Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano hosted his usual game week press conference on Monday to answer questions about the Scarlet Knights and where they stand heading into their Big Ten opener against Iowa on Friday.
As usual, Schiano started off the press conference by giving plenty of praise to his opponent. Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz broke the Big Ten head coaching record for wins last week when Iowa beat UMass 47-7.
In his first question of the meeting, Schiano was asked about the status of running
back CJ Campbell and offensive tackle Tyler Needham. Both players exited Rutgers’ last game against Norfolk State early with an injury. According to Schiano, both players are still being evaluated to see the severity of their injuries. If Needham is unable to go, Moshood Giwa will likely take his place as he did on Saturday. If Campbell is unable to go, Ja’Shon Benjamin will likely see more snaps.
In the case of the injury to wide receiver Ian Strong, Schiano said he is trying to get back on the field but is being limited by his injury. If he is unable to go, Ben Black will be elevated to the starting three.
In regard to the defense, Schiano went back to his work-in-progress mantra. He acknowledged the fact that Iowa does have some similar gun-run elements that teams Rutgers has played earlier in the year have done, but they also use a lot of pro sets as well. The main matchup Schiano talked about in this segment was Iowa’s offensive line against Rutgers’ defensive line. He said that the defensive line will have to hold up man-on-man because the front for Iowa is well-coached and hard to fool.
Schiano also gave a special shout-out to Hank (Henry) Hughes Jr. for the leader he has become on the team through his work ethic. His teammates recognized how hard he works and showed that via their excitement for him when he recovered a fumble in the last game.
He wrapped up the press conference by urging the fans to be at the game and to be loud to create a good home-field advantage to help the team win.
To view the press conference, click here.
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