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Rutgers coach Kyle Flood acknowledged publicly for the first time that his mother, Louise, passed away following a length illness during the Dec. 28 Russell Athletic Bowl.

(Photo by J. Meric/Getty)

Kyle Flood’s first post-season wrapup as Rutgers football coach Monday focused mostly on the future — with recruiting and spring practice the next two major items on his agenda — but also included a rare personal note.

Flood acknowledged for the first time that his mother, Louise, passed away Dec. 28, the night of the Russell Athletic Bowl, following a lengthy illness.

The Scarlet Knights ended their season with a dreary 13-10 overtime loss to Virginia Tech — a result, Flood said, that was not related to his personal situation.

“I don’t make any excuses for that and I think there are a lot of players, or a lot of people in our program, who have things going on in their personal lives,” Flood said, “and certainly my mother is a very important person in my life and somebody that really is a big reason I am the person that I am today.

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“But for me to use that as an excuse — certainly when the people you love are in pain it’s certainly on your mind, but I also know that the one thing that would have hurt my mother more than anything would be to know that she was keeping me from doing my job.”

On the football front, Flood touched on a wide range of topics during his 20-minute session with the media:

He made it clear that Gary Nova is entrenched as the starting quarterback despite a poor finish the final six games (seven TD passes compared to 13 interceptions during that time, with Rutgers ending at 9-4 and on a three-game losing streak).

“One of the things I’m most excited about this spring is to have somebody coming back who, for the first time in a long time at that position, is going to get the reps that a starter gets,” Flood said.

He said he would meet with backup Chas Dodd, who played only sparingly this year after serving as a co-starter his first two seasons, about his future. Flood said, however, he is “not concerned” about Dodd transfering.

Rutgers has no proven backup quarterback beyond Dodd.

He doesn't expect any additional draft-eligible underclassmen to apply for the NFL by the Jan. 15 deadline, after cornerback Logan Ryan and running back Jawan Jamison did so last week.

“Certainly, anything could happen,” Flood said. “But I think for this season those are going to be the two that go and I really don’t anticipate anyone else.”

No staff changes — for whatever reason — appear imminent.

“I don’t anticipate any staff changes at this point,” he said.

With Jamison gone and Savon Huggins the clear starter, he needs to establish a pecking order at running back behind Huggins. Paul James, Ben Martin and Desmon Peoples, who redshirted as a freshman this season, will get a long look in the spring. Incoming recruit Dontea Ayres is also expected to enroll this month, allowing him to participate in spring practice.

“I think we need to look at all three of them (beyond Ayres) and we really need to decide what our depth is going to be at that position,” he said. “We’re hoping one of the new players from the signing class will be with us as well for the spring. I think that will help us.”

Tom Luicci: tluicci@starledger.com; twitter.com/tomluicci