Christian Izien

Rutgers head coach Chris Ash met with the media yesterday in Chicago for the annual Big Ten Media Day. Here is a closer look at some of the topics he talked about, with the start of training camp less than two weeks away.

Competition at Safety

This summer will feature some intriguing battles at the safety position. At the strong safety spot, senior Malik Dixon will dual it out with redshirt freshman Christian Izien. Meanwhile, at the free safety position, Tim Barrow will go head-to-head with Jarrett Paul for the right to start.

"I am really excited about the guys we got back there," Ash said. "Tim Barrow has been back there battling, Jarrett Paul we moved from corner to safety. Him and Damon Hayes kind of flipped. Damon Hayes went to corner and Jarrett Paul went to safety and I'm really excited about his future at safety. We moved Malik Dixon from kind of a hybrid Nickelback back to safety and Christian Izien is back there and Naijee Jones. We have five or six guys that are going to be competing for playing time but Tim Barrow was there last year, Jarrett Paul played a little bit for us last year albeit not at safety. Malik Dixon, we were really high on a year ago, he's back with us and we're excited about that. And Christian Izien probably had, of all of them, the best spring."

Early official visits

Rutgers hosted a contingent of players this spring for official visits in the second year that this was allowed. However, only one of those visitors wound up committing while some are still undecided. Ask talked about whether or not those early visits have proved to be an advantage.

"I think the way you evaluate if it is an advantage, is who you sign. Everybody gets caught up in recruiting in June and I get it, I understand it. The only thing that matters is who you sign. Do early official visits help you sign guys? I don't know, we'll find out. It may get guys to commit to you but does that mean they are going to sign? We'll see. I think some of the official visits we did have, they were good, they were positive. We had some good response from them. But again, at the end of the day, I will measure if they are worth doing and if they are successful based on who we sign."

Freshman enrollees

This past spring, Rutgers welcomed three new freshmen in linebacker Mohamed Toure, quarterback Cole Snyder and defensive tackle Malachi Burby. Ash talked about the positive gains they’ve made since spring ball.

“They all had good springs and showed promise that they can help us. August is going to be a big month for them.”

Toure is likely to start the season on the two-deep while Burby could be part of the rotation on the defensive line and Snyder is likely to be the No.3 quarterback.

O’Neal settling in at left tackle

Redshirt freshman Raiqwon O’Neal is expected to start at the left tackle position and Ash commented on how he has fared over the past few months.

“He had a great spring, he's had a really good summer. He's big and strong. He is over 305 pounds now, he runs well and is really working on his fundamentals and his overall knowledge of the offense. I'm excited to see what he can do. He got his feet wet last year and a few games as a freshman, we were able to redshirt him. But we are expecting big things from him.”

Replacing Jackson

Rutgers has to replace starting guard Jonah Jackson who is now at Ohio State as a grad transfer and is in expected to start for the Buckeyes. Ash was asked a number of questions about losing Jackson during yesterday’s media breakout session.

“He made a decision, we live with it we move on we feel really good about who we got out on our team. We wish him nothing but the best of luck,” Ash said of Jackson.

Fourth-year junior Nick Krimin looks to be the opening day starter at right guard, the position previously held by Jackson, who was also a team captain.

Scarlet Nation correspondent Jim Cotter contributed to this article.