Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano won’t be able to watch today’s Ravens-Giants game up the New Jersey Turnpike, but he will be rooting for Ray Rice.
“I’m real excited for Ray,” Schiano said Sunday morning in a conference call. “I got to see him when we played Navy. He came to our hotel on Friday night. We’ve texted each other a little bit throughout the season.”
Ray was an All-American tailback during his time at Rutgers, rushing for more than 2,000 career yards and helping the Scarlet Knights become relevant on the national stage.
As a rookie with Baltimore, he’s rushed for 356 yards, including a career-high 154-yard outing in Week 9 during a 37-27 victory over Cleveland when he started for the injured Willis McGahee.
They call you a backup, but when it’s your turn, you have to have a starter’s mentality,
Rice said after that game, according to RayRice.org.
“I’m happy for him,” Schiano said. “When he left here I said, ‘He’s going to be a very good back in the NFL because he works hard and he takes care of his body and does all the things that allow you to be successful in that league.’
“I think he really wanted that. I think he really wanted to go into that league and show he belongs.”
INJURY UPDATE
Schiano added that long snapper Jeremy Branch would have an MRI Sunday after suffering an injury to his right knee on an extra point before halftime in Saturday’s 49-16 rout of South Florida.
“Jeremy, he’s going to have an MRI today this afternoon,” Schiano said “I don’t think it’s going to be good results, but you never know. I’ll have a better answer tomorrow [Monday] on that.”
Without Branch, Andrew DePaola, the starting holder, became the long snapper and punter Teddy Dellaganna became the holder.
