Nutley head coach Chris Helm has described sophomore Aidan Rotbaum as a “old school Nutley running back,” when discussing the toughness Rotbaum possesses.
“I don’t know what exactly it is, but Nutley kids have a little bit of that extra, that toughness, that grit,” Helm said. “He’s definitely a prime example of it for sure.”
This past Thursday night showed just how tough Rotbaum truly is.
Just six days after suffering an injury to his left hand that required it to be wrapped up and clubbed when he took the field, Rotbaum had the best rushing day of his career.
Rotbaum ran the ball 24 times for 135 yards and a touchdown and also had four tackles and a fumble recovery on defense to give Nutley a 20-14 victory over Passaic. The performance makes Rotbaum this week’s Observer Athlete of the Week.
When Rotbaum initially got hurt in the game at Wayne Hills on Sept. 13, there was concern he may have broken his left hand. Once it was determined there wasn’t a fracture, there was no doubt in Rotbaum’s mind — he was going to continue, even if it meant compensating for the injury.
“I knew even if it was broken, it didn’t matter,” Rotbaum said. “I was still playing running back.
“I knew I had to play with this club on my hand, which is pretty hard to run the ball with. I couldn’t put the ball in my left hand so I knew I only had one functional hand to run the ball the whole game, but I made it work OK.”
Not only did Rotbaum make it work, he did at a time when his running was needed more than ever. Facing a Passaic team that entered the night averaging 27.7 points per game, the strategy was to play ball control and dominate time of possession to keep the visiting Indians’ offense off the field. The result was Nutley running the ball 39 times as a team compared to just three pass attempts and Rotbaum smashing his previous career high in carries.
“That was partially the game plan,” Helm said. “(Aidan’s) done a great job of carrying the load on offense for sure as a running back.”
“I just ran in the game with a different mindset,” said Rotbaum, who wanted to credit family friend Kenny Sweetman, who helps him in the weight room and with offseason training for football and wrestling. “I always try to play my best, but that night something just clicked.”
Rotbaum’s desire to carry the ball has been there for many years, well before he even became a running back in middle school
Growing up, Rotbaum played center on his Nutley rec team, but after the sixth- grade, he transformed his body to become a running back.
“I wanted to carry the ball,” Rotbaum said. “I never really wanted to be on the line, but I was always a pretty big kid. I was pretty chubby back then. Then I wanted to lose weight, become a running back. My dad helped me a lot with that.”
At 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds might not have the size of that prototypical “Nutley running back” but Rotbaum, who had already made a name for himself as a linebacker and as an accomplished wrestler as a freshman, is starting to show he belongs with some of those running backs of the past.
“I was fortunate enough to coach Ray Cetrulo, Antonio Sibilia, Matt DelMauro, a lot of really good running backs that set county and state records, and he’s right up there with them. He’s just as tough,” Helm said. “He’s very strong and he plays incredibly tough. He plays a lot bigger than (his size) for sure.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)