I love Eric Foster. He was an enormously fun kid to cover, he is a tremendously polite – and truly genuine - human being and he says things like he this: “I can take it 50 (yards). I might die when I get to 60, but I can take it 50.”

That, of course, is Eric talking about carrying the football. Defensive tackle Eric who the Colts are deploying at fullback and splitting wide, and who the Colts’ starting tailback wants to relinquish some runs to.

The Scarlet Knights are kept so busy, they don’t always get to stay fully up to date on how their former teammates are doing. Heck, Devin McCourty couldn’t even watch his twin brother Jason’s first-ever NFL start this past Sunday. But this week, EVERYONE knew about Eric Foster’s line-up jumping. Blair Bines said he loved it and Devin said he was looking for video highlights on his computer. So, when I sat down to talk with Rutgers’ latest defensive tackle named Eric, one who also has braids, also smiles a lot and also was once a linebacker, the original Eric inevitably came up.

Here’s the story:

By Aditi Kinkhabwala / SNY.tv

PISCATAWAY – His fiery exuberance, his camera-grabbing chop, his YouTubed raps – Eric Foster is legend in these parts.

So even though Eric LeGrand never played with Foster, of course he still knows all about the former Rutgers captain who preceded him on the Scarlet Knights’ defensive line. And of course he knows what Foster is doing now, toggling from Colts defensive tackle to Colts fullback.

“No, I don’t think I can ask Coach to let me do that too,” LeGrand said, shaking braids just like Foster’s, flashing a grin an awful lot like Foster’s – and showing a deference Foster maybe wouldn’t.

“No, no, it’s not that,” LeGrand said, protesting a teasing suggestion that he’s lost some of his athletic chops after moving – like Foster before him – from linebacker to tackle. “That’s the NFL. And besides, I’m very happy where I am now.”

It would be hard not to be, not fresh off his first career start. When Charlie Noonan came down sick last week, LeGrand slid up for the Maryland game. He notched a sack and two tackles for loss and although the sophomore has been seeing significant time this year, and is both a member of Rutgers’ kickoff and kickoff return teams, he very frankly said, “there’s an extra excitement when you get to stay on for the first snap.”

And being so close to the snap definitely hasn’t lost any of its luster.

A year ago, when Rutgers coach Greg Schiano approached LeGrand about making the switch from linebacker to defensive line, he admitted to being worried about telling his mom. And his mom not taking it well.

Thinking back to that, he laughed and said, “I was nervous to tell my mom. But she’s a mom, so she didn’t really understand all of it.” Now, LeGrand said she’s thrilled her son is out there making an impact, even if she still doesn’t quite understand line play.

“She tells me she just watches me the whole time, but she doesn’t really know what I’m doing,” he said. “I tell her I get to be right on the ball every play.”

That he – and the rest of the line – is is key to the Scarlet Knights’ (3-1) defensive resurgence as they ready for FCS foe Texas Southern’s Saturday visit. The line isn’t allowing any give and neither Florida International nor Maryland hit 50 yards rushing. Schiano is truly rolling this line, rotating ends and tackles every handful of plays, keeping bodies fresh and nary losing a step if one lineman goes down. Blair Bines, another linebacker turned tackle, said there’s no chemistry pinch, because “we’re doing it in practice all the time. We prepare for that.”

                As the Scarlet Knights do for most every possibility. Maybe one day that will even include a tackle running the ball.

QUICK HITS: The winds gusted, yells went unheard and Schiano pronounced the “pain in the rear end” a very fortunate thing. “Wind is definitely the most disruptive thing from Mother Nature. Wind alters your throwing game, it really makes you think about when you have the wind, when you don’t have the wind, it changes the place where you put your returners. And it’s hard to be right,” he said. But with wind predicted for Saturday’s Homecoming game, he also said Wednesday was “a really good chance for us to practice in it.” … Senior end George Johnson (lower leg) practiced again Wednesday, but Schiano wasn’t ready to pronounce him definite for Saturday. He also had no status change on safety Patrick Kivlehan (leg), guard Caleb Ruch (leg) or Noonan (illness). …