PISCATAWAY — Rutgers had more alums playing fullback in the NFL than on its active roster in 2016.
But before fossilizing Detroit Lions second-year pro Michael Burton or his collegiate successor Sam Bergen, Rutgers is dusting off an old look to incorporate into its spread offense.
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“We have not used a fullback in our offense in this last year,” coach Chris Ash said, “and that’s one of the unique changes that we’ll have in our offense. We’ll use a fullback at times.”
Hired in December 2015, Ash wanted to install spread offense at Rutgers because that is what he found most difficult to scheme against as a defensive coordinator. He tapped Drew Mehringer — Houston’s wide receivers coach and an ex-play-caller at James Madision — as his first offensive coordinator.
But the drastic shift from years of recruiting pro-style personnel under coaches Greg Schiano and Kyle Flood to running a full spread offense under Mehringer proved to be an ill fit. Rutgers ranked last in the nation in total offense and second-to-last in scoring offense.
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Jerry Kill, who was hired to replace Mehringer, envisions something that’s more of a cross between Rutgers Old and Rutgers New. To that end, Kill recruited Wayne Hills quarterback Brendan DeVera to be his versatile H-back.
“We are going to use him as a fullback, H-back and motion guy,” Ash said. “He played quarterback, he played safety, he was a punter, he was all over the field. He’s just a pure football player. We have been recruiting him for quite a while. We never really could pinpoint what his best position was going to be.”
As a head coach, Kill’s teams at Minnesota and Northern Illinois were run-first offenses.
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That’s the look that Rutgers desired for its spread last season, but the rushing attack out of shotgun formations with no lead-blocker failed to fulfill the potential of veteran halfbacks. Tight end Nick Arcidiacono tried to fill the void.
“We’ve got to be multiple when it comes to formations,” Kill said last month. “You never want to stay the same thing. You look at the (New England) Patriots and what they do. They’ve got 10, 11, 12 different personnel formations, and if they get rolling in one, they stay with it. You never want to give people the same (look). You want to keep people off balance.”
Rutgers is short-handed at tight end — Miami transfer Jerome Washington is injured and none of the other options have game experience — so Kill went outside the roster to find his answer. The search turned up the 6-foot-1, 240-pound DeVera.
“With the new offensive approach here,” Ash said, “we found a position that he would be able to fit and that was at fullback. I think he’s big. You watch his film, he can run. He’s a guy that can block. He’s a guy that can catch. He can do multiple things, and I’m really excited about him.”
DeVera is one of three Wayne Hills High School players — along with twin brothers and receivers Tyler and Hunter Hayek — in Rutgers’ 2017 recruiting class.
“Do we want to recruit players from winning programs? Absolutely,” Ash said. “But we look at each individual player, and do they fit what we want to do? And all of them do.”
Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.
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