Trey Sneed adapting to life as a college freshman
College life has gotten off to an early start for Rutgers freshman running back Trey Sneed. He enrolled for the spring semester out of Fleming Island High School in Fleming Island, Fla., and has jumped right into the grind of life as a student college athlete.
“The academic staff, I can’t say anything bad about it whatsoever. All you can do is praise them, just the way they stay on us,” Sneed said. “We have tutors for every class and they are so helpful in getting us prepared for the class. You pretty much always have somebody in your face making sure you are on top of everything. We have this thing called 'book check' and we have these time management sheets and your academic advisor goes over it with you one-on-one to make sure you are planned out for the day. It is definitely a busy schedule but they make sure you are never overwhelmed and that you always have guidance.”
Sneed has also jumped right into team workouts, which have included regular start times of five and six o’clock in the morning.
“I have never experienced anything like this, but I actually like the morning workouts. You feel energized for the rest of the day,” Sneed said. “…If you are not giving the right effort, they are not shy about letting you know. They are going to let you know and we are going to redo it again. Effort is the only way you can actually make it through.”
Sneed also talked about what has stood out most about the new strength and conditioning staff.
“I would say the energy they bring. Every strength coach, every coach in general, when we are out there, they give nothing but their all. They give you nothing but energy. You could just see how bad they want it for us and how they want us to want it. …They want us to hold each other accountable. You are starting to see that a lot more, even in only two weeks.
"Leaders are starting to emerge and you are starting to see everybody pick up the slack of everybody. I think we see what we are capable of. We see what we can become in just two weeks and we are definitely excited about the direction this program is going to go.”
Sneed has also gotten a chance to start learning the x’s and o’s of the new power spread offense that Rutgers will be running this fall.
“It is a running back’s dream. For the most part, you are pretty much always in the open field. You look at Ezekiel Elliot, taking nothing way from his O-line, but just seeing how the [Ohio State] offensive scheme set up the holes he was able to have, it just seemed like he was always in open field and then his true talent was able to kind of come out. [Offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer] told all the running backs that this is going to be a run-happy offense. Running backs will be pretty pleased in this offense. I am pretty excited.”