📅 Published on: 2024-12-01 01:08:30
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🎙 Channel: Rutgers Football
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🕵️♂️ Transcript:
well uh first let me start by thanking you guys for coming out here and covering us on Thanksgiving weekend I appreciate that um means a lot to us um want to thank our players and our coaches um probably not probably this is the most mentally tough group of players in coaches I’ve ever had the the honor of working with uh I didn’t talk much about it this year as the year went on and on and on but uh I’ve never I’ve been doing this 37 years I’ve never seen a team decimated by injuries like like our football team starters you know leading sackers um you know today Aaron Lewis got hurt in practice we lose Eric Rogers last week you know it’s just starter after starter after starter and guys refuse to let that be anything but motivation to keep going and every day they came out to practice and came to meetings and work their tail off so I’m really thrilled I think the coaches did a great job uh being an example for the players I think the players really learned a ton this year and uh it’s a great advancement for our program just keep moving forward and uh but I’m so proud of them I want to thank them because they never moaned and groan they never you know we lost four in a row there wasn’t anything you come out to practice and I’d have people that I trust come watch practice coach you couldn’t tell if you had won the last four or lost the last four the way your kids are working and that to me is is what’s that is the chop and I mentioned it you know sometimes I’ll mention it when things are tough sometimes I’ll mention it when when we’re struggling but that’s what the chop is the ability to just keep doing it when your feelings tell you differently right but to direct your feelings and keep hitting that spot over and over again and I’m just so proud of our guys we’re learning as a as a program we’re learning we’re getting better and just thrilled to our seniors you know they mean so much it’s it’s uh ironic but if you think back to 2020 in the co year in late November this is where our first game was or late October I’m sorry late October this is where our first game was as a as a team I was a a new head coach here and those those guys that are now seniors were freshmen and uh for us to to come out here and end the way that it did again just thrilled for them and uh the way it you know almost story book with the with the snow and the the whole way it looked I just I was really I’m just so happy for these kids and for these coaches CU they never blinked they never wavered they just chopped and uh I’m really proud obviously some great individual efforts and you guys can ask me about that but I’m just collectively as a group very very proud you talked about the mental fortitude of these guys but what about the resiliency of this group kind of goes hand inand but what stood out about the way they were able to bounce back from last week and like you said endure that four game losing streak to finish as strongly as they did yeah last week was some was part of it but I mean just look and think about it guys when you play this sport you know what you’re getting into but still those are your friends you know those are your friends that are getting surgery those are your friends that are in the hospital for half a week a week because of the game things that happened in the game and you know what we asked these student athletes to do is come back and go to work and uh this team was special and it all goes back to the leadership you know this senior class that came in they uh they just led the way they really did they they served as an example and I think we’re fortunate really fortunate to have those guys come you remember that group came on 11 days right we recruited that class in 11 days and certainly a blessing right because there’s no way you could pull that off in 11 days but a gift from God for sure and to have a guys like Tyne Powell and Robert longerbeam and Kyle mananga and I’ll miss Same by saying it but in 11 days that’s uh that’s fortunate blessing this is uh the program’s best Big 10 best season regular season in a decade since joining the Big 10 I guess does that kind of make it all the more fitting that these guys are able to do that and kind of end on this note the regular season at least it does and I think fitting is the good word because of how they approached all the adversity look this group had high high goals and I’m not going to get into particulars of what they were but this group believed had we had a year like we did last year health-wise I think uh This Record could look a lot different but that’s ifs and buts but I’m really proud of what it looks like today the way these kids fought the way these coaches fought and never never wavered uh it is fitting to end the end the season with a game like this right and you know hats off to to Michigan state they’re a good football team but this team our team was on a mission today can you talk about you guys ended up scoring on eight of nine possessions today that’s something you just don’t see nowadays yeah I think you know when you look we have a big 10 offense finally the last three three games we’ve scored over 30 points I don’t know if we’ve ever done that in the Big 10 um Kirk shaka’s leadership great offensive staff just so proud and Joe haris simc so proud of him and his defense staff you know when you look at all the guys that are that are not playing and they just keep going that’s you know I’ve I’ve lit I’ve literally stayed away from talking about it because nobody cares but now that it’s over I’m going to tell you that’s a special group of people that overcame overcame a lot of key key contributors not playing some of them for the whole season some of them for big parts of the season and uh the coaching staff providing leadership ship was just special so offensively defensively and you know we have a lot of guys that you saw play and at the beginning of the year weren’t weren’t even the to deep and now they’re playing in in in a lot of the plays in the game so proud really proud you were talking about the story book ending with the snow and all that for this K young guy in 2022 had his one of his breakout games here 162 yards then a big 10 record for you guys since then he’s kind of just been the face of this program will he regardless of what comes next for him what does he meant to this program well he’s meant everything I mean he’s a great example to his own room to the running back room he’s leaving a legacy there he’s leaving a legacy on our football team as far as how to do things the right way um and to me that’s what it’s about you know tradition isn’t touching a statue or singing a song tradition is that which you leave behind that where the younger players take it and then they carry forward and as I said Kyle came in here um five years ago as an unheralded player right guy that maybe had two offers and he leaves what I think is is the best running back in the Big 10 two years running so very proud just getting that fourth down stop in the second quarter how much do you feel like that kind of turned the momentum in your guys’s favor and then just the way that you never let it go after that point yeah I think it’s big play right I I always talk to you guys um football games take on a life of their own they really do and there’s critical points and as I always say the players I wish I could tell you when they were and then we wouldn’t have to be here every day right we could go chill and then just practice those six plays but the reality is you got to play every play the hard as you can with the most Focus you can and that play I thought was a big play in the game you but there was a lot of big plays I think Athan just really ran our offense with precision in in control uh I thought Kyle was excellent as always Ian Strong again continues to make plays I love our our young receiving core I think think we got a chance to be good there and we’re bringing in some guys that I think can really be good too so um yeah I like I thought our offensive line did another another great job protecting the passer opening some running Lanes um overall I thought the offense performed at a high level two more coach uh Michigan State I believe scored on its uh opening drive of the game uh what do you feel like went right for you guys on defense after that to help shut them down yeah you know I think whether it was the speed of the game you know you could see today it was wasn’t easy to tackle today and one thing gets lost on people when when jerseys and pants get all slick from the elements it’s really hard if you don’t really focus on wrapping up um it’s hard now you take two good backs like they have that are fresh all the time because they’re subbing uh it makes it even harder and I’m sure when I watch the tape there’ll be some things that we you know we lost our Gap control or we got cut off and those backs they’re good backs so they know how to find the hole right when they when you when you lose a gap they find it and it doesn’t take them long and that’s kind of what happened on that drive those two big runs you know we lost a gap and uh but I my hats off to to Joe Harris simc and the defensive staff cuz they battled all week and they battled through it you know we lost uh we lost Aaron Lewis on Wednesday in a freak thing and we’re sitting there going come on I mean you can’t make it up but there wasn’t one blink at that point literally I think everyone’s just like nothing we just got to go we gota go nothing matters we got to go but Aaron’s a great player Dez Desmond Igman and we lost him you know during the week in practice and another crazy freak thing so just really proud of these guys again I don’t want to overdo it but I didn’t talk about it all year because it wasn’t the time to talk about it but I’m talking about it now because I I I’m grateful for the way they came to work every day the way that the players came into meetings and practice and lifting and all the things when it would have been very easy they had a built-in excuse right I mean it’s never seen anything like it but they refused and uh I think that you know this is life lessons right adversity is going to come it’s not and if it’s a when and how you respond to that adversity that’s you know that’s probably the most valuable lesson that we’ll teach these guys while they’re here so this will be a group that goes out into the real world and has had some some valuable really valuable life lessons just uh we saw Tyler Needum obviously return to the field today guess how did that situation kind of evolve and when did you guys kind of realize that he would be able to give you some snaps to it yeah that’s a that was a really uh we’re grateful there I mean when I I listen out for the season because I meant the regular season right I thought he’d be back for the bowl game but if if we were fortunate enough to go to a bowl game at that time but um as as he you know he came out of the I’m not going to get into his personal stuff but as he got out of his cast um hats off to him he didn’t have to come out he didn’t have to prove anything to me he’s a legitimate tough guy but he was not going to let his play his teammates down today and he he played in a different role I mean I don’t know if you saw he played at tight end I’m sure you saw right number 86 TI Needum and uh you know helped us a lot in the Run game um you know when you have a legitimate tackle playing tight end that really changes the the dynamic there but uh hats off to the medical staff for just doing an incredible job rehabbing him and getting him ready we thought he’d be back for the bowl I didn’t ever think he’d be back for the regular season uh and then hats off especially to tie cuz man he he crushed everything he could to be able to play today so I’m again a lot of respect for these guys final question what’s the next couple of weeks to look for like for you guys and uh you have any messages for the selection Committees of the Bulls uh about your team well we have a plan on what we what we usually do between the regular season and the bowl we got to find out when that date is and then you fit it to the plan so the first week we won’t know we’ll find out next you know after the weekend sometime and then we’ll figure it out maybe we’ll know a little before if if something’s done I don’t know how it’s going to work but I I’m not worried about that look we our goal is to get into the college football playoff and and go be a part of that and that gives you a chance to win the national championship and we’re certainly not there right we’re seven and five and you are which your record says you are but this year seven and five was uh my hats off to these guys and these coaches they they they did an incredible job so wherever we land we’ll we’ll have a great trip and uh the thing that I know is so important about bowl games is you get another spring practice in essence and the young guys we get a chance we’re developmental program and what better way to do it you know than than going to a bowl game and developing them on the way so we’ll do our regular routine it’s served us well um and when we know where we’re going we’ll that’ll be the next step the next chapter but these kids wrote this story this year one word at a time they refuse to get ahead of themselves they refuseed to live in the past and uh they learned some valuable lesson so I’m happy for them I’m proud of them and uh look forward to getting back to New Jersey and celebrating with them thanks guys
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