Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano hosted his usual game-week press conference to answer questions from the media and preview Rutgers’ game against No. 8 Oregon on Saturday.
As usual, Schiano started off the
press conference by praising the skill and talent that Oregon has across the board. However, it wasn’t the beginning of the press conference that was the most interesting. It was what Schiano said in response to a question asked by NJ.com’s Steve Politi at the end of the press conference that turned some heads.
Politi asked Schiano what he would say to fans about the new R NIL program after Rutgers had already tried something like this before. Schiano pushed back against that, saying that Rutgers hasn’t really tried it. When Politi started to mention some of the NIL collectives that have popped up, Schiano had this to say:
“Halt. Halt. No, we haven’t tried it, let’s be real now. We have not tried it. I am not going to get into what we do have. We have not tried it. All due respect to everybody who put forth their effort. We have not tried it, not at a Division 1 level. Forget the Big Ten level. We have not done it at the Division 1 level. Let’s be clear. The only people that have done it is the guy you are standing here looking at, and you can’t do it that way at this level. Now, we have a plan. So leave it at that, I am not going to get into specifics. There has been no efforts of the level it takes to play in the Big Ten. I am not saying that people haven’t tried. What it takes to win in the Big Ten, you can’t even say it is minusculely close. That’s it. That’s the end of the conversation. There is not going to be a follow-up. That’s it. Will that determine the future? Yes. Will it determine Saturday? No.”
This reaction alone highlights how far behind Rutgers’ NIL efforts have been and how lethargic the Athletic Department has been in adapting to the new world of college athletics as a whole, before Keli Zinn’s arrival.
Some other things to note that Schiano addressed during his press conference were the poor red zone performance Rutgers had against Washington and trying to get running back Ja’Shon Benjamin more involved in the game. When discussing the team’s red zone performance, Schiano noted that they had several passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage when they had players open downfield. He talked about helping the offensive lineman develop techniques to make their opponent keep their arms down.
When asked about Ja’Shon Banjamin and his playing time, Schiano said that Benjamin has been doing what they are asking of him well and that will equate to more playing time. However, because of Antwan Raymond’s performance this season, he will continue to be the premier back who gets most of the touches. He also mentioned that when Sam Brown is back to feeling good, he will contribute as well.
To view Schiano’s press conference, click here.
