The starting safeties -- and those in the rotation -- for the Rutgers football team will look a lot different in 2019 than it did last year.

Saquan Hampton and Kiy Hester are both NFL Draft hopefuls and Damon Hayes is now back at cornerback.

In the scrimmage this past Saturday, Christian Izien and Tim Barrow started at strong safety and free safety, respectively. Malik Dixon and Naijee Jones also spent time at the strong while guys like Lawrence Stevens and Jarrett Paul were at the free.

“It was up and down. It was very inconsistent,” safeties coach Noah Joseph said of his group’s play in the scrimmage. “We have a lot of young guys and you’re going to have that. We’re still trying to figure out who can play where and what they can do and just rotating guys. All the attitude’s have been awesome.”

The aforementioned safeties on the team are young and inexperienced. Dixon is a senior, but he didn’t play last year and was at linebacker last spring and summer and while Stevens is a junior, he’s only seen the field on special teams.

Izien and Zamir Mickens are both redshirt freshmen and Barrow, Jones, and Paul are all sophomores.

Hampton started 27 games and played in a total of 39. He was the team’s MVP last season. Hester started 19 games in his career and played in 30.

Is there a concern about the youth and inexperience and replacing the production from the last few seasons on the back end of the defense?

“Yeah, there’s always a concern,” Joseph said. “We lost really good players and we moved Damon Hayes back to corner. It’s fun though because they have good skillsets. Like we did (Saturday), we just have to let them play ball. They’re going to have some good plays and some bad plays. It’s about working and learning from mistakes.”

While hiccups will come, the unit has done well over the course of the spring. Joseph called Izien the top safety on the team so far.

“He’s very, very explosive and twitchy. He understands the game and has a natural feel for it,” Joseph said. “He makes plays left and right. He’s the been the guy who has been the physical tone-setter for our secondary.”

Paul made the switch from cornerback to safety to help out the team. Both he and coaches believe it’s a good fit.

“He’s been awesome. We were worried about him (when he switched from cornerback) like is he going to be physical enough. He actually is," Joseph said. "His biggest thing is when you’re back there, you have to control things and you have to be talk and be vocal. He’s honestly been a really good surprise. He’s got unbelievable skill and he’s been physical.”

Dixon has been limited at times this spring, but “stretch armstrong”, which former outside linebackers coach Toby Neinas nicknamed Dixon last year at this time, has made his mark.

“He just makes plays. He might be totally wrong, but he’s a natural football player and he’s got unbelievable length and skills,” Joseph said. “He might be dead wrong, but all of sudden, there’s the football and Malik making plays. We just have to hone him in and help him understand what he’s supposed to do when he’s supposed to do it.”

Barrow, like Paul, was a cornerback first when he arrived to Rutgers but is now playing safety.

“He’s done great. The thing about Tim which is awesome is when you walk past him in the hallway or when we’re in a meeting, he always has a smile. He works really hard at the game and he cares,” Joseph said. "He has to be more consistent, and that’s a common theme with young guys working on their eyes and being more physical. But, he’s leaving everything he has out there on the field.”

Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.