Rutgers coach Greg Schiano narrowed the competition for the backup quarterback spot behind Mike Teel on Thursday, saying the battle is now between Jabu Lovelace and Chris Paul-Etienne.
Lovelace, Teel's backup last year, entered the preseason as the No.‚2 and Schiano said he still holds that distinction. But he added that Paul-Etienne will be given more opportunies to win the job.
"He's kind of separated himself from the rest of the pack to be eligible to compete,'' Schiano said of Paul-Etienne, a redshirt sophomore. "So if you set yourself apart, you need to give him a chance to compete.''
Paul-Etienne's endorsement presumedly leaves Dom Natale out of the backup competition, and also means that freshman D.C. Jefferson and Steve Shimko will likely redshirt this fall.
Not entirely unexpected given reports from the scrimmage. I sincerely hope that CPE wins the role. Jabu is a quality student-athlete, but he may help the team more at another position at this point - if Schiano and McNulty trust him so little that they only allow him to throw eight passes in a game. I'm a little disappointed that Dom Natale has faded, and will share some thoughts on that development in my upcoming QB preview. Guess he won't be pulling a Mauk and suing the NCAA in two years at least.
Ma$e is getting better, but
The sight of tailback Kordell Young ripping off two long runs during Rutgers' practice Thursday -- both covered around 60 yards -- only confirmed what left tackle Kevin Haslam has felt all along.
The potential is there for this to be a good running team, but the execution has been missing.
Alex Silvestro is adjusting to the DT position. So is Blair Bines.
How cool is Pete Tverdov?
But when Rutgers' defensive tackle paints his face, sports hunter goggles and dresses in camouflage gear from head to toe, Ryan Blaszczyk says he looked like Sylvester Stallone's war character Rambo when the Scarlet Knights gathered to play paintball earlier this summer.
CFN named Caleb Ruch as a redshirt freshman to watch.
SI.com picked Rutgers to finish 6th in the Big East. ESPN The Magazine (or rather, Mike Gottfried) picked RU 7th.