The Rutgers football team went through its fifth practice on Monday morning. Head coach Greg Schiano met with the media afterwards and discussed a few hot topics.
“I really liked the guys' effort and the energy they're putting forth,” Schiano said. “Our execution is still not close to where it needs to be, but I don't expect it to be with five installs. That's a lot of football that's on their plate. It's a lot to know a lot to remember. The thing that I'm pleased with is they continually go through the practice, and it's hot we're going at a fast pace. Very pleased, and when you do that over time, you get better.”
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Aron Cruickshank dealt with a shoulder injury last year that kept him out for a few games. Then his season ended in early November after tearing his ACL against his former team in Wisconsin. In all, he played in seven games with six starts, and was still second on the team in all-purpose yards with 743. He had 316 kickoff return yards, 244 receiving, 153 on punt returns, and 30 rushing with two receiving touchdowns and a punt return for a score. It’s less than a year since the knee injury, but Cruickshank is going through training camp practices at full speed as of now.
"Yeah, it's really big,” Schiano said. “Aron worked himself into being a really good receiver, not only a return man. He had the surgery so we were very concerned. We're not out of the woods yet, but he's making progress and he's taking care of himself and he's healing well, and he's playing. He's not full load yet, but he's close. We just got to keep bringing them along at a steady pace, but he needs to be a good a good player for us for sure.”
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Jamier Wright-Collins was first recruited in the Class of 2020 as an athlete. When he got to Rutgers, he started out defense playing linebacker and safety, but then he switched over to running back. There was potential there being 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, but with a numbers and depth need at linebacker, the Scarlet Knights have moved him back to linebacker during fall camp.
Right now he has to learn the defense and learn the position, but he could help the team there this season out on the field.
"We made that switch just the other day,” Schianos said. “He played linebacker in high school. He actually played safety here for two weeks when he first came, but we felt like we needed to bolster that group (linebacker), and he's somebody that's capable of playing in games if he learns the position.”
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Two of the three players who saw the most snaps on defense a year ago were safeties Christian Izien and Avery Young. There was just a lack of depth at that safety position.
This year, Desmond Igbinosun is a name to watch as one that could see significant playing time alongside either of them. The sophomore from Union played in seven games as a true freshman this past fall making 14 tackles. In the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, Igbinosun made his presence known with a four tackle day including two for a loss and a strip sack.
“There is,” Schiano said of potentially seeing Igbinosun out on the field starting. “Yeah, I mean, right now, we're trying to work through the different combinations, but that is one we've worked on for sure.”
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Drew Singleton's waiver appeal was denied by the NCAA Schiano disclosed. It's a crushing blow to not only Singleton, but this current Rutgers team's linebackers unit.
"Yeah, very, very disappointed," Schiano said. "The NCAA ruled against us. So there is another last step that we're certainly going to try. I'm really disappointed I stated my feelings beforehand."
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Rutgers still obviously has the week of practices to go before the weekend, but Saturday presents the first scrimmage opportunity for the team. Unlike the NFL or even high school where you can go up against another team, the inter-squad scrimmage represents the preseason games where the coaches can see where the team is at.
“The scrimmages, you don't get preseason games in college football, so the scrimmages are your preseason games,” Schiano said. “You don't get to scrimmage another team like you do in high school so you really don't get that opportunity. What you see is what you get on opening day. It's important that we run an efficient and effective operation as coaches on the sideline and in the press box. And then it's who can really handle the ebbs and flows of a game situation and being able to think about the situation and play accordingly. Some guys are just better at that than others. Some of it is experience and some of it is just their love of the game and how much they study it. That all comes out in that environment more than out here in this environment.
“I look for that because what we ultimately have to do is we have to decide on who the starting 11 are and then who the subs are. I tell our team that we weigh that more heavily than this. We evaluate it all, but we weigh those scrimmages more heavily because that's closer to what game day is.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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