ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

One hallmark of the Greg Schiano era at Rutgers has been a standout defensive line.

In recent years, guys such as Eric Foster, Jamaal Westerman and Pete Tverdov have developed into dominating players on the defensive front, allowing Schiano to let loose with all kinds of pressure schemes.

Going into 2009, the Scarlet Knights have a lot of depth on the D-line, but not any household names. At least not yet.

"We definitely want to keep that [tradition] going," junior Alex Silvestro said.

Silvestro is one of two returning starters, along with senior defensive end George Johnson. Silvestro started all 13 games last year at defensive tackle, even though at 260 pounds he was playing out of position. This year, he moves back to his more natural defensive end spot.

"It was definitely tough being an undersized defensive tackle," he said. "But after you get doubled down there, double-teams on the outside seem a lot easier. I'm looking forward to getting more one-on-ones and getting to the quarterback this year."

Schiano has almost always used smaller, quicker players on the line, but Silvestro was small even by those standards.

"We had to do it out of necessity last year," Schiano said. "We have some young guys now that I think are ready to play in there."

Blair Bines, a former linebacker, has moved down to tackle, and sophomore Eric LeGrand may be ready to contribute more after a promising freshman campaign. Junior Charlie Noonan is "an incredibly tough guy who rallies the troops" at nose guard, Schiano said. Other contributors will include junior Sorie Bayoh, redshirt freshman Scott Vallone and junior Jonathan Freeny, who hopes to play like distant relative and Indianapolis Colts pass-rushing star Dwight Freeney.

"You have to be able to move pretty well in our system, and this whole D-line can really move," Silvestro said.

Johnson may prove to be the key to the group. He had 10 tackles for loss last year and two sacks and looks the part of a dominating defensive end. Yet he hasn't always been consistent during his career, and he battled a shoulder injury that plagued him at the end of training camp. How close to 100 percent he'll be for Monday's game against Cincinnati is a bit of a mystery.

There are some questions on this defensive line, but at least there are a lot of options. The fact that two of the most hyped recruits in this freshman class, Antwan Lowery and Isaac Holmes, aren't even being mentioned on the depth chart is a good sign for the amount of talent on hand. And Schiano usually finds a way to get it done on the defensive front.

"We've got a lot of young guys that haven't played a lot, so it will be interesting to see how they do when they're under the fire," Schiano said. "But I've got a feeling they're going to be OK."