PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The strength of Rutgers football projects to be their defense. It is evidence, head coach Greg Schiano said, of his team’s improved depth on both sides of the ball.
Or as Schiano likes to refer to, a sign that his pipeline is beginning to flow.
With Rutgers set to enter a fourth season under Schiano, the program is finally starting to see the benefits of a rebuild two-deep and several solid recruiting classes. The defense Schiano inherited four years ago was light years ahead of the offense.
That defense has matured over the years and should be a top five unit in the Big Ten this year. It is a group of older players who have developed over he last three years and now lead he defense.
“There’s several of them and it’s nice,” Schiano said.
“I look at it as a pipeline. They are not all the way to the end of the pipeline but they are getting close. We have some guys that came in here, a guy like Aaron Lewis, came in here at 6-5, 212 pounds and now he’s 6-5, 262 pounds. That’s a pretty big jump, right?”
Schiano also pointed to a number of other veteran players including linebackers Tyreem Powell and Deion Jennings as well as secondary standouts Robert Longerbeam and Max Melton. These are players who Schiano sees as examples for what he has consistently called a “developmental program” at Rutgers.
“You play that out over a bunch of guys: Powell, Jennings, you just go down, Robert Longerbeam, Max Melton. Now they are all starting to become grown ups,” Schiano said.
“Are they at that full development stage? Not yet but it’s getting closer and closer. It’s been my experience when you get the guys on the back end of that pipeline if they are really working the way these guys are, that they are going to play well, so I expect them to play well and we need them to play well to win.”
If the defense can perform as a top-five unit in the Big Ten, then this team has a chance to be bowl-eligible. On Tuesday, Schiano said that he has seen his offensive line improve and develop this offseason as a unit.
[lawrence-related id=29625,29617]