Projected depth chart:
DE: Jamaal Westerman (RS-SR 6′3, 265 lbs), Jon Freeny (SO 6′3, 240 lbs)
DT: Pete Tverdov (SR 6′4, 270 lbs), Charlie Noonan (RS-SO 6′2, 265 lbs)
DT: Alex Silvestro (SO 6′4, 250 lbs), Blair Bines (JR 6′2, 260 lbs)
DE: George Johnson (JR 6′4, 260 lbs), Gary Watts (SR 6′3, 245 lbs)
Or, as I call them (warning, don’t GIS smurf if you value your sanity)
Categories: Rutgers Football
Mason Robinson is still banged up. The good news is that Kordell Young has stepped up in his place. Robinson did return to practice on Saturday.
There was no practice on Sunday, largely because of double sessions on Saturday and today. Some players are banged up, but it’s nothing major apparently. No more two-a-days after that. Greg Schiano wasn’t all smiles on friday.
A couple interesting blurbs from Aditi’s Sunday Mailbag.
Well, Blair – a former high school tailback – has seized that and is, Greg said, “getting better every day.” He’s still probably behind Alex Silvestro, who has more experience up there, but for a guy who’s for the first time playing with one hand on the ground, Blair’s “certainly got the ability,” Greg said.
Teddy’s made remarkable progress. Remember, when he came in last year, he’d never punted in the rain before. He’s spent a year acclimating to northeast weather and I expect you’ll see a big improvement in Rutgers’ punt protection team too. Tiquan Underwood said having a designated special teams coach, who has no other position groups, makes a difference. I haven’t seen anything to argue with that.
Words cannot express how happy this makes me. Rutgers ranked 95th in defending kick returns last year, and a dreadful 117th out of 119 in net punting. If the ST units had even been average, Rutgers swings a game or too. At minimum the UConn game. BTW, in that mailbag, Aditi also talks a bit about the tight controls RU exercises over the press.
Ray Rice and Brian Leonard both played well on Saturday night. NFL.com has highlights. According to wire reports, Leonard left the game early with a shoulder injury. There’s more bad news, as Eric Foster reportedly was kicked in the calf.
This site has a nice breakdown of who voted for each team in the preseason AP poll. Aditi voted for RU at #20.
Categories: Rutgers Football
CFN published their 2008 Big East preview. I don’t think it’s very good, but whatever.
Say it ain’t so, Brian Kelly. Toning down the offense? Sorry, but I’m still bitter about that swinging gate play from the end of the 2006 opener.
UConn is trying to get past a recent rash of injuries.
Will Matt Simms win Louisville’s backup quarterback job? Speaking of wayward Jersey sons – Derrick Caracter, once described as “Derrick Coleman without the work ethic”, has forfeited his umpteenth chance with their basketball team.
Pitt’s young offensive line looks to be a weird mirror image of ours – they have run blocking down pat, but need to do better in pass protection.
ZEISE: The offensive line is coming together — particularly as a run-blocking unit – but it still has a ways to go. And it still struggles in pass blocking and it is clear to me that speed rushers at defensive end will give Pitt problems all season. That being said, left tackle Jason Pinkston is really starting to come on strong and he has shown flashes this week that he can become a dominant tackle. Also, John Malecki just continues to get better every day. Of course, with a running back like LeSean McCoy, the line doesn’t need to be great to be effective. The other day, for instance, the right side of the line got blown up and McCoy looked like he was trapped in the backfield — except, he juked the linebacker who had him lined up for the tackle out of his shoes and then ran for about 30 yards before coaches blew the whistle.
Putting star freshman Lucas Nix on the Anthony Davis plan (working him in at guard to prepare him for a larger role next year) may not be the answer here. Young linemen can pancake defenders on pure talent. To keep their QB’s jersey clean, they’re going to have to get in shape and learn proper technique. If Paul Zeise is correct, then hopefully we will catch Pitt early enough that our pass rush will be a difference maker.
Rare good news from Syracuse: Boonah and Carter are working their way back to full speed.
Jim Leavitt is really laying on the coachspeak.
“I saw as much as I needed to see. We ran about 80 plays. The rain did kind of catch us a little bit there,” USF coach Jim Leavitt said. “It was 1’s vs. 2’s until I got mad, then we went 1’s and 1’s for a while and 2’s and 2’s. I just didn’t think we were as sharp as I was really hoping.
“We don’t have a lot of depth,” Leavitt said. “We have some guys that are going to go out and try to play as hard as they can. What kind of team do we have? We’ll find out soon enough.”
Storylines from the end of WVU camp. Noel Devine sat out during their final practice.
Categories: Big East Conference
