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.
