PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Mike Teel’s first pass against Syracuse one could call it a wounded duck but that would be an insult to all fowl was intercepted and returned 52 yards.
Teel sprinted off the field and straight to the Rutgers locker room where he had another pain-killing injection in his right thumb, which by the fifth game of the season turned into a hairline fracture, a severe jam and a sprained tendon.
“He got booed sometimes last season,” Rutgers center Ryan Blaszczyk said. “The guy played almost the whole season with a busted thumb, we had two receivers with more than 1,000 yards receiving each, and he got booed.
“When I look at Mike Teel, this is what I see,” Biaszcyk said. “I see a guy who, when I snap him the ball, will die to get into the end zone. He’d die.”
There were a lot of prep football fans in North Jersey who thought Teel’s college career would die a slow and ignominious death when the former Don Bosco Prep star chose Rutgers over Michigan State, Wisconsin and other established programs.
But he bought into coach Greg Schiano’s vision of building a college football force in New Jersey with in-state players. When he looks back on photos of himself from 2004, when he arrived at Rutgers, Teel sees “a chubby, out-of-shape quarterback with a big high school reputation.
“But a reputation means nothing when you get to college,” Teel added. “Everyone in college had a reputation in high school. It’s what you do every day, how hard you work, how willing you are to learn from your mistakes and become a man that separate boys from men.”
With running back Ray Rice expected to be chosen on the first day of next weekend’s NFL Draft, Teel went into yesterday’s Spring Game as Big Man on Campus. Teel, who has one of the nation’s best receiving corps and a healthy thumb, went 16 of 25 for 238 yards with three TDs and no interceptions, all in the first half yesterday.
“Mike’s had a little bit of goofball in him this spring,” Schiano said. “He’ll only high-five with his left hand. If I took as many shots as he did last year, I’d probably keep my hand in my pocket all the time.”
Teel, who threw for 3,147 yards and 20 touchdowns on 349 attempts with 13 interceptions, has come of age. The fifth-year senior was voted a team captain for the second consecutive season.
He is the embodiment of the slogan that hangs in the quarterbacks’ meeting room: A team will play in the way in which it is led.
“He made a great sacrifice when he chose to come here,” quarterbacks coach John McNulty said. “He put his hands in this program when a lot of people didn’t think it was a good idea. Now we’ve put the program in his hands because Mike has earned it.”
If Teel’s hands stay healthy, especially the right one, Rutgers will go a third straight bowl, and Teel can high-five with whichever hand he chooses.