Rutgers nears quarterback decision, James assesses knee after scrimmage

PISCATAWAY — After a day of examining the film and evaluating the performance of the Rutgers football team’s first scrimmage of training camp on Monday, there was some reason to believe that Kyle Flood’s decision to name a starting quarterback could come after Tuesday’s practice.

But the fourth-year head coach, who gave a 7-10 day timetable from the start of the Scarlet Knights’ camp last week for naming Gary Nova’s successor, only revealed that the decision could be soon.

“I think we’ve got a really close race at quarterback, and that’s exciting,” Flood said after practice. “To see both guys out there and make a significant amount of plays in that scrimmage, that was really good. I think we’re probably still a couple of days away.”

He shot down the idea of a two-quarterback system for the Sept. 5 opener against Norfolk State, but Flood did say that he thinks the production he’s seen from both sophomore quarterbacks Chris Laviano and Hayden Rettig is a good sign.

“I think this is a really good situation we have right now because, ultimately, I don’t know that I’ve been here in a season where we haven’t needed two quarterbacks,” he said. “So, whoever ultimately wins the job is gonna have the opportunity to grow in the job. But there’s no guarantee that’s the guy who finishes the season either. You don’t have to look any further than the defending national champions to know that.”

Flood referenced Big Ten east foe Ohio State and the Buckeyes’ surge to take the inaugural College Football Playoff despite losing Braxton Miller for the season, JT Barrett in the final regular season game and having it come down to their third-stringer in Cardale Jones.

The verdict is still out there — and perhaps a bit far-fetched — in comparing the likes of Laviano and Rettig to Barrett and Jones, but redshirt-freshman Kiy Hester thought the two signal-callers looked crisp from his strong safety position in the defensive backfield.

“I feel like both of them played very well,” Hester said. “I feel like they’re both making plays and they both can lead the offense, so I’m very comfortable with either decision, whichever one coach goes with. I’m confident in both of them.”

While Flood said the decision could come at some point in the next two days, if it doesn’t, Saturday’s primetime scrimmage under the lights at High Point Solutions Stadium could very well set the stage.

“Watching progress,” Flood said of his quarterback evaluations for the next two practices. “We put in something today that we hadn’t had in, the defense showed us things that they hadn’t shown yet. So, now we just continue to evaluate how we’re handling those.”

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Since returning from injury, all eyes have been locked on Paul James as he continues his comeback from a torn ACL suffered 11 months ago

In first game-like action of training camp, the fifth-year senior unofficially took 11 carries for 27 yards in Monday’s scrimmage. Despite the crushing blow he took in Rutgers’ 34-21 win at Navy on Sept. 20, James hasn’t let that experience alter his mind or body.

“I don’t hold anything back,” James said after Tuesday’s practice. “You can’t hold anything back. Just go out there and play football. I feel like I definitely became wiser and smarter as to how I play the game with that, but I never hold back.”

As bulky as the jet black brace on his right knee may look, James tends to forget it’s actually there.

“I don’t even feel it to be honest,” he said. “I feel like I don’t even know it’s there. I don’t even notice it.”

Flood thinks he looks as good as new.

“He doesn't look like Paul James coming off an injury,” he said. “He looks like the Paul James who was one of the top running backs for us.”

As good as James may look and feel, Monday’s scrimmage provided a bit of a challenge. The Knights’ defensive line held the offensive rushing attack to an unofficial mark of 35 carries for 75 yards.

Given how inexperienced the offensive line is entering this year and how deep the running backs unit stands, those numbers raise eyebrows.

But James gives credit to Rutgers’ front seven, attributing the challenge of going up against an improved rush defense for the potential growth he and the tailbacks can see from the exposure.

“They make us better. We have a great, great run defense,” James said. “They’re great on stopping the run and that’s what we focus on, you know, run the ball and stop the run. Top football teams are able to do that and that’s what we focus on. They’re able to do a great job at it which makes us better running the ball, so when we get into game situations we’re able to run the ball.”

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Kaiwan Lewis has been upgraded to work exclusively with the first team defense, but that doesn’t mean he’s won the starting middle linebacker spot — at least not yet.

Flood said the South Carolina transfer would split the reps with junior college transfer Isaiah Johnson until further notice, but that the production Lewis has shown on the field since arriving to Piscataway has earned him more reps.

“We felt that Kaiwan’s performance dictated that,” Flood said.

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After being listed as limited in the first week and out before Monday’s scrimmage, Robert Martin was back out on the practice field for Tuesday.

The sophomore running back received a decent amount of reps with the first team all afternoon after dealing with a lower body injury since arriving to camp.

Before breaking out in the second half of the 2014 season with 434 yards and seven scores on 87 carries, Martin suffered an ACL injury in his senior year at Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) High School.

“First day he’s been back out here, so it was good to have him running around,” Flood said. “I think he’s close. I think he’s close to being 100 percent.”

For updates on the Rutgers football team, follow @GarrettStepien and @TargumSports on Twitter.