RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 5, 2023

Greg Schiano

Press Conference

GREG SCHIANO: Appreciate you guys working with us on this short week. Yesterday would have been a little bit of a stretch, so this is good. We'll get this done and then you get the players. I'll help you any way I can.

Q. I guess we'll start with penalties; that was an issue last year. Only two penalties against Northwestern, one was a delay of game on a punt. So how encouraging was it for that, and especially for an offensive line that you're rotating a bunch of guys, no penalties for them?

GREG SCHIANO: It's a good job. It's one game, right. So we had no -- we had two penalties in the Northwestern season and one of them was on purpose, so we had one penalty but you have to remember there were a couple other penalties that did not get enforced.

So it's not quite as clean as it looks but we need to just -- you know, in this Temple season, we've really got to bare down on that. We did today. It was pretty clean today.

Q. Your initial thoughts on Temple, obviously quarterback is a pretty good player but what do you think?

GREG SCHIANO: He is a very good player. They have got a transfer wide receiver from Colorado State who is very impressive and then they have the kid they had last year who a really good player, he's wearing No. 1 now.

Yeah, the two backs are Big 10 level backs. Really, really good players.

Got a young O-line, right, so see what we can do. They are learning. They are much like our O-line, trying to figure out who is who, who plays where. They are getting the guy back that is kind of more of a stall wart there. They have a receiver, like I said, No. 1, so they are getting him back. They are getting some guys healthy for this game.

Defensively, they have a No. 13 who is a really good player. He's a disruptive player. He's got I think six or seven forced fumbles in his career. Better know where he is. They have another transfer from Colorado State. They must have went shopping in Colorado State.

Colorado State safety is a really good player, too. He showed up in a lot of different ways. I think they are strong up the middle. They have a young -- they have a true freshman playing in the D-and he's big, you can see he's a physically mature guy and then the corner, number 7, he's a ball hawk, we have to be really careful around him.

Yeah, they are a much improved football team, you can see and they should have beat us last year. So you know, we were fortunate to get out of the stadium with a victory. So we know what we are in for, and we have got to have a great week of practice and it's a short week so we really have to bare down.

Q. Sunday you didn't seem to do much rotating with the DBs and linebackers; was that part of the plan or because the offense controlled the ball so well?

GREG SCHIANO: We didn't get the play load you normally assume you would get. You practice all training camp. Those guys got to get some work. The plan was to play some other guys more, we just didn't have many plays.

So that's a good thing, yet it's not such a good thing for experience.

Q. I guess what was it like to see Mo Toure back and have a productive start to the season after when he went through last year and what he brings to the defense now?

GREG SCHIANO: You look at a guy like Mo Toure who has out last year and it's got to tell you something when his teammates elect him captain. Hasn't played in a year, right, so the last time we remember him was in 2021. That's the kind of respect he has in that locker room. And he's a grown man. Like when he goes to tackle you, he tackles.

Q. How do you feel you can build off what you saw from Gavin so far?

GREG SCHIANO: Stick to the plan. Kirk and he, joined at the hip, and he's just got to keep studying and seeing it and studying, and when you get into game plan weeks, it becomes very specific to what e-mail you're playing. Yes, we have our base offense but it fits into what Temple is doing. And in some ways they are uniquely different to Northwestern and in other ways they are similar, which sounds, oh, that's good. Well, it's not always good because only the certain things that are similar with rules carry over for and the things that are different, you have to treat them differently and that is a young quarterback, that's hard, because you grooved it all training camp against Rutgers and then you grooved it for six practices against Northwestern.

Now, we have three practices in a short week to get it all ready for Temple; and Coach Withers who coordinates the defense is a really good football coach. He's experienced and we've gone against each other over the years in both NFL and college. He's an excellent football coach. He's going to present issues that only experienced coaches know how to present.

Q. Do you have an update on Marquise Watson and do you expect to have him back?

GREG SCHIANO: Don't know if we'll have him back for Saturday night. I sure open so. He's doing better. Marquise is one of us. He's a tough, tough guy and he will get well.

Q. What's something that you can expect the offense to execute better from the first game?

GREG SCHIANO: Really, everything. We had a lot of things that had to be cleaned up we played with effort. Sometimes when you play really hard it covers up a lot of mistakes so the guys did play hard. But technically and execution-wise, there's a lot to clean up but that's what we practice for.

The old adage, the biggest improvement you make is between game one and game two, that's always been said in coaching. I sure hope it is this week because we have a lot to get better at.

Q. Could you clarify what the NCAA violation was with Naseim and is it still lingering?

GREG SCHIANO: Yes, it's into the a violation but it's an eligibility question. I'm not going to get into the details yet because it's still under advisement. But you could see Saturday how disappointed I was. This is a kid who came here and had a tragic compound fracture of his leg, playing at another school. I'm at a loss. I'm really at a loss but I'm going to keep working. That kid deserves to play. There's no funny business.

Q. Eligibility because he was a transfer?

GREG SCHIANO: Yeah.

Q. Is that a thing that you think can linger the whole season?

GREG SCHIANO: I couldn't tell you. When you try to predict that stuff, you're better off buying a lottery ticket.

Q. With Watson, has he been able to talk to you or the team at all since Sunday? I can you share how you told the team?

GREG SCHIANO: I probably should have said more than I should have. I know people care about him and want to know that he's doing better but he'll get him back eventually.

I know he's talked to players, but I don't know if he's talked to the whole team. He's getting better.

Q. One of the biggest surprises on Saturday was seeing Gus out there with the first team. Can you talk about his development and what he did to earn the job?

GREG SCHIANO: He gave us the best chance to win, and again that's what it comes down to every time when a personnel decision is made, it's strictly based on that, so how what he do that was more consistent. That's what you're looking for.

Q. How is Wesley doing?

GREG SCHIANO: Wesley Bailey? I believe he's going to be okay. He was limited today. Again we are on a short week. This should really be the day they have off, getting a lot of treatment and then get it cranked up for tomorrow. We have kind of just backed things up for the injured guys but we can't back it up for the guys that are good to go. I believe he'll be able to go.

Q. Strong opened some eyes on Sunday. How do you handle this week given that he's a true freshman and gets a touchdown, not just development but handling the emotions and everything else that goes into a performance like that?

GREG SCHIANO: Yeah, you know, every guy is different. You say, how do you handle it. Everybody's personality is different so I deal with them on an individual basis. Ian's kind of a cool customer. Doesn't really show a lot of emotion. Kind of chill. Works really hard.

So as long as he keeps working really hard, I won't worry about him. But if I see him not working really hard, he'll know it before a lot of people will know it.

I'm supposed to say -- no, I'm only kidding. We're having a blackout at the stadium and I would love to encourage all the fans to wear black to the game, that would be a huge favor for us. It's going to be a night game, blackout, can't wait, kids are excited about it. You'll see when they come in, their black helmets, they are breaking them in this week. Thank you.