PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Samuel Brown V and Aaron Young did not play for Rutgers football on Sunday in a 24-7 win over Northwestern. Head coach Greg Schiano said after the game that both players are expected to contribute to the team soon.
Brown, who practiced this week, was ready to go if needed but the sophomore running back wasn’t called upon in what was a borderline dominant game from Rutgers.
Named the starting running back at the midpoint of last season, Brown suffered a foot injury in a win over Indiana where he ran for 101 rushing yards (on 28 carries).
He was announced as questionable on Sunday morning in a report from Pete Thamel.
“Sam and Aaron are both going to be okay but they just weren’t ready. Sam probably in a pinch could have gone, but he hasn’t practiced very much,” Schiano said after their game.
“He seemed to be good at the beginning, and then, you know, we had a little setback, but I think we are back on track now with him. Aaron had something just late in the week. He was all set to go,”
Neither running back was needed due to the yeoman-like effort of Kyle Monangai. He did a little bit of everything in the Rutgers win, including delivering a crunching block to set up a key third-down conversion.
[lawrence-related id=29756,29743]
With 4:05 left in the third quarter, Monangai went left, bounced out to a hole on the right side, then made a juke to get himself into the open field for a 1-5 yard touchdown run.
His touchdown capped off a nine-play, 60-yard touchdown drive and put Rutgers up 24-0.
In 2022, Monangai had 445 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 109 carries. He also had six catches for 31 yards.
Kyle Monangai breaks through to make it 24-0🔥
It is all Rutgers so far. pic.twitter.com/oRRrTdjdln
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) September 3, 2023
[lawrence-related id=29749,29738]
Rutgers limited Northwestern to 201 yards of total offense in Sunday’s Big Ten win. In turn, they didn’t turn the ball over and held possession for 37:59.