new beginnings on scarlet horizon

RUTGERS GAMEDAYFOOTBALL MARYLAND 48, RUTGERS 7

GAME 5: SHI STADIUM THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL ATTENDANCE: 30, 185

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20 21 0 487 0 0 7

OctOber 7, 2019Wrap page 2

STOCK UP, STOCK DOWN

Melton led all wide receivers with four receptions for 50 yards, his second-highest receiving total on the sea-son. Melton previously caught his first career touchdown against UMass in Rutgers’ season opener in August.

With junior running back Raheem Blackshear set to redshirt the remaining seven games of the year, Melton is expected to pick up the slack as a consistent option at the wideout position. Redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Langan hit Melton on a 49-yard pass off a trick flea flicker play, Melton’s second-longest reception of the season.

It’s clear that Langan and Melton have chemistry. This is necessary for a new quarterback and his wideout, especially when the man under center is in his first official season.

Last year as a sophomore, Melton started seven games at his position while seeing time in all 12 games. He has been a mentor for the underclassmen, receivers like true freshman Isaiah Washington, who has consistently started on the left side of the offense, sophomore Daevon Robinson, who had a career-high 27 receiving yards against Maryland. His longest reception of the season was 13 yards.

Melton has also seen time as a running back and could see time more time there now that Blackshear will no lon-ger be eligible to play the rest of the season. Melton has 47 total rushing yards, with six carries in 2018. He has 631 all-purpose yards in his three-year career.

Melton was the top receiver in 2017 with an average of 20.8 yards per catch. Against Indiana that year, he led the team with 31 receiving yards. Melton could be a valuable asset for interim head coach Nunzio Campanile.

Korsak was previously named to the Ray Guy Award for two straight weeks between Sept. 10 and 24.

This weekend, against the Terrapins, it was a different story for Korsak, who traditionally nails a majority of his punts inside the 25-yard line. On Saturday, the Melbourne, Australia, native only pinned the opposing offense inside the 20-yard line 3 times out of 8 punt attempts, with one touch-back. He totaled 356 yards, averaging 44.5 yards per punt.

Against Iowa, Korsak pinned the Hawkeyes’ offense within the 20-yard line 7 times out of 10 attempts. He earned the Ray Guy Award for this performance.

For Korsak, this Saturday’s game could be thought of as a confidence killer for Korsak. But, as he has won the top punter’s weekly accolade, it does not seem like this will be a common occurrence. Maryland’s punt return almost blocked his punts several times.

On the other side of special teams, junior kicker Justin Davi-dovicz missed his first two field goals since Nov. 3, 2018, against Wisconsin, where he was 1-for-2 on field goals. Davidovicz’s first field goal attempt, a 37 yarder, on Saturday was blocked by the Terrapins’ Keiron Howard. The field goal was his first miss of the season. In the third quarter, Davidovicz was tasked with yet another field goal, this one 5 yards back from his prior attempt.

Davidovicz missed his second and final field goal at-tempt of the day wide right, giving the ball to Maryland as a result of the turnover.

He will have another opportunity to redeem himself in Bloomington, Indiana, next weekend as the Knights search for a Big Ten win on the road.

A week after former head coach Chris Ash and of fensive coordinator John McNulty were canned, sophomore quarterback Artur Sitkowski approached Campanile about potentially redshirting the rest of the season. Then, on Saturday, Blackshear, one of the Knights’ more versatile players, stood on the sideline and watched his team take the field against the Terrapins.

Blackshear sat out Saturday’s contest because he has elected to take a redshirt for the remainder of the season. New NCAA rules that have been implemented ensure that a student-athlete can play four games and redshirt the remainding games of the season.

Losing Blackshear is a major blow to Campanile’s offense. The junior was slated at a scatback role: A po-sition that combines running the ball with being a receiv-er in other offensive packages. Blackshear is an elusive pass-catcher who has consistently posted high numbers when split out wide.

Last season, he paced the team with 367 receiving yards and two scores. Blackshear’s speed has increasing-ly been an asset for Rutgers. He can break through holes created by the offensive line and jukes around several defensive backs.

Without Blackshear in the lineup, the Knights will rely on sophomore running back Isaih Pacheco to carry the load in the backfield. Other running backs like true freshmen Aaron Young and Kay’Ron Adams could see more time next to Langan in the pocket.

STOCK UP: JUNIOR WIDE RECEIVER BO MELTON STOCK DOWN: JUNIOR PUNTER ADAM KORSAK STOCK DOWN: JUNIOR RUNNING BACK RAHEEM BLACKSHEAR

OctOber 7, 2019

KNIGHT NUGGETSBY THE NUMBERS

In his debut as the first string quarterback, Langan threw for 163 passing yards. He connected with eight different wideouts including sophomore Eddie Lewis, junior Mohamed Jabbie and Paul Woods.

163 The Rutgers defense gave up 490 total yards to Maryland, who dominated the game on offense. The Terrapins had 200 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, including a pair of scores from Anthony McFarland Jr.

490

Rutgers made the trip inside the red zone three times, scoring on only one opportunity. The Knights have had problems contorlling the offense in the red zone, scoring only 4 of their 12 attempts.

3 Junior running back Raheem Blackshear saw no touches on Saturday. He did not dress because he will redshirt the remainder of the season. Blackshear is the team’s receiving leader and has scored only two touchdowns.

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IMPACT PLAYER

ISAIAH WASHINGTONFr. Wide Receiver

GAME STATS:CAREER-LONG 37 RECEIVING YARDS

True freshman Isaiah Washington had a career-high 37 receiving yards against the Terrapins on Saturday. The wideout

has had success on the left side this season along with junior wide receiver

Bo Melton.

Wrap page 3

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“But I do know this: Those guys are really bought into doing it.

They are really excited about it.”

Running backs sophomore Isaih Pacheco (top) had 78 rushing yards while true freshman Aaron Young (bottom) saw more handoffs on Saturday. DUSTIN NILES / PHOTO EDITOR / OCTOBER 2019

Roster Change:No Blackshear for

rest of season

Looking Forward

Injury report:QB: McLane Carter

(concussion protocol)

JAKE SCHMIEDSPORTS EDITOR

When the Rutgers football team visits Indiana this Saturday, it will look to snap a 15-game los-ing streak against Big Ten oppo-nents. The Scarlet Knights (1-4, 0-3) enter Bloomington, Indiana, seeing their season pan out in a similar way to last season. Through five games in 2019, Rutgers sees itself on pace for another one-win season just like 2018, where the Knights finished with 11 loses in their 12 games.

There may be implications this weekend that could see the tide turn differently for Rut-gers. For one, 2 out of the past 3 meetings against the Hoosiers (3-2, 0-2) have been decided by a touchdown or less. Last sea-son at SHI Stadium, the Knights were down 17 points at halftime, but managed to pull within a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Rutgers would see its come-back hopes fall short, eventually

losing 24-17, 1 of 3 games where the point differential was a touch-down or less.

Indiana comes into this game well rested after a bye week. Like the Knights, the Hoosiers are also searching for their first conference win of the season. Indiana kept it close with No. 25 Michigan State on the road two weeks ago, but couldn’t come away with a win. Its own Whop Philyor had a game-high 14 receptions for 142 yards along with two touchdowns.

The Hoosiers’ rushing de-fense has allowed an average of 130.2 yards per game to opposing backs. This is good news for Rut-gers, as it will rely more on soph-omore running back Isaih Pache-co going forward now that junior running back Raheem Blackshear has opted to redshirt the rest of the year.

For updates on the Rutgers foot-ball team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.

NUNZIO CAMPANILEInterim Head Coach

Rutgers eyes rebound against Indiana on road

JERSEY BOY