PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The addition of two veteran wide receivers this offseason as well as some young, emerging underclassmen has made the wide receiver room a competitive one for Rutgers football. The most senior player in that room, Shameen Jones, sees the competition and depth playing itself out on a daily basis.
Jones is set to enter his fifth season at Rutgers and wide receiver projects to have a significant role in the offense. He does so with some significant talent coming into the room this offseason.
Rutgers added upperclassmen Taj Harris (Syracuse and Kentucky) and Sean Ryan (West Virginia) this offseason via the transfer portal. In Saturday’s first scrimmage of training camp, Jones said that the wide receiver group did a nice job against a seasoned and deep group of defensive backs.
“We had a very back and forth kind of scrimmage. We did a lot of good things executed a lot very well throughout the whole scrimmage,” Jones told RutgersWire on Monday.
“So I think we’re going in the right direction.”
It was a point echoed by head coach Greg Schiano during his weekly press conference. Adding playmakers to the offense was a point of focus this offseason and now with the additions of Harris and Ryan, the returning wide receivers such as Aron Cruickshank and Jones will have some balance to the offense.
“I think we have depth at the wide receiver position, it is just about competition,” Schiano said.
“We generally play three at a time. So who is going to be the first three and then who is going to be the next three that sub in.”
With all this competition, there is an elevated intensity at practice with the group. The wide receivers are under the direction of new positions coach Damiere Shaw.
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Training camp, Jones says, feels much like Saturdays given the competition and battles for playing time.
“I mean, it’s just like a game day, every practice will treat it like a game day,” Jones said.
“You come out and you’d go as hard as you can you make the plays that come to you. And if you don’t, we’ll see what happens.”
Last season, Jones had 35 catches for 334 yards.
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