PISCATAWAY a At just past 10 o'clock Saturday morning, theA Rutgers football team gathered at midfield for their typical stretching drills to kickoff practice. That's when A.J. Blazek, the Scarlet Knights' offensive line coach, sprinted 20 yards to a crowd of students who were taking in the action from a safe distance away.

They huddled around David Bonagura as the placekicker was attempting field goals from all different spots on the field towards the end of practice. Bonagura shut out the noise, drilling all six through the uprights (including one in which Ash himself tried to distract the walk-on kicker by blowing his whistle from a few inches away).

And to cap off the day, students took turns racing 40-yard dashes.

Oh, there was plenty of intriguing football action, too. This was the first Rutgers football practice this spring completely open to the media, and there were plenty of details to observe.

The Headline

AfterA Ash said the quarterback competition was back to even Thursday, Chris Laviano handled all of the first-team QB reps.

The fourth-year junior had his moments a throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Janarion Grant on an 11-on-11 series that began at midfield and a 5-yard scoring dart to Grant on a drive that start at the opposition's 5.

But the defense won the day, and Laviano's uneven play was among the reasons why. In Laviano's six series with the first-team offense, Rutgers reached the end zone twice.

Hayden Rettig and Giovanni Rescigno split the second-team QB reps. Rettig threw a pair of touchdown passes (a 20-yarder to Vance Matthews and an 8-yarder to Carlton Agudosi) while Rescigno ran in a quarterback keeper from 5-yards to highlight his day.

3 Takeaways

aC/ Before their 11-on-11 live periods, each of the quarterbacks took turns attempting to hit their targets in passing drills that featured five wide receivers vs. five defensive backs.

The highlights for Laviano: a 50-yard pass (which covered 45 yards in the air) to Agudosi (who made a nice juggling grab); a 6-yard dart to Grant while rolling out to avoid pressure; and an 8-yard pass to Matthews after shaking off his first two options.

The highlights for Rettig: a 20-yard bullet to Christopher Parker that ended up going the distance; a 50-yard bomb to Grant down the right sideline for a TD; and a 45-yard scoring pass to Ntwademela Perry.

Overall, the wide receivers got the best of their defensive counterparts throughout the drill, with Joseph Gause, Perry and Agudosi all hauling in highlight-worthy grabs.

aC/ It's no secret that Grant, who led Rutgers with 1,583 all-purpose yards last season, is destined to be the featured play-maker in Rutgers' power spread attack. The 5-10, 176-pounder was utilized in a variety of different ways, taking handoffs and catching the ball out of the backfield and snagging passes in the flat.

But there's another diminutive wide receiver who figures to get his No. 16 called this season. Christopher Parker, a 5-5, 168-pound redshirt freshman out of Brooklyn's Poly Prep, hauled in a half-dozen passes during the 11-on-11 series and was also the second punt return in behind Grant (Justice Stewart and Ntwademela Perry are also fielding punts).

aC/ The running backs were made available to the media, which meant that Zak Kuhr was the coach who held court with reporters afterwards. The running backs coach's assessment of the running backs' play this spring?

"We're looking all right,'' Kuhr said. "We're playing physical, which is what we're trying to emphasize right now. We're really trying to emphasize the laws of combat in everything we do. They ran a whole different type of system last year so we're trying to get some of the old habits of the system out and refine them with the new system.''

Last season, Rutgers coach Kyle Flood rotated his running backs, giving the first series to Paul James, the second series to Josh Hicks or Robert Martin and the third series to Hicks or Martin and then going back in that same order throughout the first three quarters.

If it's up to Kuhr a who will certainly weigh in with offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer in games this season a Rutgers will be riding whichever featured back emerges out of Martin, Hicks, Sneed and Goodwin.

"I'm a big fan of whoever has the hot hand is going to keep rolling,'' Kuhr said. "I don't really believe in, 'Alright, you have the first series, you have the second series, you have the third series.' I like sticking with the hot hand because we go so fast with our tempo, there's a lot of times you have to rotate because they're just going to be dog tired.''

For Starters

aC/ Rutgers' first-team offensive line during team drills was: LT Tariq Cole, LG Dorian Miller, C Derrick Nelson, RG Marcus Applefield, RT Zack Heeman. The second-team offensive line was: LT Cole/Heeman, LG Zach Venesky, C Jonah Jackson, RG Skiy Pyrame, RT Jacquis Webb.

While Robert Martin was the first running back out for first-team drills, Trey Sneed, Justin Goodwin and Josh Hicks each garnered first-team reps. Nick Arcidiacono and Matt Flanagan split the first-team reps at tight end.

The first-team defense: DE Julian Pinnix-Odrick, DT Darius Hamilton, NT Sebastian Joseph, DE Quanzell Lambert,A SLB Najee Clayton, MLB Deonte Roberts, WLB Trevor Morris, CB Blessuan Austin, CB Isaiah Wharton, S Anthony Cioffi, S Saquan Hampton.

The second-team defense: DE Ron'Dell Carter, DT Eric Wiafe, NT Kevin Wilkins, DE Darnell Davis, SLB Greg Jones, MLB Isaiah Johnson, WLB Max Anthony, CB Sandy Anya, CB Zane Campbell, S Davon Jacobs, S Kiy Hester. Defensive end Myles Nash, defensive tackle Jon Bateky and linebacker T.J. Taylor also got long looks with the second-team unit.

Quote of the Day

Rutgers RB Robert Martin:

"I thought today was pretty nice. We got to see the students out here, the band. It was just a lot of energy, and everybody wanted to compete at a high level.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.