Rutgers' defense preps for top back in nation

Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah is unlike anyone the Rutgers football team has seen this season and distinct from any ball carrier the Scarlet Knights have seen in recent history. 

Abdullah is one of the top running backs in the nation this year and appears on many Heisman Trophy watch lists, along with other top awards for the NCAA. But it’s the multiplicity of his skill set that makes him dangerous, said Rutgers head football coach Kyle Flood. 

“[Nebraska is] a really, really fine football team with one of the premier players in the country, Ameer Abdullah … a first-round draft pick running back,” Flood said. “I don’t know what else you can say about him. Everybody in the stadium knows he’s going to get the ball, and yet he still averages over six yards a carry. He’s just a tremendous player, tremendous kickoff returner.”

Looking at the top rushing yards by a player this season, one would find Abdullah sitting near the top, as he’s third in the nation with 1,024 yards.

Abdullah plays for a Nebraska team that runs the ball significantly more than it passes the ball. The Huskers throw the ball only 37 percent of the time and have run the ball 337 times this season, roughly 48 times per game.

Going up against a top offensive weapon like Abdullah is something rare for the Knights, specifically at the running back position. For some, it’s a once-a-season kind of opponent. 

For junior defensive tackle Darius Hamilton, Abdullah is unlike any back he has ever prepared for.

“From a running back position, no, he’s not like any player I’ve ever played against,” Hamilton said. “He’s a great running back. He’s got great vision. He’s a power back when he needs to be, and he can cut it up with the best of ‘em. It’s gonna be a real big challenge stopping him.”

But for senior middle linebacker Kevin Snyder, it’s not something all too unfamiliar. Going up against a top offensive weapon like Abdullah is something that Rutgers has prepared for in the past and is something the team has faced at least once per year, Snyder said.

“Yes, he’s like other guys I’ve seen. But in the same sense, he’s the full package,” Snyder said. “He can do everything, and you don’t see a guy like that all the time. He’s a once-a-season type of guy.”

Flood acknowledged the challenge in trying to contain a top running back such as Abdullah. He said it won’t be possible to stop everything that he does because of the amount of times he will carry the ball, but it will be possible to contain him. 

“I mean, he is going to touch the football in every way that they can possibly have him touch the football,” Flood said. “Our job is to make sure that we do a good job getting him on the ground. He’s as good a running back as we’ve ever faced, so this is a tremendous challenge for our defense to minimize his impact on the game. Now, that is not an easy task, and to think that you’re going to eliminate him from the game, I don’t know if that’s a realistic expectation.”

With one practice already in the books on Sunday and the first rounds of film already watched, focus begins on how to neutralize Nebraska’s run game.

For Hamilton, the preparation starts with something unique to the team that is not outside the realm of normal weekly preparation. 

“I think you just have to stay on your keys and we just have to play our defense,” Hamilton said of slowing down the Huskers’ running attack. “Everybody has got to be in their gaps when they are supposed to be there, and we got to swarm to the ball. Teams can’t account for the swarm.”

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