PISCATAWAY, N.J. — If Rutgers football is going to compete in the Big Ten, then they will need to be the kind of program that finds and develops talent. For head coach Greg Schiano, this is a priority for his staff and makes the offseason of critical importance.
As Rutgers football hits the midway point of their spring schedule and with two weeks until the annual spring game, Schiano was able to reflect on the offseason so far. With Saturday representing the first scrimmage of the spring season, Schiano was able to show on the field just what he meant when he says that Rutgers will be a developmental program.
The idea is that Schiano will need to recruit players and coach them up if Rutgers is going to compete with the upper-echelon teams in the Big Ten.
“It means that a guy like Tyreem Powell who played the season in between 220 to 25 and now he’s practicing at 235. So that’s an extra 10 pounds…eight pounds of muscle that when he hits somebody, they feel it,” Schiano said on Saturday.
“A guy like Mayan Ahanotu, worked hard, got his body in great shape, and it’s a good 295 now so those are critical improvements. And when you get stronger, you put that weight on and your body fat stays the same or even goes down, that means you have more lean muscle mass that should help in the trenches. So all that stuff – that’s why as a developmental program, every offseason is critical. And when a guy misses an offseason due to injury or surgery, it really sets him behind.”
Powell has been talked about a couple of time by Schiano as the junior linebacker is looking to build on last season. In 2022, Powell was impressive with 70 total tackles, three sacks and four passes defended.
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Schiano also cited the example of Deion Jennings, who had a massive season last year for Rutgers and is looking to build on that this senior season.
It was a breakout 2022 for Jennings, who posted career-highs in tackles (91), tackles for loss (8.85) passes defended (6) and sacks (1). In his previous three seasons at Rutgers, Jennings totaled 65 tackles.
He was hurt in the 2020 season and Schiano said that it took till last year to see his linebacker begin to produce.
“You know that happened to Deion. If you think back, that shoulder surgery totally put him behind. It took a whole year before he was able to get those games,” Schiano said.
“And then you saw the season he had last year and he’s just now picked up, he’s moving forward from where he was. So for the developmental program, every offseason is critical. And that’s what we are, we are a developmental program.”
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