Everything Rutgers Football HC Greg Schiano said ahead of Iowa game week
Rutgers Football head coach Greg Schiano met with the media again today as the Scarlet Knights prep for the upcoming game against the Iowa Hawkeyes this upcoming Friday night inside of SHI Stadium.
Full Press Conference Transcript
Greg Schiano: Okay, guys, thanks for adjusting here with a short week, getting us here after practice, but appreciate you covering us as always. A couple of things before we get started. First, a huge congratulations to Coach Ferentz, breaking the all-time Big Ten wins record is quite an accomplishment.
And he’s one of the guys that I respect the most in coaching and I think that’s kind of universal in our business. He’s done it really well for a really long time. So congratulations.
The consistency that he’s demonstrated as the head coach there at Iowa, just in the last 10 years, when you get ready to play somebody, you get a lot of information, obviously. And one of five teams in the country that have won at least eight games in the last nine years. There’s only five of them in all of America.
So again, just when you play his teams, they’re tough, they’re disciplined, they’re smart, they’re well-coached, and they’re never gonna lose the game. You’re gonna have to go beat them if you’re gonna win. And that’s quite a challenge.
When you look at them, it’s a really good football team. Quarterback Gronkowski is a proven winner, national champion, two times over, has just won, I think, more games than anybody else. Maybe there’s one guy who’s won more games than him as a starting quarterback.
And certainly, you can see the improvement each week, getting more and more comfortable with their system. You look at their offensive line, it’s big, strong, athletic, as you’re accustomed to Iowa’s offensive line. Really well-coached, again.
At depth at running back, they’ve had some injuries, but they just seem to roll out another one, and the guy’s a really, really good player. And then at wideout, they have more depth than maybe in the past. They’ve spread it around more.
It’s gonna be interesting how they attack us. But big challenge for our defense. Their defense is, again, you talk about consistency, it’s been a top defense over the last 10 years, under 20 points a game over the last 10 years.
You talk about consistency, right? And right now, they’re a top five defense in the country, so we certainly have our hands full going against them. Defensive line is gonna be a big, their defensive line is a big challenge. And certainly, we have a few issues right now with the health of our offensive line, so certainly an area of concern for me and the staff.
We’re working on that. And then always in special teams, they’re really good. They challenge you in every area of special teams.
You need to be on point in every single area. They’ll make you pay. So quite a challenge, looking forward to it.
Gonna be a great, great atmosphere Friday night. Beautiful day predicted, beautiful evening. Blackout, we need our fans for sure.
It’s gonna be a huge part of our opportunity to win that football game is our home field advantage. So we definitely need our fans. With that, I’ll open it up for questions.
How are CJ and Tyler doing after what happened the other day?
Greg Schiano: Yeah, CJ is still being evaluated. Tyler, same thing, still being evaluated. Definitely a concern.
We’re down. You don’t realize as they happen one at a time, but we’re down quite a few guys that we’re gonna be in the two deep already, and it’s only a quarter through the season. So we have to adjust, adapt a little bit, move some things around maybe.
We’ll see, depending on the health of the team. But yeah, definitely a concern. Greg, there’s a question.
The offense has made great strides the last couple of years here. Are you curious to see what this unit will do against an elite Big Ten defense?
Greg Schiano: Well, right now I’m not in the curious mode because we’re trying to get our leading receivers not playing, has not played, our tackle, our running back. So there’s a lot of pieces right now that are in flux.
I would tell you that it’s, and on a short week. So go figure. But we gotta figure it out, and we’re gonna have to do some things as a staff to figure that out.
And you’re right, when you have the challenger playing a top flight defense and figure that out, that’s something that we’re gonna have to really work hard to make sure we’re giving ourselves the best chance.
Do you have an update on Ian, not that you mentioned him?
Greg Schiano: Again, he’s trying. It’s just the position he plays, that injury can be a little bit limiting.
If CJ can’t go, does that change your plans at all with Sam Brown, given his situation? All pieces are in play. Yeah, I can’t tell you how we’re gonna do it yet because I don’t know. It’s all contingent upon, so you have to practice with some contingency plans in case.
And then as we get a little further into the week, we gotta make some decisions because then you gotta really dedicate those reps solely to the people that are gonna play. You talked about the crowd on Saturday, the blackout.
What type of atmosphere are you expecting from both fans and students?
Greg Schiano: Well, we had a, if you look back last year, the blackout week four against Washington, it was an amazing atmosphere.
We need to have that. We’re a little bit shorthanded, as I’ve mentioned. We need that energy.
We need the fan support. We need all that to give ourselves the best chance to win. Coach, you’ve seen the defense take strides in the past few weeks.
Where do you think they are going against your first Big Ten opponent, and what do you expect in that game?
Greg Schiano: Again, we’re a work in progress, as I’ve said, but now the picture kind of changes a little bit. So yes, they do gun runs, but they also do pro-style under center, right? So there’s kind of like two different offenses you have to prepare for. And then the quarterback, when you watch him run, he reminds me of Johnny Lang, and he’s 6’2″, 235, and he hits it down in there.
It’s physical. Now, it’s not like they’re running him a lot, but when they do, it’s important, and he gets the job done. So we have to account for every phase of their offense, and that’s a challenge when there’s good players.
And what really makes them tick, that offensive line is physical, they’re big, and they’re extremely well-coached. You’re not gonna fool them. So you’re gonna have to one-on-one, man-for-man, hold up, and that’s a challenge.
Have you seen Ja’shon Benjamin take advantage of his opportunities from the offseason now, especially if he needs to take on a bigger role if CJ’s banged up?
Greg Schiano: Yeah, Benji’s done that since the day he’s been here. We chose to redshirt him last year, but he’s a great competitor. He’s a really good running back.
He’s got great vision, can change direction on a dime, and we’re gonna need him more now. You talk about Coach Cook, Ferentz, and your admiration for him. Iowa’s a developmental program, much like you guys.
Do you see them somewhat as a model in terms of that pipeline, the way they always seem to reload?
GREG SCHIANO: You know, I did when the first time we were here. You know, I looked at them as a program that we would like to emulate. And, you know, again, you can’t live in the past.
My regret is that I left. If we hadn’t left, you know, who knows, we might be that program today. But we’re not, right? We are where we are, so we have a lot of work to do, and that’s really my focus now.
Mo Giwa, what have you seen from him in this last game, and then what made you go after him in the portal?
Greg Schiano: Well, Mo’s a big athletic offensive lineman, but it was a huge step up in competition. And, you know, he went in there and battled Saturday. We just got to make sure that, you know, this is a whole different animal now we’re playing.
This defensive front’s probably the best in the Big 10. I mean, they are physical. They play with great pad level.
They’re nasty. They get after the quarterback. They play the run well.
They redirect blocks. They do all the things that are hard, you know, so we have to be on point on the offensive line. So if Mo gets the opportunity, he’s gonna really have his hands full.
You kind of touched on this already with some of the injuries in the other position groups, but how do you and the staff prepare the guys that may need to be that next guy up on a day-to-day basis if they do get that opportunity? That’s all we do. You know, as was said here, we’re a developmental program, so, you know, we’re developing all the time. That’s what we were doing just now.
You know, the guys that are gonna be in the travel squad, they took it in, and now we were just out there for a half hour developing our players, and that’s what we do every day. There’s never a day that we don’t take advantage of an opportunity to develop the younger players. It may be for this year.
It may be for next year. It may be three years from now, but, you know, when you look at guys, you know, one of my favorite stories right now is Hank Hughes. Hank has worked his tail off, and if you would’ve saw Hank as a freshman, you’d say, that guy will never play here, and all of a sudden, he’s gotten into games.
He recovers a fumble the other day. You saw the excitement of the guys on the sideline when he recovered that fumble. That’s because everybody on our team knows how hard Hank Hughes has worked to put himself in a position to play on the defense, and that, to me, is what our program’s about, is if you just keep seeing guys for what they can become, not where they are right now, but what they can become, and helping them achieve that.
Some of that is pushing them. Some of that is encouraging them, but that’s, you know, that, to me, is all part of the development. Phil, Brian’s getting a question right here.
Greg, as you look to take steps forward as a program, how important is it to win games like this against programs like Iowa of that caliber? Yeah, it’s important to win all the games, right?
Greg Schiano: And certainly, Iowa’s one of the better teams on our schedule, so it’s a great challenge, and I’ve made no secret about it. I admire the way they do things and the way they run the program and the way they play on the field, so yeah, it’d be a very big step. How does this offense change if Ian can’t play?
Well, you saw kinda how it changed on Saturday, right? So Ben Black gets inserted.
Unfortunately, Vernon Allen went down as well. So now, even our young depth is compromised, right? Vernon’s down, you know, we just gotta keep playing. You know, and if he can’t play, then, you know, we’re gonna have to really watch the reps, watch what routes they’re running, and be ready for some young guys to step up.
You know, it’s cliche, but the next man up attitude has to be, yeah. Final question. What have you seen from Abram Wright since he’s been back, and I guess how important is it to get him caught up, given the depth there? Yeah, I thought he played well for being out as much as he was out, right? Now he’s got a game under his belt.
We need him to play really well. I look at those three as all starting linebackers, all three of those guys. So we’re gonna play them all, and different roles, different packages, but they all need to play, and they all need to, you know, spell each other for us to be the best defense we can be.
Well, I’m gonna say it one more time. We need you guys at the blackout, fans, so come on out. Thank you.
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