- Anthony La Lota is leaving the football team. This thins out the depth at tight end somewhat, but La Lota was unlikely to contribute. Going back to high school, he's always been more of a lottery ticket than anything else. If he would have developed; great. if not, that's no skin of RU's back. Football transfers usually don't contribute after coming to Rutgers, and he was no exception. Presumably, that's one more free scholarship for next year, which is a welcome sign.
- Ka'Lial Glaud moved from starting SLB to defensive end. This move is hard to interpret without knowing exactly what the depth chart looks like at DE with all of the injuries. What exactly does the two-deep look like, and when are the injured players expected to return? In terms of possible contributors, there's Abreu, Booker, Glaud, Merrell, and Larrow. Meisner started camp on the second team, and there's always the chance that Thompson could see time if he can ever develop more discipline.
- The upside of moving a LB to DE is Papa Beckford, who became a big contributor. Chenry Lewis is the downside, where a starting LB ended up buried on the DE depth chart for no reason discernible to observers. The only inference that seems obvious that Abreu was so good at LB last year that it'd make no sense to move him if he didn't start (assuming he's healthy.)
- The question now is: did Glaud move because he was needed at DE, or because Jamal Merrell and Kevin Snyder were looking good at SLB? How exactly did Jamal Merrell get in the conversation after a year of silence, while Jamil Merrell vanished after a solid year of steady hype? Is Snyder as for real as all of those Pennsylvania scouting reports seemed to claim last year? These interrelated topics are difficult to analyze absent more information.
- His scrimmage performance wasn't great outside of a long run, but the Rocket Williams praise continues. That's good, considering that Jeremy Deering is still out. Honestly, there are enough available bodies at WR, RB, CB, and S that the staff should be liberal with their use of redshirts if at all possible. RU has stockpiled so much talent in those areas recently that it will be difficult for everyone to play this year.
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