Media day was held on Saturday, and Schiano named the team captains.
For the offensive, there will be two captains: Seniors QB Mike Teel and WR Tiquan Underwood. And for the defense, it will be four players: DT Pete Tverdov, LB Kevin Malast, S Courtney Greene and CB Jason McCourty. All four are seniors.
A couple quotes are up on SK.com. GS singled out Noonan, Munoz, and Kitchen as standout players. You can also watch the 30-min video for yourself. Schiano also reiterated that there is no stadium-related escape clause in his contract.
The team also held its first scrimmage on Saturday. Early reports on Kordell Young were positive. Afterwards, Fooch from MSG interviewed Tom Luicci.
ESPN's Bruce Feldman also visited practice.
Mike Teel and Kenny Britt have the NFL in the back of their minds.
#27 is out of circulation again.
True freshman David Rowe said he never thought twice when he was handed a jersey upon his arrival. Team officials assigned him No. 27 - which happens to be the number worn by Ray Rice, the greatest running back in school history.
"I put it on the first time and a few of the guys went crazy, saying `Look, he's got Ray Rice's jersey,' " said Rowe, a cornerback. "I finally looked down and realized it. I had to tell the coaches I didn't want to wear it."
Rowe now has No. 4 - his high school number and the same number worn by Rutgers back-up quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne.
Sargeant: How Greg Schiano found Mase Robinson.
Mike Gilmartin is a player that we don't often hear about.
Per Aditi:
Billy, at 9:26 p.m. and two hours and 36 minutes into the practice, was the only Knight to go down Saturday. He was ultimately fine, though, and when a reporter (not me) mentioned to Greg Schiano that Rutgers had gotten through five days without an injury, Greg was in a good enough mood to teasingly call the reporter evil.
Actually, five days in, Greg's been in better spirits than any camp I remember. He pronounced the first tackling session "good," he praised his team for playing "with a lot of emotion," and he admiringly said, "there were some good thumps." Even his frustrations were kind of tame. The things that went badly were "a couple of goofball things," and when he later explained the one time he stopped practice - because the Knights were in a tempo they call "thud," where players are not tackled to the ground and everyone's supposed to remain standing - he said it was because too many tacklers were bringing their guys down. "They were actually playing very well," Greg said with a chuckle.
I recall the mood at last year's camp, under the pressure of a lot of preseason expectations, being rather joyless.
Last week, the Bergen Record put a video of the team's first practice on its website. it's importantly to remember that Greg Schano and the Rutgers AD very closely control their public image - the goofy, humble, cliches-spouting Schiano of press conferences is a very different man when the public is not around.
Looks like the AP finally is on board with the truth about the buyout.
Brian Leonard's final line from Saturday night - 5 carries for 12 yards. Eric Foster also recorded a sack for the Colts. NFL.com has the video if you're the masochistic type.
For anyone looking for Fresno State updates, I strongly recommend visiting The Bulldog Bounce.