PISCATAWAY, N.J. — There was a trio of new names for Rutgers football on the pregame availability report released on Saturday. None of the three names, it appears, would potentially be out too long.
The report, released before Saturday afternoon’s 52-3 win by Rutgers over Wagner, had the following three notable additions as unavailable for the game:
- Bo Mascoe (true freshman, has yet to play yet)
- Evan Simon (has yet to play this year but has played extensively the last two years at Rutgers)
- Moses Walker (two tackles, a forced fumble in one game played this year)
Head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag] was asked specifically about these three players and the reason why they weren’t available. Schiano started his answer by clarifying that the pregame release wasn’t purely injury-related:
“Well, it’s not an injury report. It’s an availability report. So don’t always attribute it to injury. Evan had tweaked something a little bit late in the week and he could have played, but we saw it as an opportunity there to get (Ajani Sheppard) in, and Evan to move on to next week and be ready to go,” Schiano said following the game.
“Then there’s some other things that are not always injury-related. Moses was injury-related. I think he’s going to be fine. Bo was not injury-related. He’s got a little something going on NCAA-wise that we’re trying to work through, so we’re continuing to work.”
Walker missed all of last year following an injury that he suffered in the spring.
[lawrence-related id=30595,30639]
Schiano mentioned Sheppard, who saw his first action as a true freshman. A former three-star recruit, Sheppard was 2-for-2 for 23 yards and had one run for 10 yards.
He showed some good pocket presence and poise when he came in late in the fourth quarter.