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...

After watching Coach Schiano's press conference on scarletknights.com, I have to admit that it didn't really break new ground. It seemed that he feels Tom Savage has a decent chance of playing. George Johnson, however, is still on crutches and seemingly is unlikely to play. No one else that got bumped around in the FIU game appears to be out. Schiano seemed to stress the number of BCS transfers on the Texas Southern roster. Yet they've lost games to Louisiana-Monroe and Texas State by well over thirty points. So, I think that if RU wins by any less than 30 it would have to be considered a disappointment. Granted, I always feel a win is a win, but sometimes you need some style points to impress voters and recruits. We can't have another Nicholls State situation where a championship subdivision team hangs around for three quarters in front of visiting recruits. But otherwise the game should be a chance for the team to continue to work on fundamentals and hopefully for som...

Thoughts on the Maryland game: Only saw the highlights on this one since the revolution was not televised and I was at my niece's third birthday party, but here goes...(I caught the radio trans.) A little revenge was had on the part of Rutgers after the spanking Maryland gave us at home two years ago. So, to all the Terps fans (I.L. especially) we're even! A crushing performance by the defense. I only hope that George Johnson is back in action soon because he's a big part of what RU does up front. Fortunately, the d-line is one of the deepest parts of the team this year, because that has been a focus of recruiting in recent years. Joe Lefeged played an impressive game from the highlights and all accounts. If he doesn't end up on the all Big East team by the end of the year it means he either will get hurt or rooked. Joe Martinek's 147 gave him the first back-to-back 100-yard games at RU since Rice was cooking on the banks. Martinek is a back that doesn't daz...