2017 Captains Chosen for Rutgers Football

This evening, Rutgers released their captains for the 2017 football season

The captains for the coming season are junior linebacker Deonte Roberts, redshirt senior offensive lineman Dorian Miller, redshirt senior defensive lineman Darnell Davis, and graduate transfer quarterback Kyle Bolin.

Deonte Roberts is a true junior who played in all 12 games as a freshman and started all 12 games last season as a sophomore. He played HS ball at Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, NY.

Dorian Miller redshirted as a freshman, played in four games as a redshirt freshman, started in 10 games as a redshirt sophomore, and all 12 games last season. The 6’2”, 300 lb lineman played HS ball for Metuchen HS in Metuchen, NJ.

Darnell Davis was a walk-on who also redshirted as a freshman, and played consistently following his redshirt season, playing in 10 games as a special teams player as a redshirt freshman, all 12 as a redshirt sophomore and redshirt junior, and starting in eight of those games. Davis completed his high school career at Avon Old Farms HS in Avon CT, and is a Union, NJ native.

Kyle Bolin is in his first year at Rutgers, having come as a graduate transfer from the University of Louisville. Bolin also redshirted as a freshman, and played in four games as a redshirt freshman, seven games as a redshirt sophomore, starting in five of those games, with a 3-2 record as a starter. Last season appeared in six games off the bench, playing behind 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. Bolin graduated from Louisville in May and transferred to Rutgers to complete his last season of eligibility.

Davis’ choice as a captain is particularly heart-warming as he was a walk-on out of Avon, who caught the eye of former Rutgers coach Doug Graber, who encouraged him to take a shot at Rutgers. That he is ending his career as a team captain says a lot about him, and the ability to create your career at Rutgers.

The choice of Bolin as one of the team captains probably also puts a exclamation point on the choice of a starting quarterback for the coming season as well. The coaching staff have been tightlipped about the quarterback race, and has been spoken about carefully, never denoting that any one of the three main competitors has the edge. However, the choice of Bolin as a team captain probably lets the cat out of the bag.

Just yesterday, our managing editor Aaron Breitman made his prediction as to who would be chosen. He correctly predicted Dorian Miller and Kyle Bolin, but missed out on the other two. Don’t feel bad, Aaron, if it were baseball, a .500 average would have you in the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, in sports writing, it just makes you half right...