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First camp personnel moves announced

The headlining move is that true freshman defensive lineman Darius Hamilton is moving from DE to DT, where many prognosticators thought he would end up to begin with. He may have to bulk up a bit more at DT, so this lessens the chances that Hammer will play as a true freshman. Likewise, with all the depth at DT, Jamil Merrell goes back to DE. You figure that nose tackle has Holmes and one of Page or Wright, while 3-technique is Vallone and Kirksey. Stephenson is out for the year, and no one has said anything about Mera yet. Now DE should be crowded with veteran depth - Glaud and Booker are at the R, with Thompson, Merrell, and Larrow on the strong side. That doesn't even take into account some of the other underclassmen. In other news, Andre Civil is having a strong camp, to the point where he is pushing Taj Alexander for the right guard job. At minimum then, Civil is ahead of Osei and McBride in the pecking order. Marcus Cooper is battling returning starter Brandon Jones at corner. Ben Martin also moved back from corner to RB, which makes near-term sense for depth reasons, but the greater need in the future is probably DB. In one last bit of news, backup fullback Paul Canevari is transferring. That hurts the team's depth, as there are only two other true fullbacks on the roster, and Sam Bergen has had multiple injuries. Unfortunately for Canevari, he has the same amount of eligibility remaining as Bergen, who switched from LB to FB. They both are behind a former walk-on in Michael Burton who looked like a real find in 2011 and has a strong chance to be a multi-year starter. Now Rutgers might have to think about signing another fullback this year or the next, and depth issues will always be on the horizon if any injuries crop up there. Update: looks like Jeremy Deering will see some time at S. That makes sense given how talented he is and the crowded WR depth chart. If it sticks, you figure him and Tejay Johnson are future studs in the secondary at minimum.

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