The Monday Morning Kickoff
It's time for the return of The Monday Morning Kickoff as Scaret Nation gets you caught up on all the latest Rutgers news.
A view from the gridiron (Rutgers football)
Rutgers head coach Chris Ash brought an end to his second offseason coaching search last week. The hire of Corey Brown adds yet another new face to the staff. Brown coached last season at Miami-Ohio, who finished with a 5-7 record in the MAC. The search was similar to the offensive coordinator search, which ended with the hiring of John McNulty. In both searches, Ash went through a long list of candidates before finally settling on these two new additions.
Brown was on campus for the Rutgers Junior Day yesterday, which brought a collection of talent to Piscataway.
Highlighting the visitor list was Hun School running back Josh Henderson, who talked about the trip.
“The visit went very well. We were able to speak to all of our position coaches, mine being Coach [Lester] Erb. He was very informative, I got a chance to see some of the recruits. It was cool to get a look at what the future holds for Rutgers whether it be football wise, facility wise, or even academic wise.”
Henderson had plenty of company and Scarlet Nation features a bevy of junior day reactions inside The Round Table.
Offers continued to go out last week as the coaches were able to get back out on the road. One of those offers went to in-state wide receiver Taj Jones of Pope John.
“It felt amazing honestly, to be able to tell my mother and see the smile on her face,” Jones said. “Also, it is amazing knowing all my hard work on and off the field is being noticed.”
On the mat (Rutgers wrestling)
The No.18 Scarlet Knights hosted No.1-ranked Penn State yesterday in front of a packed house at The RAC. The 8,319 fans in attendance saw the Scarlet Knights push Penn State in what wound up being a 25-15 defeat.
“I thought we went out to wrestle to win in most spots,” head coach Scott Goodale said. “I thought the effort was awesome. I think we were going out there to try and score points, have fun, wrestle hard, and be aggressive. In some spots we are outmanned, I get it. But, I’m proud of the way we wrestled.”
The loss dropped Rutgers to 5-5 on the season and the team will take to the road this Friday in its next matchup against Northwestern. That will be followed by a Sunday dual meet at Illinois.
The take from center court (Rutgers basketball)
Depth issues look like they are beginning to wear on Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights wound up on the losing end of a 60-43 defeat at Penn State on Saturday. Rutgers shot just 31.4% from the floor and made only eight field goals in each half.
"Credit to Penn State," Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said post-game. "They're coming off a win over a great Ohio State team. They're very talented. We couldn't score today, and sometimes that affects us on the defensive end as well."
Rutgers is now 12-11 on the season and will return to the court Tuesday night for first of two season matchups against Illinois. Tip -off is set for 7 p.m. EST.