he's playing now, how gratifying it to see him take such a step forward like that? CHRIS ASH: He's got to take some bigger steps. He started Friday night and we had some ups and downs like we expected he would in his first start in the secondary. Especially against a team like that where there were unknowns and they were trying to go really fast and it was tough to really get him prepared for all the things he might see for the first time. But again outside of the first few minutes where it wasn't always clean and pretty for him, he settled down and played some really good football and made some plays, but that's what he needed to do. The only way he's going to get better is go get reps and play. I'm still really high on Jarrett Paul and his future here and I'm excited to watch him play here this season. Q. Going back to Iowa, any sentimental feelings going back? CHRIS ASH: No. Q. Were you a fan growing up? CHRIS ASH: I was. My hometown is about an hour south of Iowa City, and grew up in that part of the country there. It's what they call Hawkeye country. My whole family grew up as Iowa fans. Q. Did you go to a lot of games there? CHRIS ASH: Not really. I don't think I started going to any games until probably -- probably after high school to be honest with you. I didn't go to many games there. I've probably been to three or four games there. Q. Looking back at the UMass game, looked like you and Walt Bell had a lengthy conversation after the game. What did he say to you? CHRIS ASH: Just typical coach conversation after a game, wishing each other good luck and that's it. Q. Looking towards Iowa, and what you do you see out of their running back, Sargent? CHRIS ASH: A very good player. He's got speed. He's got toughness. He holds on to the ball, good ball security. He's a good player, and he's a major, major part of their offense. Q. I know you don't like to look at it this way -- how important is it to have the opportunities to get a signature win, beat a team in the upper echelon of the conference like Iowa, to have that opportunity to get that program win? CHRIS ASH: Every win's a program win. You know, we're not worried about, you know, any particular opponent that we need to beat. We're worried about just trying to get better and we're trying to play the best we can on Saturday. I don't care who it is we play against. So you know, they are all signature wins. Last Friday night was a signature win. They are all the same. Q. After the game, John's game plan after you watched the film, 21 touches apiece for Pacheco, Blackshear, got Bo involved and got McLane comfortable. Looking back on film, what were you pleased with, the game plan overall? CHRIS ASH: Absolutely. It's really the vision of what we want with our offense, with the players that we have right now. We talked a lot about some of the changes, not in detail and specifically, but we talked about some changes that we made to our offense to fit our personnel and that was the biggest thing about John coming back. I think you probably saw that on display on Friday. We did some things that we have not done in the past but it fits our players and it's what we have to do to try to have success. You didn't see all of what we have in the offense Friday night, either. We've got a lot more. But I think you saw some potential with what we're doing and the changes that we've made. Q. The only other Big Ten school to offer Pacheco a scholarship in high school was Iowa. Do you feel like that will change the significance for either him or Iowa, coming off the game he had Friday night? CHRIS ASH: No. No, I don't think so. I mean, Isaiah is a very good football player. He's going to run hard and try to do his job to the best of his ability, regardless of who we play. He's just focused on being the best that he can be, and it doesn't -- recruiting's recruiting and the past. I don't even know who all offered him to be honest with you. All right. Thank you, guys. Take care. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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