Rashad Rochelle is poised for a breakout spring with Rutgers football
A wide receivers room that has lost its three top producers from a season ago is likely to rely on Rashad Rochelle this spring. A rising sophomore, Rochelle is coming off a strong season freshman season where he saw some extensive game action and showed more than a flash of potential.
The player nicknamed ‘Train’ since high school has the very real chance to emerge from spring practice as one of Rutgers starting wide receivers.
At Springfield High School (Springfield, IL), Rochelle was a standout quarterback who was recruited to Rutgers as a wide receiver. But last season, he lined up almost exclusively at running back, where he had 109 rushing yards and a touchdown on 27 carries.
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Now, he will transition back to wide receiver this spring where the pathway to early playing time is very clear and open.
“I’m pretty sure ‘Train’ is gonna become a very good wide receiver. I really am,” Rutgers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca told reporters on Thursday.
“I see that skill set in him. Again, he is in great hands with the coaches that are around him. With him, as I watch him move around – it’s not if he’s gonna be a good player and productive for us…it’s just when.
“And he’s done a great job putting in the work, so far. But you know, it takes work right and it’s a process. So we just got to keep working with it.”
A three-star recruit out of high school, Rochelle was a wildly productive quarterback and historically was one of the best to ever emerge from Illinois. He committed to Rutgers as an athlete and a wide receiver prospect after head coach Greg Schiano ran him through a workout in the summer prior to him committing.
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“With Rashad, he’s a tremendous explosive athlete. He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s not tiny either. But some of the things he did in his testing is off the chart record stuff. Explosiveness. And like you said, he plays quarterback. I love guys who plays quarterback at some point because they run the whole show. They touch the ball every play. They love being in that spot where they’re running everything. When you put them in another position, I think they thrive,” Schiano said after Rochelle signed with Rutgers in November, 2021.
“We had him here for one of those individual workouts this summer and everything we thought would be consistent with his skill set was when we worked him out. Explosive off the line of scrimmage, good hands, great body control. I think he has an opportunity to come in here and be a player that helps us, relatively sure.”
