By Matt Sugam

PISCATAWAY – Halfway through the season, Kyle Flood is happy with his freshmen. Even if only three of them are making any sort of contribution on Saturday.

“I’m pleased with how much production we’ve gotten out of the three freshmen,” Flood said. “That would be the one thing I would say only because I don’t put any expectation level on them and to have [defensive tackle] [kicker] Darius [Hamilton] play as many snaps as he has and for [kicker] Kyle [Federico] before the [hip] injury to do as good a job as he did for us, and then [wide receiver] Leonte [Carroo’s] starting to make plays for us on special teams, those are critical things that add depth to your football team and ultimately as you come down the stretch of the season will make you better.”

The added depth has been seen most by Hamilton, whose role on the defensive line has increased with the injury to nose tackle Ike Holmes. And while Carroo’s only contributed on special teams, Flood raved about his contributions there.

“He’s a big strong athlete that can run. And that’s what you need on special teams,” Flood said. “The special teams cover more distance on every play than most offense and defensive plays, so you need guys that can run, but if they’re not strong and physical than they can get knocked around and ultimately knock other guys around and get them out of their lanes and not be on blocks as long as they need to be.

And Leonte has that combination of size and speed and strength that should make you a good special teams player and he’s put in the work to do that.”

Note: Flood said Kyle Federico (hip) will try kicking tomorrow after missing a second straight week of practice. If he can’t go, Nick Borgese will kick field goals and extra points for the second straight week.

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