Libonati ready to make mark at Rutgers

BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer

Football players generally do not look forward to the start of preseason practice. It means two-a-days in the heat and humidity of August. The experience is similar to going to military boot camp.

TIM MORRIS Howell High School graduate Nicholas Libonati is spending time in the weight room this summer as he prepares to head off to New Brunswick to participate in preseason practice with the Rutgers University football team. TIM MORRIS Howell High School graduate Nicholas Libonati is spending time in the weight room this summer as he prepares to head off to New Brunswick to participate in preseason practice with the Rutgers University football team. There is one local player, however, who cannot wait for preseason football practice to start in August and that is Howell High School graduate Nicholas Libonati.

Libonati, a sophomore at Rutgers University, is anxious to show the Scarlet Knights coaches that he is ready to play.

“I’m looking forward to showing what I can do,” said Libonati, who is currently listed as the team’s third string left guard.

Libonati was redshirted and did not play in 2008 when he was a freshman. Although he was made to feel like part of the team (he was allowed to practice with the team and to be on the field during home games), it was difficult not playing. At the same time, however, it was also a learning experience.

“I thought I was fundamentally sound,” he said. “It was overwhelming. They throw so much out at you.”

Skills like his foot work and movement needed work, he said.

The Scarlet Knights coaches look for their guards to pull on power sweeps. Speed and quickness trumps pure size and power. Libonati has shed weight, from 310 pounds to 285 pounds, to achieve the speed the coaches are looking for on those sweeps.

Coming from a high school team that threw the ball on most downs, Libonati said he has spent the last year working on his run-blocking technique.

“It’s ((Rutgers offense) much more balanced,” he said. “I have to work on by run blocking technique.”

As he did in high school, Libonati has found a home with his fellow offensive linemen.

“It’s like a family, everybody helps each other out,” he said.

Joining him on the offensive line is a former high school rival, Matt Hardison of Freehold Township High School. Hardison is playing center for Rutgers.

Even though he did not suit up for games in 2008, Libonati learned what NCAA Division I college football is all about. There are meetings and long film sessions that go along with the daily workouts and weight room sessions that are scheduled around a player’s classroom studies.

“It’s a whole new experience,” he said. “Everything is a step up. You have to balance everything, schoolwork and practice. You’ve got to be committed and stay focused.”

Since coming home for the summer, Libonati paid a visit to Howell Middle School South, his alma mater.

“I want to be a role model,” he said. “The kids were very responsive. They loved the Rutgers T-shirts (he gave out).”

Libonati’s biggest message to the youngsters was to put their school work first. Libonati is an engineering major at Rutgers.

When Libonati suits up this fall, he will not be making his debut at Rutgers Stadium. He has already played two games there with Howell High School. The Rebels played for the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional championship in his junior and senior years. Howell lost to Hunterdon Central in 2006 and came back in 2007 to beat West Windsor Plainsboro South to capture the school’s first state football title.

“The state title was a legacy,” he said.

At the time he was playing in those games for Howell, Libonati did not know that he was playing on his future home field. He was courted by several schools before he decided to attend Rutgers because of its engineering program.

At Rutgers, Libonati is part of a program that is on its way up. The Scarlet Knights have won bowl games the last three years and want to be taken seriously.

“We’re hungry for victory now,” he said. “We’re all about winning.”

Libonati praised Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, who has guided the Scarlet Knights to four consecutive bowl games and created the “winning attitude” that pervades the program.

“He’s a great guy,” he said. “You can talk to him about anything. He’s a good leader.”

Rutgers will kick off the 2009 season on Sept. 9 in Piscataway when the Scarlet Knights host Big East Conference rival Cincinnati. The game will start at 4 p.m. and be televised by ESPN.