4/30/2023 football Edit

Top players from the Rutgers Football spring game

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

The Scarlet-White spring game as come and gone for the Rutgers football team. This past Saturday, Scarlet topped the White, 21-19, in a scrimmage that saw the Scarlet Knights essentially evenly split into two teams.

GET TKR PREMIUM FREE FOR 30 DAYS — CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Many players sat out, and the weather was horrendous, but a handful of players still performed well and made splash on a cold, rainy, and windy day.

Let us know who else caught your eye.

RB Aaron Young (Richard Schnyderite -- TheKnightReport.Net)

Running back Aaron Young

The coaches raved about Young this past spring, saying he ran with great physicality. You saw that aggressiveness in the spring game as he ran 16 times for 76 yards (4.8 ypc) with a long of 14 yards. Young had a tough 2022 playing in just four games with limited snaps due to injuries, but you wouldn't know it watching him this past weekend.

"Aaron, coming back from the injury last year, I'm not sure he was all the way back. I'm not sure he's even all the way back now, but he keeps getting better and better," head coach Greg Schiano said. "I thought he ran more violently this spring, which is finishing off runs. If you run violently, you finish off the run. It's going to be the difference between a two-yard run and a three or four-yard run and that changes the complexion of two downs in that series.

Two years ago, Young finished with six touchdowns on the season. He ran 56 times and caught 12 passes.

"I think I'm an all-purpose back," Young said in early April. "Whether it's third down, running inside the gaps, or catching it, that's pretty much all-purpose, but we'll see how they use me here."

Wide receiver Max Patterson

Rutgers is in heavy need of wide receivers, and possibly Patterson comes to the forefront of the competition. Patterson is a third-year sophomore out of Virginia who has gone back and forth from defense to offense. Patterson has a good amount of speed, and he caught three passes for 34 yards and two touchdowns, one each from Gavin Wimsatt and Gavin Rupp.

"... We're growing up with the wide receiver position," Schiano said.

Running back Al-Shadee Salaam

The weather might have changed some of the play calling, but if you know new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, probably not. The Scarlet Knights are going to run the ball a lot on offense, and they have a stable of RBs to use including Salaam. A rising redshirt sophomore, Salaam had 11 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown for the Scarlet team. He averaged five yards a pop with a long of 14.

Last season, he has 210 yards and two scores on 57 carries to go along with nine catches.

"Al-Shadee Salaam, he has another gear," Schiano said. "He's a guy that has some special speed and explosion. And we have to find ways to utilize him. So like I said, the running back room I think is a deep room. I'm excited about that."

Defensive back Bo Mascoe

Mascoe is a freshman in the 2023 recruiting class who enrolled early this January. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound DB from Florida made his presence known with a big hit on Salaam in the first quarter down near the goal line. Mascoe also made an open field tackle to force a fourth down later in the game and tallied four tackles with an interception on a Hail Mary to end the first half.

Defensive tackle Stanley Dennis II

Dennis might not play this season given other options ahead of the walk-on along the defensive line, but he certainly flashed ability that he could play in a pinch. The 5-foot-11, 285-pounder form St. Peter's Prep registered six tackles (1.5 for a loss) and forced a fumble near the sideline as he chased down the ball carrier from behind.

Defensive end Kenny Fletcher

Fletcher got blocked out in the run game a few times, but was effective with his pass rushing. Fletcher had seven tackles with half a sack. He just another piece of the puzzle along the d-line. As a freshman in 2022, he had 1.5 sacks.

"Some of the depth on the D-line is starting to show up," Schiano said. "To see some of those young linebackers get out there and play and do a good job and know what they're doing and make tackles, that's good. And then we put a lot of guys in the secondary well today. So overall, productive spring."

Quarterback Evan Simon

Simon took care of the football which is always a plus. He completed nine passes for 71 yards and made good decisions. He also used his legs to the tune of six carries for 21 yards and a touchdown on an RPO. Simon is battling Wimsatt for the starting job come the fall.