[2021] Week 1: Purdue Boilermakers Press Conference

[BabaYaga]

*Head coach MasonAsher takes the podium for an opening statement*

I thought we did a lot of really nice things on the field today. I mean you have to give a round of applause to Oregon, they are a well coached group who really played hard today. They are going to be a solid player and compete in the PAC-12 this season. I don't think I have seen a player like Akrum Robinson in all my time coaching football, I knew he was going to be a handful and he showed why out there today. I thought that our secondary played him well but there is only so much that you can do. Eduardo Jackson had a really good day rushing the ball for us. He's the heart and soul of our team, when he's running the ball well that opens us up so much. Reyes Chubb had his moments back there today for us too. He's going to get better as the season goes on but I thought that he called a good game and didn't really force the issue much. Devontae McKinney is going to be one of the top receivers in the Big Ten this year from the tight end spot. He really helped us out today with a big performance. Defensively, it was a team effort and I think you'll notice that this year. We had 12 players make a tackle today and no one had more than four tackles. We are going to be playing a bend don't break style this year and they held it together well. I was very happy with the result today although there is definitely some spots to work on.

 

*We will now open it up to questions*

[tsweezy]

Hey coach, congrats on the win. Question here: was it an intentional strategy to not use the WRs very much, is that just how Reyes plays, or was it a deliberate strategy against Oregon?

[BabaYaga]

Great question @tsweezy

 

I think the short answer here is that Reyes wants to win games. He doesn't care if he targets someone 20 times a game or if he only throws the ball 10 times a game, he just wants to win. He and Devontae have a great relationship which definitely helps the chemistry of those two.

 

It was a part of the strategy but also it was what Oregon was giving us. We knew that their two cornerbacks DeSean and Quinterrius are really good and have shown that in the past with some of their performances. We wanted to run up the middle and break through the line. We really wanted to make their linebackers chase down Eduardo once we got him to the second level. We also knew that their linebackers weren't great in coverage so anytime we got Devontae one on one, we wanted to find him.

 

Reyes did a really good job of following the gameplan and executing what we saw during scouting this week. Ideally, we would like a better mix but it was really what Oregon gave us and every guy on the team executed the plan to get Devontae into those matchups with the linebackers who had to tackle our running back a lot.

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

Jackson has proven himself to be a workhouse back, do you think you'll be able to rely on him week-in and week-out, especially in a grueling conference like the Big Ten?

[BabaYaga]

Very fair question to ask @PoopyRhinoPickle.

 

I think you always need to rely on your best players to win games but the whole team knows, as does he, that he isn't going to be carrying the ball 40+ times a game. He's also a really good pass catcher and we will get him involved there as well pretty heavily. We have a lot of talent on this team offensively so we don't want to over exert anyone.

 

Now, if we feel utilizing him more gives us the best chance to win, we won't hesitate to give him the ball. He and I both know though that it is a long season so we will be careful with that. We need him to be at full strength for the entire length of the schedule. There's no one in the country that I would trust more than Eduardo with the ball in his hands.