The Monday Morning Kickoff

Training Camp is now in full swing and there is plenty of football going on in Piscataway. The Monday Morning Kickoff gets you ready for a new week, which will feature all free content that will last through Friday, as we bring you the most comprehensive coverage of Rutgers Football.

A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)

Rutgers opened up its Saturday scrimmage to the public and more than 2,000 fans turned out to watch the Scarlet Knights' first intrasquad matchup of the summer. RU Athletic director Tim Pernetti spoke to the media on Saturday following the scrimmage.

"I thought it was great," Pernetti said. "I don't know how you guys felt about it, but I can tell you, our fans are great fans and they do it through thick and thin...I thought it was terrific to see the line when I pulled up to the Hale Center this morning of people waiting to get in."

On the offensive side of the ball, sophomore quarterback Gary Nova had himself a solid day completing 14-of-20 passes for 171 yards, including one touchdown and one interception. Nova remains in a battle with Chas Dodd for the starting quarterback job.

Dodd completed 5-of-14 passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns.

"Their job is to go out there and battle for the starting quarterback position and my job is to go out there and make it easy for them and try to give them confidence," said Brandon Coleman, who hauled in three catches for 50 yards. "We trust both of them, they both won games for us and they're both good leaders."

Head coach Kyle Flood has yet to announce a leader in that race but did acknowledge that Nova had the better day on Saturday.

Sophomore running back Jawan Jamison drew reactions from the crowd with a couple of nice runs on his way to 66 rushing yards on 14 attempts. Jamison looks to have picked up this summer where he left off as the MVP of the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl.

"Training is going really well, getting in and working with my teammates," Jamison said. "We're meshing really well now and I think we're starting to click on all cylinders. This year, the expectation is to get over that hump and be the next running back to get over 1,000 yards rushing."

The last running back to come closest to the 1,000 yard mark since the Ray Rice era was Joe Martinek, who rushed for 967 yards in 2009.

Saturday also marked the first live college scrimmage for this year's crop of true freshmen.

"The first scrimmage was good," linebacker Steve Longa said. "I got my reps in and was trying to do my assignments. I think I did a pretty good job."

The Scarlet Knights will return to the practice field today with the first two-a-day of the summer. The first practice will begin at 8:30 a.m. while the second one will commence at 4:30 p.m. Two-a-days will continue on both Wednesday and Friday.

Scarlet Nation will have updates immediately following practice along with featured articles on what took place during each session.

As previously mentioned, all content this week will be completely free.

Scouting the future (Rutgers recruiting)

There was plenty of talent watching Saturday's action as Rutgers welcomed a host of recruits to Piscataway. RU's first commit to the class of 2013, Anthony Cioffi was among that contingent.

"It was awesome, I can't wait [to get there]," Cioffi said of Rutgers. "All of my future teammates and recruits that I met were great men."

Cioffi was not the only RU commit in attendance. He was joined by TJ Taylor, Myles Nash, John Tsimis, Justin Goodwin, Kemoko Turay, Eric Wiafe, Christopher Laviano and Sebastian Joseph.

"The defense was up tempo, nasty, in your face," Joseph said. "I loved everything about the day. It just made me love the school even more honestly."

Uncommitted class of 2013 wide receiver Ishmael Hyman also stopped by with close friend, class of 2014 Manalapan wide receiver Saeed Blacknall.

"The scrimmage was intense," Hyman said. "The coaches were happy to see me and asked when I plan on making a decision and to take my time if I didn't know. Rutgers is definitely in my top 3."

Other class of 2014 visitors included Ramapo's Jimmy Hogan and Timber Creek's Adonis Jennings, both of whom hold Rutgers offers.

One of Rutgers' major targets in the class of 2013, Metuchen offensive lineman Dorian Miller, was not in attendance due to an unofficial visit he took to North Carolina. However, Miller is planning to attend Tuesday's practice at Rutgers, one day prior to the beginning of Metuchen's summer practice.

Stay logged onto The Round Table for continual recruiting updates as the week moves on.