The Monday Morning Kickoff
A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)
Rutgers kicked off last week with the addition of grad transfer running back Gus Edwards of Miami, who will be competing for a starting tailback spot this summer.
“It is a great opportunity to get back home for my last year and be closer to my family. I really like where Coach [Chris] Ash has the program heading,” Edwards said. “Coach [Jerry] Kill is going to come in and do a great job with the offense and I have a great bond with the running backs coach [Lester Erb]. I think I could learn a lot from him. I think I could come in and make an impact.”
Meanwhile, recruiting continued in the class of 2018 as Penn State commit Chris Bleich (Plymouth, Pa.) made a visit to Rutgers this past Friday.
“The visit went well, I enjoyed myself down there,” Bleich said. “I toured the campus and facilities, and met with the coaches. Coach [Dan] Spittal was the guy I was with whole time, but I did talk to coach [AJ] Blazek throughout the day.”
There were other visitors on campus last week and that included Woodrow Wilson High (Camden, N.J.) athlete Travon King.
“The visit went really good,” King said afterward. “I talked with the staff, toured campus, and met with Coach Ash.”
Later this week, Rutgers will hold its annual pro day on Friday with a contingent of NFL hopefuls set to perform in front of NFL scouts. In the meantime, stay logged onto The Round Table for all the latest Rutgers recruiting and team news.
The take from center court (Rutgers Basketball)
Rutgers won its final regular season game in dramatic fashion on Saturday as junior Deshawn Freeman hit a three-pointer with 7.6 seconds left to give the Scarlet Knights a 62-59 win over Illinois.
"There was a great environment today," head coach Steve Pikiell said after the win. "The students, the community, the season ticketholders, the dance team, the cheerleaders, the band, everyone was tremendous. What a great win on senior day."
That concluded Pikiell’s first season as Rutgers head coach as he finished with a record of 14-17 while going just 3-15 in the Big Ten.
The team is not done yet as it will open the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday night against Ohio State. The game will take place at The Verizon Center in Washington D.C with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
On the mat (Rutgers Wrestling)
It was a big weekend at the Big Ten Championships for 141-pounder Anthony Ashnault as he made good on his No.1 seed. For the second straight year, Ashnault earned a Big Ten title.
Ashnault did so by dominating Michigan State’s Javier Gasca 15-2 in the championship match.
“The mindset was the same. Score a lot of points, but I wanted to get on him quick because we knew he’d probably break mentally. That’s kind of what happened,” Ashnault said via RU communications. “I got on him right away and was just pulling on him the whole time and got to that takedown. Once I got on top I got my two on one, got that roll through tilt that I always get so that really opened up the match. From there I felt pretty dominant.”
Next up for Rutgers is a trip out to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 16-18. Five other RU grapplers have already qualified for the national tournament this weekend and they include 133-pounder Scott DelVecchio, 149-pounder Ken Theobold, 157-pounder John Van Brill, 184-pounder Nicholas Gravina and 197-pounder Matthew Correnti.
The remaining Scarlet Knights will wait to hear their names on the NCAA Wrestling Selection Show which will take place on Wednesday evening.