April 21, 2008

New Brunswick, NJ (UWIRE) -- It may only be spring, but senior quarterback Mike Teel was in mid-season form Saturday, completing 16 of 28 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns, despite spending the second half on the sideline.

"Mike was throwing the ball accurately," head coach Greg Schiano said. "He looked like what a senior quarterback should look like going into his final year. I thought he had complete command of what he was doing."

Teel was pleased with his performance in the game but said he owes a lot of his success Saturday to the spectacular play of his position players. Teel noted that he felt the play of the day was the 27-yard touchdown catch made by wide receiver Tiquan Underwood in the second quarter.

"It was an amazing catch," said Teel, who expressed his confidence in the rest of the offense this year. "You can never replace a guy like Ray Rice but we have so many weapons right now. We have some great talent at running back ... and the biggest thing is having two guys like [Underwood] and [Kenny Britt] at wide receiver."

Britt and Underwood both gave their teammates reason to be confident as Britt dominated the first team secondary until he left the game midway through the second quarter with what Britt described as a "stinger." Both Britt and Schiano were vocal in their belief that the injury was nothing to be concerned about.

After Britt left the game with six catches for 84 yards, his counterpart, Underwood, was quick to step up and put on a show of his own, catching two touchdown passes minutes after Britt left the game. Underwood finished with five catches for a team-leading 99 yards and two touchdowns.

"The offense was really clicking," Underwood said. "We're going to need that all year if we're going to be successful, but I saw a lot of good things out there today."

Robert Mulcahy, the director of Intercollegiate Athletics, was on hand for the half-time presentation of this year's Spring Football Awards.

Junior defensive back Davon Smart won the Douglas A. Smith Award for most improved defensive player.

"[Smart] is great in run support," sophomore defensive back Joe Lefeged said. "He works hard in practice and plays from beginning to end and has shown a lot of improvement."

The Frank R. Burns Award, given to Pete Tverdov, awarded the defensive tackle for displaying extraordinary mental and physical toughness during spring practice. The Mark Mills Second Effort award was given to junior wide receiver Dennis Campbell for being the most improved offensive player.

"He emerged this spring. He really shocked me," Underwood said on the play of Campbell. "I think he had the best spring out of all the receivers. He's very consistent so I was really happy for him."

Saturday's Scarlet-White game set the attendance record for the annual spring event with 14,501 fans in attendance. The previous record was set last year, when 11,079 fans came out to support the Rutgers football team. Schiano looks at the attendance as a sign that the football program is headed in the right direction and envisions an even larger crowd in the future.

"My vision is that we fill the stadium for the spring game someday," Schiano said. "But it sure is better than it has been."

Among those in attendance were hundreds of Rutgers recruits and many Scarlet Knight alumni, including former running back Ray Rice.

"It means a lot that Ray came back to support us," senior defensive back Courtney Greene said.

Green, who was also a high school classmate of Rice, looks at the star running back's appearance as a testament to Rutgers football.

"I think it's a tribute to the program that guys want to come back and support the team after they leave," Greene said.

(C) 2008 Daily Targum via UWIRE