Greg Schiano Press Conference Quotes - December 3, 2007
Dec 03 | Football
Opening comments:
"Coming off the game (Thursday), it was a physical game, so we have some kids who are bumped up. We are lucky that we have some time here in-between games. Kenny Britt hurt his knee, and I don't know for sure what is going to take place there, if it's going to prohibit him in his preparation or not. Mike Teel sometime in the second half pulled a muscle in his ribs and was in a great deal of pain, but he played through it, a very gutsy performance. Some guys who have been bumped, Ron Girault tweaked his groin, he'll be ok. This week they will do some strength and conditioning with Coach Butler, they will get some time to go see their professors, we're approaching finals here, and then we'll do some practicing this week, we'll have some recruits on campus, and then we'll jump around a little bit between this weekend and next weekend. Then the kids will take a short break around Christmas and then we'll come back and get into our game preparation for the International Bowl and Ball State. This time here before Christmas is a great time to work on the physical well-being of our football team, for those guys who have worked hard all season. Also for the development of the young kids who have run scout team all season long, now for them to be able to run our offense and defense in competitive situations. That's a big benefit of going to a bowl, other than all the obvious benefits. The development of our younger players is critical. It's not quite another spring, but it's at least a half of a spring, where they get a chance to operate in our systems."
On the injuries to the offensive linemen:
"The tackles are going to be fine. Both of them just need some time off. Pedro Sosa gutted it out. For the amount he played, I didn't think he would be able to play that much, and then for him to be able to go back into the game, when Kevin Haslam went down, Pedro is a tough kid. Jeremy Zuttah, the whole season he has been playing in pain. They play the game in such pain and then they can't really practice until Wednesday or Thursday. And nobody is that good that they can't practice week after week, and it's a tribute to Jeremy as well as he played in limited practice time, but that's because of who he is."
On playing in a bowl game:
"I am excited about working with the young players, putting together a great game plan for Ball State, and then installing that game plan after the holiday. We have a great city that we're going to in Toronto, and we live in a great area. So we are going to have a split bowl trip, we're going to practice here over the break, and we'll do some fun things as a team together here in the New Jersey/New York area. Then we're going to head up to Toronto and do some fun things there. I see bowl games as a reward for all the hard work the we have all put in, and we are going to prepare and be the best football team we can be on January 5th, but we're going to let the players, as we have the past two years, enjoy the experience."
On being able to be more hands on with the freshman leading up to the bowl game:
"I think what it does is it gives the coaches a great chance to see the freshman. The first time we see them is in august when we're getting ready for our opener. So guys are getting reps, but you're always developing your football team, but you have your eye on the opener, so you have to make sure the guys that are going to play are ready. So our last true evaluation of these guys, in our schemes, was back in august. So it's a neat month here where they can exclusively work on our schemes, and we can see them after they have spent time with Coach Butler's strength and conditioning program. Hopefully they are a little more mature having been a college student for three or four months, so that they can handle all the things we're going to throw at them. We'll stretch them mentally and physically to see how they respond, so when the spring rolls around we will have ea much better idea what their roles are."
On rumors that other schools are interested in him to be their next head coach:
"I'm going to diffuse this here. I haven't spoken to anyone about any job, and that's where we're going to leave it. I am not going to speak about it anymore. Last year was one thing when we went through it. But this is a young football team that has an opportunity to do some great things, and I want the focus to be on them and where we are headed."
His thoughts on Rutgers' penalties:
"The personal fouls that are up, there was one silly one that a freshman committed early in the year, and a couple late hits on the quarterback where they just get caught up in rushing the passer. I don't have a problem with aggressive personal fouls. You have to teach your team to play on the edge, and I don't get upset about that. What I get upset about is retaliatory things, what I get upset about is excessive celebration, you don't see that with our football team. That stuff doesn't worry me as much as the silly penalties. The illegal procedures, off sides, those kinds of things. Those are symptoms of lack of discipline. It's all relative. We are not where we want to be, but a lot of schools would like to be in our shoes penalty-wise. I don't care what everyone else wants, it's what we want, and I want our guys to play on the edge, I just don't want the silly penalties."
What young players have benefited most from the strength and conditioning program:
"A lot of the big guys have made considerable gains. They've taken off a lot of weight and put on lean mass. That's what we want is lean mass. We don't believe in carrying around weight just so you can say you're a 300 pounder. I think you look at some of the young guys, Desmond Stapleton, Richard Muldrow, Desmond Wynn, have all done great jobs with their bodies. The whole freshman class, we have a group that we call the non-travel lift group that lifts at a different rate and a pace than the travel squad. Those guys have all made considerable gains. Coach Butler tests them and does everything like it was an offseason strength program. I think that's been a secret for us is developing our young players."
On Rutgers itinerary for the International Bowl:
"Travel plans are still being worked out, but we are tentatively set to go up on Jan 1, possibly Jan. 2, we are working on the details, and then we play on the fifth."
If Rutgers fans will attend the International Bowl:
"I believe we'll travel great. It's about an 8-9 hour drive to Toronto, and some of the kids told me that their parents are planning to drive up. It's the first time that we have a drive distance game, and I know the school is putting together some outstanding packages whether it's by bus or train or by airplane. I think you'll see a great showing, and it's a great city, so it's an opportunity for people to get away for a couple days and not make a week-long trip of it. The executive director of the game Ken Hoffman, who runs the game, does a tremendous job. I've known him for a couple years now and it's neat because he comes from our side, he worked in college sports administration, he worked at Michigan State. He understands all the challenges you have when you are transporting a whole football program to a bowl site. He has been very helpful already and I look forward to working with him."
On Rutgers' ability to travel:
"I think they know that. One of the things that is known about Rutgers is our travel history and our TV history. They said you could never deliver New York college football, and Rutgers has done that. They didn't know about our travel history because it was an unknown, we had never played in a bowl game outside of New Jersey. Two years in a row our fans have traveled three quarters of the way across the country in great numbers and really painted the town scarlet. I think that's pretty much a given, but like anything else, you're only as good as your last showing. So if we can trump our last two showings, which we should because it's closer, then that would be great."
On the International Bowl as a recruiting tool in Canada:
"High school football in Canada is getting better and better every year. It used to be when I was at Penn State that not too many schools made trips up there, so it was kind of a hidden gem. More and more schools make that part of their regular stops now. There's a guy up there who runs a scouting service, Ron Dias, who does a tremendous job marketing Canadian players in the United States. He has combines, he does all those things, so they're exposed. And there are some really fine players that we are recruiting right now from Canada, so the bowl game can't hurt."
On the process of stadium expansion:
"It's been a continuous thing. Everything is going to work out fine, I'm very confident of that. The impression is that this situation is a tense one for Greg Schiano and Bob Mulcahy, but it's not. This is a process, and it got ahead of itself of deadlines, but there are no deadlines. We're trying to grow this responsibly, and we're going to get it done. I'm confident of that, and I'm confident we will get it done in a timely matter."
