PISCATAWAY -- Rutgers freshman running Trey Sneed has done his homework on new offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer.

The 28-year-old Mehringer arrived at Rutgers after spending last season as the wide receivers coach at Houston. Before that, Mehringer was the offensive coordinator at Division 1-AA James Madison for one year and a graduate assistant at Ohio State for two seasons.

"I'd say just watching James Madison's offense where Coach Mehringer came from and Ohio State's -- it's a running backs dream," Sneed said recently. "You're pretty much always in the open field."

Mehringer is installing at Rutgers the same power spread offense that has lit up scoreboards at each of his previous stops.

"You look at (Ohio State running back) Ezekiel Elliott and taking nothing from his line whatsoever -- Ohio State has one of the best O-lines in the nation -- but just seeing how the offensive scheme set up the holes that he was able to have, it just seemed like he was always in the open field and then his true talent was able to come out," said Sneed, who played in a spread offense at Fleming Island (Fla.) High. "This is a running back's dream. (Mehringer) told all the running backs that this will be a run-happy offense, running backs will be pretty pleased in this offense. I'm excited. I'm ready to go."

Although Sneed, who enrolled early, is ready to go, Rutgers' depth at running back could block his path to immediate playing time. Rutgers returns Robert Martin (763 yards) and Josh Hicks (674 yards), as well as third-down back Justin Goodwin.

"It's definitely an advantage that I have," Sneed said. "Just having two guys who have been able to do it and been able to do it successfully, so they know what it takes, they know the speed of the game. Just seeing how they approach the process and the training, basically just learning from them. Instead of having to come and maybe having to discover it yourself, you have two solidified guys and they've been nothing but helpful to me. Any questions that I have or if they see something that I could be doing better, they're always quick to let me know."

Whatever role Sneed has this season, he's excited about what's in store for the offense.

"I definitely am looking forward to being able to have a spot this year and being able to contribute any way I can," Sneed said. "(Mehringer) just said it's going to be fun and explosive. He hasn't really gotten into immense detail about what the offense is going to be like, but looking at his past resume, I'm sure we won't be short of any touchdowns."

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