The Monday Morning Kickoff
The Monday Morning Kickoff returns to get you caught up on all the latest news in the Rutgers sports world.
A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)
Rutgers hosted a contingent of official visitors over the weekend and many who attended were already committed to Rutgers. Among them was the first commit of the 2018 class, Paramus Catholic defensive back Jarrett Paul.
“The other commits and I got real close this weekend,” Paul said. “It helped that we all kind of knew each other before the trip even started.”
Conway (S.C.) offensive tackle Raiqwon O’Neal was on campus after taking previous official visits to Indiana and Maryland. O’Neal told Scarlet Nation he is still committed to Rutgers and mentioned what else he liked about the weekend.
“My favorite part of the visit was just getting to know everybody. Meeting everyone there and just seeing all the players I didn’t get to see on my visit during the summer.”
To cap off the weekend, Rutgers sent wide receivers coach Jafar Williams and special teams coach Vince Okruch to check out senior Daevon Robinson score three touchdowns in Shawnee’s 41-6 state final victory over Hammonton.
Robinson confirmed with Scarlet Nation again last night that he will be on campus for an official visit in two weeks while he will visit Baylor next weekend.
In team news, senior punter Ryan Anderson became the first ever RU player to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors last week.
“I am honestly blessed. I didn’t come into this year with high hopes of what I would do,” Anderson told Scarlet Nation. “To make first team Big Ten by the coaches and media is something I could only dream of.”
Scarlet Nation also confirmed over the weekend that fourth-year junior Marcus Applefield is transferring out of the program.
The take from center court (Rutgers Basketball)
Rutgers saw its winning ways halted last week with a 78-73 loss to Florida State that was followed up with an 89-67 loss last night to No.12 Minnesota in its first road game of the season.
“We played a really good team on the road today. I have them a lot of credit,” head coach Steve Pikiell said afterward. “I knew it would be a tough game coming in. Jordan Murphy is a terrific player, he had a double-double. Nate Mason showed why he's a First Team All-Big Ten player tonight. We can't give up 89 points in a game at home, on the road, or anywhere else. Our defense wasn't what I was hoping for. You have to play great defense to win against a team like this.”
Freshman center Mamdou Doucoure scored a career high 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers is now 6-2 and will be back at it on Tuesday inside The RAC against No.4 Michigan State.
On the Mat (Rutgers Wrestling)
The No.11-ranked Scarlet Knights took their first fall of the year, losing 22-16 at Lock Haven on Friday night. Rutgers wrestled again without Anthony Ashnault while Richie Lewis was also a no-go.
The dual was locked at 16 apiece going into the final bout, although senior heavyweight Razohnn Gross was pinned.
“Honestly, we got out butt kicked,” Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale said. “Other than our first two guys, who we expect those performances from, they out-wrestled us in every single position. We did a lot of laying on our belly. We couldn’t get off the bottom, so that was disappointing from that standpoint. Their game plan was great, they were in better shape than us, they were tougher than us and they out-hustled us.”
Rutgers is now 3-1 and will get back at it Friday with a home match against No.7 Iowa.