One of Rutgers Football's top performers on the defensive side of the ball last season was defensive end Mike Tverdov. Tverdov, who had arguably the best year among all the defensive linemen, strung together four sacks and six and half tackles in the final two games of the season.
Now after making a big leap in his play from 2019 to 2020, Tverdov expects a big year for not only him, but the defense as a whole.
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"Looking back at last year you know we all had a lot of obstacles thrown our way," Tverdov told TKR. "The entire country was in a pandemic and obviously that didn't help at all. We didn't even have spring ball and our fall camp was really hectic, the season was cancelled then it was back on and we were playing. We were just chopping our way through all that adversity and now that it is looking like we are going to have a spring ball, it's going to be a key part of our development going into next season. I think that we really just scratched the surface as a defense last year and there's a lot more that we an improve on an dit's really going to turn out for us next year."
Along with the pandemic, no spring ball and a crazy fall camp, the Rutgers defensive line also lost their defensive line coach for the season as Jim Panagos had to get a knee replacement surgery which caused him to miss the 2020 season. Now that he is back, Tverdov is eager to work more in depth with his position coach.
"It's been awesome," said Tverdov. "I've actually known coach Panagos since I was a sophomore in high school, we have a long standing relationship for a long time and I've been fortunate to have him in my circle. It was tough not having him last year, but I did learn a lot from coaches (Jamal) Westerman and (Charlie) Noonan, both of whom helped filled his role. The commaraderie that was built in this DLine room really transitioned over to this offseason and just having coach Panagos back is going to make us even better as a DLine going forward."
Going back to last season, Tverdov had a solid junior year as he finished the year with 11.5 tackles for loss and four sacks, which was a big upgrade from the 2019 season.
"I was just doing my job, that's something that really preached in this program," Tverdov said. "Don't put yourself before others and do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it. Sometimes there are going to be games where you don't make that many plays that you wanted to, but as long as your do your job that is all that really matters. It really came down to me getting a cluster of plays that I happened to make and that's just me doing my job, the defense that we are in and everyone doing their job that they are supposed to do. I'm going to build upon that and get even better this offseason to see what I can do next year."
Now that Tverdov has been with the program for a few years, he is one of the veterans among the defensive line and with being one of the elder guys comes more responsibilities as he is now helping the younger guys get accustomed.
"Just tell them to you know be comfortable, being uncomfortable," he said. "It's something that I learned early on and it's something that we preach in this program. Not everything can always be sunshine and rainbows here, there's going to be really hard days where you might question yourself, but that is what college football is about, just grinding through those tough days. They will you into a better football player and even more importantly a better man. So they are just getting used to the environment that they are in right now and all the young guys are doing a great job. They are in the middle of a pandemic and they are not making friends on campus, so they are dealt with a lot of challenges everyday. But I think the atmosphere in this program really helps them through that and is I can keep preaching that I think we are going to be really fun."
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