Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano took to the podium on Saturday to address the media and answer questions about spring camp for one final time before the spring practice session is over. Schiano spoke for around 8 minutes, which is a few minutes longer than his last spring practice press conference. He took time at the beginning of the presser to mention how Saturday was a family day for players’ families to come to practice, to announce who the spring practice award winners were, and to announce that
DT Zaire Angoy has been cleared for his final year of eligibility. Later in the press conference, Schiano talked about how they were able to get through spring practice without any major injuries, in large part thanks to the new strength and conditioning staff.
The first question Schiano answered during the press conference was how the defense came together over the last month under the new coaching staff. Schiano said you can see the chemistry they are building and the fun they are having as a unit. He is really pleased with where they are at defensively, but they still have a long way to go.
Later on in the press conference, Schiano was asked if he and Ciarrocca have seen enough to name a guy, and where AJ Surace stands in the race.
“Yeah, it’s going to be the next couple weeks. Kirk and I will go through it all again, watch all the cut-ups. You know, we make spring cut-ups and we watch them and we evaluate them. But just my gut is they both did well. They’re making it hard on us to make a decision. Will we be able to? I don’t know. I don’t think, but I think it’ll probably go to training camp. But we’ll see. Give us some time to, you know, when you’re in the middle of it, it’s hard, you know, because the last play is the most important or the next play is the most important. When you have an opportunity to go back and watch the tape and really talk through things, I’ll have a better idea.”
Schiano also got the chance to speak about the wide receiver core and the defensive line in separate questions. He used the question about the wide receiver group to praise coach Dave Brock and how hard the people in that room are competing with one another and fighting for reps.
The question about the defensive line had to do with how important Angoy getting cleared is for the D-line, and if this is the deepest the DT position has been since he has been back.
“It’s huge, and I was starting to sweat because, you know, he’s practicing the whole spring, but I don’t have confirmation that, you know, it’s legal for him to do that. But I don’t have confirmation that he’s going to be cleared for the fall. Literally, we just got it the other day. To see the joy on his face and the weight come off his shoulders, you know, those are some of the little rewarding things you get as a head coach. You don’t get a lot of them, but that was fun. I went to find him as soon as I found out, and I hunted him down in the hallway. It was, it was cool. On the defensive line, both at tackle and defensive end, just where do you feel like that position is right now? And where does it kind of stack with some of the units you’ve had in the past couple of years? Yeah, I’m, I’m comfortable with our D-line, excited about our D-line. We have a lot of growth that we have to make between now and an opening game, but I’m encouraged by what Coach Dott has done a great job kind of getting with the guys. And then, and then, you know, Joe has done a great job as well with the R’s. So when you get coaches like that, that live it with the players, then they’re going to get better.”
To view the entire press conference, click the link here
