Josh Newman

@Joshua_Newman

PISCATAWAY - There are a lot of changes happening around the Rutgers football team under first-year head coach Chris Ash, but change is nothing new for Kiy Hester.

The former DePaul Catholic star has played all of 10 games in his college career, yet the 2016 season will mark his third coaching staff as a collegian. The redshirt sophomore transferred from Miami to Rutgers in Sept. 2014, sat out that season under NCAA transfer rules, played 10 games last season, and is now finding his footing under Ash and defensive backs coach Bill Busch.

Not only is Hester trying to get acclimated to yet another new scheme, but he and senior Anthony Cioffi are doing so at different positions. Cioffi is moving from free safety to strong safety, while Hester is doing the opposite, moving from strong safety to free safety.

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"It's different, you have to cover more space, so that's why my weight went down, I feel like I'm moving faster," said Hester, who noted he is currently at 202 or 203 pounds after playing at around 210 pounds last fall. "I'm playing both right now, so I'll know both. Right now, I can execute either one, so I'll be fine."

"It hasn't been difficult, it's sort of like when I played last year," Cioffi said. "Everything's been flowing very nice and I'm understanding it. I've been more involved in the run, as far as being the strong."

Regardless of which safety position Cioffi and Hester man, both players said the same things about the new defensive scheme. What the Scarlet Knights are running now as compared to years past under Kyle Flood has been simplified, and there is much more man coverage involved.

The latter is important to remember because Rutgers; defensive backfield has been porous at best in recent years, especially against the pass. Last season, the Scarlet Knights ranked 111th out of 127 FBS teams in total defense (462 yards per game), 104th in scoring defense (34.9 points per game) and 118th in passing yards allowed (275.9 yards per game).

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Rutgers is dealing with largely the same personnel, but can this new scheme help fix those numbers? Aside from Hester and Cioffi, Busch pointed out redshirt sophomore Saquan Hampton as a defensive back that has stood out this spring. The former Nottingham High School standout has been working as the No. 1 free safety and as the nickelback with the annual Scarlet-White Game set for Saturday night at High Point Solutions Stadium (7 p.m., Big Ten Network).

"What I like about them is, they've been very, very willing," Busch said. "It is nice they've been throw into the fire (as freshmen and sophomores) because I talk to them all the time. We talk about how we stress them out here, stress the pace, everything is stress. They see our method and they get it. They see we're trying to prepare them for this fight."

"I felt like last year, we were in zone too much," Hester said. "We were getting it in the holes too much, we were playing deep, and I felt like we could play more aggressive and faster. I like the man, I love playing this defense."

Staff writer Josh Newman: jnewman@app.com