Tag: Gavin Wimsatt

What is the state of the Rutgers football quarterback competition? Greg Schiano sees ‘a healthy competition’

Rutgers football is having a good, healthy quarterback competition this spring.

For the first time since Rutgers entered the Big Ten in 2014, there is a quarterback competition that features two experienced players who each have deep Power Five starting experience.

The offseason addition of Athan Kalaikmanis, who started every regular season game for Minnesota last year, certainly changes the look and feel of the Rutgers quarterback room. With the incumbent starter, Gavin Wimsatt, back from a year where Rutgers won a bowl game, there is a level of depth and competition that hasn’t existed around this program in quite some time.

Of the four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, Wimsatt and [autotag]Ajanni Sheppard[/autotag] spent last season at Rutgers and with offensive coordinator [autotag]Kirk Ciarrocca[/autotag].

“For two of them, it’s their second year in the system now so you would expect a better understanding from a whole offseason of studying yourself,” head coach Greg Schiano told reporters on Saturday.

“But yeah, there’s a healthy competition in the room. I think it’s deeper so we’ll just let it play out.”

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Rutgers has had inconsistent quarterback play for much of the last decade and the hope this offseason is that Kalaikmanis or Wimsatt will step up and manage the offense effectively.

While Sheppard is promising and A.J. Surace, a three-star quarterback who arrived on campus in January, the quarterback competition is likely to favor the most experienced players.

Wimsatt and Kalaikmanis both have significant starting experience in the Big Ten and that is likely what is needed with this veteran roster.

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“Well, Athan I saw do things in Big Ten games, so I’m not really surprised – I think he’s doing well, but it’s not a surprise,” Schiano said.

“AJ only saw (him) play in high school and yes, he’s pleasantly surprised me. I mean, AJ is a really fine young quarterback prospect. Very excited about him. So like I said, I’m encouraged. Starting up there with Gavin and going all the way through Ajani who was here – it’s a good room, and I think they got a good chemistry in there to coach Ciarrocca does a really good job of kind of blending them together. And yes, there’s a competition. But they you watch them they help each other all the time. I mean, that’s what that’s what family is about.”

Following two decades in the NFL, Pat Flaherty didn’t change his coaching style at Rutgers

Pat Flaherty says he coaches Rutgers football the same way he did his NFL players.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The success that Pat Flaherty had as Rutgers football’s offensive line coach last year can be attributed to one simple truth: He coaches all of his players the same throughout his four decades on the sidelines.

It was a tremendous job undertaken by Flaherty last season in turning around one of the worst offensive lines in college football. Rutgers ended up finishing middle of the Big Ten in most of the significant offensive categories, representing a huge step forward in the offense’s ability to function.

And it was the play of the offensive line in protecting quarterback [autotag]Gavin Wimsatt[/autotag] as well as paving the way for running back [autotag]Kyle Monangai[/autotag] that doesn’t get enough attention for a season where Rutgers finished 7-6 and beat Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl.

The improvement is noticeable, especially to those who have been embedded in the program for a while.

“I mean a lot better. A lot of guys – we have talent across the board on the o-line. Just the way we work. We work hard. Everybody’s working at things they need to work on. We’re a tight group,” senior left tackle Hollin Pierce said on Tuesday during media availability.

“We’re a tight group. I think we’re going to be a lot better.”

The impact of Flaherty on the group is clearly seen in the increased performance.

With two decades of NFL coaching experience to his resume, Flaherty has considerable clout. His two Super Bowl rings from his time with the New York Giants give him a certain cache that few college coaches have.

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When Flaherty speaks to his players, some of whom are teenagers, he point to a career that includes turning offensive linemen into All Pro players. But the biggest part of his success, he says, is found in not changing things whether he is coaching at the college level or the NFL.

“I coach these guys like any group I’ve ever coached in my career, NFL college – football is football. From that standpoint, they do a great job of wanting to learn the techniques,” Flaherty said on Tuesday.

“You know, I feel that again, they will be the best group that they can by doing the training that we can.

“And you can say, ‘Well, you can train this way in the NFL, train this way in college. I don’t believe there’s a difference in training the players.”

Off the field, the group is developing in a way that is making them a more cohesive unit. As Pierce explains it, the line is now acting as one, even away from the practice field and the team facility. It is creating a level of cohesion that wasn’t present in the year prior.

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“Since I started till now, the group’s completely different,” Pierce said.

“How we care about each other, everything we do with each other, we go out with each other. On the field, we’re always looking out for each other. Just the whole intentions of our goals and what want to do is completely different and just how we approach the field.”

Rutgers football OC Kirk Ciarrocca raves about Athan Kalaikmanis’ Big Ten experience: ‘There’s no substitute for experience’

The addition of Athan Kalaikmanis is an intriguing offseason story for Rutgers football.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — For Kirk Ciarrocca, familiarity bred a desire to be reunited with Athan Kalaikmanis. So when the quarterback entered the transfer portal after two years at Minnesota, Ciarrocca was ready.

The arrival of Kaliakmanis this offseason is a net positive for Rutgers, given his experience starting in the Big Ten. He is also experienced in playing for Ciarrocca, a point that factored significantly into his portal recruitment.

With incumbent starter Gavin Wimsatt already in the fold, Rutgers now has two quarterbacks boasting significant Big Ten starting experience.

Prior to arriving at Rutgers last year, Ciarrocca was the offensive coordinator at Minnesota. He recruited Kaliakmanis to the program and oversaw him getting playing time for Minnesota as a freshman.

“I think that was very attractive to us. You know, the fact that he knew the system. He knew me,” Ciarrocca said on Thursday following practice.

“I knew what his work ethic was like, I knew what type of person he was. I knew that he would fit into our culture. So I was really excited about the opportunity to bring him here because I know it strengthens our roster, and it was going to make the position better.”

Ciarrocca and Kaliakmanis had fostered a strong relationship in their one year together at Minnesota, and it was enough to pull the quarterback to New Jersey.

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In now his second year at Rutgers, Ciarrocca worked a borderline miracle with the offense, turning around a unit that was among the worst in the Big Ten for much of the past decade and making them respectable. The one area that struggled with some inconsistency was the passing game and that is where Kaliakmanis enters the competition with some strength to his game.

But the building block for this offseason is going to be that Kaliakmanis has a familiarity with not just Ciarrocca the coach but also the man. It played a major role in the player and coach reuniting this offseason.

“I’m just very fortunate that they were interested when I was in the portal,” Kaliakmanis said on Tuesday.

“You know, the portal can be a scary place. I was very fortunate that a lot of schools (were) interested but very thankful that coach Ciarrocca and coach Schiano (head coach Greg Schiano) were interested in me.

“But yeah, I mean, our relationship is very, very tight. It was at Minnesota, and just picking his brain – he’s I think he’s a very, very smart coordinator. He’s very intelligent, and I trust him.”

He certainly adds a new dimension to the quarterback room. Last season for Minnesota, Kaliakmanis completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 1,831 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Last summer, Wimsatt was named the starting quarterback during Big Ten Media Days. The decision by head coach Greg Schiano ended any talk of a quarterback competition going into training camp.

Wimsatt started all 13 games for Rutgers last year, leading the team to a win over Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. He made gains over the season before as he completed 47.8 percent of his passes. He threw for 1,735 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. In addition, he also ran for 497 yards and 11 touchdowns.

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It should be a quarterback competition that stretches into the summer, but at the very least, the addition of Kalaikmanis gives the Scarlet Knights some much-needed depth at a vital position.

“He has a big-time experience, has been Big Ten starter. I don’t know. I think he started 16 or 17 games and the Big Ten,” Ciarrocca said.

“So there’s no substitute for experience obviously has some familiarity with the system and familiarity with me. So I think that helps them a little bit. But the biggest thing is it just it brings competition to the position. Maybe a little bit more stability there when you’re adding another quality guy out of position, adds depth.”

Rutgers football officially has a quarterback competition. What does Greg Schiano hope to find?

For Greg Schiano, a quarterback competition is all about finding a way to win.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The arrival of Athan Kalaikmanis this semester to Rutgers football also heralds a quarterback competition for the Big Ten program.

A competition that Rutgers didn’t have last year but badly needed. And in the arrival of Kalaikmanis, the Scarlet Knights now have two quarterbacks with significant starting experience in the Big Ten.

Kaliakmanis comes to Rutgers after two years at Minnesota that showed steady growth. He enters into a quarterback room headlined by Gavin Wimsatt, who started every game last year and led Rutgers to a bowl game.

Wimsatt was named the starter last year before the start of training camp, effectively ending a quarterback competition then and there. He completed 47.8 percent of his passes, throwing for 1,735 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.

He also rushed for 497 yards and 11 touchdowns.

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Now, Rutgers has a competition this spring that could well go into the summer.

“We felt we needed to strengthen our performance of the position and whether it’s with Gavin who played all of last season, brought in someone that we thought could help strengthen it,” head coach Greg Schiano said on Tuesday.

“We also brought in…we have Ajanni Shepherd in the program. And we have a freshman that is starting now (in) AJ Surace (who) has been with us all winter. So we have four scholarship quarterbacks in the program right now and they will compete and we’ll figure out who gives us the best chance to win.”

Kirk Ciarrocca recruited Kaliakmanis when he was the Minnesota offensive coordinator in 2021. The quarterback ended up starting several games during the 2022 season and was the starter last year for Minnesota.

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Ciarrocca is now in his second season as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers.

This past season showed some of the promise in Kaliakmanis. As a sophomore, Kaliakmanis completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 1,831 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Solid numbers in the Big Ten.

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“Well, Kirk obviously has experience with him from the University of Minnesota. So we knew the competitor he is, we knew he has a background in this system,” Schiano said.

“And it just it was a guy that we believe in, and it gives us a chance to create competition and hopefully the cream will rise to the top and we’ll have better quarterback play in ’24 than we did in ’23.”

Gavin Wimsatt took a ‘leap of faith’ when he came to Rutgers. Now, he says, the Scarlet Knights ‘have bigger plans’

Rutgers Gavin Wimsatt reflects on what Thursday’s win means for Rutgers football.

BRONX, N.Y. — When Gavin Wimsatt arrived at Rutgers three years ago, the highly-touted quarterback was expected to be a huge part of the program’s rebuild. On Thursday evening, he celebrated his team’s win over Miami in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl

Wimsatt’s season, which started with strong performances against Northwestern and Temple, is now defined most by Thursday’s win. The 20-year-old quarterback guided his Rutgers football team to a bowl victory over a storied Miami program.

In doing so, Wimsatt snapped a stretch of nine years without a bowl win and got the first bowl win of the Greg Schiano 2.0 era at Rutgers. Wimsatt ran for two touchdowns (of the ‘tush push’ variety’) to guide the Scarlet Knights to the win on Thursday over Miami.

“It means a lot. When I committed here, obviously it was a little bit of a leap of faith, but I trusted in coach Schiano, and he had a plan, and we had the right guys. So it’s an exciting moment for this to happen,” Wimsatt said after the game.

“This is what we pictured, but we have bigger plans, but this is just a step in the right direction. It’s exciting.

With the win, Rutgers finishes with a winning season (7-6, 3-5 Big Ten) for the first time since 2014. Wimsatt started every one of those games in a season where the Scarlet Knights closed the gap a bit on the rest of the Big Ten.

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Wimsatt too, closed the gap a bit in his development and maturation.

On the season, he finished with 1,735 passing yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also had 497 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.

Thursday saw Wimsatt manage an offense that did not turn the ball over once in getting the win over Miami.

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“What we did today is we took care of the football. We knew that if we could take it away — I count punt blocks as a take-away, where it was a pick six or fumble six when you block a punt,” Schiano said during his post-game press conference.

“We knew if we could win the turnover margin that we felt very confident we would win the game. Did we play a little tight to the vest? Sure, we did, because we felt that was the kind of game we had to play.

“We’ll develop. Like at every position, we’ll continue to develop, including the quarterback position. We’ll just keep getting better. Like you said, that’s part of the — today I thought a developmental program was on display. You look at some of the young guys.”

Scroll down and enjoy some of the best moments from Thursday’s Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl for Rutgers football!

 

‘Tush push’ (take two): Rutgers football extends lead with another Gavin Wimsatt ‘tush push’ touchdown

Rutgers football extends their lead against Miami.

BRONX, N.Y. — Gavin Wimsatt had (another) tush push touchdown, extending Rutgers football’s lead in the fourth quarter of the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.

For Wimsattt, it was his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon and it extended the Rutgers lead to 28-17 over Miami.

The touchdown gave some much-needed breathing room for Rutgers, who rolled out to a 14-0 lead at the midpoint of the second quarter. Miami rattled off 17 unanswered points to stake a 17-14 lead with 10:33 left in the third quarter.

Wimsatt has had a quietly efficient game for Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights are looking for their first bowl win since 2014:

 

Rutgers re-took the lead with 5:06 left in the third quarter. Trevor Yeboah-Kodie blocked a Miami punt and Timmy Ward recovered for a 21-17 lead for Rutgers.

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This season was a strong next step for Rutgers in their rebuilding effort under head coach Greg Schiano. They finished 6-6 (3-5 Big Ten) and were bowl eligible for the first time since 2014 (the program’s first in the Big Ten).

Watch: Third time is the charm for Rutgers football, take 7-0 lead with a ‘tush push’

Rutgers football got an early lead over Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl.

BRONX, N.Y. — Rutgers football got on the board early in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl, a one-yard ‘tush push’ by quarterback Gavin Wimsatt good enough for a 7-0 lead over Miami.

The 13-play, 75-yard drive on the game’s opening possession was vintage stuff from Rutgers. Taking 8:06 off the clock, the drive featured 11 rushing plays for 59 yards.

Rutgers ran the ball hard and physically, controlling the line of scrimmage on the drive.

For Wimsatt, it was his tenth rushing touchdown of the season. He came into the season without a rushing touchdown.

It was the third time in the goal line situation that Rutgers trotted out the ‘tush push’ formation. It turned out to be the charm as the Scarlet Knights got the ball across the goal line for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead over Miami with 6:54 left in the first quarter.

 

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Rutgers came into the Pinstripe Bowl 6-6 (3-5 Big Ten). They lost their last four regular season games.

Rutgers football vs. Miami: Prediction, point spread, odds, best bet

On Thursday afternoon, Rutgers will play in the Pinstripe Bowl for the first time since 2013 when they faced Notre Dame

On Thursday afternoon, Rutgers will play in the Pinstripe Bowl for the first time since 2013 when they faced Notre Dame. They will face a Miami team hungry for a bowl win after finishing the regular season with seven wins. This game will also add to the program’s rich history.

Thursday will mark the 13th time Rutgers has played at Yankee Stadium, dating back to 1926. It will be the Scarlet Knights’ 51st game at an MLB stadium and the sixth such bowl game. They have played Notre Dame and Iowa State in their last two Pinstripe Bowl appearances.

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To leave Yankee Stadium with a win, Rutgers will need a big game from Gavin Wimsatt and Kyle Monangai. The talented duo has combined for 16 rushing touchdowns. That has made the Scarlet Knights a tough team to face regardless of the opponent.

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However, they have a talented team in their way in the Hurricanes. Regardless of the outcome, playing in a bowl game is a significant milestone for Greg Schiano and Rutgers.

Rutgers football: Best five wins of the season

During the 2023 campaign, Rutgers football gave fans plenty of reasons to celebrate.

During the 2023 campaign, Rutgers football gave fans plenty of reasons to celebrate. The Scarlet Knights finished with a 6-6 record and performed better in conference play. Although the last few years have been full of highs and lows, the program took a step forward.

While their success was a team effort, Kyle Monangai and Gavin Wimsatt became players to be reckoned with. Monangai was one of the best running backs in the conference with 1,099 rushing yards and Wimsatt added 1,651 passing yards to his resume. Due their play, the offense was no longer the achilles heel.

 

Like in years past, the strength of this team continued to be the defense. The Scarlet Knights finished the season with eight interceptions and 19 sacks. As a result, they played better against Big Ten teams.

While Rutgers still has one game left, the 2023 campaign was full of positives for this program. Below are the five wins that stood out the most.

Rutgers football landed a building block player in ’24 quarterback A.J. Surace

A.J Surace has the potential to be a long-term solution for Rutgers football at quarterback.

A.J. Surace isn’t the highest-ranked player in the Rutgers football recruiting class, but he likely ends up being the most important. That’s because if Surace continues his developmental arc, he is likely a multi-year starter at quarterback for the Big Ten program.

Along with the rest of the 2024 recruiting class, Surace signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play for Rutgers football.

Surace is a three-star quarterback prospect who is coming off a fantastic senior season at Notre Dame Prep (Lawrenceville, New Jersey). He is ranked the fourth-best player in New Jersey according to 247Sports.

On the season, Surace was 130-of-188 for 1,862 passing yards. He had 26 touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had 909 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.

“AJ, he’s a tremendous football player. It’s in his blood. His dad is a long-time head coach at Princeton and in the National Football League before that and just a great family,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano told reporters on Wednesday.

Family of educators. His grandpa was a legendary coach down in south Jersey. So you guys know the story, and AJ is every bit the culmination of all that. He’s a football guy. He’s a great student, and I think is going to be a great quarterback at Rutgers.

What stands out about Surace is his pocket poise and presence. He has an understanding of ball placement and the ability to throw his receiver open. It is a rare trait and skill set for a high school football player.

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Given his production and how well he did in camp settings, Surace could well have been a four-star quarterback. However, at 6-foot-2, he doesn’t have the size that jumps out to most recruiting analysts.

But he is certainly Big Ten caliber size, and his performance on the field as both a passer and a runner backs up his ability to transition at the next level. He enrolls in January.

The potential is there for Surace to be a multi-year starter at Rutgers and to develop into the type of quarterback that Gary Nova and Mike Teel were for the program.

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Surace’s father, Bob Surace, is the highly respected (and successful) head coach at Princeton.