Michigan Football: Getting the know the Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Ah, Rutgers. Brady Hoke found a way to lose to you, and Jim Harbaugh was a Joe Milton benching away from finding a way as well. Outside of those games, which are not to be spoken of again, Michigan football has not only won every matchup but has outscored Rutgers 234-50 since they joined the Big 10. That’s an average of 39-8. Not exactly a close series.

Rutgers has posed a credible threat at times though, and could very well do so again this year. Standing at an even 4-4 (1-4 in B1G play), Rutgers, well, isn’t the worst team in the conference, and will look to take advantage of a night-game crowd. While they prepare to do that, today we will take a look inside the Scarlet Knights.

From strengths to struggles on both sides of the ball, Rutgers poses some threats for Michigan football to watch out for and some weaknesses to exploit.

Offense

Statistically, Rutgers’ offense has been bad. They rank towards the bottom of the country in passing yards per game with 155 and even further down in points per game with 20. Their run game hasn’t been terrible, averaging 151 yards per game, putting them at 66th nationwide.

Rutgers’ quarterback situation has been a bit fluid this year. Their starter against Michigan football will be redshirt freshman Gavin Wimsatt, who is the highest-rated quarterback recruit the Scarlet Knights have ever landed, per 247 Sports.

This will be his second start, with his first coming in last week’s 31-0 loss against Minnesota. Wimsatt left the game with an injury in the fourth quarter but wasn’t playing particularly well before that, ending the day completing six of his 17 passes for 68 yards and an interception.

Behind him are backups Noah Vedral, who went 3-7 for 18 yards and a pick in relief against Minnesota, and Evan Simon, who entered the year as the starter but was passed by both Wimsatt and Vedral, and hasn’t seen the field since their October 7th game against Nebraska.

The Rutgers rushing attack has been better than their passing game but still isn’t great. Freshman Samuel Brown and sophomore Kyle Monangai have received the bulk of the carries, but have combined for just 586 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 3.85 yards per carry.

Just for fun, Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards have a combined 1,427 yards and 18 touchdowns, while averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Arguably Rutgers’ most effective runner has been Gavin Wimsatt, who has 17 carries for 115 yards.

Rutgers’ strength on offense is in its receiver core. Seniors Sean Ryan and Aron Cruickshank have both been solid, combining for 524 yards and four touchdowns, both of which are about half of the team’s totals. Cruickshank is also a threat on jet sweeps, as he has run the ball nine times for 93 yards and a touchdown.

This will prove to be an interesting matchup, especially with Germon Green’s status in question after suffering a concussion, among other injuries, while being assaulted after last week’s game.

Defense

Surprisingly, Rutgers’ defense finds itself in the middle of the B1G. They have given up 295 yards per game, just two spots behind Ohio State, and give up 22.5 points per game on average. There isn’t really a strength or weakness in this defense; everything is just okay. But it does possess a few highs and lows.

On the defensive, Wesley Bailey is the guy to watch for. Bailey, a sophomore defensive end, was brought in as a tight end, but made the switch to defense and quickly became one of the Scarlet Knights’ premier players. He leads the team with 3.5 sacks on the season, which is only out of 12. He also has 17 tackles, two pass deflections, and a fumble recovery on the season.

Rutgers has a pair of linebackers in Deion Jennings and Tyreem Powell to round out their front seven. Jennings, a senior, leads the team in tackles by a good margin with 56 and has four pass deflections on the season. Powell, a sophomore, is third on the team in tackles with 45, but is also second in sacks with three and has a pass deflection of his own.

If there is a strength in a consistent Rutgers defense, it’s their secondary. The team has nine interceptions on the year, which is 22nd in the country. Senior cornerback Christian Braswell has a third of these with three, followed by sophomores Robert Longerbeam and Max Melton with two each. Senior safety Christian Izien tops off the Scarlet Knights’ secondary. While he hasn’t had an interception on the year, he is second on the team in tackles and has four pass deflections.

Special Teams

Rutgers has some pretty interesting special teams play. Their kicker, Irish junior Jude McAtamney, is 17-18 on extra points and 10-14 on field goals on the season. His long is from 49 yards and has not missed on kicks between 40-49 yards, however, he is also 0-2 from 50+.

Rutgers’ MVP, fittingly, might just be their punter, senior Adam Korsak. A year ago he was a second-team All-American and a finalist for the Ray Guy award, given annually to the nation’s best punter. He has built on that performance this year, averaging over 44 yards per punt (which include a monster 77-yarder) and has landed 20 punts inside of the 20-yard line. He has also won the Ray Guy punter of the week award in the past two weeks. Pretty darn good.

After looking through what Rutgers has to offer, I don’t think they present anything too threatening. They have challenged Michigan the past few years though, so I wouldn’t write them off quite yet. Saturday night could go a number of ways, but hopefully, things play out the way they should and it’s smooth sailing for Michigan football.