Rutgers Football gets a visit on the BTN bus tour

I don’t think it was coincidence that the new practice complex was dedicated just before BTN showed up for its annual bus tour of preseason camps.

After a stop in Maryland the day before, the BTN bus headed up the Turnpike to Exit 9 and the home of yo-o-o-ur Scarlet Knights!

When Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, and Howard Griffith sat down at the BTN dais, it was in front of a brand new facility, one that didn’t look like a high school had abandoned it.

The 5:00 pm airing of BTN Live featured Rutgers (followed at 6:00 by THE Rutgers Classic, the 2014 RU_Michigan game) and several segments from the visit.

The one that everyone talked about the most was the sit down with Jerry Kill. DiNardo, a former coach himself, said his favorite part of the visit was seeing Kill. Healthy, fit, and ready to go.

There were a lot of positives, along with the expected question marks. Size and depth on both lines was questioned, although DiNardo did comment that there clearly had been improvement in size and strength of the players. And with the changes on the coaching staff.

Hopefully, this comment from Tom Dienhart will also be a true statement in games.

The secondary was highlighted, and an on-set visit from Blessaun Austin capped it. He showed that a Rutgers education is valuable as he deftly side-stepped a question by Revsine of which quarterback was ahead in the race to start. He said their coverage causes him to turn his back so he really doesn’t know who takes the snap. The guys appreciated his smooth response.

The Chris Ash interview was solid. This is now a second-year head coach; the answers were direct and on point. He said the first thing they had to do after the 2016 season was forget about it and hit the reset button. He got props from the crew for being willing to admit mistakes (Drew Mehringer) and to bring in people (Jerry Kill) with maturity, experience, and who have been to more than a few rodeos.

While Hobbs’ sit down wasn’t on the 5:00 show, he did spend time with the three BTN analysts and was more than willing to show off the new digs. And thanks to Jon Newman, it was reported on a Pat Hobbs tweet!

And the poise and vision of Hobbs came through as he talked about what Rutgers has done and what it hopes to do.

Back in the studio on the 5:00 edition of BTN Live, Rick Pizzo and Glen Mason talked more about the program, including the Guardian Cap being worn by RU lineman, LBs and RBs. Mason, a Colonia, NJ native who coached at Minnesota for ten years, talked about his own experience with players who had concussive symptoms and wore similar - though not as technologically sound - devices in the past.

But if you’re coming to New Jersey, you’re coming to eat. Gerry DiNardo owns a restaurant in Bloomington. He’s Italian. Trust me...he came to eat!

And, yes, that’s Anthony Cioffi’s family.

Leave the microphone, take the cannoli.