Rutgers football starting quarterback Gavin Wimsatt met with media following yesterday’s practice to talk about the season opener against Northwestern, how the offense has progressed through training camp, and how he has continued to grow as a leader.
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In talking about this week for months on end, it seems like, how excited are you for the season to finally be here and be able to play?
GW: "I’m really excited, especially coming into this week. It’s finally game week, we work all year for this and these 12 games, and just getting to go out there and play with my brothers. It’s exciting, it’s very exciting."
I’m sure you set a bunch of goals at the beginning of camp. What are some of those goals and did you accomplish them?
GW: "Just to grow together as an offense, get our chemistry together. I think we did a great job, now we’re just focusing on what can we do to beat Northwestern, and I think our coaches did a great job going into the game plan, and we’re just focused and I feel like we’re excited and ready to go."
How do you feel about where your comfort level with the offense is with gameday just a few days away?
GW: "I feel great, very comfortable with just operating, knowing where I’m going, and trusting my guys."
Now that you’ve been with Kirk [Ciarrocca] since January, how is game prep different with him?
GW: "I would say it’s no different with his intensity, he’s intense all the time, he’s a great coach. I think with him it’s just executing, and knowing what we’re doing, just chopping our job. He’s the same way every day at practice."
Have you sensed a sort of camaraderie with him and the offense with him?
GW: "Definitely, I feel like the whole offense has got behind him, especially when he shows his passion for winning, his passion for the game. We see that, we love it and we just follow his lead."
How do you feel about your receivers and your connection with them?
GW: "I feel great, our receiver room is really good. They worked hard all offseason, and that has shown in training camp how hard they work and how much better they’ve gotten. I’m really comfortable and excited to throw to those guys."
Those two veteran guys you brought in, Naseim Brantley and JaQuae Jackson, what’s it been like to work with them and how much do you think it will help you on gameday?
GW: "It’s been great. They’re guys who can definitely make a difference. They’ve been great with the whole room. The whole room from top to bottom has just been great on how much they’ve grown. These guys make a big difference in the game and I’m excited."
Have you looked at film of you last season and at film of you now, as a quarterback where do you see the differences?
GW: "Confidence, I would say, and decisiveness. Confidence and decisiveness. Those are the main two things I would say. I just feel way more comfortable, confident in my decision-making, and that speeds up the process as I go on, so I’d say that for sure."
You also said you were working on your base too, and making sure it was more compact to kind of help the accuracy out, do you feel like you were able to do that consistently now without thinking about it?
GW: "I would say yes. When you work on it so much over the offseason, especially as much as we did, it kind of comes secondhand. Especially with the offseason, you have to work on it a lot, because it doesn’t become instinct like that. We made sure we got plenty of reps in, and even still now, warmups I make sure to focus on that."
Did you ever play on a Sunday before?
GW: "I have not. I’m very excited, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be the only game on at noon, so it’s exciting, very exciting."
I’m sure you’ve been studying a lot of Northwestern tape, they have a new DC, so what kind of stands out about their defense?
GW: "They have great players all around, their D-Line is great, they have a good secondary, and I think just going into this game we’re focused on executing and doing our job. It’s gonna be a tough game, they have good players and we have good players, but at the end of the day, we just have to execute."
Talking about your confidence being elevated this offseason, was there a moment you felt things were starting to click for you, whether that’s on the field or in meetings?
GW: "I would say during the summer, towards the end of summer. We’re talking about plays and I’m starting to get a better feel, answering faster, I’m noticing it better on film. I think that’s when I really started to get very comfortable. Training camp just builds that comfortability, every day we can get better on something, so just try to focus on that every day."
It seems like you took some ownership over the summer, calling guys to go throw with you, and being a leader in meetings and things like that, how have you seen yourself become more comfortable in that respect?
GW: "I would say putting myself in positions that I’m usually uncomfortable in. Coming in, I wasn’t a big speaker. I wasn’t scared, but a bit more nervous talking around big crowds, as a quarterback it’s kind of ironic. You just put yourself in uncomfortable situations. My teammates actually helped me get the whole team around and I’d talk to them at the end of practice, just putting myself in that position to get more comfortable doing it. It makes you more comfortable talking to guys off the field, and it makes young guys more comfortable coming up to you and asking you for help and everything."
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