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Head Coach Chris Ash
Opening statement: "I'll go ahead and start by just thanking our seniors. We have a tremendous group of individuals that have helped us in this last year, provided leadership and helped us build a foundation. I'm just feeling for them right now. They put a lot into the second half of the season, especially in the last two games and the last home game, that we were unable to get them a victory, but we have a great group of individuals that are still going to go on and do successful things in life or hopefully in football if they get that opportunity. Today, [we left] a lot of opportunities out there. We didn't make some plays that were out there. We have to find a way to get that done. We have to improve in a lot of areas as we head into the offseason and there are a lot of things we need to get better at, and we will."

On special teams play: "It's been hurting us all season, not just today. That's a scenario we have to get a lot better at. We gave up a punt return for a touchdown, we had two guys right in the face of the returner who missed a tackle and we have to get that fixed. [We] missed the extra point, missed the field goal, and we have to get that extra point. We have to get that part of our game improved. Special teams are really important. You need to be good at special teams to have a chance to win, regardless of the level. Our special teams weren't very good this year and I think you guys saw that."

On where to start in getting better: "It starts with thanking the seniors. The underclassmen are coming back. We have a lot of work to do. We'll start by having a team meeting Monday and get back after it in the weight room really quick. We'll talk about our offseason plans and talk about the things we need to do to get better. We have a lot of things we need to get better at, but how do we get better? It starts with their continued belief, it starts with our guys making the right decisions and being good teammates. I think we have a lot of guys in the locker room that are willing to do that. They'll demonstrate those characteristics as they go."

On what decided the game: "There were a lot of things that decided this game but yes, on offense they have some skilled players that can run and make some plays. We missed some tackles. Part of it was some technique and fundamentals and part of it was them. They're pretty talented players. We'll go back and watch the film and look at some of the things we could've done better. We had a lot of guys in position to make some plays today on offense, defense and special teams, and we didn't make them."

On recruiting for speed: "When you talk about recruiting, you look at the recruiting class reporting together. I think you'll see that there's an emphasis on speed. It's hard to develop speed. You get guys a little bit faster, but you have to go out and recruit guys that are fast. We have some fast guys on the team, but we need more. When you talk about being able to get some explosive plays on offense, I think you guys saw when Janarion Grant was out there, he has speed and quickness. He had the ability to make some explosive plays. We really missed that as we went through the rest of the season without him. Hopefully we can get Janarion back, but we need to go recruit the kind of speed we need to make some explosive plays on offense consistently. It can't be just one guy. It has to be a few guys."

On Giovanni Rescigno being a work in progress: "He did some things OK today. We missed some throws today. He had some guys that were open and some plays out there didn't feel like he threw the ball consistently well. He made some plays too, but we need to get more consistent at the quarterback position and you guys know that's hurt us all year. We need to get better there. If we want to be able to get to where we want to get to, then we need to be more consistent there. It starts not just with him, but we have to get consistent with our pass protection and we have to get more consistent at the wide receiver position too. We dropped too many balls this year."

On building a foundation this season: "When you talk about the way we train, investing in the players, in recovery, in nutrition, the other is really about social behavior. We want a football team that makes good decisions and I think we've demonstrated that we have a team of individuals that does that. Obviously we want to be able to get better on offense, defense and special teams out on the field on Saturday. That's what we need to do, but I do like the foundation we've laid this offseason. Last offseason was extremely hard for them, but this offseason will be hard also. Mentally, they'll have an idea of what to expect and hopefully they'll go out and attack it this offseason rather than be nervous or afraid of what's coming."

On wanting to be a line-of-scrimmage football team: "You look at the rushing yards on defense and a lot of that isn't the line of scrimmage. When you say the line of scrimmage, you know it's the front seven. Rushing yards aren't just the D-line. We have to get our linebackers bigger and stronger. We have to fit the runs more consistently. We have to tackle better in the secondary. When you talk about pass defense or run defense, it's only 11. It's team defense and our D-line could be owning their gaps and a linebacker doesn't fit it right. Or, a linebacker fits it right but the DB misses a tackle. There's a lot that goes into the run defense that we need to get better and that we can improve on. You saw it today. Tyreek Williams didn't play today. He's had a shoulder problem for a long time and he's been trying to fight through it. He couldn't go today. He tried to, but his shoulder came out as he was putting his pads on. Trevor Morris was sick today. Trevor was throwing up a lot, so Brandon Russell is really our fourth strong-side linebacker. We have to continue to develop that whole group so that our run defense improves."

On how critical the next few months are: "Every day is critical. Every day that we come in is critical, but we have to be able to develop our players and we have to be able to go out and recruit. We have to be able to go out and create competition at each spot on the football team. We have to get guys that come in and push each other to be better every single day. Every day over the next seven, eight, nine months is critical. That we come in every day and attack workouts the right way. As a staff, we will attack recruiting the right way. That makes the program better."

Sophomore LB Brandon Russell
On the biggest challenge defensively today: "I'd say everybody operating on our assignments and we just have to be fundamentally sound. That's where we kill ourselves."

On going into the offseason after a 9-game losing streak: "We've got a lot of good character guys in the locker room, so at this point we're all just ready to work; put this behind us and look forward to next season."

On it taking a long time to get past this season: "There's no telling, but all we know is that we're going to work, and with that and time we'll get there. "

On the importance of this offseason for this program: "It's important. I believe every offseason is important, so we just have to put our heads down and keep working."

On the injured linebackers: "It's unfortunate, and we're a tight LB core, but our coaches are always preparing for us to be next in line. So as soon as one man goes down, you've got to be ready to step up and play."

Senior RB Justin Goodwin
On the offense's performance: "I think the offense was able to move the ball a lot today. We had some success, and big shout out to the offensive line, pass protection, the run game and to Gio [SO QB Giovanni Rescigno] for making great passes and the receivers for getting open and catching the ball."

On how hard it is to swallow the 9 game losing streak: "It's pretty tough. You don't want to go out that way at all; but big shout out to Maryland, they played a good game today.

On being confident in the future of this offense: "I think they have a bright future. The teams do a great job, and the running backs do a great job too, and the receivers all move together."

Sophomore DB Saquan Hampton
On the emotions in the locker room after today's game: "Obviously everybody isn't feeling up right now, but we just have to come in to the off season and work hard and get better. We've been improving, so we just have to take everything to the off season."

On the biggest challenge defensively: "The biggest thing is just everybody has to be on top of their assignment on each and every play; it can't just be sometimes, it has to be every play."

On what gives you confidence going into the off-season that this programs going to be able to get back: "Coaching staff, the way they work us in the off season is second to none. I feel like we have a great coaching staff and everybody just has to buy in. I feel like next year, there will be a lot of improvements."

Senior DB Anthony Cioffi
On the emotions after today's game: "It's ups and downs. The seniors are always upset, but this is just something you don't want to experience as the last game as an upper classmen. Some of the regroup they're just going to regroup and get ready for next year.

On what you can take away from this difficult season: "I will remember the new friends and family that I've met, as far as the coaching staff and how they've embraced us. They brought out the best of us. I feel like the kids here are set with the coaching staff and they'll be ready to go next year."