Happy Thoughts: Kenny Britt

I think Tennessee’s revival can be credited more to Chris Johnson and an improved defense than their passing game, but it’s fun to watch nonetheless.

This last one is more pointless than anything else, but does feature Kenny.

Can we just make it a rule that juniors have to dominate like Britt or Rice did before everyone projects them to make millions in the NFL?

Couple links after the jump.

11/24 Recruiting Update

The competition in South Carolina is no match for Chas Dodd and Byrnes.

Most of the news lately is centered around all of the out of state targets coming in for the West Virginia game, although a couple locals will be coming the week after that. Maryland receiver Brandon Coleman will be in the house, and the big question is whether he commits, or takes any other official visits.

“I have the Rutgers visit planned for December 4th,” he said. “I’m trying to get Maryland set up soon. I think Maryland is going to be after the season now.”

Other Maryland targets will be making the trip with Coleman, but athlete Josh Furman (and his totally awesome goggles) won’t be. He’s down to Michigan and VT, and my guess would be VT. Speaking of the Maryland area, the Post just had a feature on the Kouandjio brothers. Rutgers was the newest offer for younger brother Cyrus, but it doesn’t look like Arie is as interested as teammates Lorenzo Waters or (especially) Shane Johnson in becoming Scarlet Knights.

The other big target this year is Florida, which has been friendly to Rutgers in recent years, and assistant Brian Jenkins has been working his tail off to reestablish the Knights down there. The one guy to watch is WR/DB Tim Smith. When a West Virginia site is calling Smith a Rutgers/WVU battle, chances are he could very well land in Piscataway.

“The school that’s on him the most in Rutgers,” Hutchings said, adding that RU recruiters have been to watch Smith play this fall.

Other names to watch include Ace Sanders and Jeremi Wilkes. As always the pay sites will likely have far more information about the many other visitors.

Now, 12/12 is on the backburner somewhat with all the names expected to attend on the fifth, but the following weekend will bring visits from the likes of Tejay Johnson.

Johnson is juggling EHT’s playoff run with the demands of being a college recruit. Nebraska, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Rutgers and Syracuse have offered him scholarships. He has visited Nebraska and Cincinnati and plans to visit Rutgers on Dec. 12.

ZAGSBLOG echoes earlier reports about T.J. Clemmings being down to Pitt, Ohio State, and Florida.

FL DE Giorgio Newberry is a new 2011 offer in the Scout database. In 0ther ‘11 news, St. Peter’s Prep DB Sheldon Royster picked up an offer from West Virginia. Neptune RB Charles Davis will soon start taking a few unofficial visits. West Virginia is one of the teams following PA ATH Terrell Chestnut.

Watchlist: Taj Alexander, Myles Jackson, Tyrone Johnson, Doug Rigg, Artie Rowell, John Shkreli, Nate Smith, and James Timmins.

If Pitt can do it

I saw an interesting item on Brian Bennett’s blog yesterday. Pitt’s athletic department has done a wonderful job of putting together quality OOC schedules over the next several years. I’ve spoken before (sorry, can’t find the post at the moment) about how I look at Pitt as an ideal model for the Rutgers athletic department – in terms of success, academic prestige, and fiscal discipline. They’ve done a masterful job with fundraising (and Tim Pernetti has made the first of many strides here with that), and give their athletic teams all the needed tools to succeed. I look at Pitt though, and I’m still green with envy.

Now, I understand that these deals need to be put together years in advance. Realistically, it’ll be at least five years between when a series is announced and the games are actually played. Still, if Pittsburgh can do it, there’s no good reason why Rutgers cannot. It’s very simple really: they’re using the exact same model for scheduling that I’ve advocated numerous times. Three home and home series games every year (either with BCS conference teams, or “good” mid-major programs like Navy and Utah), arranged in a way to buttress the unbalanced Big East schedule. For instance, two of those OOC games come to Pitt when they only have 3 conference games, and only one OOC team comes in when they have four. To fill out the schedule, buy two games against patsies.

It’s not a mystery. The big obstacle to Rutgers playing a competitive out of conference schedule in the near future is Army. They may or may not be on the level of Navy in the coming years, and I wish them well in those pursuits. Right now, treating Army as an equal partner, whatever the secondary benefits, necessarily must result in Rutgers playing a bad out of conference schedule.

I think Tim Pernetti is off to a great start, and he’s surrounded by K-Mac and other capable people. After 2009, they have to know what’s up (presumably they did earlier, with all the big series announcements several months back). There’s a hunger for Rutgers football in New Jersey, but no one wants to pay $70 a ticket to watch a scrimmage. We want good, competitive games. I understand that what happened with the 2009 schedule was a worst case scenario that everyone tried to avoid, but it’s bound to happen again without implementing the proper changes. That means, a commitment to long-term scheduling, and jettisoning the Army series once and for all. Please, live up to fan expectations by giving Rutgers football the challenges that it deserves over coming seasons. Give our Scarlet Knights the opportunity to show the world what they can do.

Worst loss in years

I didn’t see any need to panic after the opener against Cincinnati, or early last season. There’s no need to pull any punches after this one though, as today’s loss to Syracuse was by far the worst the football team has looked since the disasterous 2004 season. I thought that there was a chance that Rutgers would come out flat today, but never expected at all to lose, and in this kind of lopsided fashion to just a completely decimated roster. Just when the team started to be hitting their stride on the year, this one was an uppercut right in the glass jaw. Suddenly, heading to Louisville  next week doesn’t look  nearly as boring, faced with the crucial question of how Rutgers is going to pick themselves up and respond after such a tough loss.

Reading everything coming out of Syracuse over the past week, all I could do was react with incredulity. Really? Marrone really said that Syracuse was looking at this one as their bowl game? Unfortunately, it looks like the Rutgers football team may have shared my lack of enthusiasm, coming out completely flat and uninspired in this one. Marrone’s troops lived up to his promise, going absolutely full throttle and showing no quarter. Well, message received. Forrest Gump isn’t roaming the Orange sidelines anymore. Rutgers is no longer in a position where they can fall down 14-0, and laugh it off on the way to another blowout win.

Well, guess we can write off Malcolm Cater with this one, and the SU program will be able recruit some in the metro area again. Rutgers football has been through worse, but it’s awfully troubling to see a loss like this in year nine. It’s not the end of the world; let the Syracuse fans crow all they want for the next year, but we’ve come back from worse. They’ll be as full of hubris as I was going into the game, crowing about all the parallels about how Rutgers stunned Syracuse 10 years ago, signifying the early stages of their downfall under Pasqualoni. No, playing a better SOS didn’t have squat to do with the end result today. Syracuse showed up and Rutgers didn’t, and to imply anything otherwise unfairly attributes away the credit from how tremendous SU looked today, and of how poorly the Knights laid an egg.

Syracuse liveblog

Starting up shortly….

That was an impressive opening drive by the Cuse. Tons of running and misdirection. Our strength is going after the quarterback, and they were able to stay out of any third and longs. 7-0, Syracuse off to a good start for the third year in a row.

Oh my. McCourty KR wasted by a stalled drive, ended by Savage pick. Defense can’t stop the Syracuse offense at all.

Ack, with those sacks, Syracuse has ALL the momentum. Good punt though.

The offense was looking like absolute garbage, and Syracuse marched down the field again for another easy score. Then Marrone goes for the kill, and it backfires on a botched onside kick. Rutgers recovers, and Sanu throws the easy TD (followed by 2-pt) almost instantly. Only downside there is that the defense needed a breather, and won’t get it. Nice to stem the bleeding, but that’s only step one.

Finally held the SU offense to a FG. The offense was driving, but then somehow managed to get into a 3rd and 45 situation. Savage to Brown got the FG manageable, but then Te missed the FG. Te was injured on contact from SU DB Phillip Thomas, which didn’t draw a call. Not getting anything before halftime hurts.

Annnnnd there goes Tim Brown. Anthony Davis rolled on his ankle at the end of a play. Hate to say it, but there goes any chance at a comeback. Dellaganna does get another big punt off, but I’m scared that SU is going to drive downfield and ice it here.

Offense can’t do anything outside of Sanu in the wildcat. SU converted a crucial 4th and 1, and is still driving with all the momentum.

With nearly all looking lost, the defense blocked a Syracuse FG, and did drive a little behind Martinek. They offense couldn’t put it in the end zone though. Tim Brown is back out there, and tried hard to haul in a Savage overthrow, but it was just too high. I think going for the FG was the right call, with the way things are going. Need more stops and turnovers, and not confident in that happening with how tired the defense must be.

That’s the game on the Savage int. Happy that I started my post-game post early.

Yup, we gave up. Challenge is now to regroup and not blow it against the Cards next week.

Resounding meh

I’m sticking to my guns here – Rutgers/Syracuse won’t be very close. Injuries hurt the Orange this year, but the end result probably wasn’t ever going to be much different. At least they have an excuse now. The Syracuse side seems to think that Rutgers and/or Schiano have it out for the Cuse, but I’m not really feeling that on our end. The recent SI fan poll seems to concur. UConn is the #1 Rutgers in-conference rival, and even that takes a back seat to OOC grudges.

The feeling is mutual, but the conference team I can’t stand the most is USF. In terms of a rivalry, it’s going to be hard to top the last two games. If you had mid-November in the annual USF NCAA violations lottery, it’s time to collect your prize. There’s just such a stark contrast between the two athletic departments in all aspects that I can’t think of a better villain in-conference. I used to admire how far they had come in so little time, but now all I have is scorn.

Coach Schiano’s stated policy is to never relent in the first half of any game, but I honestly don’t see the impetus for treating this game unlike any other. In fact, there might even be some potential for Army-style sleepwalking through the second and third quarters. Won’t matter in the end, though. Since the NCAA doesn’t actually recognize both FCS victories, a victory would put Rutgers at seven wins in my book.

Sure, point to Ray Rice and Scott Vallone, but overall the two both programs have very different talent footprints. It seems like the press just keeps trying to push and force this angle because it’s  the path of least resistance, even though it’s more myth than reality, and the Rutgers side doesn’t care all that much. I mean, their kicker, Ryan Lichtenstein, trained with a former RU letterwinner who helped shock the Orange(men) back in ‘99.

It’s on, Fruitmen/Leave Luicci aloneeeee

Losing to Louisville or not, you just had to know that Rutgers/Syracuse week couldn’t remain quiet. Not with Syracuse fans ready to throw Greg Paulus under the bus. Not with the Rutgers side debating the merits of poaching Syracuse verbals from the metro area. I just hope I have some time before Sat to finish the one last planned post I had for this week. Certainly, the #BeatRutgers guido joke tweets will be out in full force today. First up, Syracuse.com beatwriter Donnie Webb (last seen around these parts posting strategic recruiting leaks from the SU FB staff last February, and overreacting to anonymous comments on NJ.com) essentially posted an invitation for anonymous Syracuse.com posters to vent about the imaginary sins of Coach Schiano. K, whatever, as my boy Jerry points out, who the hell really cares.

Fear not, because Ledger beatwriter Tom Luicci fires back (I’m not quoting it, because you should read the whole thing) in deliciously chronicling how Rutgers DT Scott Vallone grew up a SU fan, on his way to a brilliant freshman starting campaign this season. For what it’s worth, Vallone ended up picking Rutgers over Maryland. The whole thing is vintage Luicci (who’s had his own quarrels with anonymous commentators as of late) - you can tell he really savors twisting the knife. Between that piece, and Schiano’s veiled jab at Greg Robinson (amidst a flurry of coachspeak echoing Monday’s comments – I don’t know if even Marrone would be as positive and complimentary towards SU FB) after practice yesterday, you can bet that the SyracuseFan.com boards will be abuzz.

Gotta say, I don’t get those angry comments towards Tom about his vote, or knocking the team’s schedule. You have to take the net with a grain of salt – that response isn’t representative, because anyone who agrees isn’t as inclined to speak up. You can quibble with anyone’s content here and there (ahem, I badly need to take some time to proofread my posts). Sure Luicci is often prone to hyperbole. Still, I always get the sense that he’s not objective (being an alum and a local), and has more invested in the team’s success than just hoping for a good story.

Anyway, more links after jump.

A couple pro updates

Not going to hit everyone with this, just a few newsworthy items from the past few weeks.

I’ve always looked at 2009 as essentially a redshirt year for Mike Teel. By staying on the bench, the Seahawks can evaluate his progress in private, possibly giving them more leverage with their future personnel moves. The best thing for Teel, if he wants to take over Seattle’s starting job in a few years, was that Matt Hasselbeck have a bounce back season. The results haven’t been great, with Hasselbeck missing two games, and being inconsistent from week to week. Seattle will have ample opportunity to scout Jake Locker down the road at the University of Washington, and whether or not the Hawks address that position in the draft will be telling as to Teel’s long-term status in town.

When evaluating how Kenny Britt has played to this point, it’s not much of a suprise that Tennessee favors the running game, and wants to get Chris Johnson as many touches as possible. Poor quarterback play has been a factor. With how Britt started in September however, I was surprised that he didn’t see that many touches over the past month or so. With Justin Gage hurt, Britt returned to the starting lineup last week, and did have two catches for decent yardage. He is averaging 16 yards a catch on the season, which is, as Doug Marrone would say, tremendous. With Jarrett Dillard out for the season, Tiquan Underwood is up to 4th in the Jaguars’ WR rotation. He started the year 6th and on their practice squad.

In the backfield, it’s been a good year for the tandem of Ray Rice and Brian Leonard. The Ravens may only be 5-4, but that’s through no fault of Rice, who’s on pace for nearly 1,200 rushing yards, and is 4th in the NFL in yards from scrimmage. The bigger story on the year is the revitalization of Brian Leonard (the jumping fullback-turned-blogger), who’s finally found his niche as a premier third-down back for the resurgent Bengals. With a 91% catch rate (Brian has caught 22 passes this year, and dropped two), he’s in the conversation for best hands in the entire league. Cedric Benson’s injury could lead to more touches for Leonard and fellow backup Bernard Scott, although that will be complicated by how fast newly-signed pickup Larry Johnson can get up to speed, and whether or not he has anything left. It’s no surprise that Cincinnati QB Carson Palmer loves Leonard, and his ability to convert crucial third downs as a receiver out of the back field. Between Leonard, long-snapper Clark Harris, and watching Hard Knocks over the summer, I’ve been trying to follow the Bengals this year. They’re a nice story.

Jeremy Zuttah has started all year at left guard for the Bucs, although mysterious absentee Aaron Sears recently returned. With Zeus’s top level athleticism, he may still may end up at center when all is said and done (my wishful thinking: to the Giants after O’Hara’s contract is up). Jeremy has played well this year, although Sears was thought of as a rising player, and his woes prompted an inability to shift Zuttah to center following an injury to Jeff Faine.

You know things aren’t going well for Vernon Gholston when the NY tabloids are speculating about whether the Jets will give up on him after just two seasons. I don’t follow the Jets though, so I can’t say anything else about Jamaal Westerman’s play beyond that.

Zuttah’s Bucs also recently promoted CB Derrick Roberson off their practice squad. Titans CB Jason McCourty has been inactive recently, after looking very green earlier in the season when pressed into action by a rash of secondary injuries. That’s not a surprise, as he is very smart and athletic, but struggled in coverage as a senior, and is probably more of a long-term project. A lot has been made about Vince Young replacing Kerry Collins in Tennessee, but the deep ball was killing them earlier in the year. Plus, Chris Johnson is too good to not win a few games by himself.

And for good measure, the Raptors recently cut Quincy Douby. Things are going a bit better for Todd Frazier, just named the Reds’ best prospect by Baseball America. I think Todd has a lot more value in the infield (2B or 3B) than at a corner OF position. He’ll probably start ‘10 at AAA Louisville. A hot start might prompt Cincy to call him up early in the summer. Still can’t believe the Yankees passed on him for Andrew Brackman.

The Kids Are Alright

With Thursday’s injury to third down back Kordell Young, there’s now an opening for freshman tailback De’Antwan “Rocket” Williams to start seeing more carries, especially if he can shore up his pass pickup. With the offensive line looking much better against SF, there’s at least a chance that Rocket could start to play a larger role over the next few games.

It also happened to be a breakout game for The Dude himself, Mohamed Sanu to the tune of 5 catches, 105 yards, and a touchdown. The first thing that strikes you about Mo is his thick build, which helps him create yards after the catch and break tackles on direct snaps. Sanu still has a few drops here and there, but has emerged as a solid #2 counterpart to Tim “don’t you dare call him Timmy, and that means you Schiano” Brown. We’re to the point where Coach is making Kenny Britt comparisons. Remember, Britt didn’t start to see the field much until the second half in 2006, after he had worked himself up to speed, and the corps was thinned by a mass of injuries.

Finally, we come to the true freshman starting QB, Tom Savage. No, he hasn’t distinguished himself yet to the point where it’s permissible to type his name in ALL CAPS, or petition the AP Stylebook to capitalize his pronouns (i.e., implying that he’s a supernatural deity), but he’s looked awfully good as a freshman. Better than Mike Teel did as a redshirt sophomore.

Remember the comparison between Savage and his fellow green signal callers Matt Barkley (USC) and Tate Forcier (Michigan) earlier in the year? Savage is a little below Barkley and Forcier in completion percentage, and has played a far weaker schedule than Barkley (surprisingly, Michigan doesn’t have that much of an edge). However, where Tom really has the edge is in his touchdown to interception ratio, where he’s a sterling 10:2. Savage will struggle through his bouts of inconsistency, but the trite “game manager” moniker actually is a good fit here, because he’s not killing the team with turnovers as you might expect from such a young player. In fact, he’s shown a surprisingly strong grasp of the offense, showing an awful lot of another sportswriting cliche that I equally despise, “poise” (Mark Sanchez just threw another pick six as I typed that preceding sentence).

Time will tell whether Savage is able to maintain that low interception rate, and how he’ll adapt to personnel changes and opening up more of the playbook, but he’s been everything and more that could have been reasonably asked of him up to now. I was wary of throwing a true freshman into the fire, considering how many players are flat-out busts at the position, but Tom’s treading water at the very minimum. Most of the credit has to go to Tim Brown, but Savage actually did lead a miraculous comeback against UConn, something I never thought as imaginable. It’s hard not to wishcast about what’s possible with a franchise quarterback over the coming years.

Everyone else? Well, there are a couple others (WR Mark Harrison, TE Tony Trahan, S Duron Harmon among others) seeing limited reps in preparation for expanded roles in ‘10. The guy who’s really come on over the past few weeks is strongside backer Steve Beauharnais, who’s been absolutely ferocious on special teams. Assuming he stays outside, SteBo will probably start no later than his junior year, because it’s hard to see Abreu not starting unless he can’t handle coverage at all. That’s good, and the even better news is that most of the class on the defensive side of the ball will end up redshirting. Seeing how all the new contributors fit in will be an interesting storyline during bowl and spring practices.

11/17 Recruiting Update

Yes, I know the board needs work. I’ll get to it eventually, and it doesn’t help that I’ve been having some formattting issues with it.

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but Rutgers will honor Sam Bergen’s scholarship.

He was worried about a scholarship offer from Rutgers 20 days before he blew out his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on Oct. 30. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano told Bergen within days that his scholarship was safe.

“When this knee happened, I wasn’t sure at first what was going to happen with Rutgers,” said Bergen, who will undergo surgery on his right knee to repair his torn ACL Nov. 24. “They’re really great coaches and a great program. They did the right thing. That makes me like Rutgers even more.”

HS football playoffs are underway throughout the country, and Chas Dodd and Byrnes continue to roll on, to the tune of 257 yards and 3 TDs in a blowout win. Truthfully, I’m more impressed by what Jordan Thomas has been doing. He’s been out of this world. J.T. Tartacoff’s Montgomery squad was bounced against Howell, although he played well.

The latest on South Carolina RB Mustafa Greene is that he’ll be one of many out of state players visiting campus for a big recruiting weekend when West Virginia comes to town on December 5th.

RB Mustafa Green (6-1 200) of Irmo will take an official to Rutgers on December 4 and now plans to visit NC State shortly after. “Those are the two schools recruiting me the hardest right now,” said Green. “I’m also hearing a lot from Illinois and Syracuse.”

other players on campus include Maryland lineman Shane Johnson

Johnson has set official visits with Rutgers for December 4th and Pitt December 11th. He’s looking at USC, Cal, Wake Forest and several others for his final three visits. He has not taken any unofficial visits this season, and he does not have a favorite.

with WR Brandon Coleman and DB Lorenzo Waters in tow, and prospects like Devon Wright, and Jeremi Wilkes from Florida. Wilkes recently said the following:

“I have a visit set up next week for Syracuse (11-20). I will visit Rutgers (12-4) in December. I am setting up a visit for Louisville and I know I will visit Troy and Iowa.”

Thanks to nik12 on SoR for linking to this NY Post story about 2011 prospect Ishaq Williams.

Ishaq Williams is one of the most feared defensive players in New York City. He’s a playmaker on offense. Lincoln coach Shawn O’Connor calls him “a great leader” and next in the line of blue-chip Railsplitters defenders. He’s an A student with scholarship offers from Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Maryland and Rutgers.

Other new 2011 names to watch are Andrew Campolattano from Bound Brook, and Darius Jennings from Maryland, who are now listed as holding offers in the Scout database.

Also, fresh from Kristian Dyer comes an update on 2011 super-prospect Savon Huggins out of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, and ESPN has another update on 2011 FL ATH Mike Blakely.

PA ATH Brandon Ifill is holding firm on only visiting Pittsburgh and Maryland. Smart money is on the Panthers there.

Watchlist: Jamal Abdur-Rahman, Ricardo Allen, Kyshoen Jarrett, Tony Jones, Ish Mack, Sean Reaver, Doug Rigg, Ace Sanders, James Timmins, and Will Tye.