Football coach brings 4 new recruits for '09-'10 program

01/29/09 - The University of Rhode Island football team is welcoming four student-athletes from Rutgers University for the upcoming season.Quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne and tight end Tom Lang are coming to URI with two years of eligibility left in their collegiate playing careers. Wide receiver Robenson Alexis and defensive back Rob Cervini both have three years of eligibility left.

"I had put in three seasons at Rutgers and hadn't seen the type of playing time I was hoping for," Lang said. "I felt transferring was the best option for me at this time of my life."

Paul-Etienne was a backup quarterback for the last two seasons, playing in four games throughout his career at Rutgers. In high school, back in his home state of Florida, Paul-Ettienne was ranked in the top 10 Florida high school quarterbacks. He scored 16 touchdowns and threw 1,559 yards during his senior year.

Lang is a former quarterback who made the move to tight end heading into the 2007 season. Lang saw no game action that season due to injuries in preseason camp.

"I look forward to special teams, knowing that it is a big focus of [URI football] coach [Darren] Rizzi's," Lang said. "I hope to compete for the tight end position also."

Alexis started his career at Rutgers as a wide receiver, but in seek of playing time he switched to defensive back seeking more playing time. He will move back to his original position as a wide receiver when playing for the Rams.

Cervini spent his first year at Rutgers on the scout team in 2007. In 2008, he saw limited playing time throughout the season, but is looking to play more as a Ram.

Rutgers finished last season 8-5, winning its last seven games of the season, including the PapaJohns.com Bowl against North Carolina State University. URI (Division 1-AA) is a division below Rutgers (Division 1) and finished last season 3-9.

URI head coach Darren Rizzi was an assistant coach for Rutgers between 2006-07 before he came to Rhode Island.

"I chose to come to URI mainly because of coach Rizzi and the entire coaching staff," Lang said. "I knew coach Rizzi for two seasons when he was at Rutgers, and I believe in his coaching principles. I also have relatives that live in Rhode Island and graduated from URI, so it was not something totally new to me. I had heard about how great a place URI was before I started looking to transfer.

"Having been here for just over a week, I've realized that the team is very close, and I appreciate how welcoming they've been. I'm real excited about working with such a great group of guys as we move forward together as a program."

URI has also announced several other coaching changes. Assistant coaches Roy Istvan, Rob Neviaser and Tembwe Lukabu are all being promoted.

Istvan has been promoted to assistant head coach/offensive line coach, replacing former URI assistant Joe Trainer.

Neviaser will be the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach and Lukabu will be promoted from defensive assistant to linebacker coach.