Greg Schiano's postgame presser following Rutgers' 44-7 win over Howard #rutgersfootball

okay guys thanks for uh for coming out sticking around um you know just a quick recap I was really pleased with the way that our guys continued to chop you know I knew what kind of game it was going to be Howard is a really good football team when you look at what they did last year when they played up they were super competitive could have won both their games that they played against FBS teams uh a lot of those guys were back and uh really well coached Team schematically all three phases so I knew exactly what it was going to be and you worry sometimes as a coach you know do your players understand that because you know when you play a FCS opponent they're definitely different levels of FCS and uh this this team is a very good football team they're going to they're going to have great success if they can stay healthy so uh much respect for their program but much respect for our team I was really pleased we worked them very hard in training camp we got them I think we got them back and they came out and played really hard at first a little bit slow um but you know we we we were try to we tried during training camp to make sure that the guys that had experience didn't really get a ton in the live scrimmages so I think it took a little bit to get going and then defensively you know we had five guys that were legitimately playing substantial football for the first time so that's that's a big chunk and they gained valuable experience so I'm excited I think you know several times during the night I wrote notes down about our team things that came to my mind that I really didn't realize before tonight so it was it was really good really good and now we got to enjoy this for a night and and then get to work on acan and uh I look forward to doing that so I'll try to help you with any any answers I can Greg Ethan's first start how do you thought how do you think he performed in how he how did he handle the offense well I don't I think he handled the offense very well just listening and watching him seemed very cool uh got himself out of trouble a couple times threw it away a couple times when it the look wasn't there those are the plays that no one knows they just think it's an incomplete pass but uh especially you know you're down on the 25 yard line and in and you know it's not there you just throw it away right you live to live you live to play another play well that's easy to say it's not so easy to do so I was pleased with that and then I thought his accuracy kind of showed and I think he'll get better and better too as as we get more in a flow but yeah overall I think it was a positive first outing for him and one that he and Coach raka can tear apart and grow from GRE along those lines I mean just offense in general was was this the plan to keep it a little vanilla to kind of ease your way into it I mean what was the strategy in a game like this well I don't know if it was so vanilla I mean we're not like uh you know barn and Bailey over here we we kind of do what we do but we just kind of at the beginning were shooting ourselves in the foot we dropped a couple you know that were catchable balls that are converted third downs and the drive continues just kind of stumbling a little bit at the beginning but the thing that I was really pleased with is our our guys just kept chopping they just kept doing it and I told them that's going to be the difference the differentiating Factor tonight will be that you because again you never know as a coach do they believe what you tell them that this is a really good football team and and you're G to have to go out and play well and chop every single moment to Come Away with a victory and obviously our guys did believe that but you don't know as a coach you hope you hope so but i' I've been on both ends of that so I was really proud of our guys for for the way they they continued to chop and then the offense obviously picked up and Kyle and Sam you know that that they have potential to be a real good one-two punch um so yeah overall positive Sam got a lot of carries were you just giving Kyle a blow there at the end or is that um just well I think Kyle you know Kyle got quite a few carries and and racked up some yards uh quickly so um yeah I think I think it's just a rotation that we we had we had talked about doing and making sure we keep both backs fresh and keep Kyle fresh but I thought Kyle ran violently tonight yeah Craig what you think of Miller's debut and uh why didn't we see him stretch the field more with that speed Miller's debut uh probably not the best one to ask because I'm not really watching him particularly um but I think I know I've seen a lot of him in practice and he he's going to be a really good player for us this year we got to keep him healthy and uh he's got he's got ability we have we have a bunch of guys he's not the only one with speed you know um so yeah we we we'll get there we'll get there Greg since I had a chance to run to both locker rooms um why was Larry so angry about the end of the game did you run it up you have to ask Larry that you know I have a lot of respect for Coach Scott I think he uh he does a great job with his program they obviously they're back-to-back Champions um you know he's a competitor I'm a competitor and everybody sees things a little differently right you see it through your lens so you watch the game you you saw it so you can draw your conclusions I'm very comfortable with the way that we handle our team that I handle our team and uh if I wasn't I'd tell you that too that same line Greg can you just take us through the thought process of going for the score there on that final play and rather than kneeling it out no guys practiced all training camp you know they deserve they deserve to play it's not you know there was no running it up right if it was running it up you don't you don't use timeouts when you have the ball you let the game end you know that wasn't retaliatory we were going to run plays you know we bring in a team to play us we bring them here and we're get we bring them in right we got to win and we got to get reps and they were there we took them like some chippiness at the end there between the players after that just were you worried about anything breaking out from that or just kind of no I don't you know there was chipping this all game that wasn't the first time you know there needed to there needed to be some control grabbed to that game a few times obviously with ter and Ty out I mean what you think about the way the jab stepped up and and you know the game he had yeah I think DJ and and uh Moses both stepped up now again without watching I couldn't tell you if mistakes I know DJ was super uh productive but I saw Moses make some plays too tfls and you know when you watch it's not always easy to see but you know when a guy flashes that he made a decisive read and really went and got it and I saw them both do that numerous times so that's a positive and uh eventually we'll get Tyne back and hopefully you know continue to build it's huge loss losing Mo obviously but um you got to move forward can you uh address the availability report and some guys that missed uh today specifically the guys that were listed as out uh Wesley Bailey flip Dixon and uh start with those two you mean address it in what way I think that are they long-term injuries you expect them to be back sooner no they're not long-term injuries but I can't tell you if it's going to be next week or the week after but there it's none like you know down the road Road or season ending for that matter yeah with flip out you started college at safety what led you to have the confidence and to put him in as a true freshman his performance yeah since he got here in January he's gotten better and better and better and uh like the way it always is around here right you earn it and he had earned the spot he was the second safety behind flip and uh then when flip went down he he continued he showed that he belonged there and I thought you know again without watching the tape it's hard but I thought he played pretty well just you know anytime it doesn't get thrown over your head and you're a safety or ball doesn't run and break past you you know you probably played a pretty decent game so I'll watch it but he's a real good football player he's got a BRI future coach and his debut at tight end Kenny Fletcher caught all four targets for 31 yards what can you say about that addition to the offense yeah you know Kenny's a talented guy as you guys know um from watching him play on defense I think Kenny's found a home at tight end uh he's going to be a work in progress All Season he really you know it's so new to him um but you know some of the things you see or catch is but Kenny is a really violent blocker and we just have to make it consistently violent blocking and then you're going to have a complete tight end but it'll take time it's you know he's very new to the position coach uh tonight Athan completed the ball to eight different targets um you know what does that say about Ruckers up and just overall the chemistry built over the spring into this game I think it speaks to the depth of the receiving core and tight end core for sure I also think it speaks to athan's ability to go right through his progression and not predetermine right because that's easy to do it's easy to predetermine say I'm G to throw it to that guy because the look before the snap look that way or you may just have confidence in him but you can't do that you got to let the defense tell you where to go with the ball and I thought you know again without watching the tape I can't tell you for sure but I thought he did a good job and he looked very decisive uh very decisive uh given that Howard has a lot of options offensively especially in the Run game including at quarterback how would you say your team responded to all the different diverse looks and weapons that they threw at you well you hit on the head now they they have two really good backs uh really good backs and the quarterback certainly is a dynamic player and very fast I mean we have some fast guys and he ran away from a couple of them so that's what I was telling you know like I knew what we were up against this is a this a really talented club and as I said they're well coached so when you put those two things together uh it's a dangerous a dangerous foe so I'm really really that that's why I was excited about the way our guys continued to chop and and that's what it was going to take sorry my notes were a mess on the availability first because sorry about that um the last guy was tyon Powell and just how close was he to making his return today yeah um I don't know you know it was it was definitely questionable like he warmed up and he did things but you just have to make sure that when you're coming back from a a long-term thing that he's ready to go and I won't Rush that right he's uh you know I've said it but this guy is what six weeks from being a day two pick in my opinion he gets hurt at Indiana last year and then he gets hurt again right so two injuries we just got to get him healthy get him healthy and then and then when he's ready he's going to let us know and he'll go play great this year I got I have confidence in Ty just got to get him get him to where he's confident and ready to go so well again guys I appreciate you sticking around tonight and uh thanks for for covering our team oh I forgot I had my notes here and I should tell you what a deal by our first year students huh that place I mean I I haven't seen our Endzone pack like that it was before we went up the kids were all there that was awesome I guess they had a cookout tonight that was I like to see them all back next week now 12 o'clock start might change that for college students but I'm gonna work on it maybe we'll have uh I can't say that I'll get in trouble all right thanks guys