Breaking down Bo Melton's three-touchdown Scarlet-White game

Much has already been made about the need for the Rutgers football offense to produce more chunk plays. Those specific plays can be defined as at least 10 yards for a run and 20 yards for a pass and catch.

The Scarlet Knights totaled 61 chunk in 2017 and just 32 of them went for 20 yards or more in 711 snaps.

In the Scarlet-White game in April, Rutgers went to work on its passing game -- especially throwing deep -- which is a facet of the game that it has struggled with in recent years. True freshman quarterback Artur Sitkowski threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns and all three of those scores went to sophomore wide receiver Bo Melton.

“There are certain connections with every quarterback. Today, it lined up to be Artur. I was in most of the times he was in and the deep balls were mostly thrown when he was in,” Melton said. “There was one from (Johnathan Lewis), that I dropped. I should’ve caught it. Every quarterback has a different touch and you got to learn that, that’s where you get connections. This offseason, we’ll work with everybody. It’s a big competition in the room.”

Melton caught five passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns in the spring game, albeit it was against backups. Nonetheless, Melton put on a show and showcased to the fans how comfortable and healthy he now. He looks ready to live up to the hype he came in as a freshman with last year.

“It means a lot to show the crowd the wide receivers are actually working, the whole offense is actually working,” Melton said. “It gives them a lot of confidence in our team for the fans in the upcoming years.

…(My confidence is) still at the same level it was when I first started. Yeah, you have a lot of confidence once you start doing good, but the main thing is you’ve got to stay humble. So as we go to the fall, I’m going to keep working. The more you work, the more you get better. As a group, we’re all going work. Our receivers room is doing pretty good so we’re just going to keep working and stay doing what (wide receivers) coach (Lester) Erb tells us to do and keep grinding.”

With all that being said, before training starts on Aug. 2, The Knight Report did a little rewinding and took a look at Sitkowski’s touchdown throws to Melton in the spring game and broke down the plays.

“Hopefully he can give what he did today. Get behind some guys and we can connect on some deep balls and have some more explosive plays,” Ash said. “We talk about it a lot in here with our team. ...I’m hoping Bo Melton can do that for us. Eventually that will loosen some defenses up so we can run the ball better.”

As a freshman in 2017, Melton became only the sixth true freshman to start the season opener on offense or defense since 2002. He finished with four catches for 83 yards on the year.

TOUCHDOWN 1:

In the first quarter, on second-and-goal, offensive coordinator John McNulty called for a bubble screen in a five wide receiver set with two on the left side of the line and three on the right. Melton was lined up on the far right near the sideline. Sitkowski took a shotgun snap and Melton took a few steps forward, but then darted a little sideways and backwards to receive the pass. He then racked up yards after the catch by turning up the field and used his speed to score all while picking up blocks by receiver Hunter Hayek, right tackle Raiqwon O’Neal, right guard Sam Howson, and tight end Travis Vokolek.

Melton is dynamic and is a threat to score at any given moment and should get the ball in a bevvy a ways. This touchdown was from 14 yards out.

TOUCHDOWN 2:

Next up, in the second quarter, Sitkowski connected with Melton for the play of the day. In a three wide receiver set with Melton again split out wide right, Sitkowski took the shotgun snap on a first-and-10 from his own 25-yard line, faked a handoff to the running back, and threw a perfect 75-yard bomb that fell right into the hands of a streaking Melton just outside the right hash marks. The 5-foot-11, 185-pounder beat press coverage by starting right and then suddenly shaking off the defender by cutting back left toward the middle of the field. Melton outraced both safety Naijee Jones and cornerback Kobe Marfo for the pitch and catch.

On this play, the Cedar Creek High School product again used his track speed and technique to get open. This particular type of play has been missing from Scarlet Knight offenses for quite some time. But now that Rutgers has a receiver that is able to get open and get down field and a quarterback with a strong arm and accuracy, expect McNulty to take more shots.

TOUCHDOWN 3:

The last 29-yard touchdown for Melton was somewhat of a combination of the two previous scores. Melton lined up wide right on the line of scrimmage in a five-wide formation with Sitkowski in the shotgun. On this play, Melton got vertical and straight up just beat the cornerback (Jelani Garvin) down the field. With less room to work with than the long 75-yard touchdown, Melton had to come back for the ball a bit. The former four-star recruit identified the ball in the air and fought through pass interference as he went back for the grab.

Melton has the ability to both get behind the defense and do damage on short and intermediate routes. Melton worked hard during the offseason and during the spring and appears on his way to stardom if he can keep it up and Sitkowski, or any other quarterback in the game, can hold his own.

As a senior in high school, Melton won the NJSIAA Group 2 state title in the 100m dash.

Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.