The Knights Watchman

Rutgers' @CoachChrisAsh fields questions from the media as @RFootball gets ready for the 2017 season. #B1GMediaDay https://t.co/M2IX2sjkur — Rutgers On BTN (@RutgersOnBTN) July 25, 2017 Rutgers head football coach Chris Ash took the podium on Wednesday for his Big Ten Media Day press conference and a sit-down interview with the BTN Live team. The above link from BTN.com has the complete video of the press conference. At the end of this article, you'll find the link to the BTN Live interview. The complete text of the press conference can be found at Scarletknights.com These were the things that stuck out to me: In his opening comments, Ash said that 2016 "was awful. But we've moved on." Moving on and "hitting the reset button" were common themes that Ash was imparting to the media. Ash mentioned the facilities, particularly the Marco Battaglia Practice Facility which will aid in both "recruiting and player development....

At Big Ten media day on Monday, Commissioner Jim Delany announced that teams can once again schedule FCS opponents under certain circumstances. A few years back, the Big Ten asked its teams to cease scheduling FCS teams in an effort mainly to bolster television ratings and strengthen the schedule in the eyes of the college football playoff committee. Since then, no other conferences have followed suit, putting the Big Ten at somewhat of a disadvantage, mainly because teams have been scrambling to find a third nonconference FBS opponent. Depending on the season, each B1G team has three or four conference home games. Now Big Ten teams with only three scheduled conference home games will be allowed to add an FCS school to the schedule to fill the additional home game. In the short term this will benefit teams that are rebuilding such as Rutgers and Purdue. Having the chance to schedule a winnable game will go a long way to making some teams return to bowl eligibility sooner. I...

Great news came out of Chicago on Monday for fans of Rutgers football as well as college football fans everywhere. Scarlet Knights returner/receiver Janarion Grant was given a clean bill of health according to head coach Chris Ash. Via J.P. Pelzman of the Asbury Park Press , "he's 100 percent," says the coach. Grant "has been pretty much full go for the majority of the summer. He looks great, he's in great shape (and) he's put weight back on." On Tuesday, in an interview with the BTN Live team, Ash was asked about what Grant's return means for the Scarlet Knights. Ash's response, "It's everything. He brings a lot of excitement to the program...He's what I would consider our best playmaker." Asked during the players' BTN Live interview about how Grant's return affects the team, offensive lineman Dorian Miller said of his former roommate, "It means a lot." And According to cornerback Blessuan Aust...

Former Rutgers football players and current and former NFL players Brian Leonard, Kevin Malast, Tim Wright, and Michael Burton took part in an injury-prevention clinic held at Seton Hall Prep on July 17th. It's always good to see former Scarlet Knights in the local community giving back to the next generation of players. Check out this NJ.com article for more.

#TheHunt continues at High Point Solutions Stadium. pic.twitter.com/RiVBG5vMQp — Chris Ash (@CoachChrisAsh) July 21, 2017 Rutgers football has released a new preview video for the upcoming season, and it is intense! If this doesn't get you hyped for the start of the college football season nothing will. Shout out to @DJConradFilms for some excellent work!

On Monday, Pat Hobbs announced in a press release that Rutgers all-time great Marco Battaglia had been upped to Assistant Athletic Director for Development. For the past few years, Battaglia has been instrumental in establishing relationships with donors and increasing financial support for the Rutgers athletics programs. According to the press release he will also aid in "strategic planning, specifically serving on a task force selected by Hobbs to outline the future vision for Rutgers athletics." Congrats to Battaglia, one of my favorite Scarlet Knights, especially since his playing years coincided with my undergrad years. His time on the Banks ended the same year as Doug Graber, and we know what happened after that. Four years with Battaglia and Graber, a competitive 20-23-1. The four years after, 8-36. I look forward to Marco brainstorming the future vision for Rutgers athletics as he looks out over the practice fields named in his honor.

The Louisville Sports Commission has announced the 2017 Paul Hornung Award Watch List . Among the forty-six honorees is the Scarlet Knights own Janarion Grant. After the Maxwell Award, this is the second preseason award for which Grant has been added to the watch list. The Hornung Award goes to the "most versatile player in major college football." The award is named after Louisville native and football legend Paul Hornung who won the 1956 Heisman Trophy while at Notre Dame and had a hall-of-fame career for the Green Bay Packers from the late 1950s to the mid-60s. A jack-of-all-trades, Hornung would line up at halfback, fullback, receiver, kicker, and quarterback. I don't expect to see Grant doing much kicking next year, but we may see him line up everywhere else. Here's a reminder from 2015: Yes, yes.

As of Monday, July 17, single-game tickets for the 2017 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football season are on sale. For ordering information go to www.scarletknights.com/tickets or call 866-445-GORU. Opening night is Friday, September 1, in what is being billed as the "War Before the Shore," giving a tip of the cap to the fans who will be heading DTS immediately after the game. Homecoming is October 21st against Purdue. The themes for the other games are listed in detail on Scarletknights.com

Sneak peak. @EricLeGrand52 gets his very own @Topps trading card. Story coming soon. #Rutgers #RFootball @TheChopNation @RFootball pic.twitter.com/UtToGN4Mob — Chris Nalwasky (@ChrisWasky) July 13, 2017 Topps has included Eric LeGrand in its 2017 set of Allen & Ginter trading cards. According to Chris Nalwasky of Rutgers 247 Sports . The retro-style cards are available for purchase starting today, July 19. This is not the first Topps card for LeGrand, as he was also featured on a football card in 2012. Congratulations to Eric on this well-deserved honor, and thank you for continuing to be such a great ambassador for Rutgers University.

It appears that there has been some movement on a resolution to the Notice of Allegations that Rutgers received from the NCAA in December of last year. Last Friday, July 14, representatives from Rutgers Athletics met with the NCAA Committee on Infractions. According to reports from NJ Advance Media, the Rutgers contingent included President Robert Barchi, AD Pat Hobbs , Head Coach Chris Ash, Senior Vice President and lead counsel John Hoffman, and chief compliance officer Paul Perrier. Also former head coach Kyle Flood, former assistant Darrell Wilson, and former director of sports medicine Robert Monaco (and/or their representatives) were reportedly in attendance. The gist of the meeting was that those appearing before the panel had the opportunity to ask questions and answer to, or for, each allegation. The next step is that in 8-12 weeks the Committee on Infractions will issue a final report and announce any potential sanctions on Rutgers football or the athletic department i...

Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs has been named to the committee that has been put together to honor the 150th anniversary of the first college football game . As I'm sure you're aware, on November 6, 1869, Rutgers squared off against Princeton in the first-ever contest. Princeton athletic director Mollie Marcoux Samaan is also a member of the committee, as is Colts quarterback Andrew Luck's father, Oliver. Just thought I'd throw that out there. On a related note, writing for fansided.com, Nicholas Ian Allen has included Rutgers in his "30 bucket list items college football fans need to experience." Scarlet Knights fans have been gushing with scarlet red pride on Twitter (amongst other places) ever since, as we cherish our spot at No. 29, edging out the College Football Hall of Fame on Mr. Allen's esteemed list. My suggestion of course is to visit High Point Solutions Stadium and the Scarlet Walk, sure, but also to visit the actual location, th...

Rutgers Athletics has posted the following video showing that the Marco Battaglia Practice Facility is coming along nicely. The grand opening is scheduled for August 6th. But what I want to know is how I can get my hands on one of them sod rollers! And speaking of greens, congratulations to head coach Chris Ash for raising over $75k through his Charity Golf Classic. You can read about it here .

On July 10, the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and Allstate Insurance Company announced 146 nominees to the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team . No one from the University of Michigan made the cut. But Rutgers super-senior defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph made the list. A graduate student studying labor relations, Joseph was also a vital cog along the Scarlet Knights defensive line last season. But it was his off-the-field accomplishments that got him this honor. According to scarletknights.com: Joseph has dedicated time to numerous causes such as Saturdays in Motion, Bright Beginnings Learning Center , New Jersey Special Olympics, Read Across America , Rutgers Dance Marathon , Walk to Believe and more. He has also made trips to hospitals, served food to the homeless and volunteered at area youth football organizations.   In addition, Joseph spent his 2017 spring break traveling to South Africa for a service trip through Athletes in Action. It in...

His undergraduate collegiate career may have already been behind him, but the Big Ten Conference and Rutgers University weren't finished honoring Rutgers defensive end Julian Pinnix-Odrick. On June 21, the Big Ten Conference announced that J.P.O. was one of two Rutgers University Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners , along with Tori Prager of the women's soccer team. The Homer Hazel Award winner as football team MVP and a team captain, anyone who saw this clip is not surprised that Pinnix-Odrick received the sportsmanship honor: At last night's #RAwards17 , @RFootball 's @jpodrick summed up what being a Scarlet Knight from New Jersey is all about #ThisIsJerseyBaby pic.twitter.com/t7v8Fpi93f — Rutgers Athletics (@RUAthletics) May 3, 2017 Continue to do great things!

Rutgers ' multiple-threat WR/Returner Janarion Grant has been named to the 2017 Maxwell Award Watch List. At the end of each college football season the Maxwell Award is awarded by the Maxwell Football Club to the player they deem to be the College Player of the Year. The Maxwell Award is voted on by the Maxwell Football Club members, sportswriters, sportscasters, and college football head coaches. Congrats!! Check out the write-up at scarletknights.com . You can view the complete Maxwell Award Watch List here . In other news confirmed by Scarlet Nation involving the receiver depth chart, redshirt sophomore Ahmed Bah has elected to transfer from the program. All the best to Ahmed in his next chapter.

There have been two huge recent developments in terms of the image Rutgers Athletics. One was the first looks at some of the new uniforms from Adidas, and the other was the redesign of scarletknights.com Adidas The re-branding of the Scarlet Knights under the Adidas banner has begun, and so far I've been impressed. In terms of the football uniforms, there is not too much of a change, the main differences being the removal of the chain-mail look from the shoulders and sleeves as well as the addition of the New Jersey logo in the top-center of the back of the uniform between the neck and the start of the player's name. Everyone seems to feel good about having the state logo on the back. It seems the presence or lack thereof of the state logo or name has been an ongoing debate for decades. Who else remembers the NJRutgers helmets from the Presley and Willis thunder & lightning days? To me, the designers found a noticeable yet still subtle way of honoring Jersey ...