Scouting Rutgers: Offense

The Bulls are facing a must win game on the road and will be facing an offense that can change up their formations and is loaded with weapons. The defense has given up a lot of yards and against the playmakers of the Knights, it could be another long night.

The Knights can run a power game at the Bulls, but will also run the zone-read and spread offense, making it hard to judge what they will do next.

Offensive line

The Knights are anchored by sophomore center David Osei (6-4 280-pounds). His back-up is senior Caleb Ruch (6-4 298-pounds). Freshman Betim Bujair (6-4 290-pounds) is starting at guard while sophomore Antwan Lowery (6-4 301-pounds) is his back-up. Senior Desmond Wynn (6-6 295-pounds) is the other starting guard while senior Art Frost (6-8 310-pounds) is his back-up (big time size at the guard position for the Knights and expect both players to play). Freshman Kaleb Johnson (6-4 298-pounds) is the starting tackle with senior Desmond Stapleton (6-5 280-pounds) is his back-up. The final tackle position goes to sophomore Andre Civil (6-3 275-pounds) with sophomore Matt McBride (6-6 294-pounds) as his back-up.

We can see the Knights have a solid offensive line, but the speed rush of Giddins could be a little much for them to handle, especially with a true freshman under center. The Bulls have to force pressure and get to Nova whenever they can to slow down their offense and cause turnovers.

Quarterback

Freshman Gary Nova has taken over at quarterback for the Knights (another freshman starting for Schiano). The 6-2 210-pound signal-caller has played well this season despite losing 3 straight games. He is 91 for 178 so far, throwing for 1125 yards including 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He is young and the defense will try to confuse him and force him into bad throws and cause turnovers. His back-up is sophomore Chas Dodd (6-0 200-pounds) who completed 64 of 127 passes for 754 yards, including 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions before he was replaced this season.

Running backs

The Knights are led by another freshman at running back. Jawan Jamison (5-9 198-pounds) is a fast back that has 143 touches for 541 yards on the season (including a long of 69 yards) and 3 touchdowns. His back-up is freshman Savon Huggins (6-0 200-pounds) who has 54 carries for 166 yards and 5 touchdowns. Sophomore Jeremy Deering (6-2 205-pounds) has 19 carries for 75 yards as well.

The Knights use a fullback a lot as well. Senior Joe Martinek (6-0 200-pounds) has 15 carries for 122 yards on the season. He has caught 19 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, so look for him to come out of the backfield and make a play (doesn't it seem like he has been at Rutgers for the last 10 years?). Freshman Michael Burton (6-0 232-pounds) has 3 carries for 13 yards.

Receiving

Sophomore tight end Paul Carrezola (6-2 241-pounds) has 4 receptions for 35 yards and one touchdown on the season. D.C. Jefferson (6-6 258-pounds) has 9 for 90 yards and poses a big size disadvantage for the Bulls defense.

Junior Mohamed Sanu (6-2 215-pounds) is one of the best receivers not only in the Big East, but in the country. He has 70 receptions for 731 yards and 7 touchdowns (unreal). He also has 3 carries for 14 yards and has completed one pass for 9 yards. Kavyon Webster will have a hard time locking him down on the night. His back-up is junior Timothy Wright (6-4 221-pounds) who has 10 receptions for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns. The other receiver is junior Mark Harrison (6-3 230-pounds) who has 14 receptions for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns. His back-up is freshman Brandon Coleman (6-6 220-pounds) who has 4 receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown.