SOR's 5 Burning Questions, Part I

Jul 20, 2010 | By: Guest Blogger

As we reach the midway point of summer, the Rutgers football program is gearing up to begin 2010 summer training camp. As with any other college team, there are some burning questions that arise when taking a look at the 2010 edition of the Scarlet Knights. StateOfRutgers.com has examined the Rutgers football program and come up with five burning questions. In today’s installment, we’ll take a look at our No. 1 burning question going into training camp for the 2010 season:

What will the offensive line look like, will they be effective?

With bookends Anthony Davis and Kevin Haslam evolving into National Football Leaguers and longtime starter Ryan Blaszczyk graduating, Rutgers is faced with the task of replacing three long-time starters at premium positions. Rutgers is returning both starting guards in Outland Trophy watch list candidate Art Forst as well as 5^th year senior Howard Barbieri. Redshirt junior Caleb Ruch has also started at one point.

However, there is still concern amongst the fan base in regards to the three open positions as well as overall depth along the offensive line. While Rutgers has effectively stockpiled talent at almost every other position group, the offensive lines roles into summer camp surprisingly inexperienced.

In Rutgers’ recruiting class of 2007, besides Davis, the Scarlet Knights received offensive line commitments from Desmond Stapleton, Caleb Ruch, and Richard Muldrow to go along with Desmond Wynn who eventually ended up moving from defense to the offensive line. To date, Muldrow has transferred out and none of the others have been able to become full-time starters for the Scarlet Knights either. This is the big reason why there are gaps to fill amongst the line in 2010.

In order to address this issue, in the class of 2009, the Rutgers staff signed five offensive linemen in Rob Forst, Frank Quartucci, Betim Bujari, Chris Fonti, and Jorge Vicioso. Bujari and Quartucci arrived in the spring, giving them a head start on their classmates and allowing the staff to include them in their tinkering of positional alignments.

The first position needing to be addressed would likely be left tackle. Pure left tackles are hard to come by due to the huge responsibility they face in pass protection against what is often any defense’s best pass rusher. In Davis, Rutgers had the quintessential left tackle, but now that he is gone, Rutgers will likely try fourth year players Desmond Stapleton and Desmond Wynn or maybe even incoming freshman Jorge Vicioso on the island.

This coming season will be Stapleton’s fourth on the banks, and word is he has finally gotten it. In the spring, Stapleton improved as much as any other Scarlet Knight, and staked his claim as either the heir apparent at left tackle or possibly even right tackle.

Wynn is a former highly-regarded basketball player in addition to being that on the gridiron as well. The footwork that he learned on the hard-court makes him an ideal selection to be tried at the left tackle post. Therefore, Wynn had the opportunity to officially lock down a starting role in the spring. Unfortunately, he succumbed to old shoulder injuries electing to have surgery and wasn’t able to participate.

Vicioso is a promising tackle who plays the game with excellent leverage and promising footwork. Expect for his name to also be mentioned in talks about the position.

One luxury that offensive line coach Kyle Flood has along the line is the versatile Howard Barbieri, who can play any of the offensive line positions and be effective. Barbieri has been a starter for a good part of the past two seasons. He is very likely to end up at center, due to the imminent need of a leader at the position.

The hole at right tackle will probably be filled after the left tackle position is settled. In contrast to the left tackle position, there are a handful of players who could compete for playing time at this position. Right tackles generally need to have a similar skill-set as a left tackle, yet in most cases, they don’t have to deal with protecting the quarterback’s blind side. However, they are usually expected to be more effective run blockers.

Junior Art Forst may get a look here since he does have the long-arm build of a tackle and has shown flashes of ability. Desmond Stapleton will also have an opportunity to compete for time here if he proves to be a better fit on the right side. In addition to Forst and Stapleton, look out for redshirt sophomore Devon Watkis, who at one point was expected to be the heir apparent at left tackle. Inconsistency in practice has led to Watkis not yet breaking into the forefront as of yet.

At guard, redshirt freshman Antwan Lowery - who switched to offense in the spring from his original defensive tackle position - and true freshman Betim Bujari are expected to become “special”. Whether that happens as early as this year or not remains to be seen. Both will continue to compete for playing time at the guard position in 2010.

Reports out of spring ball indicate that both Lowery and Bujari have All-Big East potential. Lowery in effect has made great progress in his fitness, losing over 60 pounds in less than one year. He could very well eventually end up a starter at one of the guard spots sometime this upcoming season. Bujari is a road-grader who plays with a good pad level and a lot of explosion.

Caleb Ruch will likely begin the season starting at one of the guard positions, due to his experience level. He also has the ability to back-up at center as well.

Summer camp will also provide opportunities for players such as true freshman Frank Quartucci, Hofstra transfer and redshirt freshman Matthew McBride as well as redshirt freshman Jamal Wilson to make pushes for playing time.

The bottom line is that in order for the offensive line to continue its level of effectiveness previous to 2009, players have to step up. Linemen who have spent significant time in the program such as Stapleton, Wynn, Watkis and Ruch have a better opportunity than ever to get the repetitions in practice, improve, and contribute this season in actual games. Until that actually happens, the question remains: Can the next Anthony Davis, Ryan Blaszczyk, and Kevin Haslam please stand up?

Updated On: Jul 26, 2010 04:14 PM

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