Bowl Special 2010-01-19

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True freshman Mohamed Sanu monopolized carries out of the ‘Wild Knight’ formation and hauled in four catches for 96 yards and three total touchdowns. Along with classmate and starting quarterback Tom Savage, the young guns enjoyed a coming out party of sorts in carrying the Rutgers football team to a 45-24 win in the St. Petersburg Bowl.

CONNECT FOUR True freshmen Sanu, Savage lead charge as Scarlet Knights boggle UCF for fourth consecutive Bowl win

BY SAM HELLMAN ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Going into the St. Petersburg Bowl, all of the momentum was right in Central Florida’s crosshairs.

The Scarlet Knights didn’t have enough time to get ready.

They didn’t get the bid they wanted. Their star receiver wasn’t healthy. UCF’s rush defense was too tough. They wouldn’t be ready to play.

But Mohamed Sanu was ready.

And the rest of the Rutgers football team followed suit.

The multi-talented true freshman wide receiver from South Brunswick shone in the Florida sun with three total touchdowns, 144 total yards and a Most Outstanding Player trophy in his case in Rutgers’ 45-24 win over UCF. “It’s unbelievable,” said true freshman quarterback Tom Savage, who connected with Sanu for one of his two touchdown toss-

es. “I’m just happy we ended the season with a ‘W’ and ended it out for the seniors.”

Sanu completed his hat trick at the end of the third quarter when he hauled in an 11-yard strike from Savage on a slant route that put the game out of reach at 35-17.

Sanu scored two touchdowns in the first half out of the Wild Knight formation. The first, a fiveyard stampede, opened the scoring and the second, from one yard out, gave RU a 21-10 lead behind a bulldozing block from junior left tackle Anthony Davis.

“I’m getting more comfortable in the offense and I’m able to see things and just make it happen,” said Sanu. “I’m just letting my abilities take over. We had 11 guys working as one and we were all doing our jobs so we were just able to click.”

Going into the game, senior wide receiver Tim Brown’s health was in serious doubt, missing nearly two weeks of practice with

a bad left ankle. Any questions, however, were answered immediately by the Miami native playing in his last game.

He caught a 19-yard pass on the second play from scrimmage and later hauled in a 65-yard touchdown pass for his ninth of the season.

“When I got hurt I knew I was coming back. I wasn’t missing this.”

TIM BROWN Senior Wideout

“I going to do whatever I had to to play in this game,” said Brown, who pulled in four balls for 99 yards. “When I got hur t I knew I was coming back.

I wasn’t missing this.”

Savage had his best statistical

game at Rutgers as well, passing for a career-high 294 yards.

The Scarlet Knights’ defense faced a nightmare scenario early in the game when senior cornerback and team captain Devin McCourty left the game with an eye injury. Paramedics escorted McCourty to the hospital and McCourty said that something got in it.

“This game was very indicative of our season, losing Devin McCourty in the first quarter,” said Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, who won his fourth consecutive bowl game with the victor y in St. Petersburg.

“Immediately we were under duress. But then it’s a fifth-year senior who gets the interception, a guy who was a walk-on.”

That interception came in the form of Billy Anderson who, with McCourty out, UCF continually picked on. Central Florida beat Anderson more than once but the walk-on corner had the

last laugh when his 19-yard picksix gave Rutgers a 28-17 lead going into halftime.

“There’s no other way to go out,” Anderson said. “Four straight bowl wins and a pretty good game for me.”

The UCF defensive line entered the game as the fourth-best defense in the country against the run and with a reputation as tough pass rushers. The RU offensive line, however, was up to the task, surrendering just one sack and paving the way for two rushing touchdowns and 86 rushing yards.

“They played really tough but I thought that we played strong against [them],” Davis said. “It was a great game.”

Knight Note: Senior tight end Shamar Graves did not receive a medical redshirt from the NCAA for the 2006 season and is out of eligibility. He will not be with the team next season as previously expected.

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BY STEVEN MILLER CORRESPONDENT

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Senior cornerback Devin McCourty injured his eye at the start of the game and did not return to the St. Petersburg Bowl.

McCourty spends final game in local hospital

BY MATTHEW STEIN SPORTS EDITOR

ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — Devin McCourty was Mr. Everything for the Rutgers football team.

From playing 111 snaps against Connecticut to leading the team in regular-season tackles to blocking and returning kicks on special teams, the senior captain was involved in every critical moment, making big play after big play for the Scarlet Knights all season long.

He was even referred to as “our Superman” by redshirt freshman safety Khaseem Greene.

So when McCourty was escorted to the hospital with 3:41 remaining in the first quarter Saturday, unable to return and play in his final game for Rutgers before embarking on an NFL career, it stung.

Badly.

“I was at the hospital and got mad a few times and asked to sign out, just because I wanted to be here with these guys,” McCourty said. “I was so proud that we were able to get the win.”

McCourty said he was in touch with his brother Jason and others while in the hospital to get game updates.

The rest of the Scarlet Knights expressed that it was a travesty McCourty was unable to compete in his last game after what he had done all season long and throughout his career on the Banks.

“It really did hurt to hear that he may not return to the game,” Greene said. “That hurt a lot. But as his teammate, as his family, as his brothers, we just picked it up. He was there the whole time with us; he just wasn’t on the field with us.”

A fifth-year senior part of the first class in program history to reach five consecutive bowl games and win four in a row, McCourty was the prototypical Greg Schiano defensive player.

Schiano often praised the Nanuet, N.Y., native for his

efforts as a leader, player and person, and even expressed concern he was asking too much of McCourty.

“It’s incredible how much of a leader and how much all of us love and respect Devin,” Greene said. “Once he went down, it was like ‘Now we have to step up and show that without Dev, we can still be the defense that we are.’

With him, the defense is that much better.”

Even though Rutgers easily dispatched Central Florida 45-24 in the St. Petersburg Bowl, McCourty’s absence left gaping holes everywhere he normally played.

A number of players replaced him as a special teams gunner, blocker and return man, though none enjoyed the same levels of success as their predecessor.

Most importantly, at least until it picked up the level of play after halftime, the Rutgers secondary was beyond poor in man coverage against the pass.

Senior Billy Anderson and sophomore David Rowe lined up against Central Florida’s top receivers, and until Anderson’s pick-six out of zone coverage late in the first half, UCF had its way with 155 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

“When a guy like Devin goes down – he’s irreplaceable really – you just take it one play at a time,” Anderson said. “After the first couple of series I started to settle down.”

McCourty returned to Tropicana Field just in time to see the final plays and was all smiles on the turf, celebrating Rutgers’ victory with the rest of his teammates.

It was as if he was there the whole time.

“I played the second half for DMac,” said senior linebacker Damaso Munoz. “We have a great bunch of seniors. We came in in ’05 and we went to five consecutive Bowl games. “We said ‘Hey, this one is for D-Mac.’”

A crowd stood together at the end of the Rutgers football team’s sideline.

The redshirt freshmen, in jerseys without pads, stood and watched while the Knights’ defense found a way to win without senior captain Devin McCourty.

The group watched Damaso Munoz take his final steps as a Scarlet Knight as he ran past them, ball in hand, to seal the St. Petersburg Bowl victory and flip into the end zone, closing his career with the same attention and excitement the onlookers arrived with.

And they watched linebacker Steve Beauharnais — like them, a member of the most highly touted recruiting class in Rutgers history — lead the team in tackles.

It was the group’s last chance to watch, because with the departure of Munoz, McCourty and others, the Rutgers defense has some very large holes to fill.

The reason for excitement comes from both the smallest and the biggest bodies on the sideline — a trio of cornerbacks and massive defensive linemen.

“We were able to redshirt guys that in the past we would have needed to play,” head coach Greg Schiano said at his post-season press conference. “You look at the cornerback position and those young corners are good players. They are going to have the opportunity to really compete for some substantial playing time next year. Same thing goes on the defensive line. Those are really good defensive lineman.”

While the mammoth duo of defensive tackles Antwan Lowery and Isaac Holmes will only add depth to an already strong line, the cornerbacks have a serious void to fill.

Highly rated defensive backs Darrell Givens, Logan Ryan and Abdul Smith will compete for McCourty’s vacated starting spot opposite sophomore David Rowe.

All season long, McCourty was the shutdown, do-it-all player for the Knights.

Although Rowe was an able complement to him in the secondary, the group initially strug-

RAMON DOMPOR/ ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Damaso Munoz, ESPN’s player of the game, flips into the end zone while returning a last-minute onside kick for a touchdown.

gled when their captain left the Bowl game with an eye injury.

Central Florida picked apart nickel corner Billy Anderson, before he returned an interception for a touchdown, and wideout Kamar Aiken beat Rowe for a 34-yard catch and score.

“I got a little taste of being the No. 1 guy tonight and it showed me some things I need to work on to fulfill that role,” Rowe said after the 45-24 victory. “We’ve got some good young guys and I think the competition will make us overall better. We’re going to start a legacy of good corners here, hopefully.”

Along with Rowe and the freshmen, redshirt freshman Brandon Jones and junior Brandon Bing will be in the mix.

Bing earned two early starts, but never recovered from the Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard show and faded out, while Jones played in small roles all season.

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Freshman linebacker Steve Beauharnais started his third career game in the victory, leading the team with seven tackles and two sacks.

calls for it,” Rowe said. “They’re real good and coming along really well so there’s definitely going to be some competing out there next year.”

While the group is only eight deep if you include safeties Joe Lefeged, Khaseem Greene, Duron Harmon and Pat Kivlehan, the defensive line really is that strong.

Departing only defensive end George Johnson and tackle Blair Bines, the group welcomes a number of freshman into a corps that returns two-year starter Alex Silvestro, starting tackles Charlie Noonan and Scott Vallone and Eric LeGrand.

The problem will be finding room for 300-pound tackles Lowery and Holmes in the center of an undersized, but productive line.

LeGrand, a sophomore tackle, was a disruptive force in the backfield all year and as the season went on, Freshman AllAmerican Vallone received as much attention from the awards committees as he did offensive linemen.

Five players combined for six sacks at Tropicana Field.

All of them — LeGrand, Vallone, Beauharnais, junior Jonathan Freeny and sophomore Justin Francis — return next season for the Knights.

“I’ve always been excited, honestly,” said junior end Alex Silvestro, a two-year starter who should start opposite the sackleader Freeny. “We’ve got a nice little corps that will be back next year and keep working hard.”

Couple the young, unseen talent in the secondary and on the line with the return of Beuharnais, junior Antonio Lower y and freshman Ka’Lial Glaud at linebacker and the upside seems to equal the questions for the RU defense.

“The freshmen are going to be good,” Silvestro said. “When they first got in here, just like everyone else — and I know people expect a lot of them — they have to understand the change of pace. I think the redshirt freshmen, the highly recruited freshmen, are going to be good.”

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Head coach Greg Schiano led the Scarlet Knights to their fourth consecutive bowl win Dec. 19 over Central Florida.

RU topped UCF 45-24 in the St. Petersburg Bowl presented by Beef ‘O’ Brady’s behind a three-touchdown, MVP performance by true freshman Mohamed Sanu and a career-high 297 passing yards by quarterback Tom Savage.

Rutgers finished the 2009 with a 9-4 record, its fifth consecutive winning season.

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Skip Holtz, son of legendary Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz, is set to take over the reigns at USF for the upcoming season.

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South Florida fired Jim Leavitt, the only coach in the history of its football program, after he alledgedly grabbed a player by the throat at halftime of a game.

Three changes make Schiano longest tenured Big East coach

BY SAM HELLMAN ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

Forget the 4-2 bowl record.

The biggest story in the Big East is the continually revolving coaching carousel, bringing in three new head coaches for three very different reasons for the 2010 season.

With Brian Kelly, Jim Leavitt and Steve Kragthorpe out of the Big East, Cincinnati hired Central Michigan’s Butch Jones to take over, South Florida hired East Carolina’s Skip Holtz and

Louisville hired Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong.

Jones takes over a Cincinnati Bearcat team fresh off of an undefeated regular season. The head coach-less Bearcats were no match for Tim Tebow’s historic performance in the Sugar Bowl, but Jones has the luxury of plenty to work with for the coming season, including Zach Collaros’ deadly dual-threat style at quarterback.

USF, after slaughtering Northern Illinois behind 207 yards from Mike Ford, fired

Leavitt, its only coach in school histor y, among allegations of assaulting a player during the regular season and another secondhalf collapse to end the season.

Leavitt’s departure makes Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano the most tenured head coach in the conference.

In Louisville, everyone from the students to the boosters to Earl the cab driver wanted Kragthorpe gone after his inability to recreate the Bobby Petrino years and they got their wish less than 24 hours after the Cardinals

dropped their season finale to the Scarlet Knights.

Strong got his first headcoaching gig to replace Kragthorpe after spending seven years as the defensive coordinator in the Swamp.

With six of the Big East’s eight teams in bowl games for the second straight season, the conference got reputation-boosting victories in both the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the PapaJohns.com Bowl. Pittsburgh handed North Carolina its second straight loss in the Meineke Bowl in a 19-17 affair

and Randy Edsall led Connecticut to one of the most inspiring finishes of the season, beating South Carolina 20-7 after losing cornerback Jasper Howard off the field and a series of heart-breaking losses on the field to start the season.

The conference’s other loss came at the hands of Florida State, which was not about to send legendary coach Bobby Bowden out against his former team with his first-ever losing season.

The Seminoles dropped the West Virginia Mountaineers 33-21 in the Gator Bowl.

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After three seasons in a Rutgers uniform, accumulating multiple awards, starting left tackle Anthony Davis, right, declared for the NFL Draft in late December after the Scarlet Knights’ Bowl win. Davis is projected as a first- or second-round pick by numerous Draft experts.

Davis heads for greener pastures

BY STEVEN MILLER CORRESPONDENT

There were no surprises at Anthony Davis’ second major press conference.

The junior left tackle chose to forego his senior season with the Rutgers football team and enter the NFL Draft. The announcement came three years after the No. 1 high school prospect in New Jersey shocked the college football world by committing to Rutgers over Ohio State, Southern California and every other school in the nation.

“It’s been in my heart,” Davis said. “[My teammates] know I love them and I love this place, but it’s the right time for me right now.”

The decision marks the third consecutive year a junior elected to leave the Scarlet Knights early for the NFL, following Ray Rice and Kenny Britt, but no decision appeared as obvious as that of Davis.

ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. ranks the 6-foot-6, 325-pound lineman as the No. 1 offensive tackle available and Todd McShay calls him a potential top-10 pick.

“I just think he’s ready,” said head coach Greg Schiano. “I think he’s ready in every way and I kind of felt like that’s what he wanted to do.

Ray and Kenny struggled a bit with it. I just think AD knew what was right for him.”

But when Davis begins the draft process, starting with choosing an agent and a workout site in the coming weeks, he will undoubtedly face questions.

The Second-Team Walter Camp All-American started 32 games and 21 of the last 22 for the Knights, but it would have been 34 straight starts if not for off-field issues.

Davis did not play against Morgan State last season and did not start against Army this year for violations of team rules. He also started training camp with the second team this year after arriving overweight.

At the NFL Combine, where the number scored on the Wonderlic test is as important as the number of bench press reps, Davis will be poked, prodded and questioned about his past.

“It’s just minor stuff,” Davis said.

“I had no weight issue. I’ll be ready to explain all the questions they have about that and the Morgan State game last year.”

For advice, there are a number of players Davis can turn to.

The Piscataway native already talked to Eugene Monroe, last year’s eighth overall selection who attended Plainfield High School.

Davis also played with Jeremy Zuttah, who starts at left guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was part of RU’s 2007 line.

“Being a part of the 2007 line that finished second in the nation in sacks allowed — that was big for me to be a part of something like that,” Davis said. “Having a running back do what Ray Rice did, it’s nice be a part of something special like that.”

While Rutgers is producing offensive linemen for the NFL, Davis’ departure leaves an even bigger hole on next year’s team.

Davis joins senior center Ryan Blaszczyk and senior right tackle Kevin Haslam as RU linemen on the way out.

While Schiano recognizes the hit his team takes from the loss, Davis’ departure can also be used as a recruiting tool. Arguably the most high-profile athlete to commit to Rutgers, Davis chose to stay home without harming his NFL potential.

“From a head coach’s standpoint, I’m excited about that,” Schiano said. “It means we’re recruiting and getting the top athletes in the country — guys who can go to the NFL early and be in the top rounds. It will be two first round picks in a row — I’m confident in that. And the one who was a second round pick is the best running back in the NFL right now.”

But there is still one more thing for Davis to do: He promised Schiano he would earn his degree.

Although Davis admits there is more he could accomplish on the field at Rutgers, the opportunity to progress was impossible for him to ignore. Playing offensive line in the NFL was his goal since he watched his first football game.

“I wanted to hit things,” Davis laughed. “When I was little I’d watch NFL games and say I hope those guys realize what they’re part of and respect the game, because it’s big. It’s bigger than us. I remember watching the Super Bowls and just started crying out of nowhere. I don’t even remember who, but I’m watching them win the Super Bowl.”

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Davis Declares Left tackle Anthony Davis took his immense talents to the next level, announcing his intentions to forego his senior season at Rutgers and enter the NFL Draft during a December press conference.

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