Rutgers Football quarterback Noah Vedral met with the media today to discuss his final Saturday spring football practice as a Scarlet Knights, his improvements these past few weeks and much more.
It’s the last spring for you as a player, what’s it feel like?
NV: “It’s weird. It didn’t really hit me today that it will be my last Saturday practice of my college career for spring. Coach had a good talk today in our team meeting about being in the moment and loving this because it does go away. Even if you do go into coaching, it’s not the same as being in the room, being in the locker room, screwing around with your buddies. So that’s what I’m really trying to focus on here along with getting better, improving and getting our room better. While also just trying to soak in what it is to be a college football player.”
Noah it’s been a few weeks since we talked with you following that spring practice, what are some of the things you feel you’ve improved on the most?
NV: “We’ve made a lot of strides, not so much that there is nothing but it is hard to pick one. I’d say our defense, with coach (Joe) Harasymiak coming in, it’s been fun to learn a little bit more defense because every coach brings their own flair. It’s been fun to learn that stuff, but I think our room as a whole, myself included, have grown a ton in the pass game. I think understanding, confidence and authority on throwing the ball. It’s been really fun and at the end of practice today I thought at the end of practice today, you could see that on display, just confidence, ripping the ball in there and trusting our wideouts because they’ve come along a lot this spring as well.”
What’s the chemistry like with new guys like Taj (Harris) and Sean (Ryan)?
NV: “They are doing well, both old guys who have played a lot of football, so they know their way around the facility and around the game. We are still bringing them along into plays, but they are both talented guys, it’s a lot of fun to throw them the football and I think all of our quarterbacks will echo the same. That wideout room has done a great job of building them up, taking care of them, educating them and bringing them along. It will be a big summer for the wideout room altogether and for the quarterback room to build that chemistry, we have some new faces all across the board.”
What have you seen out of Gavin (Wimsatt) this spring, Saturday will be the first time he throws in front of a crowd at SHI Stadium on Friday. What advice will you give to him?
NV: “For him I would just tell him to do your job, I think that’s the simplest and easiest thing for a quarterback to do is their job. You have a job, if you study it, are prepared and work hard then everything will be fine. If you get caught up looking around, then it’s hard to do your job when your eyes aren’t in the right place. The age old saying is just do your job and you’ll be fine. That’s really what CHOP is, just doing your job play after play, don’t look up until it is done and enjoy it after the fact.”
How do you feel he’s done this spring?
NV: “He’s done well. He’s come along a lot and he’s grown up a lot. It’s been really good to see him mature, grow and learn, he’s a talented kid.”
You said you wanted to be a coach after football, do you take some of this stuff and file it away?
NV: “I have folders and folders of stuff in my iPad of coaching talk, ideas and all kinds of stuff that I just hold on to. You get to the end of your career when you’re not learning this stuff anymore, you start to ask the questions like what if we did this, what if they did that and stuff like that. I’ve taken a lot of that stuff like learning in the meetings. One you take a beginner's mindset, you make sure you learn it from point A to point B, then what I’m trying to do is take it from point B to point C and get it further like what if we got that look or what if we did this instead. There’s a lot of stuff I have to learn before I become a full coach, but I’m starting that process and trying to learn more as I go.”
You’ve played behind quite a few different O-Line units between Nebraska, UCF and even at Rutgers. How would you compare this year’s group to those of the past?
NV: “They are working their tail off. We are making strides across the board and that group is no different. We are really excited about them, they’ve worked hard from top of the roster to the bottom, everybody. So it’s been a fun spring in that regard to, the trust is being built and that is really big from me and them, along with Gavin (Wimsatt), Ev (Evan Simon), Austin (Albericci), (Gavin Rupp, all those guys are building trust with those guys. There’s been a really great flow of communication between the quarterbacks and the O-Line. You might make a mistake here or there, but when that communication is open, those mistakes tend to dissipate and go away faster when you can talk it out. We know where it came from and we know what we are going to do when we see it next time.”
When you see the offense this spring, are you encouraged that they can take the next step in 2022?
NV: “Absolutely I would definitely say that we are making steps. We got new guys obviously, but the confidence from the old guys is starting to overflow down to the young guys. We gotta get it right, we have to take care of our business, but when we do that it works. We might mix up a formation, mess up a route here or there, but the biggest thing is that when we are getting it right, it’s working and it’s doing really big things for us. I think that is a product of old guys teaching young guys, as the young guys are really buying in and saying that I’ll do it this way and trust coach (Sean) Gleeson. We have a lot of young guys willing to learn and old guys willing to teach.”
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