- Jamil Merrell seems to get hurt a lot; is he the new George Johnson? There's been a lot of good buzz about Merrell about DE over the past year, but that won't do much good if he's not on the field.
- Injuries are really starting to pile up - Des Wynn, Jamison, Deering, Watkis, etc.... Backup safety Rashad Knight is out for the season. That's a blow in that Knight is very promising, but Rutgers has enough depth at safety to survive his loss. This should certainly give Lorenzo Waters a bit of a leg up over Knight though, especially when it comes to competing with Wayne Warren for a starting job next season.
- The only real injury to worry about is Manny Abreu's. Rutgers's DL depth is decent with Booker having moved up, but they can ill-afford to lose Merrell or Abreu for any significant length of time, if not both. One considerable reason that Rutgers is so underrated at the moment as that guys like Merrell and Abreu aren't getting nearly enough credit, and they won't get that chance if they don't see the field.
- Steve Beauharnais (formerly SLB) and Ka'Lial Glaud (formerly MLB) switched positions, although that move should still be regarded as experimental for now. Timing's kind of weird after everyone made such a big show in the spring about how great Beauharnais looked as a freshman SLB, but he still has two years to improve.
- Quron Pratt's looking good at WR. Yeah, that's just what RU needed, another good receiver who needs to see more time. How screwed up is it that Pratt and J.T. Tartacoff could start for UConn? Might as well throw Miles Shuler in that mix too. Oh well, at least early reports on the lines are promising. The preseason media poll ranking looks sillier by the day, but we'll see if they're for real if/when Savon gets going in the first scrimmage
- Gary Nova apparently has a large lead in the race for backup quarterback. That's about what could be expected. He's going to be the #2. The real race between Nova, Bimonte, Rankin, and others begins in 2014.
- The second team LBs as of now are Jamal Merrell, Dave Milewski, and Edmond Laryea. Wouldn't be a huge surprise though to see a freshman like Quentin Gause or Kevin Snyder jump in there and forgo a redshirt.
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