# 2018 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

The 2018 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented Rutgers University during the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Scarlet Knights played their home games at HighPoint.com Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey and competed as members of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by third-year head coach Chris Ash.
Rutgers began the year with a 35–7 victory over Texas State, but things quickly turned south for the team. After a blowout loss to Ohio State in Rutgers' conference opener, the team traveled to play Kansas, who had lost 39 of their previous 42 games against FBS opponents. Rutgers lost in a blowout, 55–14. The next week, the team was blown out 42–13 by Buffalo of the Mid-American Conference. In the remainder of conference play, the Scarlet Knights were mostly outmatched, losing the rest of their games, despite holding fourth quarter leads in games against Northwestern and Michigan State. Rutgers' final record of 1–11 matched the previous school record for losses in a season with their 1–11 2002 team and 0–11 1997 team.
Freshman quarterback Artur Sitowski led the team in passing, finishing with 1,158 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. Sophomore running back Raheem Blacksheer led the team in both rushing and receiving yards, and had 953 yards from scrimmage on the year. On defense, senior linebacker Trevor Morris finished in sixth in the conference with 105 total tackles. He concluded his career in ninth on the school's all-time leaderboard for total tackles.

## Offseason
### Recruits

The Scarlet Knights signed a total of 21 recruits.
US college sports recruiting information for 2018 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jarrett Paul CB | Paramus, New Jersey | Paramus Catholic High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 197 lb (89 kg) | Apr 22, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Jalen Chatman QB | Harbor City, California | Narbonne High School | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | May 15, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Zihir Lacewell WR | Staten Island, New York | Tottenville High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jun 13, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Isiah Pacheco RB | Vineland, New Jersey | Vineland High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jun 21, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Kessawn Abraham CB | Brooklyn, New York | Erasmus Hall High School | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Jun 22, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Matt Rosso OT | Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania | Pennsbury High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 260 lb (120 kg) | Jun 24, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Deion Jennings CB | Erial, New Jersey | Timber Creek Regional High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Jun 26, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Reginald Sutton OG | Baltimore, Maryland | Calvert Hall College High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 278 lb (126 kg) | Jun 27, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Avery Young CB | Coatesville, Pennsylvania | Coatesville Area High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Jun 30, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Paul Woods WR | Buffalo, New York | Canisius High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | Jul 11, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Adam Korsak P | Maribyrnong, Victoria | Prokick Australia | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jul 12, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Raiqwon O'Neal OT | Conway, South Carolina | Conway High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 270 lb (120 kg) | Aug 16, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Matthew Thomas DE | Brooklyn, New York | Midwood High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 237 lb (108 kg) | Aug 25, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Christian Izien DB | Brooklyn, New York | Erasmus Hall High School | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Oct 13, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Artur Sitkowski QB | Old Bridge, New Jersey | IMG Academy | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | Nov 1, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Jalen Jordan WR | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | IMG Academy | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Dec 13, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Daevon Robinson WR | Medford, New Jersey | Shawnee High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Dec 18, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Jamree Kromah DE | Springdale, Maryland | Charles Herbert Flowers High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 246 lb (112 kg) | Dec 20, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Malik Dixon S | Thatcher, Arizona | Eastern Arizona College | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | Jan 5, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Robin Jutwreten DE | Stockholm, Sweden | N/A | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 235 lb (107 kg) | Jan 21, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Eddie Lewis WR | New Monmouth, New Jersey | Mater Dei High School | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 179 lb (81 kg) | Feb 1, 2018 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Rivals". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 27, 2018. "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 27, 2018. |||||||

### Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released
| Award | Player | Position | Year |
| John Mackey Award | Jerome Washington | TE | SR |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 1 | 12:00 p.m. | Texas State* | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | W 35–7 | 40,124 |
| September 8 | 3:30 p.m. | at No. 4 Ohio State | Ohio StadiumColumbus, OH | BTN | L 3–52 | 93,057 |
| September 15 | 12:00 p.m. | at Kansas* | David Booth Kansas Memorial StadiumLawrence, KS | FSN | L 14–55 | 28,044 |
| September 22 | 12:00 p.m. | Buffalo* | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | L 13–42 | 34,574 |
| September 29 | 12:00 p.m. | Indiana | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | L 17–24 | 32,056 |
| October 6 | 12:00 p.m. | Illinois | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | L 17–38 | 36,702 |
| October 13 | 12:00 p.m. | at Maryland | Maryland StadiumCollege Park, MD | BTN | L 7–34 | 32,995 |
| October 20 | 12:00 p.m. | Northwestern | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | L 15–18 | 32,514 |
| November 3 | 12:00 p.m. | at Wisconsin | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | BTN | L 17–31 | 74,379 |
| November 10 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 4 Michigan | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | L 7–42 | 43,786 |
| November 17 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 16 Penn State | HighPoint.com StadiumPiscataway, NJ | BTN | L 7–20 | 44,840 |
| November 24 | 4:00 p.m. | at Michigan State | Spartan StadiumEast Lansing, MI | FOX | L 10–14 | 64,951 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time |||||||

## Game summaries
### Texas State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bobcats | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Scarlet Knights | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |

### At No. 4 Ohio State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Scarlet Knights | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| No. 4 Buckeyes | 14 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 52 |

### At Kansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Scarlet Knights | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Jayhawks | 17 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 55 |

### Buffalo

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bulls | 14 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 42 |
| Scarlet Knights | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 13 |

### Indiana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Hoosiers | 7 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Scarlet Knights | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 17 |

### Illinois

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Fighting Illini | 10 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 38 |
| Scarlet Knights | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 |

### At Maryland

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Scarlet Knights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Terrapins | 10 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 34 |

### Northwestern

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 7 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 18 |
| Scarlet Knights | 0 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 15 |

### At Wisconsin

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Scarlet Knights | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 17 |
| Badgers | 7 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 31 |

### No. 4 Michigan

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 4 Wolverines | 7 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 42 |
| Scarlet Knights | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |

### No. 16 Penn State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 16 Nittany Lions | 3 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 20 |
| Scarlet Knights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |

### At Michigan State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Scarlet Knights | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Spartans | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |

## Players drafted into the NFL

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | NFL club |
| 6 | 177 | Saquan Hampton | S | New Orleans Saints |
| 6 | 196 | Blessuan Austin | CB | New York Jets |