BearcatLair.com - The 2009 Schedule: Rutgers

July 13, 2009

Chuck Saffell
Special to BearcatLair.com

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey was founded as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth oldest university in the United States. It began as a private school affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church, but is now a public research university. It has an enrollment of nearly 39,000 undergraduate students. The school participates in nine varsity sports for men and thirteen for women. It is also notable for hosting the first collegiate football game in 1869 in which Rutgers defeated Princeton by a score of 8-6.

HEAD COACH: The head coach of the Scarlet Knights is Greg Schiano, a 1988 graduate of Bucknell. He started his coaching career at Rutgers as a graduate assistant and has also coached at Penn State and Miami as an assistant on the collegiate level. He spent a couple of years as an assistant defensive coach for the Chicago Bears. In December of 2000 he accepted his first head coaching job at Rutgers where he has an overall record of 46-51. In 2006 he led the Knights to their first Top 25 ranking in three decades and received several Coach of the Year awards.

2008 IN REVIEW: Rutgers finished the season 8-5(5-2 Big East) despite starting the season 1-5 with their only win in the first half against the D-1 FCS Morgan State Bears. They finished the regular season on a six game winning streak and earned a trip to the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL. They beat North Carolina State 29-23 for their third straight bowl victory.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Rutgers finished second in total offense in the Big East (398.4 yards per game); first in scoring offense (29.0 points per game); seventh in rushing offense (128.0 yards per game); and first in passing offense (270.4 yards per game). On defense the finished fifth in total defense (326.9 yards per game); second in scoring defense (18.8 points per game); seventh in rushing defense (135.6 yards per game); and second in pass defense (191.3 yards per game). They forced 21 turnovers (11 fumble recoveries and 10 interceptions) and committed 20 (5 lost fumbles and 15 interceptions) which placed them second in the conference with a turnover margin of +1. West Virginia was the only other team in the Big East with a positive turnover margin.

Senior Mike Teel led the Rutgers offensive attack throwing for 3418 yards and 25 touchdowns. His favorite target was Kenny Britt who finished with 1371 yards, more than twice as many as any other receiver on the team, and 7 touchdowns. Kordell Young was the top rusher despite missing 4 games due to injury and finished with 604 yards and an average of 3.9 per carry.

2009 OUTLOOK: The Scarlet Knights are hoping to carry the momentum of their strong 2008 finish into this season. Their schedule definitely sets them up for a run at one of their best seasons ever and a possible Big East title. The non-conference slate is full of cupcakes including two games against FCS opponents. The lone exception is a week four road trip to play a Maryland Terrapin team that finished last season with eight wins. The Big East schedule is also very favorable for Rutgers. Cincinnati, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and South Florida all travel to Piscataway. The Knights should have little trouble at Louisville and Syracuse, leaving Connecticut as their toughest road game in the conference.

Teel graduated and the quarterback situation is up in the air at this point. 5th year player Domenic Natale and senior Jabu Lovelace will be battling in camp for the starting position under center. Natale has the better arm, but far less experience with only eight passes in his career. Lovelace was Teel's backup last year and is the more athletic of the two. He is also coming off two surgeries to repair a broken ankle and has never been a solid passer. If neither Lovelace nor Natale are able to get the job done redshirt freshman D.C. Jefferson or highly recruited freshman Tom Savage could enter the race.

Senior Tim Brown, who has been the deep threat the last couple of years, is going to have to step up at wide receiver since both Britt and Tiquan Underwood have moved on. Also needing to play a big role is Mason Robinson who moved from running back to receiver in the spring. Both are very fast and have the potential to make big plays. No other wide receiver on the roster has more than one career reception. With such little experience at receiver added to the inexperience at quarterback, the passing game could really struggle in 2009. Shamar Graves should be the top target at tight end. He has good hands and is a former receiver. Last season he had 16 receptions for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Kordell Young missed the spring game due to complications from his ACL tear that caused him to miss the first few games of 2008. When fully healthy he is definitely a threat to break big runs out of the backfield. In addition to Young, Rutgers has two other backs that could see quite a few carries. Jourdan Brooks, despite being 6'1" and 245 pounds, showed that in addition to being a short yardage option he has the agility and explosiveness to carry the ball on a regular basis. Joe Martinek had a great second half of the year and finished with 427 yards. Jack Corcoran will return as the starting fullback. Rarely used as a runner, he caught 19 passes out of the backfield. With the aforementioned young receiving corps, he could see quite a few more balls thrown his way in 2009.

The strength of the Rutgers offense is without question the offensive line. They return all five starters from a year ago and may have the best group in the Big East. Whoever is named starting quarterback will have a much easier transition thanks to the pass protection of this formidable line. Junior Anthony Davis is the leader of the unit and may make the jump to the NFL after this season.

The defense replaces five starters from last season. Two of those loses are on the defensive line. The likely replacements are Charlie Noonan and Blair Bines who will be playing defensive tackle. Both are a little undersized for interior linemen weighing in at around 260-265 pounds. At the ends will be George Johnson, who had 10 tackles for loss and 2 sacks last season, and Alex Silvestro. Silvestro is moving back to end after playing tackle for the 2008 season. This group should put plenty of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, while stopping the run could be a problem with their small size.

The linebackers are the heart of the Rutgers defense. Second team All-Big East selection Ryan D'Imperio will start in the middle. He had an impressive 93 tackles and 5.5 sacks last year. On the outside are two very good athletes, 6'2" 225 pound Antonio Lowery and 6'0" 215 pound Damaso Munoz. This unit should help alleviate some of the issues the defensive line could have stopping the run.

The secondary is replacing one safety and one corner. Devin McCourty is starting for his third season and is solid in both pass coverage and run support. On the other side of the field, former walk-on Billy Anderson appears to be the leader. Anderson is probably going to get tested often this year as most teams are going to avoid throwing toward McCourty's side of the field. Strong safety Joe Lefeged will be starting for the second year. He is a hard hitter who had 72 tackles last year. Free safety Zaire Kitchen had 32 tackles in limited playing time last season after sitting the previous two years with knee injuries. If this group is going to succeed they need to force more turnovers than they have the last several years.

San San Te will be handling the place kicking duties again this year. He struggled outside of 40 yards last year, making only 1 of his 4 attempts, but was 11-13 on short range kicks and 45-48 on extra points. The coaching staff is hoping that off season back surgery can help Te get more distance on his kicks. At punter Teddy Dellaganna returns after a solid season in which he averaged 41.2 yards per kick. Both Te and Dellaganna are going to be competing for the job of kicking off come fall camp. The punt and kickoff return positions are also wide open with Brown and Robinson most likely leading the way.

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