PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Set to enter his fourth season with Rutgers football, Andrew Aurich will be coaching his third position group with the program. It is a sign of versatility from a coach who has done a little bit of everything during a career that spans both Power Five football and the NFL.
Aurich was among the original hires from head coach Greg Schiano’s original staff brought in four years ago. He spent his first two years at Rutgers coaching the offensive line before moving to the running backs room last year.
In 2022, the running backs were an unquestioned strength of the Rutgers two-deep.
Fifteen years ago, Aurich was a tight ends coach at Albright College, a Division III program in Reading, PA. For Aurich, it was the second year of a coaching career that would take him to Rutgers the next season as a quality control coach before landing in the NFL in 2012 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
One year later, he was coaching tight ends with his alma mater, Princeton.
“When I started as a tight ends coach, I knew nothing at all. I was coming from playing offensive line in college, and I did what whatever the head coach told me to do,” Aurich said.
“He was coaching the coaches on that and so that’s that. Tight end is actually a position I’ve coached in most years in my career. And I would say, you know, my understanding of offensive football and defensive football has continued to grow every year that I’ve been a coach and you can use that information to help whatever position group you’re working with. But you know, the level of athlete that plays this position, even from when I was coaching it seven years ago is a lot different so it’s fun to watch those guys be utilized in a lot of different ways, not just run game (and) blocking but in the pass game.”
One of those players who is being called upon in the offense is Johnny Langan. This will be Langan’s sixth season of college football and fourth at Rutgers.
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The former high school quarterback has turned into one of the most versatile tight ends in the nation. Now he is settling in this offseason with coach Aurich, a transition that Langan says has been seamless.
“Coach Aurich is great. I mean, we’ve already had a great relationship prior to him being the tight end coach,” Langan said.
“He’s been here for as long as coach Schiano has. So you know, just being able to have a coach that I’ve already had a prior relationship with is great. And he’he’s a great o-line coach. So he’s really been able to teach me how to block very effectively and I think it’s really helped me improve.”
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