Rutgers should be fun to watch again

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, March 26, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Rutgers Scarlet Knights
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(Third in a series of Big East spring football previews)

In 2007, Rutgers became the first Division I-A football program ever to produce a 3,000-yard passer (Mike Teel), a 2,000-yard rusher (Ray Rice) and two 1,000-yard receivers (Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood) in one prolific season.

Teel, Britt and Underwood are back, and there is no shortage of candidates to replace the departed Rice. So can Rutgers put up anything close to those numbers again?

It's all a matter of time. Time for Teel to set his feet and weigh his options downfield. Time for the receivers to achieve blessed separation. Time for holes to open up for Rice's replacements.

Offense is all about ticks on the clock, and those precious extra seconds are paid for and delivered by the offensive line. Last fall, Rutgers protected Teel with one of the best forward walls in school history (and that goes back a long way -- remember, Rutgers played Princeton in the first college game ever). With All Big East tackles Jeremy Zuttah and Pedro Sosa and guards Mike Fladell and Anthony Davis at the core, the line allowed only 11 sacks all season and cleared the way for 2,574 rushing yards. In 2006, Teel was sacked just eight times, best in the nation.

Now, Zuttah, Sosa and Fladell are gone. That's college football. You slap your best players on the back, wish them luck in the NFL or in life, and move on, just as they did. That's what Scarlet Knights' offensive line coach Kyle Flood is doing this spring.

On the bright side, the departure of long-time starters can be like a dam breaking, allowing players trapped on the sidelines to surge into the spotlight and shine. Kevin Malast might be one of those players, a veteran and occasional starter who has played guard and tackle during his time at Rutgers. Davis, a Freshman All-American in '07, will be shifted to left tackle to become Teel's blindside protector. Junior Ryan Blaszczyck returns at center, and Flood will sort through a group including junior Mo Lange, fifth-year senior Mike Gilmartin, redshirt freshman Desmond Stapleton (younger brother of Pittsburgh Steeler and former Scarlet Knight Darnell Stapleton) and mountainous (6-8, 305) true freshman Art Forst, who enrolled early for spring drills. When the dust settles from innumerable practice field collisions, Malast will be available to plug into the most obvious gap.

If the line comes together (and if Teel is over a hand injury that "handicapped" him last season), Rutgers could once again be an exciting team to watch. Besides Britt and Underwood, the Knights have Tim Brown, Dennis Campbell and true freshman Keith Stroud as targets for Teel. Backup QB Jabu Lovelace will reprise his Tim Tebow imitation. And while backs like Rice come along only once in a generation, Rutgers should have quantity in that position with Kordell Young, Mason Robinson, Joe Martinek (leading career rusher in New Jersey prep history) and 250-pound Jourdan Brooks, who has already impressed head coach Greg Schiano in drills.

Holes have appeared elsewhere, of course. Schiano has bodies to replace departed DE Eric Foster and LB Brandon Renkart, but someone will also have to take over their vocal leadership. And in a Big East that promises to be highly competitive (meaning a lot of close games), the team will have to find a new Jeremy Ito -- or maybe two Jeremy Itos, since he was both placekicker and punter last season.





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