newjerseynewsroom.com

On how you are going to balance out the running back rotation:

"We have not gotten to that stage in the game plan yet. Right now, it has been first and second stuff. It is coming tonight. We will probably do it by committee. This guy can handle this and this guy can handle this. The great thing that Kordell [Young] could do is he really could understand protections and could scan, which is things that are done in the NFL that not a lot of college backs do very well. Kordell could do it and he helped us a great deal. We are going to really have to chop his job up a little bit and see if certain guys can do certain things."

On planning on a certain number of plays for Joe Martinek:

"Not really. I don't if there is a certain number. I think our coaches do a good job of keeping an eye on guys from a physical standpoint both from the booth and on the field and doing a good job of resting them when they get gassed."

On Anthony Davis:

"I think he is playing at a higher level each week. We need him to. He is one of our legitimate guys that has ability above most people he plays and we need him to play that way and he is doing that and it helps us a great deal."

On the offensive line:

"Both guys played and I don't think we are going to get away from that unless somebody really distinguishes themselves. It has kind of been feeling our way through it and we are still at that point. I think Howard [Barbieri] the more he plays the more comfortable he becomes. That is a good thing."

On possibly seeing Syracuse more on the recruiting trail:

"I don't know. They are working hard but so did the previous staff. Recruiting is the lifeline of your programs, everybody is going to work hard. Doug [Marrone] is a New York guy. I think he has more natural connections to the down state city area but everybody works hard in recruiting, it is so important. It is more assistant coaches than head coaches. I am only allowed to go once. It is my assistant coaches that run into their assistant coaches. When you are Syracuse, you are going to recruit New Jersey and New York no matter who the coach is there. I just think sometimes it is the relationships you may have had previous that you can call upon to open up pathways again."

On being confident heading into the Syracuse game:

"Every game, every year is different. We just need to make sure that we know what we are doing and that we are prepared. You win games Sunday through Friday and you go out and play them on Saturday. I think our preparation is going to be the key thing. How we prepare this week will determine how we play on Saturday. If we prepare well than we have to go out and do it on Saturday."

On your reaction to the television selection for Saturday's game:

"I don't get involved with it. I don't mean I don't get involved with it with the scheduling or how we do the games, I mean I don't think about it. That is not my issue. I try and get our team ready to play. I don't worry about TV or not TV. I know Syracuse will be there and I know we will be there god willing and that is really the big thing to me. I think they make the decisions before one of them was ranked. I am not making excuses for them that is not my gig but I know this. I don't care if we are on TV, we have to go up there and play the best football we can and that is all I am focused on."

On Steve Beauharnais' play against USF:

"He played very well. He played at a high speed and very physical. He is a promising young guy."

On a good record on the road:

"I think any time you do something and you have success and you do it well, I think it is natural that you have confidence that you can do it again. I think one of the things that our kids do a very good job is they are very business-like with these road trips. It is not silly willy time. We are going to get a job done. We enjoy each other's company. It is fun to just be 100 guys going of coaches and players and we are all together. We know what we are doing. We don't change a lot. We do most of our stuff here. We get up there and we eat, sleep and go play so it is not a ton of change whether we are home or away. I think that gives us consistency. It takes a more mature team to be able to play well on the road and when the crowd is against you and things aren't going your way you have to be able to stay in the moment and focus on the job at hand. So far we have been able to do that. The Dome is the Dome. It gets louder a lot quicker in there with an enclosed structure so we have be ready to handle the noise issues."

On your defensive identity:

"Our identity has kind of changes midway through our time here at Rutgers. We went in a little bit different direction. We still have a four down front, but 2005 we kind of went in another direction schematically. Bob Fraser and Ed Pinkham, even though they weren't here, had a big part in that. It is things they were very good at doing at Colgate and I was very close with them and we would talk football a lot. Eventually, they both end up on this staff and are tremendous defensive football coaches that have kind of gave us a road map of how we are going to play defense."

On attacking the quarterback:

"We attacked the quarterback before as well. I like this system we use. It gives us flexibility to adjust as the game goes on. Is it perfect, no, there is no perfect system but I really do like it obviously more than the one we were doing and the one that we did at Miami and that kind of stuff."

On possibly scouting Greg Paulus:

"We scouted him. He is a very good player. He was one of the top recruits in the country. He didn't have a great deal of interest in Rutgers. We scouted him and I believe we offered him a scholarship. I think everybody in the country probably did. He went to play basketball and then later on we recruited his little brother who went to North Carolina so we are familiar with the Paulus family."

On what your reaction was when he chose to go to Syracuse:

"I don't remember to tell you the truth. I think he looks very natural. He doesn't look at all like he is rusty. Now it is the later part of the year. I remember watching one of those games earlier in the year that came down to the wire and he was just playing really well. He is a good player. I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps playing this game."

Playing on the road with the Rutgers band there as well:

"We try to get them with us as much as we possibly can. I think it is good for our fans. If you look, we really have traveled very well. You look at Maryland and that was a whole strip of Scarlet there. I think it is great when the band is there and the fans enjoy it. Hopefully you win the game and you get to go down and be with everybody. That is college football to me. I think the band works incredibly hard. Tim Smith and his people, those kids do an incredible job and they are working their tails off. You don't get to see it but they are practicing. It is not easy and they are not treated like the players where they stay in this hotel. They get there and they go to work. I am grateful to them. You see our band keeps growing and growing and gets better and better. That is important to me because that is part of the whole day at a college football game."

On Tom Savage possibly having a new experience in the Dome:

"It is a little different. That is what I meant when I said it is a little different with the lighting and noise. I encourage him to get out. We don't go the stadium the day before a game, I just don't believe in it. But when we go to a stadium, I encourage the guys to get out and get a feel for the surroundings. We get there early enough so they can do that on game day. I am sure they will go out there and throw a little bit before we even go through warm-ups just to get used to looking up and seeing it. That may be why Thursday we go in the bubble."

SOURCE: RUTGER ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS