The Knights Watchman

Last week was the fourth and final week of preseason games for the NFL. Not long after those games were completed, players faced final cut-down day, as rosters needed to be trimmed to 53 men on Saturday, September 2. Yesterday, teams began signing some of those released players to their practice squads, or in some cases, claimed players off waivers. A number of former Rutgers football players were affected. Here is the recap from the past week: George Johnson assisted on 2 tackles, but was released by the Buccaneers. Carlton Agudosi (azcardinals.com via Twitter) Carlton Agudosi had 2 catches for 16 yards. He was released by the Cardinals on Saturday, but then singed to Arizona 's practice squad on Sunday. Congrats to Carlton on making the practice squad. Quentin Gause was in on 2 tackles for the Denver Broncos, but was released on Saturday. Kevin Snyder had 1.5 tackles for the Broncos, but was also released on Saturday. Leonte Carroo had 1 catch for 12 y...

A number of former Rutgers players made their presence felt during the third week of NFL preseason action. George Johnson (NFL.com) My pick for the former Scarlet Knight who made the biggest impact is George Johnson who had 3 tackles, including a sack for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Other former players who recorded stats or were in the news are as follows: Tyler Kroft: 1 catch for 2 yards Leonte Carroo: 1 catch for 5 yards Mohamed Sanu: 1 catch for 10 yards Kenny Britt: 1 catch for 13 yards Carlton Agudosi: 1 catch for 26 yards Andre Patton: 2 catches for 31 yards Brandon Coleman: 2 catches for 44 yards Jonathan Freeny: 2 tackles Steve Longa: 1.5 tackles Jason McCourty: 1 tackle Marcus Cooper: 1 tackle Duron Harmon: 1 tackle Devin McCourty: 1 tackle Tom Savage: 10/16 passing for 79 yards, 0TD, 0INT A couple players received some unfortunate news: WR Andrew Turzilli was designated as waived/injured by the Giants and is now on injured reserve, and TE Tim Wright was...

The Scarlet Knights will head to College Park , Maryland to take on the University of Maryland Terrapins at Noon this coming Saturday. Heading into this final game of the season, Rutgers currently sits as a 13.5-point underdog. This is despite the fact that Maryland has lost 4 straight and 6 of its last 7 contests. Although Rutgers is on the road, this looms as a winnable game, provided that Rutgers can get something going on offense and plays a mistake-free game. If the Scarlet Knights can pull off the upset, winning their first Big Ten game of the year would be a nice way to close out the season, giving the team momentum heading into the offseason program and the coaches momentum heading into the next recruiting cycle. Maryland is somewhat unsettled at quarterback. Like Rutgers , the Terrapins have played four different quarterbacks this season, some of that necessitated by injury. Freshman Max Bortenschlager played most of the reps last week in the Terps loss to ...

Senior Day at High Point Solutions Stadium will feature the Penn State Nittany Lions, currently the No. 8 team in the country. Penn State has a ton to play for as they are still very much in the mix to win the Big Ten East Division. Rutgers has the opportunity to play the role of spoiler against a recruiting nemesis, and send three-time captain Darius Hamilton and the other seniors out in style. Apart from it being Senior Day, the school will also honor the undefeated 1976 team during the first TV timeout from what I've heard. As far as the importance of the game, head coach Chris Ash simply stated that Rutgers is "playing to try and get better"  and "we're playing for our seniors." Asked about Hamilton specifically, the coach stated "people listen to him" and that Darius buying into what the new coaching staff was trying to do "meant a lot." Another senior discussed was Janarion Grant. The coach mentioned that Janarion...

This past Saturday was another heartbreaking loss for Rutgers as they remain winless in Big Ten action despite now having played fairly winnable games against Iowa , Illinois , Minnesota , and Indiana . Looking back at the game and the coaches' postgame comments, there was good and bad on both sides of the ball. The difference in the game was that Indiana made one more big play than Rutgers did. As Ash stated, "I like our preparation. We just need to get better in a lot of areas." Special Teams In his opening postgame remarks, head coach Chris Ash said of Rutgers, "we need to be better on special teams" later citing the missed field goal and blocked punt as things that Rutgers can't have happen. There was also plenty of good on special teams as Rutgers blocked two kicks and recovered a muffed punt. Rutgers has now blocked at least two kicks in every season since 2007. I also thought the first two returns put Rutgers in decent field position....

In his first career start, quarterback Giovanni Rescigno provided the Rutgers offense a spark they have desperately needed this season. The flame may have burned out a little too quickly, as Rutgers was edged 34-32 on a field goal with less than 10 seconds left in the game. But Rescigno's performance, and that of the Scarlet Knights overall, gave the program a lift and gave the fans hope that Rutgers can compete the rest of the season. Like early in the season, this was a game where Rutgers took a shot to the mouth early in the contest, trailing 21-3 before fighting all the way back until the final moments. In his postgame press conference, Head Coach Chris Ash remarked that he was "proud of the effort" and that the turnovers, missed extra point, and allowing the kickoff return touchdown were the difference in the game. The coach felt Rescigno "played his heart out" and that it was the "best performance of the year" for the Rutgers offense. ...

I've had a few days to recover from and digest the Rutgers 14-7 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes. I correctly picked Rutgers to cover the 13.5 point spread, but I certainly didn't anticipate how close the game would actually be and that Rutgers , in my opinion, should have won the game. Before I get into breaking down what I thought were suspect decisions, I want to take a moment to express my well wishes to Janarion Grant and Quanzell Lambert, after both sustained season-ending injuries in the game. They will both be missed and were having excellent seasons to this point. Chris Ash mentioned in his Monday press conference that Rutgers will petition the NCAA for another year of eligibility for both men. Let's hope we see them back on the banks. But if not, thank you for everything! Despite having the team well-prepared, I believe this loss was on the coaches. Rutgers came up empty on three of the four trips to the red zone. On the first trip, Chris Laviano back pedale...