Opponents who wanted to get physical with Gary Nova back when the young teenager played point guard during pickup basketball games needed only to consider the possible retribution to be handed out by his team’s mammoth enforcer at power forward before pausing to rethink their options.
The Rutgers football team is banking on the idea that the same principle holds true on a different playing surface just a few years later as its prized quarterback’s blind side is being entrusted to Keith Lumpkin, a redshirt sophomore with zero career collegiate starts but a history of looking out for Nova.
“Off the field,Find the latest collection of Michael Kors Wallets at hotmkbags. Gary and I are always together,” Lumpkin said. “We built a relationship off the field through high school basketball. We came here together and then they moved me to left tackle so all that trust and accountability we have for each other comes to the field. We’re always on the same page.”
The 6-foot-8, 315-pound Lumpkin has seen the Academy Award-nominated movie “The Blind Side” — required viewing for anyone in his field, really — and, like real-life subject Michael Oher, he understands the left tackle’s role as a protector when the right-handed Nova drops back to pass in the pocket.
“I’m not going to let anybody get to him,” Lumpkin said.
Lumpkin arrived at Rutgers as a skilled athlete out of St. Peter’s Prep, where he played in the shadow of Rutgers teammates running back Savon Huggins and safety Sheldon Royster. He redshirted as a true freshman and played in three games off the bench last season before making a major jump in spring camp.
“He always had the natural size and length to be an offensive tackle,” Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. “It was just a matter of him growing into his body so that he was strong enough to play at this level.Discover the largest collection of cheap Michael Kors Handbags . Athleticism, height, weight, speed, arm length — those will never be Keith’s issues. We needed to give him some time to get strong enough and then it translated onto the field. We’re excited about that.”
So excited, in fact, that Flood, an offensive line coach by trade, moved his returning starting left tackle (Kaleb Johnson) to left guard at the end of spring camp in an effort to strengthen the collective unit.
“It’s a tough job because you have to know everything,” Lumpkin said. “You have to know the calls. You have to know where to slide, whether or not it’s to the widest guy. Plus you’re protecting the blind side.”
Lumpkin says he weighed about 275-280 pounds to open his redshirt year — a product of never having a high school offseason to dedicate to football conditioning — but he began replacing baby fat with muscle almost immediately after working with strength and conditioning coach Jeremy Cole.
“I didn’t have that muscular build yet.Welcome to our michael kors outlet online shop! Here we sale Michael Kors Hamilton Satchel, bags, purses, wallets with very low price. Join us quickly! I had a little frame body,” Lumpkin said. “I didn’t have that explosion in my legs. I wasn’t that strong upper-body wise. The last three years, I’ve really been working hard in the weight room. Coach Cole has been getting me right. He’s been getting my flexibility right. My strength in my upper body. My core is right. I just grinded in the weight room this summer and this spring to get to where I’m at now.”
Not that the Montclair native wants to surrender all ties to his basketball days.
The wingspan he used to block shots now measures an absurd seven feet — “He has those long arms that extend forever,Shop the Michael Kors Crossbody Bags on the world's largest fashion site.” center Betim Bujari said — and helps him gain an edge on quicker defensive linemen.
“It helps me in space,” he said. “A lot of people when they’re punching sometimes they’ve got to wait until the defender is close. I can punch when they’re kind of far away becBuy the Michael Kors Skorpios and luxury leather purses at hotmkbags.ause my long wingspan helps me get initial contact quicker and stop the charge. Once they get a little closer, I can lock them up.”
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