Bleed Scarlet is going on vacation this weekend. I do have a couple pieces in the can which will run next week. Hopefully, the Q&A with The Bulldog Bounce will go up soon. The bulk of my conference preview will have to be put on hold until I come back next Thursday. I am bringing a laptop with me, but I have no idea whether I will be able to post any news entries.
Are you clamoring to see more of Joe Martinek?
When I asked QB Mike Teel to evaluate the backs yesterday, what he had to say was very revealing: "Kordell has got 'it' the best. He knows what he needs to do as far as running the ball and in terms of his pass protection. Mason's a little bumped up, but he needs to continue to get better in his pass pro. Jourdan needs to continue to learn pass protection, that's something that he struggles with."
If quarterbacks were live (re: fair game) yesterday, Mike would've been killed once by safety Joe Lefeged and then killed again another time by corner David Rowe. Picking up those blitzes was not necessarily on the backs in at the time, but there is more to being a tailback than just running. And there's more to the running game than just the tailbacks. The numbers haven't been pretty in the two scrimmages, but that doesn't mean Kordell Young or Mason Robinson, or even Jourdan Brooks, aren't going to cut it. Remember, Mike is an absolute film hound - he spends hours in the video room, he regularly draws up plays for - and with - offensive coordinator John McNulty and I can guarantee you he knows who's missing what assignment when. And yesterday, Mike said of the running game: "it's not necessarily the running backs. We need to make holes for them, guys need to get the push. If you're getting hit three yards behind the line of scrimmage, it's not necessarily you."
Sounds like an endorsement of Kordell Young. However, Schiano did reward Martinek with more touches yesterday. Luicci also has some more depth chart notes from Schiano.
Schiano was tempering pessimism about the running game too. ESPN also announced that Erin Andrews will not be in attendance for the Fresno State game. She has been replaced by Rob Stone, so make sure to shout a lot of bowling jokes at him.
SNY kicks off its coverage of Rutgers and Big East football on Monday.
Take a look at some updated pictures of the Rutgers Stadium expansion at SK.com's multimedia section.
Rutgers ranks in at #34 in the completely meaningless preseason Sagarin ratings.
ESPN.com's Brian Bennett ranked RU's receiving corps as #1 in the Big East.
With the trade of Travis Daniels, Nathan Jones may find himself as the #3 cornerback in Miami.
Former Knights Ishmael Medley and Nate Harris are doing well.
Rutgers is teaming up with Princeton and NYU to receive a $10m grant from the National Science Foundation for research in computer science.
Former Rutgers women's soccer star Carli Lloyd has made a name for herself in Beijing during the Olympics.
Cappie Pondexter and the U.S. women's basketball team have advanced to the gold medal game.