Rutgers Football: Eric LeGrand To Lead Knights out of the Tunnel Against WVU

According to both Eric LeGrand's twitter page and ScarletKnights.com, the former Rutgers defensive tackle and special teams player will lead the Knights out of the tunnel against West Virginia on Saturday. 

On Tuesday, LeGrand tweeted:

"Can't wait to lead the team out of the tunnel on Saturday. I hope to see you all there (sic)"

As every Rutgers fan is well aware, LeGrand was paralyzed on a special teams play against Army on October 16 of last year. 

The good news is that LeGrand has been making steady progress in his recovery since then, tweeting a photograph of himself standing with the aid of a machine and noting that he regaining movement in his arms. 

Additionally, the 21-year-old has been serving as an analyst on the Rutgers Radio Network for pregame, halftime and postgame analysis, also appearing on SNY and CBS pregame shows as well.

Saturday will also mark the first time the Colonia High School alum makes an appearance on an ABC game broadcast. 

Perhaps this will finally be the spark Rutgers needs to defeat arguably their biggest rival during the Greg Schiano era, the West Virginia Mountaineers. 

The last time RU defeated the Big East perennial powerhouse was 1994, winning by a narrow margin of 17-12.  

West Virginia comes into the game ranked No. 25 in the nation after suffering an embarrassing 49-23 loss to Syracuse last week. 

Rutgers did not fair any better, getting beat by a slim 16-14 margin to Louisville in a game where the Knights offense simply did not show up.

Regardless of the outcome, Rutgers vs. West Virginia has an interesting styles clash since the Mountaineers are fifth in the nation in passing yards per game (374.4), while the Scarlet Knights defense is ranked ninth in the nation for points against (16).

Schiano announced shortly after the Louisville loss that freshman quarterback Gary Nova would start over sophomore Chas Dodd for the second consecutive week, despite Nova coming off a very poor three-interception performance.