Rutgers Second Scrimmage Report

Rutgers had its final scrimmage of camp yesterday. Greg Schiano can’t give a complete take on the second game until he reviews the film. The passing game looked as if it’s getting closer and closer to where it wants to be when the season starts, while the rushing attack sputtered.

It was said last week by Head Coach Greg Schiano that the week leading up to Wednesday’s scrimmage was very important.

The focus needed to be on precision as the team headed closer to the first game of the year. Schiano’s take on the second scrimmage was sort of down the middle.

“Some good, so not so good,” he said. “When you’re playing against yourself that’s usually the way it is.”

Schiano couldn’t give a more definitive stance on the game because he still needs to review the game film. Last week when the offense and defense went at it, the head coach thought the game was sloppy, but after reviewing the tape, things looked better than he first suspected.

One positive from yesterday was Mike Teel looked solid overall as he began the day 11-for-16 for 194 yards. He orchestrated two field goal drives and hit Kenny Britt for a 70 yard touchdown pass. In his final two series he led the team to scoring drives; both capped off by Kevin Brock touchdown receptions.

Brock’s first touchdown was a one-yard reception where he managed to hold on after bobbling it and taking a hit. The second one was a nine-yard dart thrown by Teel down the middle.

“I thought he played well,” Schiano said about his fifth-year signal caller. “He had one bad decision. I have to talk to John. I didn’t watch it all but I thought he made some really good throws too. Again I have to watch it. I’m on the field. I try to stand behind so I can see but it’s not a great view.”

Who will be the third receiver is still up in the air. Tim Brown was the starting slot receiver last year, but Dennis Campbell made a huge jump in the spring to put himself in the running.

“I think it’s still up for grabs,” “I don’t think Dennis is 100 percent. Timmy keeps building equity by the way he works and keeping his mouth shut. He’s working hard. He’s working his way back.

“The best thing is that hopefully when you have a bad situation or one that you wouldn’t like, something good happens. Hopefully we have more depth at wide receiver now than we did before the spring.”

The No. 2 quarterback spot has become very interesting the past week. Things are heating up between Jabu Lovelace and the up-and-coming Chris Paul-Etienne as camp is drawing to a close.

“They’re both getting better,” Schiano said about the QB duo.

Paul-Etienne made great strides and it looked like he would be bumped up to backup QB and take more snaps. Lovelace has the game experience though and Schiano said he’s the guy. What makes him a valuable commodity as the No. 2 QB is his running ability, which the coach said was a plus. That doesn’t mean the competition has stopped.

“Jabu is the guy,” he said. “Jabu has played in games. But there’s always competition.”

Both quarterbacks are still in competition to backup Teel because they neither has the track record of some of the proven vets to go through a bad spell and remain in the saddle, Schiano said.

While the passing game looked impressive, the running game looked the complete opposite. The rushing attack looked unable to garner much besides two big runs; one by Joe Martinek and the other by Mason Robinson.

Robinson had a 21 yard jolt and Martinek followed with a 31 yard scamper to get the ball inside the 10 yard line. Both runs came on the same possession. Schiano isn’t sure if the rushing numbers were low due to missed blocks or run stuffing defense, but said the run game must improve.

“I don’t know if we missed blocks or if we defended well early on,” he said. “We need to run the football better. That I think, but let me watch it and see why.”

On the defensive side, Zaire Kitchen caught the coach’s eye by making some plays in the secondary, including some noticeable blows to receivers who crossed his path.

“It seemed like he made some plays and that jumps out at you,” Schiano said about the junior safety from Highstown, N.J.

“He can certainly thump you.”

HIGHLIGHTS

In the red zone on third and 11, Lovelace was picked off by Devin McCourty who returned it 99 yards. McCourty just cut in front of the receiver and took off without anyone touching him.

D.C. Jefferson didn’t have a great day, but completed a nice to pass to Ken Gordon for 18 yards. He rolled out to his right and hit Gordon in the middle of the field with a defensive lineman right on his back.

Tim Brown had a beautiful 27 yard touchdown catch over Brandon Bing on a ball thrown by Paul-Etienne. He adjusted as the ball was in the air near the right corner of the south end zone, gained inside position on Bing and hauled the pass in. A holding penalty negated what was a terrific pass-and-catch.