Agudosi Provides Big Lift For Rutgers In 4th Quarter

Leonte Carroo came down with a 43-yard reception touchdown (his third of the day) in the endzone against double coverage this past Saturday evening late in the third quarter against Indiana, and immediately grabbed his right ankle.

The senior wide receiver never returned to action, going into the locker room twice trying to test his ankle, only to return in a black jumpsuit and a walking boot.

Carlton Agudosi came on to play the “X” position in place of Carroo for the fourth quarter, and used his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame to his advantage. Agudosi, who had a monster spring/spring game, performed admirably with three big catches for 72 yards. He had a huge 40-yard catch which led to a Robert Martin rushing touchdown on the next play to cut the deficit to 52-46. Agudosi also snagged two important passes for 16-yards each in the team’s final drive which led to a Kyle Federico game-winning field goal as time expired for a 55-52 thrilling win over the Hoosiers.

Rutgers WR Carlton Agudosi makes a catch against Indiana / (Saed Hindash | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

What is unfortunate is, Carroo is clearly a step-above all the wide outs on the team, and maybe the Big Ten, so Agudosi doesn’t get much playing time when Carroo is out there. Carroo was suspended for the first half of the season opener, and then against Penn State and Kansas but Agudosi wasn’t targeted nearly as much as what Carroo gets.

But why don’t they play together? Head coach Kyle Flood said earlier in the week that, “I think every week want to be open to all sorts of personnel groups to get your best players out there. But this week the schemes and matchups will be different, so as a coaching staff, we’re trying to maximize what we can with those.”

Agudosi was hoping that even when Carroo came back from his suspensions, he will still have a role, but it hasn’t been the case until Carroo got hurt.

“I feel like I deserve to be out there, but it’s up to the coaches to make the decision,” Agudosi told NJ.com last week. “So if they don’t feel like I should be out there, then that’s their decision. I feel like I’m ready to be out there and play.”

And he was ready.

“Carlton did a good job,” Flood said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “He did exactly what we tell every player to do: You have to be ready when your number is called and you have to be not just ready to go in; you have to be ready to go in and perform like a starter. And Carlton did that on Saturday.”

With Carroo questionable for now for Saturday’s showdown against the undefeated defending National Champions and fellow Big Ten member Ohio State, one would hope the coaches will give the 6-foot-6 matchup nightmare playing time no matter what. It will be all hands on deck if they want to upend the Buckeyes.

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