The Monday Morning Kickoff
A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)
The Rutgers spring game took place this past weekend and shortly after the last second ticked off the clock, Paramus Catholic defensive back Jarrett Paul went public with his decision to commit to Rutgers.
“I choose Rutgers first because of how close to home it is. It’s nice that my friends and family get a chance to see me play,” Paul said. “I like how Coach Ash is a former DB coach. I really trust him a lot with my development and I was looking at the amount of guys from the surrounding area they have as well. I want to be at a school where I’m comfortable with a group of guys. Also, I saw their DB depth for the future and I can come in and make a contribution pretty early. Plus, it’s the Big Ten. I can compete against the best like Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State.”
The weekend also brought Louisville grad transfer quarterback Kyle Bolin to campus and Scarlet Nation has learned that visit went extremely well as Rutgers stands a very good chance of bringing him to the banks for one season.
Out on the field, Rutgers used a thud tempo to finish off the spring in the annual Scarlet-White game.
“I thought we had a good spring practice, good offseason,” head coach Chris Ash said following the spring game. “We definitely are ahead of where we were a year ago at this time. We do have some holes at certain spots because of injuries throughout the course of last season and the offseason, a couple in the spring. We'll get some guys back that will definitely make our football team look different in August.”
Two of the highlights of the spring was the promise shown by senior defensive end Kemoko Turay and junior linebacker Deonte Roberts.
“Obviously, Kemoko did not do a whole lot here in the last few practices of spring and that was by design,” Ash said. “He really was dynamic in the first part of spring and he had some bumps and bruises and we were not going to chance him getting hurt because he's a different level for us, and we need to keep him healthy and keep him going.
“Deonte Roberts, again, I mentioned he was probably one of the most improved players on the football team here this spring and I would still say that today. Very excited about him and the improvement that he's shown this offseason and through the course of spring.”
The take from center court (Rutgers Basketball)
Last week, it was announced that Rutgers center Ibrahima Diallo will seek out a transfer and that came on the heels of forward Jon Laurent requesting a transfer as well. Those two join guard Nigel Johnson as the three defections from last year’s squad.
However, these departures will make room for some new Scarlet Knights as evidenced by the announcement of shooting guard Peter Kiss' transfer to Rutgers on Sunday.
“The main reason I left Quinnipiac and decided to transfer was the coaching change they had. I had a real good relationship with Coach [Tom] Moore,” Kiss told Scarlet Nation. “I chose Rutgers because of my relationship with Coach Pikiell and the confidence I have in building the program. I think he can definitely make it one of the best in country. Also, the school has some beautiful campuses and great academics that factored in as well.”