Rutgers Special Teams Coordinator Eddie Allen Hosts Spring Practice Press Conference

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After giving the media a chance to speak to head coach Greg Schiano, offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarocca, and defensive coordinator Travis Johansen, the program has started the press conferences where members of the media can ask questions to position coaches. This time, it was special teams coordinator Eddie Allen’s turn at the podium giving him the chance to speak publicly to the media for the first time this spring.

The first question had to do with the how the consistency of the kicking game is in the early spring with Jai Patel and Jackob Anderson. He talked about how they have been consistent so far in practice and how they are excited for where they are at especially as they now have more experience as upper class man.

The next question he was asked regarded why Rutgers has opted to go with fair catches so much on kickoffs and punts.

“I think Coach has talked a lot about that over the last couple years, and, you know, I think the philosophy behind that is exactly what Coach has said. It’s the risk-reward. You know, we’ll take a look at it like we do every year, and we’ll see where we’re at going into the season and what our philosophy’s going to be. But I think what Coach has said about that the last couple years is exactly right. The risk-reward nature of that is very important. You know, we get the opportunity to get our offense as explosive as they’ve been the last couple years, the ball in the 25-yard line to start every drive. I mean, we’re going to take that. But, you know, we’ll see where we’re at as we get into it, and we’ll evaluate everything as we go. And then, you know, if that’s the decision we’re going to do, that’s the decision we’re going to do. But Coach is going to make that decision.”

Later on in the press conference, Allen was asked how the younger guys who got experience due to filling in for injured players will benefit from that this year. Allen said that the experience is only going to help them and how getting that in game experience was critically important to them.

As one of the last questions in the press conference, Allen was asked what kind of impact Dino Kaliakmanis has had on the team and on the special teams unit.

“Man, just a passion, you know, a passion for special teams. I mean, he’s a special guy, man. He really is. We love having him. We’re excited to get him back for another year. You know, you guys see what he brings to our kickoff team with his speed and his aggression and his energy and just his day-to-day detail. He wants to be great. You know, he’ll be in the weight room every day, you know, just working on his gunner release steps, working on his pump block technique. He is a huge part of what we do, and we’re really excited to have him. I’m so glad when he got that extra year that I got another year to get a chance to coach him because he’s a great human being, you know, and he’s going to be a big player for us this year on special teams.”

To view the full video, click the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkE_gGlPZp0

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