The Knights Watchman

The media had the chance to pepper Scarlet Knights Special Teams and Tight Ends coach Vince Okruch this past Friday. Okruch provided them with some personnel news as well as some insights into the teams overall preparedness as they close out training camp. Senior graduate transfer Ryan Anderson has won the job as the starting punter over Michael Cintron. Okruch explained that Anderson "has greater distance; kicks a deeper ball." True freshman Justin Davidovicz will handle kickoffs. The placekicking competition is ongoing between transfer Andrew Harte, a former recruit of Jerry Kill's at Minnesota , and last year's starter, David Bonagura. Whomever shows the most consistency will get the job. There is also an ongoing competition at long snapper, with returning starter Alan Lucy trying to hold off freshman Bill Taylor. Okruch said the team "could have a lot of freshman covering kicks." As an example, Okruch mentioned Edwin "Tank...

I'm finally getting around to posting my take on the RU/Maryland tilt that took place last Saturday. In my preview, I felt that the key to the game for Rutgers was slowing the Maryland rushing attack, particularly Ty Johnson. Well, the Terrapins rushed for 318 yards in the game, with Johnson racking up 168 yards on just 11 carries, good for over 15 yards a clip. Their No. 2 back, Kenneth Goins, was also unstoppable, gaining 81 yards on just 10 carries. As a team, Maryland rushed for 7.1 yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns in the 31-13 victory. On the bright side, the RU defense didn't allow a touchdown through the air, but Maryland only threw 16 times. Brandon Russell got his first career start at linebacker and led the team with 12 tackles. Another bright spot was that the Rutgers defense recorded 4 sacks and 9 tackles-for-loss. And I thought Julian Pinnix-Odrick and Darius Hamilton both finished their careers with strong games. JPO had five tackles, inclu...

There were many twists and turns but in the end I think Rutgers fans have to be a happy with the 9-point come-from-behind victory over New Mexico . Sure, another slow start in the first quarter is a concern. But I think one of the things lost in the discussion is that the Scarlet Knights defense actually stopped the Lobos on the first series. New Mexico was four plays and out before the ill-fated botched punt return. It's hard to criticize Janarion Grant for anything since he's been our best and most dynamic player, but that's certainly one he'd like to have back. On a punt return team, anytime a ball is over your head it's standard to let it go. And coupled with the sun glare at High Point Solutions Stadium, taking a chance on the ball being downed deep in our own end would've been the wisest course of action. Punt return, though, has got to be one of the most difficult things to do on a football field, so it's tough to second guess anyone who's do...

Having had a night to sleep on and sleep off the Rutgers 48-13 shellacking at the hands of the Washington Huskies, I feel like I can look at the game a little more objectively. I'm going to break the game down into some general comments, positives, negatives, and hand out some game balls. The game got off to an inauspicious start with Janarion Grant's 12-yard kickoff return, giving Rutgers woeful field position at their own 15. But Justin Goodwin immediately picked up 9 yards rushing on the next two plays. Rutgers found themselves in a good position with a third and 1 at their own 24. Goodwin got stuffed on that third-and-one play and things quickly degenerated. Had Rutgers made that third down conversion I believe it would have been a different football game. The outcome would've still been a Rutgers loss, but I think the game would've been much closer in the sense that RU would've at least covered the 26.5 point spread. Another thing that struck me ...