Rutgers fifth-year senior defensive tackle Darius Hamilton was absent from Saturday’s scrimmage after missing pretty much all of last season with a knee injury. However, that is not a sign that he won’t be on the field this season.

“I've seen a lot from Darius. Darius is ready to play,” head coach Chris Ash said this afternoon. “I know a lot of people ask why Darius didn't scrimmage yesterday, because I'm not nuts. He's one of our best players. I'm not going to get him hurt before we get to a game.”

And what was Hamilton’s reaction to not playing?

“Stuff like that sucks, especially for somebody like me. I would be out there any chance I get, but I have to understand the process,” Hamilton. “This is the best I felt in a long time, so I am going to keep pushing.”

Hamilton also mentioned that his health is not something that should be in question.

“I am almost at 100%. I have actually done a lot of team work through the first week of camp. I got to be out there and I do a lot of contact. I think everything is working out just fine.”

Ash offered up his own endorsement of Hamilton’s play.

“I look at the offensive linemen that line up against him in practice, and I'm not seeing a lot of guys that have a lot of confidence in beating Darius right now. And that's not to take away anything from the offensive line. I really like the way our offensive line is playing, but I think Darius, his play is at another level, and he's feeling really good. He's practicing extremely well.”

There is also a noticeable change in Hamilton’s game over the past few months.

“I can tell the difference between the spring and the fall with the way he moves,” defensive line coach Shane Burnham said on Sunday. “He is more explosive. Part of it is mental. I think he has gained some confidence in where he is in the rehab process. And part of it is physical, he put on a lot of weight. I think he sees the benefit. I think part of the reason we are where we are with his knees is that he played so undersized inside. I think his knees probably took a beating because of it.”

Hamilton has gone from playing around the 250-pound mark to now weighing in at 285 pounds.

“It is a lot of fun,” Hamilton said of playing with the extra weight. “At first, it wasn’t because of all the conditioning. That was not any fun, but the dividends are paying off. I can definitely see how much this weight is going to help with my game moving forward.”

Rutgers will scrimmage again next weekend before the close of camp, but don’t expect Hamilton to see any action then either.

“I'm not going to put him in a position where he's potentially going to get injured before we play a game,” Ash said.