The Knights Watchman

Rutgers University, the football team, and Director of Athletics Pat Hobbs unveiled the Marco Battaglia Practice Complex on Friday, August 6, 2017. Made possible by an extremely generous donation from Jeff and Amy Towers, the facility gives Rutgers one of the premier complexes in the country. Having been a Rutgers student during Battaglia's time on the Banks, I can attest to the fact that there's not a better representative and player in Rutgers football lore to have named the complex after. It's been a blessing that Marco has been involved with the athletics department again over the past few years. Congratulations to everyone involved for pulling off the construction of this state-of-the-art facility in less than six months. Below is a time-lapse video of the construction, as well has a video honoring the Battaglia's playing career. Each of these videos can also be found at scarletknights.com and at the RVision1766 YouTube channel.

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.

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 head coach Chris Ash sat down with radio announcers Chris Carlin and Eric LeGrand for the first installment of The Chris Ash Show, which was broadcast live from Quaker Steak and Lube in Edison , NJ . Also sitting down to chat with the hosts was Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs.  If you're interested, check out the video from the link below: http://www.scarletknights.com/collegesportslive/?media=535256 Ash spent time discussing the breakdowns on special teams, saying that he was very disappointment because they spent "an insane amount of time" practicing special teams during the week leading up to the Washington game. Echoing his statements from his postgame press conference, Ash reiterated the progress he thought the team made throughout the contest saying that there was "no quit in our football team." Eric LeGrand asked about specific players that Ash thought stood out, and the coach talked about Kiy Hester and Janarion Grant. Regardin...