Scarlet Links 3/2/12

-Running back coach Ben Sirmans, Special Teams Coordinator Phil Galiano and Offensive Grad Assistant Andrew Janocko are all leaving for the NFL. Galiano and Janocko will join Greg Schiano's staff in Tampa as a special teams assistant and Quality Control coach respectively, while Sirmans joins the St. Louis Rams staff as running backs coach. These are  pretty big losses. Sirmans is a New Jersey native and was one of the best running back coaches in the country. Galinao was retained to keep up the success the Knights had on special teams under Greg Schiano and he also recruited South Jersey. There's a lot of talent in South Jersey in the 2013 recruiting class, and losing him might hurt.

-Temple is on the verge of re-joining the Big East as an all sports member. They will be able to join the conference in time for the 2012-13 season, giving the Big East 8 teams. Temple was one of the most obvious candidates for Big East expansion, but it's mildly surprising that the basketball schools allowed this to happen, as they run the conference and Villanova was vehemently against adding Temple for obvious reasons.The only remaining obstacle is the exit fee the Owls would have to pay for leaving the MAC and Atlantic 10.

Schedule wise, Temple could just take over for West Virginia, but is it fair that they would get 4 conference home games while others get 3? If they make Temple play 4 road games, the Big East would have to decide whether they'll give Rutgers, Syracuse or Louisville a 4th home game. Rutgers needs the home game more than the others (in order to pay off the stadium renovations) but knowing the Big East, they'll give it to Syracuse even though they're leaving the conference. An extra home game could improve Louisville or Rutgers stock should conference realignment strike again.

The addition of Temple effects Rutgers in two other ways as well. Recruiting wise, moving to the Big East could improve Temple's recruiting in New Jersey. I don't think it will help in north and central Jersey (CJ is very pro Rutgers and there was a lot of backlash amongst NJ HS coaches when Steve Addazio was a candidate to take oer for Greg Schiano) but Rutgers could go to battle with the Owls for South Jersey prospects. Temple has built ties there taking lesser prospects  who didn't receive a lot of interest elsewhere. Rutgers would also have a void in their non conference schedule form 2015-2018, since they had a scheduled series with Temple. This won't be a big deal if the Big East goes to a 9 game conference slate or if RU joins another conference playing a 9 game slate.

-Former Scarlet Knights Mohamed Sanu, Justin Francis and Desmond Wynn participated in the NFL Combine earlier this week. Sanu is projected to go in the late first or early second round, and ran a sub par 40 yard dash, clocking in at 4.67 seconds. In reality, this isn't a big deal. Sanu is a possession receiver and isn't a track star like some other guys. This years' wide out class is pretty deep, so he will likely fall into the second round. Potential landing spots for Sanu are the Colts at 33 (they might lose Pierre Garcon and Reggie Wayne) , Patriots, 49ers, Texans, and Jets. Francis and Wynn are projected to go in the late rounds.

-Last week in his mailbag, Bruce Feldman fielded a question about Rutgers' future.

From @ChrisMonti Rutgers '12 outlook, one step back, then forward?

I'm not overly optimistic about that because the Big East is going to be so watered down, the perception is the conference is gonna be even less relevant. My hunch is it'll be that much harder for RU to compete with schools from the Big Ten and others when they go head-to-head on top talent around the Northeast. Can Kyle Flood do much more than Greg Schiano did? We'll see. It has become a tougher spot because of the conference's situation

 There is a grain of truth to what he is saying, but I don't necessarily agree. Rutgers has already "lost"* the top prospect in New Jersey for 2013's recruiting class, Eli Woodard of Voorhees to Ohio State, but the last two recruiting classes have proved one thing to me: Jersey kids want to stay home and win together, no matter what the conference landscape is or who the coach is. High School coaches in New Jersey still feel comfortable sending their players to Rutgers, and they approved of Kyle Flood's promotion to head coach. The kids being recruited now remember the Ray Rice and Kenny Britt glory days of Rutgers football and don't remember the sinkhole of a program it was before Greg Schiano.

*Recruiting isn't over until the prospect signs the dotted line. There's still 11 months for Woodard to change his mind.

The Offensive Assistants

Dave Brock Offensive Coordinator/ WR Coach
Brock is a Moorestown, New Jersey native and he has eight years of coordinating experience under his belt. After stating his coaching career at a Division 3 school, he got his first Division 1 job at Hofstra, where he coached along with Kyle Flood. While at Hofstra, he held a number of positions including RB coach, WR coach, recruiting coordinator and eventually offensive coordinator. His greatest accomplishment with the Pride was recruiting and coaching future New Orelans Saints star Marques Colston. As a coordinator, his offenses were amongst the best in the nation at the FCS level. In '02,  he moved on to Temple, where he led some pretty terrible offenses during the Owls' pre-Golden, Hadean Ages. In 2005-06 he was the wide receiver coach at North Carolina where he coached a young Hakeem Nicks, and in 2007 he coached Jordy Nelson into an All American at Kansas State. He ran the Wildcats' offense the following season, and the Josh Freeman led unit finished 18th in scoring offense and 34th in total offense. KSU brought in a new coaching staff the following season, and Brock moved on to Boston College as a tightends coach from 2009-11. He was pressed into OC duties when the Eagles' OC resigned in the middle of last season.

Brock is a very good recruiter, and has ties in the North East, North Carolina, Illinois, and California. He says he is going to run a pro style offense (though that can be a very vague term),  so there won't be a big change personnel or scheme wise. This is a very solid hire by Flood. Brock is from NJ, knows the north east and has a great record as a WR and coordinating experience.


Rob Spence Quarterbacks Coach
Spence, a Pullman, NY native, has certainly made his way around the country (mostly the NE) through out his coaching career, which includes 16 seasons as a coordinator. His first job was at Iona, where he recruited Kyle Flood, before moving on to Holy Cross, Hofstra, Maryland, all as a quarterback coach. He later returned to Hofstra for his first gig as an offensive coordinator. In 2000 he moved on to coordinate a high flying passing attack at Lousiana Tech with Luke McCown at the helm, and moved on to Toledo the following season. At Toledo, his offenses were in the top 25 in scoring every year, and he coached future pros Bruce Gradkowski, Chester Taylor, Nick Kaczur, and Lance Moore.

He received his first chance to coach at a big time school when he became Clemson's offensive coordinator in 2005 and he had a mostly disastrous tenure there. His QBs performed very poorly, the offense underachieved and he was let go along with head coach Tommy Bowden in the middle of the 2008 season. In 2009 he made his way to Syracuse, where he was fired after 1 season (This was the Greg Palus year). He's coached at Temple and Bethune Cookman the last 2 seasons. I don't know much about his recruiting record. This is a peculiar hire by Flood and I'm not sure how I feel about it. He has a lot of experience and some success as a QB coach and he know the NE, but his last few stops haven't ended too well.

Damian Wroblewski Offensive Line Coach
Wroblewski, a Rhode Island native, has very strong ties to the northeast, having played at Lafayette and coached at Bryant (RI), Penn, Stony Brook (NY), Hofstra and Delaware. (Interestingly enough, Kyle Flood also coached at the latter two.) According to his bio on Delaware's website, he has done a lot of recruiting in the state of Maryland, which is a key battleground in the northeast recruiting landscape. Wroblewski's offenses have consistently been amongst the best in the Atlantic 10, utilizing a zone blocking scheme like Flood has used over the years, and he even produced a starting NFL offensive lineman while at Hofstra, Willie Colon of the Pittsburgh Steelers. His past experience and ties to the northeast make him a very good first addition to Flood's staff.

Darnell Dinkins Tight Ends Coach
Dinkins, a Pittsburgh, PA native and Pitt grad, joins the Scarlet Knight's staff after spending the last 10 seasons in the NFL. He was the assistant TE coach for the Buccaneers last season, following his 9 year playing career that included time with the Steelers, Giants, Browns and Saints. Dinkins is pretty young for a coach, and that's a good thing. Younger coaches can connect better with recruits and bring energy to the coaching staff on the practice field and recruiting trail. He doesn't have a lot of coaching experience, but he knows what it takes to be a TE at the NFL level, and that could go a long way.

*Ben Sirmans was hired to be the running back coach,  but he just accepted the same position with the St. Louis Rams. I thought that he was one of the best RB coaches in the country, previously coaching at Boston College, Michigan State, Kent State and Maine, so that's unfortunate. He's from New Jersey too, this would have been a great addition.