Brendan Prunty talked spring practice on Friday with a Rutgers fan, and it's rather long (90 min) and in-depth. I finally got a chance to listen to it over the weekend. A couple thoughts:
- Prunty was alarmingly down on Dom Natale. You just have to hope that the weather was a factor, and he'll improve over the summer.
- No debate here on Martinek being the guy at RB. Regarding Kordell Young - the ongoing knee problems are a big concern. If he's healthy though, he potentially provides more speed and athleticism at RB than the other backs. I want to see what he can do behind a better line.
- The one, absolutely sure thing this year is Ryan D'Imperio. I've used the McKillop comparison too, maybe with more speed. If Ryan was healthy in '07, he would be coming into this season with that level of hype.
- As down as Prunty was on the passing game, he seems to have very high expectations for this season, and the coming years. Tom Savage will be a disappointment if he doesn't win two conference titles? We need to be bringing in Matt Stafford-level QBs in four years?
- Some of that comes from not having a lot of respect for the competition in-conference. Rutgers, West Virginia, and Pitt have all brought in good players over the past few years. They tied for second last year, and all have similar questions going into '09. And actually, I'm not saying Jarrett Brown is even close to Pat White as a player, but he's a worse matchup for Rutgers than White, being a better passer.
- Similarly, being so dismissive of Maryland bothers me a little. They did come to Rutgers two years ago and win (if only Jordan Steffy had stayed in the game!) A lot of people around the country have similar disrespect for Rutgers, and it's annoying when you come across that. So this general line of discussion isn't my favorite.
- Lastly, Prunty mentioned that Pete Tverdov had "other interests", and may not pursue a career in the NFL. That would be a shame.