One catch for nine yards.
Accustomed to the wide receiving duo of Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood, it has been some time since the Rutgers football team saw numbers like that for a starter on its depth chart.
With the departure of Britt and Underwood and the dismissal of Dennis Campbell, that is the position the Scarlet Knights find themselves in, and no one is more excited about the opportunity to fill their role than the owner of that one catch, junior Julian Hayes.
“I’m excited because when opportunity comes, you’ve got to take advantage of it,” Hayes said.
That is something Hayes has attempted to do while lining up alongside senior Tim Brown with the first team offense this spring.
Hayes is complementary to the diminutive Brown, last season’s slot receiver and an almost certain pick to earn a starting spot.
While Brown stands at 5’8” and weighs 165 pounds, Hayes is 6’1” and 215 pounds.
“He’s got a big body,” said senior quarterback Domenic Natale, an early frontrunner to be RU’s signal caller next season. “If the ball’s a little high, he’ll go up there and catch it — he’s a big target.”
Freshmen Marcus Cooper, Keith Stroud and Tim Wright are among the other players competing for the wide receiver spots and are even bigger than Hayes, but head coach Greg Schiano has expressed confidence in the junior.
“Julian, I think, has grown up each year and gotten better and better,” Schiano said. “If I’m him, I’m excited about my chances to compete.”
Other than Brown, Hayes is the only true wide receiver who has recorded a catch. Junior Mason Robinson has 12 career catches out of the backfield, but is working with the wide receivers this spring after playing his first two seasons as running back.
Despite underwhelming statistics, Hayes has appeared in 25 games the past two years, giving him some real game experience, Schiano said.
“Any experience is good experience,” Hayes said. “I don’t have a lot, but at the same time you have to take it for what it is because it’s the best I can do.”
Natale does not think that will be a problem for Hayes.
“He understands the game,” Natale said. “He played quarterback in high school and he understands the defenses … which is good.”
While Hayes may be penciled in as a starter now, the spring depth chart is sure to change before Cincinnati helps open the renovated Rutgers Stadium over Labor Day weekend.
“Right now he’s in the [starting] spot, but spots don’t mean a thing right now because we don’t have anybody that’s been a starter,” Schiano said. “So those two spots are wide open, depending on who plays [well].”
The fact that those spots are open is not necessarily a bad thing for Hayes — he has been waiting the past three years for that to be the case.
Stuck behind the positional logjam that was Britt and Underwood, Hayes waited his turn and learned from the NFL hopefuls the entire time.
“They helped a lot,” Hayes said. “When you watch two great players like them, you watch the good things they do and try to be like that. And then the little mistakes they make, you don’t have to go out and make the same mistakes — you can learn from it.”
Hayes and Brown, the elder statesmen of the Knights’ receiving corps, are not certain to fill Britt and Underwood’s vacated spots on the field, but they have already begun to show the same leadership skills.
“As the two older guys that have been here, I think naturally they kind of stepped into that leadership role,” Natale said. “The wide receivers are doing well, so I think they’re doing a good job.”
Hayes can be considered a guy who has just one catch for nine yards, or he can be viewed as someone who has paid his dues, waited for his opportunity and is already beginning to act the part.
From the latter point of view, the future is not nearly as bleak.
