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ON THE OPT OUTS FOR THE 2020 SEASON........
You know, there’s been so many personnel moves since we came on. The true opt outs, like literally opting out and not choosing to play this year, Lonsdorf is one. Obviously Wormley is one because he put an announcement out when he did it. Matt Thomas is an opt out. There's been a lot of roster movement, but those are the ones that I can remember as opts out and I may be forgetting some. It's been a long offseason and there's been a lot of moving parts with quarantines in summer and our own team quarantining because of the outbreak. So there's, there's been a lot of opportunities for guys to really evaluate what they want to do and I'm comfortable now where we are with the people that are on the roster.
POTENTIALLY NAMING CAPTAINS THIS SEASON......
“You know, we've had some discussion as a staff, I have a large leadership group that I use and that I deal with a lot, that'll narrow down a lot. Will we go to game captains with it being kind of the year it is? I'm not sure yet, but it's something that I've always done. I never had a specific date on when, some years we did it in the spring and other years we’ve waited until ahlfway into the season. Some years we even waited until the end of the season. I remember one year we had game captains and voted at the end of the season. I don't know what it is, but as a coach, you just kind of feel when that is, when the time is right. So I'm not sure when that will be or if it will be, but if we do vote for permanent captains we will certainly announce that.”
ON ELORM LUMOR RETURNING TO THE ROSTER...
That’s an interesting turn of events, right? I think part of it has to do with the COVID situation. So if you look at Lumor’s opportunities, it's unfortunate. The Friday we were going on spring break that was supposed to be our pro day. Well that got cancelled because of the COVID. Then a lot of the workout opportunities were canceled as a result. So when the draft came and went, and nothing happened for him, he and I spoke again and he had an interest in returning. Now he and I spoke way back when I first took the job and he had some very valid thoughts about why he should go to the NFL, which I didn't argue with him I agreed. So when it didn't work out, I was more than happy to try to see if we could do something. You know Matt Pottorff, who handles compliance here at Rutgers and is in charge of it all, he’s Associate AD is a very, very bright guy and very wired with NCAA. He thought that maybe this would be an opportunity for him to return and then we were going to wait and see because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. However in the interim, the punter it from where the heck was it? Arizona State actually got a waiver from the NCAA. He did the same thing, he had declared for the draft and the whole deal. So we followed up and did our own waiver once Elorm felt that that's definitely what he wanted to do and I'm really pleased that he's here. He's a good really good football player that works very hard, so it's exciting for us to get him back. The crazy thing with this year being what it is, I'm not saying this will or could happen, but this year doesn't count towards your eligibility clock so he can actually come back in 21, if you chose to. So to say this year is weird is an understatement, but I think the more flexible you are, the more you're ready to pivot on a dime, depending on the day, the better you're going to do and the less it will make you crazy. So I've tried to do that as much as I can, because nothing surprises me. I can tell you right now, this has been a heck of a year so far.
ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE DEVELOPMENT…..
First, the offensive line. Like every other position on our team, I think it's a work in progress. We have some guys that are really getting better. I think Andy Aurich is doing a really good job developing the line, both him and Scott Vallone. SCOTT MALONE. We have some experience, but not a not a ton. You know, Nick Krimin would certainly be the elder statesman there and he's a real strong leader for us on the offensive line. We moved Brandon Bordner over to the offensive line from the defensive line, so there's a in addition to the unit. We also had some new players that have come aboard like Cedrice Pailliant who is a junior college transfer. So we have a bunch of parts and we're trying to figure out like most other positions on the team right now, what is the best mix. You know, how do we get the best five on the field? Thhen do we have the opportunity to play six or seven and does that help us or do we want to ride with the best five the whole time? That's what we're trying to figure out right now, first off who are they and what are their best positions and after that are there more than five that can play. So that's obviously has to be more because if you have injuries.
ON QUARTERBACKS…...
So you know, we're gonna find out, you know, with the quarterback deal and any position really is that we're gonna always do what gives us the best chance to win. So if that I felt was the best chance to win, we would do it. It's too early for me to even speculate on that, we'll see how it goes. But in this year, you're right, there is a lot of uncertainty and we just don't have enough data to make really informed decisions. So you go on your gut a little bit, and you know that you may have to reverse them. The whole thing that I've learned over the years is that you can't be afraid to make a decision, but you also can't be afraid to change it if you feel it wasn't the right one and I'm comfortable doing that. You know, early on you might say well I made this decision, I got to stick with it, but that's not true. You make a decision with the information you have at the time and if it's right you stick with it, but if you don't think it's right, you change it. So that's kind of where I am with all these personnel decisions with the limited amount of data and repetitions that we have as a team.
UPDATES ON NCAA TRANSFER WAIVERS…...
A lot of that stuff that has been taken care of, but we kind of keep that in house because of the sensitivity. As you know its other human beings making those decisions. Even if it risks it once bit, I would never risk someone's eligibility by making a statement and somebody sitting in some office reads it and says who does he think he is to assume that this is going to happen or that this is going to happen. I really will refrain from that. Not everybody has been cleared and we waiting on waiting on some, so we'll see how that goes.
ON OFFENSE IN THE TWO SCRIMMAGES SO FAR…...
Well, I can’t really comment on the past because I don't really know it as well as you guys do, but I can comment on what I think we will be. I think we're gonna be fast and we need to be physical. That's one of the things we're working on right now is to be fast, fast thinkers, fast players and just fast everything. And on top of that to be physical. On top of those two things we we also need to take care of the football. Those are the three things that we're really emphasizing with our offense. Like everything else and I know I sound like a broken record, but it’s a work in progress. There's days that we come out, everybody looks on point, we're fast, we're moving quickly, everyone is sharp and we take care of the ball. The physicality part is back to the Kratch’s question about the O-Line, that's where physicality starts in your O-Line and D-Line and we're working on that like crazy. But that also comes with some risk, the more that you work on that, the more opportunity there is for our guys to get bumped up. So it really is a balancing act there, but those would be the three things, we have to be fast, physical, and then we got to take care of a football.
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