Rutgers put the pads on for the first time this spring on Wednesday. Plenty of recruits and former Rutgers star Jamaal Westerman were in attendance for the team's third spring practice.

Defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Jay Niemann were available for post-practice interviews. Here are some of the key developments from the day:

The Headline

Niemann has been coaching for 30 years, but he's never had a situation like the one he inherited at Rutgers, where he needs to find three starting linebackers from a group of players with almost no experience. As a result, there is little clarity with the depth chart.

"It's a mess simply because we have lots of guys that are competing, they're all trying to learn a new defense and right now we're just rotating guys through, trying to give them equal reps until we can figure out if there's a little bit of separation between guys," Niemann said. "Right now it's probably even for everybody.''

Najee Clayton and Greg Jones have emerged as the top options at strong side linebacker, while the competitions at middle and weak side are wide open. Niemann isn't putting a timeline on setting the depth chart, but he shared his goals for what he wants to see from the linebackers by the end of spring practice.

"I want to see us be fundamentally sound, I want to see us be assignment sound, I want to see us be a team that plays hard, and is a team that's productive," Niemann said. "When guys are at the point of attack I want to find if they're athletic enough to make plays when they're in that situation.''

3 Takeaways

*Last season's starting safeties, Anthony Cioffi and Kiy Hester, switched positions during the offseason. Cioffi is moving to strong safety after starting 11 games at free safety last season, while Hester is at free safety after starting seven games at strong safety last season.

The coaching staff believes that Cioffi is a better fit at strong (boundary) safety, which has more responsibilities in run support, and Hester's athleticism is suited for free (field) safety, which has more pass coverage responsibilities.

"The field and boundary safeties have a little bit different issues to deal with," Niemann said. "The boundary safety is a little bit more involved in run defense, just because the ball's on the hash a lot more in college football. The field safety on the other hand deals with some route combinations that maybe you don't get as often into the boundary. So, again, that's not chiseled in stone."

*Niemann discussed the potential of defensive end Kemoko Turay, who continues to be sidelined by offseason shoulder surgery.

"He's a long, lean athletic guy," Niemann said. "I would expect him to be productive and be an every-down guy if he keeps coming along and doing the things that he's capable of."

*Early enrollee Elorm Lumor has moved from linebacker to defensive end. The move is not a surprise, as the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is a pass-rushing specialist with the length to play on the line.

Quote of the Day

Linebacker Greg Jones on his journey to Rutgers:

"It's been rough at times. Sometimes you never knew where it was going to be. I wanted to be here so bad. I wanted to be at this level so bad. I'm from New Jersey, I'm a big Rutgers fan so I was just trying my hardest to get here. When the doors opened up, I was ready. I was so ready to get here."

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Top Tweet

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Highlights

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.