Tyler Needham discusses journey, competition at Rutgers Football
Offensive lineman Tyler Needham enters his sixth year with Rutgers Football, looking to raise the Scarlet Knights to new heights.
Needham played in all 12 games with 10 starts, blocking for an offense that averaged 407.1 yards overall and 389.1 in Big Ten play, the program’s best marks in a season since joining the conference.
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He explained what this year’s group brings to the table under new offensive line coach Jim Turner.
“There’s a lot of new competition,” Needham said. “Coach Turner’s putting guys at different spots, next man up, and doing what we’re told. It’s good stuff.”
Needham also discussed what Turner instills into the offensive line as a former Marine.
“Grit is really what it is,” he said. “As a lineman, you should pride yourself on something like that, so having that kind of mentality in the room is perfect. In a meeting the other day, somebody yawned, and he said, ‘Get your feet going.’ We started doing up downs in the meeting room, so it was good.”
Something that distinguishes Needham from the pack is his versatility, making nine starts at left tackle and one at right tackle.
He explained how he developed that skill, and how the coaching staff is trying to spread it to other linemen as well.
“Knowing where you can play is huge,” he said. “Everybody’s playing basically everywhere right now, it’s awesome. In the meeting room, you should definitely know what the man next to you is doing. Being able to do it yourself is big.”
Needham helped Rutgers’ offense produce a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher, and 1,000-yard receiver for the second time in program history and first time since 2007. It also ranked third in the Big Ten with 266.1 yards per game, the program’s best placement since joining the conference.
Despite the change at quarterback from Athan Kaliakmanis to a competition between junior AJ Surace and transfer Dylan Lonergan, Needham expressed his admiration for both signal-callers.
“They’re both slinging it right now,” he said. “I love to see either one of them right now, I just love it.”
He also talked about how, between Antwan Raymond, Ja’shon Benjamin, and the rest of Rutgers’ running backs, they all possess similar qualities.
“We always call it the Kyle Monangai build,” Needham said. “They all got the same build: short, stocky, and know how to run the ball.”
Needham is coming off a season where he was selected to the National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society and named to the Academic All-Big Ten list for the fourth time.
He discussed how he has grown as a player from his freshman year until now.
“Definitely coachability,” Needham said. “As a freshman, you think you’re the man, and you’ve arrived, but you find out very shortly you have not. So, just learning how to take the coaching and responding to it.”
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