Athan Kaliakmanis is visiting Rutgers football this weekend, and head coach Greg Schiano is understandably tight-lipped about the circumstances.
A starter the past two years at Minnesota, Kaliakmanis taking a visit to Rutgers is intriguing because of the lack of quarterback depth on the roster outside of incumbent starter Gavin Wimsatt.
Last season as a sophomore, Kaliakmanis completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 1,831 yards. with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions for Minnesota.
The numbers between Kaliakmanis and Wimsatt are very similar which would be a boost for Rutgers. The only other quarterback on the Rutgers roster this past fall with significant snaps or starting experience, Evan Simon, entered the transfer portal last week.
Schiano was asked on Thursday about Kaliakmanis’ official visit this weekend to Rutgers.
“I’m not allowed to talk about individuals so I won’t but as I’ve said to you guys before, the transfer portal is very real part of college recruiting,” Schiano said.
“The way we use it is to bolster our roster. So if there’s a fit and it’s got to be first of all, it’s got to be a talent for you guys got to be a talented enough player that we believe he can help us win. But that’s not where it stops. It has to be a culture fit. And when you deal (with) the portal, if it’s not a culture fit, it’s a very dangerous thing, because you wouldn’t be bringing the player here if he wasn’t a good player.”
Wimsatt took a significant step forward this past season, showing greater poise and control of the offense. He is a good athlete, who was able to make plays with his feet when the pocket broke down.
[lawrence-related id=33076,33071]
Were Kaliakmanis to commit, Rutgers would be adding a quarterback alongside Wimsatt with significant starting experience in the Big Ten.
Schiano would not dive into any conversations he had with Wimsatt about the transfer portal quarterback visiting.
[lawrence-related id=33046]
“I’m not going get into all the personnel ins and outs…that’s, that’s internal,” Schiano said.
“Right? I communicate with the players – sometimes, they might tell you, I’m too, too brutally honest. But I just – that’s the way I’m transparent with them. I tell them everything. And I expect it to stay between the two of us, you know, and our guys are good like that. But I think they understand how serious that is to me. Trust is everything.”
Kaliakmanis was recruited two years ago to Minnesota by offensive coordinator [autotag]Kirk Ciarrocca[/autotag]. This year was Ciarrocca’s first year back with Rutgers as their offensive coordinator.