By Tyler Barto
Twitter: Tyler_Barto
tbarto@trentonian.com

PISCATAWAY — No one has been busier in the past week than Quanzell Lambert. The redshirt freshman, officially converted to defensive end, finds himself in new packages, meets privately to understand technique and rushes to get to a new normal playing weight.

"They're just seeing where I fit best," Lambert said at the team's media day Saturday of Rutgers' staff.

Lambert has lined up with Rutgers' second-team defense, earning time on blitzing downs. He figures to have a role in Rutgers' 30 package (three-man front) and dime personnel as an edge rusher.

Several teammates intimate he'll see plenty of time on passing downs.

"I'm getting used to using my hands more and exploding off the ball instead of sitting back and watching things from the depth of everything," said Lambert, a former linebacker. "Now I'm at the start of everything."

It has required a change to Lambert's body. 

Quanzell Lambert is already more physically ready for
a move to end than previous experiments. (Tyler Barto)

He arrived in 2012 at 240 pounds before slimming down to 225 to fit Rutgers' archetypal lean build. Now? He checked in at 238 pounds at the start of camp, two pounds off Rutgers' desired weight.

He will need them as he engages offensive linemen each play.

"It's definitely a different fatigue on the defensive line than linebacker fatigue," Lambert said. "You have to have a different wind."

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He's already better suited than previous Scarlet Knights asked to drop down a level of defense. 

Lambert makes the transition three years earlier than Manny Abreu and two years before Marvin Booker and Ka'Lial Glaud, previously converted ends. They were asked to be every-down players and contribute a pass rush. It's difficult to assess if the moves worked.

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Defensive line coach Jim Panagos shows film of Glaud to Lambert, who will be asked to do much less within a rotation-heavy defense. It's the first sign of moving on from compromising more size than usual.

"You can see it's a doable thing," Lambert said.