One storyline that should not be overlooked as Rutgers Football heads into spring camp is the number of guys who are returning from injury. Last season, the Scarlet Knights had 12 players listed as out for the season by the end of it, with several others getting significantly banged up along the way. With spring camp starting on Friday, these are a few position groups that should be receiving major reinforcements coming off injury throughout the spring and summer.
The Knights’ offensive line will
receive major relief, as their top two left tackles from last season, Rider Langsdale and Dantae Chin, will be returning from injury, as well as experienced offensive lineman Nick Oliveira. That will help to offset their losses to graduation and the transfer portal, especially as they will receive reinforcements at arguably the most important position on the line.
On top of that, the Knights’ defense will also receive some help, as linebacker Moses Walker, Safety DK Gilley, and DT Doug Blue-Eli, among others, will return from a season-ending injury. Walker and Blue Eli are perhaps the two most impactful returners. Last season, the Knights’ interior defensive line was awful, as opposing running backs averaged at least 7 yards per carry against the Knights for the majority of last season. Blue-Eli was supposed to be a starter for Rutgers on their defensive line, but never played a snap last season due to injury. With his return, the Knights hope to have at least one reliable starter on the interior.
The same goes for Walker, who started to show signs of improvement before he went down for the season.
One area that was perhaps the most impacted by the number of injuries the team had last season was special teams, kickoff coverage in particular. Many of Rutgers depth players on both offense and defense, who would have gotten their first playing experience playing special teams, were either knocked out for the year or missed a significant part of the season, and it showed with the Knights severely struggling in those areas of the game last season. With their return from injury and the addition of some fresh faces, there should be a significant improvement on special teams next season.
