PISCATAWAY, New Jersey—As players reported to the Hale Center to check in and have a team meeting before Friday’s first practice, there was an aura of confidence despite a fifth place ranking in the Big East preseason poll.
The young team—about two-thirds of the players on scholarship have three to four years of eligibility left—is led by a sophomore quarterback who exudes confidence after a successful season as a true freshman.
As the unquestioned leader of the offense, Tom Savage echoed what his head coach Greg Schiano said he wanted to do at Rutgers when he took over a decade ago.
“We really want to win a national championship,” Savage said. “I told the receivers before we came into camp it’s time to show the nation what we are now.”
Winning a national championship this year is highly unlikely, but Savage has the talent to lead the Scarlet Knights as a dark horse to win the conference.
To do so Savage needs to continue his development, build on his 2,211 yards, 14 touchdowns with only 7 interceptions, while completing 52.3 percent of his passes.
Savage’s growth is something that his head coach is eager to see.
“I’m anxious to see Tom’s continued development,” Schiano said. “He’s got a lot of skills that most people don’t have. He’s a real talented guy. So as he understands things better I hope that he can do more and more from a productivity stand point.”
“From the outside looking in you would be skeptical,” said junior Art Forst who’s moving from guard to right tackle. “But if you’re with us when we we’re here at 6 am working out, the whole offensive line together…extra workouts, film, and footwork and you see these guys wanting to get better.”
Protecting Savage’s blind side to open up camp will be redshirt junior Desmond Stapleton.
Anchoring the line will be redshirt senior center Howard Barbieri. Barbieri’s main job this summer will be getting the line to gel.
Once Schiano finds the five guys that will make up the line, he hopes the chemistry develops.
“Great offensive lines move, act and hang out and do everything as one and it’s all around that center so if Howard can get this line and pull them together I think they can perform,” Schiano said.
The offensive line will be opening up holes for redshirt junior Joe Martinek who ran for 967 yards as the feature back last season. But for the run game to really be successful sophomore De’Antwan Williams needs to be in the mix. He’s nicknamed “Rocket” for good reason and would be a nice change of pace back.
The young team—about two-thirds of the players on scholarship have three to four years of eligibility left—is led by a sophomore quarterback who exudes confidence after a successful season as a true freshman.
As the unquestioned leader of the offense, Tom Savage echoed what his head coach Greg Schiano said he wanted to do at Rutgers when he took over a decade ago.
“We really want to win a national championship,” Savage said. “I told the receivers before we came into camp it’s time to show the nation what we are now.”
Winning a national championship this year is highly unlikely, but Savage has the talent to lead the Scarlet Knights as a dark horse to win the conference.
To do so Savage needs to continue his development, build on his 2,211 yards, 14 touchdowns with only 7 interceptions, while completing 52.3 percent of his passes.
Savage’s growth is something that his head coach is eager to see.
“I’m anxious to see Tom’s continued development,” Schiano said. “He’s got a lot of skills that most people don’t have. He’s a real talented guy. So as he understands things better I hope that he can do more and more from a productivity stand point.”
Offense
Protecting Savage is one of the more pressing issues the team faces entering camp after losing three offensive linemen.“From the outside looking in you would be skeptical,” said junior Art Forst who’s moving from guard to right tackle. “But if you’re with us when we we’re here at 6 am working out, the whole offensive line together…extra workouts, film, and footwork and you see these guys wanting to get better.”
Protecting Savage’s blind side to open up camp will be redshirt junior Desmond Stapleton.
Anchoring the line will be redshirt senior center Howard Barbieri. Barbieri’s main job this summer will be getting the line to gel.
Once Schiano finds the five guys that will make up the line, he hopes the chemistry develops.
“Great offensive lines move, act and hang out and do everything as one and it’s all around that center so if Howard can get this line and pull them together I think they can perform,” Schiano said.
The offensive line will be opening up holes for redshirt junior Joe Martinek who ran for 967 yards as the feature back last season. But for the run game to really be successful sophomore De’Antwan Williams needs to be in the mix. He’s nicknamed “Rocket” for good reason and would be a nice change of pace back.
Sophomore wide receiver Mohamed Sanu will also help the running game as the wildcat quarterback where he accumulated 346 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns last season.
Sanu will also be Savage’s go-to receiver. The depth chart behind Sanu is up for grabs. Redshirt sophomore Tim Wright opened up a lot of eyes in spring practice and is the front-runner to line up opposite Sanu Sept. 2 against Norfolk State.
Redshirt sophomore Quoron Pratt, who switched from defensive back last summer, is someone to keep an eye on. So is highly touted recruit Brandon Coleman.
At tight end DC Jefferson—who was competing to be the starting quarterback last summer—needs to prove he is a viable No. 1 tight end.
Defense
Typical of a Schiano team, Rutgers will have a very strong defense.Anchoring the defense will be the front seven, starting with a deep and talented defensive line—one that could be an eight-man rotation.
The line backing corps will be led in the middle by sophomore Steve Beauharnais who showed flashes of greatness last season and big play making ability. On one side of Beauharnais will be junior Manny Abreu while senior Antonio Lowery mans the other.
The question marks on defense come in the secondary.
Senior Joe Lefeged will anchor the secondary as the veteran among inexperienced talent at strong safety. Redshirt junior Khaseem Green will line up at free safety.
Both cornerback spots are up for grabs. Last year’s starter junior David Rowe should retain his job while senior Brandon Bing and redshirt freshman Logan Ryan compete for the other spot.
To help the young secondary, the front seven will have to get after the quarterback early and often. That’s something redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Scott Vallone has focused on.
“Being able to get after the quarterback is something I’ve worked on a lot in the offseason,” Vallone said. “[Defensive line] coach [Randy] Melvin has given me a lot of tips and things I can improve on and I thought I did that for the most part in the spring and I definitely have to build on that throughout camp.”
With a young team and a program still on the rise, Schiano wants his team to be something it hasn’t the last couples seasons.
“We just want to be the best that we can be,” Schiano said. “I don’t think we’ve done that the last two years. At some points we did, but overall we haven’t.”
“This is a young team. How fast we grow up, how fast we really get good at what we do will determine our win–loss record.”
