Senior Sendoff
Dec 25 | Football
By Tom Luicci
ScarletKnights.com
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DETROIT - For four years prior to today, strong safety Lorenzo Waters watched - and then helped - as Rutgers' departing seniors were carried off the field following their final practice by players in their position group, a tradition started by former head coach Greg Schiano in 2001.
This time it was the fifth-year senior's turn.
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"I remember in years past carrying off Wayne Warren and guys like that," said Waters, after the Scarlet Knights put the finishing touches on preparations for Friday's Quick Lane Bowl against North Carolina at Ford Field. "Before you know it you're the one being carried off.
"Now that I look back on it, it means a lot to me."
Nineteen seniors received the special escort following practice today, although the manner in which they were carried off varied according to their personalities. Most simply rode the shoulders of teammates. But offensive linemen Kaleb Johnson and Betim Bujari, as well as middle linebacker Kevin Snyder, were horizontal as they left the practice field for the final time as Rutgers players.
Quarterback Gary Nova opted to have former Don Bosco (N.J.) Prep teammates Leonte Carroo and Darius Hamilton do the honors. The quarterback position group had already struggled to carry off 6-4, 225-pound senior Mike Bimonte.
While Nova borrowed a cell phone to take pictures as he was carried off, Waters kept his ceremonial trip low key.
"It was great. Just to be able to be lifted up by those young guys, now that I'm leaving my legacy on this field, means a lot to me," he said. "I look back at how much I've grown since I've been here (and) it's a lot to take in.
"At the end of the day you still have to focus, you have a job at hand, but in this moment it's really exciting."
Waters, a three-year starter from Accokeek, Md., feels this group of seniors should be particularly proud of the mark they had on the program after helping the Scarlet Knights to a 7-5 overall record in the school's inaugural Big Ten season.
"We have a lot of leaders on this team," he said. "We really stepped up to the challenge. We knew it was going to be a big challenge. We knew it was going to be a challenge with all of the doubts and speculation coming into the season.
"It was just on us and on a lot of the upperclassmen to lead this team and show each other how to practice, how to prepare and what we could do. I think that's going to carry over to seasons to come."
Like a lot of departing seniors, though, Waters is still trying to come to grips with the reality that it's his turn to say good bye after the bowl game. He says he knows exactly when that acceptance of his college days being over will happen.
"When the next practice time comes and I'm not out there it's really going to hit me like `Wow, that was it,' " he said. "For the time being it really hasn't set in yet."
