Spring Practice Notebook

Sophomore running back Jourdan Brooks will not need surgery to repair the right leg that he injured Wednesday at practice, but he may miss the remainder of the spring, according to Rutgers football team head coach Greg Schiano.
With Brooks and junior running back Kordell Young, who is still rehabbing his knee from a previous injury, out for Saturday’s scrimmage, Schiano looked to other running backs to make an impact.
And they did.
In the Scarlet Knights’ first scrimmage of the summer and first time playing in Rutgers Stadium since trouncing Louisville at the end of last season, the remaining running backs on the depth chart carried the offense.
Sophomore running back Joe Martinek continued to show his ability to make plays, running the ball 12 times for 73 yards and one of three Rutgers touchdowns, but it was a walk-on that truly turned heads at practice.
Sophomore Tyrone Putman, also a triple jumper on the Rutgers men’s track and field team, got a chance to play with the second team because of injuries and he made an impact, running for over 160 yards on 26 rushes.
“I look at it as if I keep working hard, I’ll keep getting better,” Putman said. “It was a surprise [to work with the second team], but I still continue to work hard … I wasn’t used to [that many touches] at first, but as it went on and the drills started running, I just kept on running.”
Putman came to Rutgers after receiving offers to play football at smaller schools because he said that he wanted to go to a bigger program. He said that he came here intending to walk on to the football team along with jumping for men’s track coach Mike Mulqueen.
“It’s a great opportunity. I thank God for the opportunity and I thank the coaches for the opportunity also,” Putman said. “I’m in a good position right now ... We have a lot of great running backs here. It’s great working with Mason, Jourdan and Joe. Basically it’s given me the opportunity to actually play so when I get in, I try to do my best and I keep on working hard.”
Putman, who wears No. 22, is likely to see an increased work load in the following weeks with Brooks and Young out.
“He’s going to have to continue to build himself up, but he really has some ability and we’re excited that he can provide depth [at running back],” Schiano said.
But no matter which running back was out there, he seemed to find success behind an experienced offensive line. Sophomore Ben Boursiquot ran for over 80 yards with the third team during the three-hour long scrimmage and junior Mason Robinson broke a 54-yard run, the longest play of the day.
“The offensive line is really coming together and we’re just starting to communicate better and better,” senior center Ryan Blaszczyk said. “[Our experience] is a big advantage. A lot of guys are looking up to me because I’ve been here for a long time and I know the offense and a lot of the little things, so I’ve become more of a teacher.”

Despite the strong day on the ground, Rutgers passing game was not nearly as successful on a day with 45 plus mile per hour winds.
Senior quarterback Dom Natale threw the most passes, 32, but completed just 15 of them and threw an interception.
“It’s a tough day to be a quarterback in this wind, but I thought that they competed their rear ends off so to me, that’s a positive,” Schiano said. “They’ve got a lot to learn.”
Natale also threw the team’s lone touchdown pass of the day.
“I was happy with the guys. They came back and were really able to put their head down,” Natale said. “We had a rough start to practice but we just kept going, kept playing.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback D.C. Jefferson worked with the second team, completing seven of 17 passes to go along with two interceptions to senior linebacker Damaso Munoz, and redshirt freshman Steve Shimko worked with the third team, completing five of nine passes.

Rutgers’ depth is also waning at wide receiver as two redshirt freshmen, Marcus Cooper and Eddie Poole, are now injured.
Schiano said Cooper got hurt in a non-football accident and his status is unclear for the spring. Poole got hurt Saturday while run blocking. Schiano said that Poole had an ankle injury and that his already injured knee was fine.

Freshman Mohamed Sanu, a safety that enrolled early at the University, was the lone man returning punts for the Knights Saturday as Robinson spent time at first team receiver and running back.
“He’s very comfortable underneath the ball,” Schiano said. “It doesn’t get harder than today [to return a punt]. I thought he did a pretty good job … He’s a great athlete and generally that’s what it takes to do that … Maybe next week we’ll go live [on punts] and see how he does.”

For the first scrimmage, the first team offense included sophomore Desmond Stapleton, filling in for injured senior Kevin Haslam at right tackle and Robinson at receiver alongside senior Tim Brown.
The defensive first team included senior Blair Bines and junior Charlie Noonan at the two defensive tackle spots, Munoz and junior Antonio Lowery at the outside linebacker spots, sophomore Patrick Kivlehan filling in for injured junior Joe Lefeged at safety and junior Brandon Bing at the No. 2 corner back spot.