RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 20, 2021

Greg Schiano

Postgame Press Conference

Spring Game

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Well, it was a lot of fun being back in the stadium. It was fun to have some of the fans and have the cheerleaders in the van, and the kids really played hard. It was really a good night. You know, hopefully visions of things to come in that stadium. It's really fun to have that atmosphere.

Q. Noah's green jersey, was that precautionary, and the guys who didn't suit up, namely I guess Fogg, the three offensive linemen, young blood, are any of these injury concerns for training camp or for the season?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Well, first of all, Noah is our starting quarterback, so that's why he was in a green jersey. He has played in games, as we've seen him react to contact situations. The rest of the quarterbacks we, you know, have not, or at least I have not seen them. I know Cole played a few plays at Penn State before we arrived.

So we have done that all spring. They haven't always been live but when we scrimmage they have and we kept that the same tonight and I'm glad we did. It revealed a lot of stuff. I was pleased with the quarterback play overall.

When you talk about injured guys, we have some guys that are recovering, some of them from off-season surgeries. Other guys have some things that they tweaked in spring football. But as far as right now, some -- anybody scheduling to not be able to take part in when we start training camp, the answer would be no.

I think everyone should be ready to go for training camp. There may be a guy or two who are limited entering training camp, about overall we're not in bad shape.

Q. I guess to expand upon that, what did you think of how Cole played specifically and his legs?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Well I thought all the quarterbacks played well. Cole certainly did. He threw well. He ran well. I thought Evan did the same. You look and they almost have identical bylines.

Noah, the one thing I was so impressed with watching tonight was Noah coaching guys on the sideline, I mean, really coaching them on details. That was great to see.

I was overall pleased and I thought Johnny did some good things, as well. So everybody, I think everybody contributed and everybody had a chance to play, which was -- which was good. And I thought they played well, which was even better.

Q. Can you talk about the spring award recipients and what made you choose each of those guys for their respective awards?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Sure. Start with Robert Longerbeam. Robert just really gutted through a painful injury that he had and then you know, couldn't do it any more, so he got -- he got surgery and he's going to be ready for camp. But he really exhibited every day coming to practice, working hard, fighting through it, and I thought he really personified what that award is meant to be.

Hollin Pierce on offense won the most improved, and you know, I really thought that Hollin had a great spring. He's been coming on, he's had kind of a linear ascent that we're pleased with.

Really, really good in certain things and certain things because he hasn't played a ton of football, we have to get him up to speed with, but I think he's going to be a fine player.

I think that Tyreem Powell really came on this spring. You know, he got injured during the season and wasn't able to do everything. And he just had a really good spring. Made a lot of plays. Showed his ability and so that's -- that's why those three guys won. It wasn't easy. There were several guys that I thought qualified to win those, at least the most improved award. But when it came down to it, those were the guys that we selected.

Q. What did you think about the way your tight ends played, particularly Jovani and Victor?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Again, I was really pleased with the way they played tonight. I've been pleased with the way they progressed in the spring. You know, it makes you a much -- a much more potent offense, a harder offense to defend when you have multiple tight ends and you can change out of multiple tight end sets, single tight end sets and then if you want to, zero tight end sets.

So I think that's something that we're all excited about to be able to move. We're a no-huddle offense, but we do change personnel at times. If you have the personnel to change, it gives defenses other challenges.

Q. I just wanted to ask about your thoughts on how Aaron young and Wright-Collins ran at running back today?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: I thought the backs overall, all of them ran well today. I know Pop, Isaih Pacheco, would have liked to get more carries but that was on purpose. AY got some really good carries. You know, I think Kyle Monangai had some really good carries. He's had a good spring.

And Jamier Wright-Collins, same thing. He had a productive spring and had a good night.

So all good stuff. Great competition. I think, you know, what I like is a competition at the tight end spot, a competition at the running back spot, a competition at the quarterback spot, a competition makes -- makes everybody better. It's counter to human nature, right. It pushes you to be better. Same thing at the wide receiver spot, when you look at the offense, I think some guys are really getting better in that area, and we need to, so it's real important.

Q. In a game like this where offense is showcased so much, is harder to get a feel for your defenses?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Well, it is, because you don't -- you know, we split the roster, so the whole team got split. And it's hard to do this in a spring game. We had to flip flop one guy and that was it, which is great. We did it at halftime projecting where a guy got bumped and that was it. To be able to do that in a spring game, I was very pleased. Speaks to some depth that's being created, some competition that's there.

Defensively we didn't run many calls, which the way you do it most of the time in a spring game. You keep it very basic. They really wanted to just see guys blocking tackle and run and throw and catch, and I thought that was accomplished.

Q. Do you think this team has a chance to go to a Bowl game?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Oh, you're putting the cart way out in front of horse. I hope we all show up tomorrow for exit interviews before they leave. You're way ahead of me on that one.

Q. Knowing the depth, you've seen this team for 15 practices, we've seen them for one.

COACH GREG SCHIANO: That's a really good question. You're way ahead of me. I think you know me better than that.

Yeah, I hope that we show up for exit interviews and that we have a great summer and give ourselves a chance to get to training camp and play from there. I like our team, though, you know that. I think they work really hard. Today was an example of that. I thought they approached this thing like a mature group of guys. We have some leaders that run the team and that's important, and it needs to continue to grow. When you have guys in the locker room that are running the team and allows us to do our job, it gives us a chance.

That's what I'm looking for, guys to keep doing that and we need to make sure that we -- that's a full-time job, guys being leaders on this team.

Q. Obviously you had Avery Young at safety. Is that permanent now? Is he going to be there or are you maybe going to think about putting him back at corner?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: I think Avery gives us multiple position value, right. He can play corner, we know that. He can play star which is our nickel and he can also play safety. When you have a guy that has that skill set and can do all three, I really think he could be very good at any one of the three.

So it's now going to be a position -- a matter of need for us where when we put owl the pieces together over the summer and come up with a way to enter camp, where does he serve best because he's an unselfish player. He's play wherever we ask him to, and I think he'll be good at all three positions.

Q. Can you talk about the development of Wesley Bailey, he had a sack or half a sack, and seemed he was creating pressure almost every snap he was in there.

COACH GREG SCHIANO: Wesley is a young player that as a chance to be really good. He's physically gifted. He's put on some weight in his off-season training. I know he's stronger. He's more durable and he's more physical.

Like any young player, he's got a long way to go but he definitely has a knack for getting by the blocker on pass rush, and you know, there's more to playing defensive end than that but Wesley is a guy that I have a lot of high hopes for.

Q. What did you think of that play that Isaiah Washington made, and what did you see from him all spring?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: I think he had a really good spring. He came in with a chip on his shoulder and he worked very hard. I think he got a little low at one point and then fought his way out and then tonight obviously that was a spectacular play but he had some other plays, as well. I was glad to see him end spring on that note. He's a good player. He's a guy that is a great guy to have on the football team, and I think that he will bring production to the offense come fall.

Q. What's your thoughts on the offensive line now that you have these 15 spring practices completed?

COACH GREG SCHIANO: A work-in-progress. It's a great question. I mean, it wasn't a secret that when we arrived here, that was the biggest area of deficiency. By sheer numbers alone, it was the biggest area of deficiency. We had to try to rebuild that anyway we could and now that they have gotten stronger, they have had a year with Coach Aurich working on technique and understanding scheme.

So I think we are better. We are not where we need to be. Right now I'm not sure I could tell you who the starting five would be if we trotted them out there.

That will be a training camp deal where we'll find the best five and what position they play, you know, a lot of that depends on who the best five are because some guys can play two positions, and you just work it out and then you figure out who is sub-one, sub-two, and sub-three. That's how you try to get an eight-man rotation going that you know you can go into the season with. Ideally you'd have a ten-man rotation, but I'm not sure we're there. First we've got to find five.

I appreciate, again, as always, you covering us, and I do want to make mention of that last play when regulation was done, and our healthcare professionals who helped us through this entire time, this entire COVID-19 period where it really was unparalleled, I think, in -- I know in my career, I think, 33 years, unparalleled as far as the amount of strain and stress it put on everybody involved, and those people probably the most, right. Testing every day, dealing with -- dealing with the guys that were positive, you know, the whole shooting match.

And to have that last play, and then to have all the players jump all over, that was really special to me, because those guys -- everybody on that play really spent a ton of time working on our players, helping our players, arranging for our players to be cared for and caring for them.

So a real heartfelt thank you to them, and I know we're not done yet. We're not out of the woods, but I was really, really appreciative and I was glad we were able to do that as a small token of our appreciation to them.

You guys be safe. I guess we'll talk to you again here in June sometime, but until then, thanks again for covering us.