Rutgers Football Preview

9 days ago :: 229 Views
Rutgers 2008-2009 Spring Football Preview:
Overall:
Rutgers was recently ranked number 22 in the Athlon Preseason Magazine. Junior center Ryan Blaszcsyk was named to the Rimington Award Watch List as one of the top centers in the country. The award is given to the nation's top center each year. This is important news for a team which will rely heavily on its passing game for the upcoming season.

Three of the more significant developments out of Rutgers this off season occurred off the field. First, the Rutgers football program was awarded a number 3 ranking by the NCAA in its Academic Progress Rate. Rutgers was cited behind Stanford and Navy and tied with Duke, just ahead of Air Force. Secondly, the Rutgers Stadium expansion continues to unfold. 1,000 additional seats will be added to its capacity for the 08-09 seasons with another 10,000 seats to be added by the 09-10 season. Upon completion, Rutgers Stadium will boast a seating capacity upwards of 55,000 seats. In a final development, Rutgers pulled out of a potential home and home schedule with Notre Dame when RU declined to move its game to the Meadowlands.

Team Overview:
The Rutgers offense will be lead by returning starters Mike Teel (one of last year's top quaterbacks in the Big East) and star receivers Kenny Britt and Tyquan Underwood. The biggest challenge facing the Rutgers offense will be trying to replace Heisman contender Ray Rice (rb) who opted out of his senior year to enter the NFL. Possible replacements include Kordell Young, Mason Robinson, Jourdan Brooks, and Joe Martinek. Young, while injured for some of the spring schedule, played often and, at times, very effectively, last year. 

Defensively the Scarlet Knights must shore up a unit that allowed over 300 yards of offense per game and often put too much pressure on its own offense to win high scoring games. Word out of Piscataway indicates that the defense worked very intensely during its daily practice regimen.

Outlook:
There's little doubt as to the strength of the 08-09 Rutgers football team: its offensive unit. If, and it's been this program's Achilles heel for quite some time, the defense can improve over last year (and play more like it did in 06-07), Rutgers will be a force in the Big East this year.
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Comments (3)

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Very good blog as usual. I learned things that I didn't know about the Rutgers football team.

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From what I know about Rutgers, I think they'll come in second behind West Virginia. They should do pretty well.

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Good Blog

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