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2008 Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Written July 15, 2008 by Jason Lowry

Its that time of year where fans can start to sense a new season is on the way, and Jason Lowry is here to make his 2008 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football predictions. Last season the Knights finished up at 8-5, including a blowout win over Ball State in the International Bowl game. Rutgers did struggle in Big East play as they finish just 3-4 a year after going 5-2. The Knights bring back 15 starters this season, but head coach Greg Schiano will have to make do without star running back Ray Rice as he is now playing on Sundays in the NFL. To get a good idea at just what Rutgers will be sending to the field on both sides of the ball this upcoming season.

Offense:
Rutgers brings back 7 starters on this side of the ball, and it all starts with senior quarterback Mike Teel who threw for over 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. Sophomore Mason Robinson is the likely guy to fill the need at running back, and he might not be that bad of answer, as he had a 5.6 average per carry in 36 attempts last season. The Scarlet Knights will bring back all its down field weapons in their 3 starting wide receivers and starting tight end. Both Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood had over a 1,000 yards last season. The offensive line is where things start to get interesting for the Knights, as they only return 2 starters. It looks like they will plug in senior Mike Gilmartin at right tackle, junior Kevin Haslam at left guard, and freshman Art Forst at right guard. Forst is another great young talent, just like last season when the team added now sophomore Anthony Davis at left tackle.

Defense:
Here the Scarlet Knights bring back 8 starters and will hope they can at least improve on their numbers from a year ago. The team brings back 3 of 4 starters on the defensive line, and look to plug senior Gary Watts at the open end spot. He should have no problem playing on a line that has a great talent at the other end spot in George Johnson and a big time tackle in Jamaal Westermann. They also bring back 2 starters at the linebacker position, and they are expecting big things our of redshirt freshman Manny Abreu. The secondary only loses one starter as well, and it looks like sophomore strong safety Joe Lefeged will join star free safety Courtney Greene and the very good corner duo of Devin McCourty and Jason McCourty.

Prediction: 3rd in the Big East
We are a little higher on the Scarlet Knights than others, but this team just has to much talent to not be the in the top 3 of this conference. The running game won’t be what it was the last few years, but its not like its going to disappear this season. The only thing that hurts this team is that they have to play a lot of tough games on the road including games against West Virginia and South Florida.

If you want to get a jump start on the upcoming football season, we think its time you take a look at Sportsbook.com and get an account started today. Also be sure to check back soon for our NFL preview and predictions.

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