This has been perhaps the most crucial spring of Gavin Wimsatt’s career as the Rutgers football quarterback looking to build on his first full season of college football. He does so with a new offensive coordinator in Kirk Ciarrocca.
Despite injuries that derailed the first half of the season, Wimsatt showed plenty of promise for Rutgers. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano named Wimsatt the team’s starting quarterback in July during Big Ten Media Days.
It was a big-time endorsement and a major vote of confidence from Schiano ahead of the start of fall camp.
In speaking to the media on Thursday, Schiano underscored the development of Wimsat this offseason. When asked if anything has stood out or surprised him about Wimsatt, Schiano pointed to development and growth.
“It doesn’t surprise me but I’m pleased to see that he understands things better,” Schiano told reporters.
“So when you understand it better, you see it better when you see it better you get you make decisions more quickly. So what I see is a guy who is much more locked into what he has to do in his role and executing it more quickly.”
The reason for optimism about Wimsatt is that he is beginning to put together the pieces under Ciarrocca, who has a reputation for developing quarterbacks and being a mentor. The 2022 season also showed flashes of Wimsatt’s potential, despite his injury struggles.
[lawrence-related id=29397]
There was the season-opening win at Boston College, where the young quarterback orchestrated the game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.
And there was the 27-21 loss at Michigan State, where Wimsatt completed 59 percent of his passes for 236 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
If Wimsatt takes that next step and can complete more passes and keep the chains moving (without turning the ball over), then Rutgers has a chance at a bowl game. The pathway is there if Wimsatt can keep the chains moving for this team to be bowl-eligible for the first time since 2014.
[lawrence-related id=29416,29388]