Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)
Spring Practice - Day 8
Mar 30 | Football
Co-defensive Coordinator/Safeties coach Noah Joseph and select safeties met with the media
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers football held practice No. 8 of 15 on Friday, March 30. The Scarlet Knights conclude spring drills on Saturday, April 14 with the annual Scarlet-White game, presented by PNC Bank.
JOSEPH JOINS COACHING STAFF
Noah Joseph is in his first season as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach for the Scarlet Knights. He arrived at Rutgers after a four-year stint at Indiana where he oversaw the safeties and served as recruiting coordinator on defense.
In 2017, the Hoosiers ranked fourth in the Big Ten in passing defense, and in 2016, the Joseph-coached secondary accounted for 13 takeaways, while Marcelino Ball, Jonathan Crawford and Tony Fields were third, fourth and fifth, respectively on the team in tackles. In his first season at Indiana, Joseph's safeties accounted for seven of IU's 13 interceptions.
RETURNING VETERAN STARTERS
Saquan Hampton and K.J. Gray return as starters in the defensive secondary in 2018. Hampton has appeared in 27 career games with 15 starts, while Gray has played in 20 contests with four starts.
Gray was fourth on the team with 58 combined tackles, including 3.0 for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also had a pair of interceptions and added five pass breakups. Hampton had 38 tackles and three pass breakups in eight games in 2017.
HARRIS FOCUSES ON BASEBALL DIAMOND
Junior Jawuan Harris, who made the switch from wide receiver to safety in 2017, will again miss spring practice as he competes for the baseball program. In his lone season on the defensive side of the ball, Harris made five starts at safety, recording 41 tackles and tied for the team lead with three interceptions. He also posted three pass break-ups and a forced fumble. A highly touted prospect for the Major League Baseball Draft, it is possible Harris could pursue a professional career in baseball.
"I haven't talked to Jawuan about coming back,'' said head coach Chris Ash. "His focus right now is baseball. I know he's got dreams and goals of hopefully going on and getting drafted and having an opportunity to play Major League Baseball. I know he started the year off pretty good for baseball and he's a pretty good player. But what does his future hold when the season is over, I don't know yet. We'll just let it go and see how it plays out.''
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING...
Noah Joseph, Co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach
On what it's like to be back with Coach Ash: "It's good. It's real good. Obviously, he coached me. That's the reason why he has this job because, if you look at me, he was my coach and I became a great player. It's been fun. It's funny because he called coach Kevin Wilson and asked about me and Coach Wilson called me up right away and said, 'why is he calling me?' and I said, 'yeah we're friends and all that but I haven't worked with him since, I think, 2001 or 2002." So, it's been a long time. I was at GA at the time so he's never really seen me on the field and my guys play at Indiana. But, it's been a lot of fun. I've learned a lot so it's really good."
On what he's seeing from his safeties: "As you guys probably know better than I do, there is not a lot of depth and there's been a lot of turnover in that room. So, that makes it challenging. K.J. Gray and Saquan Hampton have played some football and understand the game a little bit and how you play, how you prepare. Because that's the big thing; How do I prepare to be successful for a practice or to be successful for a game or scrimmage situation and those young guys just haven't had to do that before."
On whether he kept an eye on Rutgers and Coach Ash's efforts during his time at Indiana: "I did. There's no doubt I did. I watched everything. One of the beauties about the Big Ten conference, and I'm sure other conferences, is on Sunday they upload all the video. So, every game that was played that Saturday is on the system. So, I would make sure every Sunday I would watch Rutgers, I would watch a couple teams and try and get some defensive ideas. But, I always wanted to follow Coach Ash and kind of where he was going because I knew what his vision was, knew what his plan was and to see if it was coming to fruition."
Saquan Hampton, senior safety
On the play of the safeties in the spring: "We're improving each day, but we still have a lot of things to work on and improve on as a unit. We have to learn what the coaches are telling us and transition that to the field."
On new safeties coach Noah Joseph: "Coach Joseph is someone who is very attentive to detail. He's a guy who's going to make sure you're doing everything perfect on every rep. If it's not perfect, he's not going to accept it. A coach like that is going to push you each and every day and you just have to take it all in."
On becoming more of a leader this spring: "After being here for all of these years, you learn how to become a leader and how to take that knowledge and give it to the young guys to help them out. The coaches have given me things that I need to do to become the leader of the defense and to help get the defense better.
K.J. Gray, junior safety
On how the secondary has looked in the spring: "I feel like we're well put together. We have a lot of experience with me, Saqaun [Hampton], Isaiah [Wharton] and Damon Hayes. Along with Trey Avery and Blessaun Austin, I feel like we'll all make a huge impact in the Big Ten.
On becoming a leader: "It's all eyes on me and Saquan at safety now. We have a bunch of young guys looking up to us, so I help them out. A lot of those guys hit me up for advice and for information on how to improve their game. We look good as a unit."
On new safeties coach Noah Joseph: "Coach Joseph is a hard-working coach. He will get on you, but he just wants to push you to success. He's very motivated, very energetic - especially when you make big plays because you can always see him on film getting hyped up."
The Scarlet Knights open the 2018 season on Saturday, Sept. 1 at home against Texas State. For more information on the season, follow @RFootball on Twitter and Instagram, and for details on purchasing tickets, visit RutgersGameday.com.
Players Mentioned
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DB
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Offensive Line Coach Jim Turner - 04/04/26
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Tight Ends Coach Scott Vallone - 04/02/26
Thursday, April 02
Defensive Coordinator Travis Johansen - 03/31/26
Tuesday, March 31
