Rutgers Wire continues their 2022 Rutgers football season preview by taking a look at the linebackers.
With the regular season set to kick-off this coming weekend, it is time to get ready for the return of Rutgers football. The Scarlet Knights will be looking to improve over their 5-8 record in 2021. Despite finishing with less than six victories, they were selected as a replacement team for a bowl game last season. They stepped in for Texas A&M in last season’s Gator Bowl, resulting in a losing effort to Wake Forest. Head coach Greg Schiano was happy his team got the opportunity, but they will be looking to improve and earn a bowl game appearance outright this season.
Rutgers has struggled to find its footing during the program’s time in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights have not finished a season with a winning record since 2014 – their first season in the conference. In their ninth season in the power five conference, defense is key. This is Schiano’s third season since returning for a second stint with the program and he wants to continue to build the strength of his defensive units.
Let’s break down how the Scarlet Knights look in the linebacker room going into the 2022 season.
Part of building the defense is the fresh coaching staff brought in for 2022. Almost every defensive coach who was with the Scarlet Knights in 2021 was replaced in 2022. First year coaches include both defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak and linebackers coach Corey Hetherman. Hetherman comes from newly promoted FBS school and former FCS powerhouse James Madison, where he was the defensive coordinator.
Catch up on Rutgers Wire’s preview series here:
Quarterbacks Running Backs Wide Receivers Offensive Line Defensive Line
Hetherman and Harasymiak have an uphill battle on their hands. This group saw a major impact after last season as they saw four players – Olakunle Fatukasi, Tyreek Maddox-Williams, Tyshon Fogg, and Drew Singleton – leave either for the NFL or due to graduation. Singleton has tried to get his eligibility reinstated after unusual circumstances around the draft and the team’s participation in the Gator Bowl disqualified him from his final year of eligibility, but the team’s waiver request and subsequent appeal have both been denied. Those four players combined for 228 tackles last season.
On top of the players leaving, their depth was cut during spring practice when true freshman Moses Walker and linebacker/defensive end Mohamed Toure both went down with major injuries that will see them miss significant time. Toure will be out of action for the entire season after undergoing surgery. Walker joined the program in the spring as the top-overall recruit in New York.
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After getting off to a hot start last season as one of the best teams in the nation in turnover ratio through the first four weeks of the season, Rutgers ended up ranking No. 11 in the Big Ten in both scoring and overall defense. They will need young players to step up in a big way and battle through the adversity they have already faced from those spring injuries if they want to climb the rankings.
The injuries and departures will be challenging to overcome, but they also open up huge opportunities for some of the young players to seize. Sophomore Tyreem Powell and senior Deion Jennings are actually two of the more seasoned members of the position group.
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Although Jennings has seen action in most games during his time with the Scarlet Knights, it has been limited. Last season, he saw time in all 13 contests but only recorded five tackles with one tackle for loss. In his first two seasons with Rutgers, however, he recorded 60 tackles while appearing in all 21 games. He has four starts in 34 career games. With increased opportunities, he could easily return to making a major impact for the team.
Powell had a strong impact last season, recording 20 total tackles, two pass deflections, an interception, and a fumble recovery. The Vineland, New Jersey native saw time in all 13 games and had three starts – including the Gator Bowl. He was named 2021 Academic All-Big Ten and received the 2021 Douglas A. Smith Award. Schiano has been encouraged by Powell’s development:
“I think Tyreem continues to get better every practice. He really works hard at it. He’s physically gifted and he really wants to be great. So that combination usually works, as long as you work hard and he’s doing that. Just a matter of time. He doesn’t have a ton of experience just like our whole linebacker crew, so that’ll be the key.”
There are a few other players who will see increased roles – including Khayri Banton, Austin Dean, and Anthony Johnson. Schiano said earlier this month that the team also Jamier Wright-Collins, a running back who totaled 57 yards in the Gator Bowl on offense, would move over to linebacker to bolster depth. His experience on special teams and knowing how running backs think and move should help his transition be smoother than expected.
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Johnson and Dean both played well in the spring game, but both are young, to say the least. Johnson was a four-star recruit out of Neumann-Goretti in Philadelphia. 247Sports had him ranked as the No. 8 overall recruit in Pennsylvania and the No. 23 linebacker in the class of 2022.
Schiano has repeatedly stated that he plans to play a lot of people and that experience doesn’t matter when it comes to playing time. Still, how much time these players actually end up seeing this season remains to be seen.
Overall, the culture on defense has changed but they are missing several key pieces from both last season and players they expected or hoped to have this season. The Big Ten is going to be trial by fire for this group, but they will have a few weeks of non-conference matchups to get their feet wet before the daunting conference schedule begins.
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