Naturally, when the veteran QBs struggle in a team's first scrimmage, the spotlight on Tom Savage will only get bigger. I'm still expecting Natale to win the job, but it's nice to read that D.C. Jefferson is making strides. Tom Luicci and Brendan Prunty counsel patience (video) to the lackluster passing in the first scrimmage, noting the heat and noise, and that the team is still in the process of gelling. Stephen Edelson, who's apparently writing RU op/eds for Gannett now, is more alarmist. Luicci also said that there may be some depth chart movement tomorrow. Adam Zagoria has a lot more on the day, including updates on Julian Hayes and Blair Bines.
Ugh - Corey Chandler is gone, and this time for good. Chandler only brought this end on himself, but Fred Hill is equally responsible. Talented players leave in droves when a program is in disarray. LFBall rakes Hill over the coals for what happened to Craig Carter and Chandler. Like it or not, the Carter demotion especially is not going to go over well in the African American community.
Jerry Carino also has a bit about the hiring of Sal Mentesana, mainly that Craig Carter is shifting to recruiting coordinator. The reason that I speculated about Carter moving to an administrative position is because I have heard a lot about Carr and Savino recruiting on the road. I'm also curious to know about Mentesana's upside. Roy Rogers was supposed to be skilled at developing post players. Will Mentesana be a veteran sounding board for the inexperienced Hill?
Fooch talked with Jourdan Brooks and Ryan D'Imperio at Fanfest (video).
Val Barnaby is now a HS defensive coordinator.
Quick note - I have been linking articles from New Jersey Newsroom here when they have original content. Yesterday, Mike Vorkunov emailed m and said that they will be regularly covering Rutgers football. Noted, and link added.
As far as I know, that brings the list of news outlets covering RU athletics to Advance, Gannett, The Trentonian, The Targum, NJ Newsroom, SNY, the Press of Atlantic City (they have one writer covering camp, not sure what they're going to do during the season). Nor am I clear as to how often Fooch, Dick Weiss, Lenn Robbins, AP, News 12 (who doesn't put its content online), anyone from smaller papers or from Philadelphia, or anyone else visits practice. There are also the two premium sites. Bottom line: if you have a take on Rutgers athletics, I am happy to add a link.
In following up the Giants Stadium news, I have some qualms about linking this post (ht: TNIAAM) from Three Idiots on Sports. It does a good job of capturing the outrage in upstate NY concerning yesterday's announcement, but claiming that "Rutgers sucked for 100 years" is about is accurate as saying that the Greg Robinson error presented an accurate portrayal of what SU football is all about. Doug Marrone also booted their new freshman kicker from camp, the only scholarship one on the roster. Oh well though, because those two stories and Greg Paulus are being overshadowed by an old guy in Minnesota who can't seem to make up his mind.
UConn beatwriter Desmond Conner says that there's a hot rumor about Boston College wanting to rejoin the Big East. I doubt it, unless the ACC kicked them out, which plausibly could happen.