11/29/2020 football Edit

Rutgers Football's Cruickshank turns the tide with 100-yard kickoff return

Craig Epstein

Rutgers.Rivals.com

Following last week’s loss to Michigan, Rutgers was able to come out on top in a hard-fought matchup against Purdue 37-30 and improve to 2-4 while snapping a four- game losing streak in the process as well.

The turning point in the game came in the form of a 100-yard touchdown return from junior transfer Aron Cruickshank in the third quarter that cut Purdue’s lead to 30-27.

“I thought we were going to need a big play in the kicking game,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said. “I didn’t know what that big play was going to be but I thought that was going to be something we were going to need. Aron [Cruickshank] and everybody did a great job on the play, Coach [Adam] Scheier did a great job scheming it up and the kids executed it very well.”

From that play on Rutgers was able to shift the momentum in their favor and run the ball at will against Purdue en-route to outscoring the Boilermakers 24-7 in the second half

“Basically I saw what we did at practice, we’ve been repping that a lot and finally we got the kick that we wanted,” Cruickshank said. “I just trusted my teammates and we finally got it. I’ll say that was the play that got us fired up and after that it was sky’s the limit.”

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Despite only having one reception for the day, Cruickshank could feel a big return coming and complemented senior defensive back Lawrence Stevens for his block down the field.

“I had to get one sooner or later, it was long overdue and the guys are just working their tails off, it was a crucial moment,” Cruickshank continued. “It’s just kind of the culture, we play for each other. He trusted me and I trusted him and we just made it work.

"After the kickoff return I went up to him and said, ‘I appreciate you bro.’ Without his blocking I would have had to make another guy miss and who knows if I would have gotten the touchdown.”