Rutgers RB Paul James

Rutgers RB Paul James suffered a torn ACL on this second-quarter play against Navy, as an opposing player hit the Scarlet Knights tailback in the right knee with his helmet, and James will be out for the season.

(Saed Hindash/NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Rutgers running back Paul James, arguably the top offensive player for the Scarlet Knights, will be out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, coach Kyle Flood said Sunday on his media teleconference.

As James limped to the team bus with the aid of crutches following Rutgers' 31-24 win at Navy on Saturday, the Rutgers coach said he was "concerned'' about the injury his star running back sustained to his right knee early in the second quarter at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

As it turned out, Flood's fears turned out to be the worst-case scenario for the Scarlet Knights, who will now turn to Justin Goodwin and Desmon Peoples to carry the load, with freshmen Josh Hicks and Robert Martin also in the mix.

"Really what it means is we have one less guy in the rotation, somebody who has created a lot of big plays in the running game,'' Flood said. "(He) did it again yesterday, a 4th and 2 call ended up being a 38-yard touchdown. Paul's not going to be an easy guy to replace. He's a very good football player. But we've got good players in that room. It's one of the deeper rooms on our football team and now Justin Goodwin, Desmon Peoples and our two freshmen are going to have opportunities to carry the ball.''

James appeared headed to a 100-yard day, rushing for 96 yards on seven carries before the injury. But with the fourth-year junior sidelined, Goodwin (26 carries for 104 yards) and Peoples (19-for-82) each stepped up to help Rutgers churn out 284 yards for its highest rushing total since the 2007 International Bowl win over Ball State.

James, who currently stands as the Big Ten's sixth-leading rusher, sustained his injury when the helmet of a Navy player collided with his right knee at the end of an 13-yard run. The 6-0, 205-pound former walk-on rushed for 881 yards and nine scores despite missing four games with a broken fibula last season.

"P.J.'s a competitor. P.J. will be back,'' Flood said. "Any player in this position is always disappointed initially. You work all year for 12 games and when you have some of them taken away because of injury it’s always disappointing. But like I said, P.J.’s a competitor. He’ll be back, he’ll be back 100 percent just like other guys in our program like David Milewski. He’ll be back ready to go next year.’’

Rutgers free safety Delon Stephenson was injured six minutes into the game, limping to the sideline with what appeared to be a right leg injury. Flood said Stephenson is questionable for its game against Tulane on Saturday.

While Flood remains undecided on who will start between Peoples and Goodwin -- "I don't know if it matters (because they'll both play quite a bit,'' he said -- the Rutgers coach hinted that Hicks and Martin will receive an increased workload.

"I don’t know if either one has had enough opportunities to be ahead of the other,'' Flood said of his true freshmen running backs. "I’m pleased with what they’ve done with the limited opportunities. They’ve both helped us on special teams and now they get a chance to carry the ball a little bit more than just the one game where they got a chance to carry it.’’

Rutgers RB Paul James leaves game with leg injury 17 Gallery: Rutgers RB Paul James leaves game with leg injury

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