The Monday Morning Kickoff
A new week in the scarlet nation means that it's time for The Monday Morning Kickoff to get you rolling with the latest news in the Rutgers sports world.
A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)
Rutgers head coach Chris Ash did not waste any time replacing offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer as the staff received an upgrade last week when former Minnesota head coach 2014 Big Ten coach of the year Jerry Kill joined the staff as the new OC.
“You don’t want to go in and change everything [in the offense],” Kill said last week. “My job is to make sure that as new guy coming in, to work with the staff we have, and look at what we did a year ago. There will probably be some things we keep in and some we will move out and some additions to what we need to do. We want to be able to spread the field and we want to be able to get people out of the box. When there are too many in there to run, you have to have an answer. We won’t go very far away from what Rutgers has been doing.
“But we will add some stuff in that I think will be critical to the quarterbacks that we have. It is going to be a quarterback friendly offense, I can tell you that. We want to use our quarterbacks’ legs as well as their arms.”
Meanwhile, class of 2017 RU quarterback commit Johnathan Lewis of St. Peter’s Prep had the chance to speak with Kill after the hire and offered his thoughts on Rutgers’ new OC.
“He has a great reputation, he coached many quarterbacks that went on to do great things. He coached a winning team and I'm excited to have him as a part of Rutgers.”
While it was a bit of a slow week in terms of recruiting, things should get a little busier this week. On Saturday of, Tennessee class of 2017 defensive end Tijaun Mason will announce his decision, choosing between Rutgers, Purdue and Toledo.
Stay logged onto The Round Table for the latest on Mason and up-to-the-minute news on Rutgers recruiting.
The take from center court (Rutgers Basketball)
The RU hoopsters suffered just their second defeat of the season this past Friday, losing on the road to Seton Hall by a final of 72-61. Rutgers actually held a nine-point halftime lead, but could not sustain it against a very solid Seton Hall squad that is now 10-2 on the season.
“We’re close,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said after the game. “We have to learn how to finish some things and we have to do a better job of executing down the stretch. You saw some minutes there, where we have a chance to be a really good basketball team.”
That game completed the Scarlet Knights out-of-conference schedule as Rutgers stands at 11-2 heading into Big Ten play. The competition will get intense in a hurry as the Big Ten season opens up with a road contest Tuesday night at No.14 Wisconsin with tip-off set for 7 p.m. The game will be aired nationally on ESPN2.
Rutgers also received a boost for its future last week when 4-star center Mamadou Doucoure of Our Savior New American School (Centereach, N.Y.) committed the Scarlet Knights. Doucoure is Rivals.com’s 81st-ranked prospect in the national class of 2018.
“I choose Rutgers for many reasons. My relationship with Coach [Brandin] Knight and how hard Coach Pikiell recruited me," Doucoure said. "The proven track record with the coaches on staff and it's a perfect league for me. I am a tough dude and I plan to show it with hard work. I won't take anything for granted.”