The Rutgers football team’s linebacker group will look a little different in 2022 than it has the previous few seasons. Gone are the likes of Olakunle Fatukasi, Tyshon Fogg, Drew Singleton, and Tyreek Maddox-Williams, and in are a slew of freshmen and sophomores battling for playing time.
Those guys, along with Deion Jennings, the lone senior, are being coached by new position coach Corey Hetherman, who came over from James Madison and Maine before that.
“It’s been great. The culture here, how welcoming everyone has been, has been great. We have a great group of guys,” Hetherman said after Tuesday’s spring practice. “They work hard and they’re talented, and they attack the day whether it’s meetings, in the weight room, or out here at practice. We’re excited about everything that’s been going on.”
At Rutgers, Hetherman reunites with the Scarlet Knights’ latest defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak. The two met and first coached together at Springfield College in 2010, and then at Maine from 2015-18.
“Joe’s family,” Hetherman said. “We met back at Springfield and then worked together at Maine for four years. To come back and work with him again, I’m excited. He’s smart and works hard. Plus, working with coach Schiano here at Rutgers, it’s an exciting time.”
Hetherman has been leaning on a few older players in the room such as Jennings, and those who have gotten some run on defense like Tyreem Powell and even Mohamed Toure.
“Those guys have been great. We do have some guys who have played a little bit whether that’s on special teams, or in our base packages, or on third downs. Everyone is competing right now and learning. They are doing a good job,” Hetherman said. “The older guys are stepping up and communicating with the younger guys and helping them with techniques and fundamentals. The older guys have come in and gotten extra work like taking care of their bodies or getting in extra film. They are working hard and I think we’re seeing improvement from the first practice to today.”
Asked who has started to separate themselves, Hetherman pointed out Jennings and Powell. Jennings has played in 34 games in his career and has made 65 tackles (6.5 TFL) with an interception. Last year, Powell played in 13 games with three starts and totaled 20 tackles with an interception, pass breakup and fumble recovery.
“Overall, I think our group has made great strides,” Hetherman told TKR. “Deion Jennings right now is doing a good job. Tyreem is starting to step up. But overall, our younger guys too are coming along and are understanding their fits and where they need to be coverage wise. Everyone’s taking a step and we’re growing. In today’s practice, the way we came out and the way we handled the end of practice, to see some of them struggle early on, put it behind them and learn from it, it’s exciting to see how we finished.”
Two other young prospects who have a chance to see the field are true freshman Anthony Johnson and Moses Walker. Both enrolled early in January and are going through spring ball. They each were rated as four-star recruits coming out of high school.
“They love football. That’s the first thing. Both of them. They attack the ball in practice and they do a good job in the weight room and with their nutrition,” Hetherman said. “They are buying into the culture and the environment. They may misfit things early in practice, but later on do it the right way. They’ve made strides, and the biggest thing is being able to handle adversity and doing something wrong and then being able to handle that. We’re excited about those guys and I think they can contribute.”
Hetherman was all business and talked as such when he stepped up to the mic. Halfway through spring practice, his linebackers are already improving, and he wants to see more as camp unfolds.
“We want to improve every day. We want to make sure where we started in the first practice to after the spring game, we want to see improvement every day. That is communication, technique, and fundamentals. That’s the No. 1 thing we’ll look at.. We want to play faster every time we take the field.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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