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Rutgers beat writer Kevin Recio visited with PonyFans.com to discuss the opponent in SMU's first American Athletic Conference game.

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PP, when you asked him about Paul James did you realize that he was not playing in the SMU game due to injury?

I did, but asked anyway since he has been such a big part of the Rutgers offense this year. I thought about editing the question to reflect that, but wanted to post it as it was asked.

I saw that too. I thought you would have asked about what backup was the best and how would they compare. Regardless it was a good interview.

PP, could you call the guy back and ask him a bout the backs that might play against SMU and what they are like?

Rebel10 wrote:PP, could you call the guy back and ask him a bout the backs that might play against SMU and what they are like?

The starter will be Savon Huggins who was a 5 star recruit coming out of HS but has not really lived up to expectations (of course the expectation was that he would be the next Ray Rice, so thats a bit hard to do). Regardless, he is quick and shifty, but doesn't seem to have as much power as Paul James.

Rebel10 wrote:PP, could you call the guy back and ask him a bout the backs that might play against SMU and what they are like?

Here you go!

The backup to Paul James is Savon Huggins, a junior who entered the season as the unquestioned starter. The case of Huggins is an interesting one. Savon was one of the highest-profile recruits to come to Rutgers. He was a consensus five-star player and number one player in NJ at the time. Before he even played a down, news outlets had front page features on him as the savior of Rutgers football. Fast forward two years later, and Huggins has had a mediocre career and was overtaken by the aforementioned James in the first game at Fresno. Savon has flashed his talent before, rushing for 173 yards against a tough Cincinnati defense last season, but for the most part he has looked like he is in own head most of the time.

Other candidates are Desmond Peoples, a redshirt sophomore. At 5'8" and 175 pounds, Desmond is more of a scatback style of runner, but has the speed to evade defenders. Justin Goodwin is a true freshman back who impressed the coaches this past training camp, and has actually gotten some playing time in previous games. He looks like a combination of James and Peoples, capable of power running and juking defenders at the line of scrimmage.

Thanks.