International Bowl Recap

Rutgers pounds Ball State in 2008 International Bowl

Rutgers high-powered offense proved to be too much for their MAC opponent Ball State as the Scarlet Knights routed the Cardinals 52-30. The star of the game, and it's MVP, was Rutgers RB Ray Rice who broke his own Rutgers single-game record for rushing yards in a game with 280 yards and four touchdowns.This placed Rice third overall in NCAA History for rushing yards in a bowl game. It was also Ray's 8th straight 100-yard game, a Rutgers record, and the 6th 200 rushing yard performance of his career.The 280 yards left Rice with 2,012 yards for the 2007 season,the first 2,000 yard season in Big East Conference history. The win over Ball State marked the first time the Scarlet Knights have won back-to-back bowl games in the school's 138 years of football. QB Mike Teel led the Scarlet Knight passing attack with 303 yards and three touchdowns. Teel finished the season with 3,147 yards passing, second in school history. He broke the Rutgers single-season record for TD's thrown with 20 in 2007. The Scarlet Knights could not be stopped offensively, accumulating 595 yards of total offense and the most ever by a team coached by Greg Schiano. Jeremy Ito finished his career at Rutgers on a high note, nailing a 53-yard field goal, a personal record and International Bowl record. It was the 23 field goal made by Ito in 2007, another school single-season record. Kenny Britt caught 6 passes for 125 yards and finishing with 1,232 yards in the 2007 season, a new single-season Rutgers record. Tiquan Underwood finished second in school history for receiving yards in a season with 1,100. Eric Foster finished his Rutgers career with 2 sacks and Safety Courtney Greene led Rutgers with 10 tackles in the game. It was certainly a game for records as we saw the last games of Ray Rice, Eric Foster, Jeremy Ito, Ron Girault, Brandon Renkhart, among others. Rutgers finished their somewhat disappointing season on a high note and with 8 wins for the second straight year.
Keep Choppin',
Mike

Scarlet Knights add another top recruit to 2008 class

Top Florida RB De-commits from West Virginia to join Rutgers

Whether or not Ray Rice decides to leave early after his junior season, Rutgers will not be lacking in depth at the RB position. This week, the Scarlet Knights added yet another talented Running Back to their depth chart as Onterio McCallebb of Fort Meade, FL verbally committed to play for Greg Schiano at Rutgers. McCallebb is a speedster, who has been timed at 4.35 for his 40-yard dash and stands at 6 foot and 170 lbs. He is an athlete who has the possibility of running back, wide receiver and kick returner at Rutgers. His aforementioned speed is very dangerous in the open field and is a great addition to the Scarlet Knights. He was originally a verbal commit to Big East rival West Virginia, yet had a change of mind after the Mountaineer's lost head coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan. Coach Schiano and his staff were persistent and swayed this top track athlete to play in Piscataway next season. McCallebb is the second running back who has verbally committed to Rutgers this season joining Rashad White of Teaneck, NJ. White is also a very fast athlete, who has also been timed at 4.35 in his 40-yard dash. Rutgers could have a very deep depth chart at running back with or without Ray Rice and could look something like this:
1. Kordell Young
2. Mason Robinson
3. Onterio McCallebb
4. Rashad White
Coach Schiano might just have to call up USC head coach Pete Carroll for advice.
Keep Choppin'
-Mike

Big East Conference News: Rodriguez and Option-Attack head to Ann Arbor

Sorry for the lack of recent updates as not too much has changed since the last time I wrote. However, there has been a major shakeup in the conference recently as West Virginia's head coach Rich Rodriguez bolted to fill the coaching vacancy at the University of Michigan, the same team Coach Greg Schiano spurred to remain at Rutgers. This move means a lot to not only the Mountaineers, but to the entire Big East Conference. Rodriguez's departure leaves a vacancy at the head coaching position for the Mountaineers and with an interim head coach for the Sugar Bowl match up with the Oklahoma Sooners. How things have changed in the last few weeks. Rodriguez and the Mountaineers were one game away from playing in the National Championship game, but ended up losing to a huge underdog and losing their head coach. Along with Rodriguez, the Mountaineers will lose prospects, current players, coaches and most likely the offensive style that has harassed Big East conference defensive coordinators since the Mountaineers joined the conference. You would also have to believe that their star quarterback Pat White and RB Steve Slaton would leave early to enter the N.FL. Draft. Rodriguez, the architect of the Option-style attack, will bring his attack to the Big Ten, where many people believe his offensive attack will be even more potent against the slower Big Ten defenses. Although the conference loses a great coach, other Big East teams won't miss having to defend the Mountaineer's current offense.
Keep Choppin'
-Mike

Top Recruits to visit Rutgers this weekend

This weekend, Rutgers will play host to 11 recruits, some of the most talented on the East Coast, who all hold offers to play next season for the Scarlet Knights. Of these 11 recruits, 2 have already verbally committed over the past weekend. Players from Florida, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky are some of the states represented from those visiting. The 2 commits are highly touted QB DC Jefferson of Winter Haven, FL and WR Morgan Carter of Woodbridge, VA. One of the star prospects on the visit list is DE/TE Cory Liuget from Hialeah, FL. Liuget stands in at 6-3, 270 lbs. and is one of the top defensive ends in South Florida. Scout.com ranks him the #14 Defensive End in the Nation and a 4-star recruit. Other than Rutgers, he holds offers from LSU, Florida State, Miami, South Florida and has a soft verbal commit to Illinois. Also visiting are two talented corner backs from Florida in David Rowe of Cocoa, FL and George Baker of Miami, FL. Representing Bowling Green, Kentucky is Ryan Wallace, a 6-5 Tight End prospect who is rated the #28 Tight End prospect in the nation by Scout.com. Other top players are DT Zach Kerr of Gaithersburg, MD and WR Keith Stroud from Fort Union, VA.

D.C Jefferson Re-Commits to Rutgers

Star QB Drops commitment from LSU to become a Scarlet Knight.

The LSU Tigers have lost the commitment of D.C. Jefferson, the #1 QB in the state of Florida. Jefferson, who had committed to play for Coach Schiano over the summer, had a change of mind and committed to LSU in late October only to rejoin the Scarlet Knights 2008 recruiting class this week. Jefferson stands at 6-6.5 feet and 241 lbs. and is a star for Winter Haven HS in Winter Haven, Florida. This verbal commit is huge for Rutgers---as long as he doesn't change his mind again. The Scarlet Knights have also received verbal commitments from three other players in the past several days. They are Defensive End Marquis Hamm of New Brunswick, NJ, Athelete/Quarterback Wayne Warren of Salisbury, MD and Wider Receiver Morgan Carter of Woodbridge, VA. Hamm is a 6-4, 220 lb. DE from nearby New Brunswick High. Warren stands at 6 foot 1 and is a dual-threat athlete/quarterback. Carter is a Wide Receiver who stands at 6 foot 4, who turned down Michigan State and Connecticut among others to join the Scarlet Knights. With the recent verbal commitments, Rutgers has a solid 2008 recruiting class of 12 players that clearly addresses some of the team needs on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
Keep Choppin'
-Mike

Rice, Foster Named All-Americans

Rutgers RB Ray Rice and DT Eric Foster have been named All-Americans for the second consecutive season. The Sporting News named both Rice and Foster to their All-America Second Team after naming Rutgers freshman OL Anthony Davis and S Joe LeFeged to Freshman All-America Teams. Rice, who was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, ran for over 1,700 yards again this season and became Rutgers all time leader for rushing with 4,646 career yards on the ground. He is the first Scarlet Knight to rush for 20 touchdowns in back-to-back seasons. Rice was also named a Second Team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation. Foster finished the regular season with 62 tackles, 13 tackles-for-loss, five sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles. In addition, Rice and Foster were named to the All-BIG EAST First Team for 2007.
Keep Choppin'
Mike

Schiano rejects Michigan, Davis garners more accolades

Greg Schiano has denied reports that he is talking to another football team for the second straight season this week. Last season, Coach Schiano was contacted by Miami to become their new football coach, where he was the defensive coordinator before arriving "On the Banks". This season was no different as Schiano was a lead candidate for the head coaching position at the University of Michigan after Head Coach Lloyd Carr retired. Coach Schiano met with the team today after making a hard decision to turn down the Wolverines. When he arrived, he told the players he "still had work to do" at Rutgers. Schiano said, "this was a hard decision," which is according to a team staff member. He made a statement today saying, "I was contacted earlier this week about the Michigan coaching vacancy, but I have decided to remove my name from consideration. I look forward to our third straight bowl game and to bringing a national championship to Rutgers and the state of New Jersey. I will have no further comment." Good news for Scarlet Nation.
In other news, Anthony Davis has garnered more post-season honors, as the Sporting News named him to their Freshman All-American First Team, while fellow Freshman Joe Lefeged was named to the Honorable Mention Freshman All-American Team.