Rutgers football: Battering ram Samuel Brown revives offense
PISCATAWAY – It’s in the DNA of football fans in the northeast to appreciate a battering-ram running back. So on Saturday, with every tackle Samuel Brown V broke, with every pile he pushed, with every extra yard he fought for in the tightest of spaces, you could feel the energy rise at SHI Stadium.
There are several reasons why the Scarlet Knights snapped a 21-game skid in Big Ten home games with a 24-17 win over Indiana: another sturdy defensive effort; mistake-free quarterback play from veteran Noah Vedral; a 49-yard field goal by Jude McAtamney. Plus, Indiana is not a good team.
But the No. 1 factor was a 6-foot-1, 225-pound freshman out of Philadelphia. Samuel Brown played two sports at his high school, La Salle College. In basketball he averaged 14 points per game as a point guard and became just the fourth athlete in school history to earn first-team All-Catholic League on both the gridiron and hardwood.
“My first love was basketball," Brown said. "I love football as well. Playing both of those helped me, especially playing point guard – in basketball seeing the floor well, I think that helps me see the field as well. Both sports really helped me, and now that I get to focus on football, I could see that I’m getting a lot better.”
In an era of one-sport specialization, when the top football recruits leave high school to enroll in college early, Brown balanced two sports at a high level. And he stuck around until the end of his senior year to finish it out with his La Salle teammates.
“He’s a tremendous athlete, and you can see his athleticism in some of the cuts he makes," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "That’s a 225-pound man and he sticks a foot in the ground and changes direction – that’s special stuff. He’s got to continue to develop, but that’s a good head start.”
Enroll in June and you’re going to be behind the curve, Brown heard. Well, there’s a way around that. It’s called work. Brown showed up at Rutgers and put in long days to make up ground.
"You can ask around he team, he’s one of the hardest workers," Rutgers offensive lineman J.D. DiRenzo said. "He was in great shape when he came in."
Brown climbed his way up the depth chart, and against Indiana finally got the call to start.
“If you do that too early and the guy’s not ready to make the move, it can have a detrimental effect," Schiano said. "Sam continues to show us each week that he deserves more touches.”
All the intangibles outlined in the previous paragraphs – the dedication, the grinder’s ethic, the audacity to go against the grain – were on display for three hours Saturday. Without the aid of sizable holes or a downfield passing game, Brown carried 28 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. He converted a 4th-and-1 that led to the Scarlet Knights’ first score. And he did the honors on the second touchdown himself, dragging half the Indiana front 2 yards to paydirt.
“There’s a lot of times when he makes us look good," DiRenzo said.
Brown’s carries were the most by a Rutgers players in a Big Ten game since the program joined the league in 2014. Credit interim offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile for riding the horse – something his predecessor failed to do before being shown the door two weeks ago.
You don’t have to be Nick Saban to realize Brown should be featured in an anemic offense. But sometimes coordinators overthink things. Campanile did away with the rotating door of personnel in the backfield. Maybe his background, as a guy who worked his way up the ladder from the Bergen County high school ranks, gives him clear eyes about the task at hand. Or maybe Rutgers just took advantage of a bottom-feeder.
One thing is certain: Rutgers has a battering ram in Brown. For a team that had been struggling to move the sticks, for a fan base starved for a ray of hope, for northeast football junkies who appreciate the old-school virtue of getting the tough yards, Samuel Brown V filled the bill Saturday.
Indiana’s tacklers have the bruises to show for it.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers football: Battering ram Samuel Brown revives offense
