No. 22 Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Editor’s Note: Beginning every May 1, Athlon Sports counts toward the release of its College Football Annuals by releasing one spot in its Top 25 every weekday for five weeks. The No. 1 team will be revealed June 4. Check AthlonSports.com every day to see who’s next in the countdown. The 2008 versions of Athlon’s College Football Annuals hit newsstands June 3rd.

There was a time not long ago when a five-loss season at Rutgers would have been a cause for celebration. Now that Greg Schiano has established the Scarlet Knights’ program as a player on the national stage, last year’s 8–5 record was seen as a letdown.

Replacing running back Ray Rice is a tall order. Kordell Young and Mason Robinson are promising sophomores, but neither is proven yet. Mike Teel returns at quarterback after a junior year in which he threw for 3,147 yards and set a school record with 20 touchdown passes. On the other end of Teel’s aerials again will be wideouts Tiquan Underwood and Kenny Britt, each of whom surpassed the 1,000-yard receiving mark last fall. They combined for 127 receptions, 15 for scores, and both averaged more than 16 yards per catch. Kevin Brock contributed 23 catches from his tight end spot.

The offensive line surrendered only 10 sacks last season and paved the way for Rice’s amazing season, but three starters need to be replaced. Sophomore tackle Anthony Davis is the anchor.

End Jamaal Westerman is the mainstay of the defensive line, having broken through opponents’ lines for 14 tackles for a loss and eight sacks last year. The team’s leading tackler, Courtney Greene, returns to his safety post after notching 101 total stops in 2007. Jason and Devin McCourty return at cornerback. Devin picked off two passes and scored with one; Jason notched a team-high 12 pass breakups.

The 2008 schedule finds the toughest conference competition — West Virginia, Pittsburgh and South Florida — all hosting Rutgers at their places. The Louisville game is at Rutgers on Thursday, Dec. 4.

Yards and more yards The 2007 Scarlet Knights became the first team in NCAA history with a 3,000-yard passer, a 2,000-yard rusher and two 1,000-yard receivers all in the same season.

Conference first With 2,012 yards for the year, Rice became the first player in Big East history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season.

No fly zone The Scarlet Knights finished 2007 ranked fifth in the nation in pass defense, giving up just 170.6 yards per game.

Rutgers superlatives:

WR Tiquan Underwood and S Courtney Greene, are named First-Team All-Big East.

WR Kenny Britt, TE Kevin Brock, OL Anthony Davis and DL Jamaal Westerman are named Second-Team All-Big East.

C Ryan Blaszczyk, CB Jason McCourty and PR Dennis Campbell are named Third-Team All-Big East.

You can read the entire Rutgers preview in the 2008 Athlon Sports College Football magazine, available for purchase now at the Athlon Sports store.

Also coming to AthlonSports.com this summer:
— Top 25 Heisman Hopefuls
— Live chats with Athlon editors
— Conference-preview videocasts
— Launch of the 2009 Athlon Consensus 100
— Athlon's college fantasy football draft kit

Other in-season offerings:
— Previews for every college football game
— Fantasy games
— Sideline Spirit voting
— Scenes From Saturday
— Updated Athlon 119
— Much more

Be sure to return to AthlonSports.com after June 15 when complete team previews for all 119 teams will be available.

You can also get mobile text alerts on the Athlon Sports Preseason Top 25 by texting “Top25“ to “4INFO“.