Tag: Johnny Langan

A move to tight end has Kenny Fletcher motivated to help Rutgers football win

Rutgers football has a new tight end in Kenny Fletcher, who is transitioning from defense.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Lost in the lead-up to the Pinstripe Bowl last year is that Kenny Fletcher transitioned from the defensive side of the ball to now being on offense.

For one of the highest-ranked recruits brought in by Rutgers over the past five years, the decision to switch position came down to wanting to help the team win.

Fletcher came to Rutgers as part of the 2023 recruiting class where he was ranked as a four-star defensive end. He showed flashes at the position, making 10 tackles and 2.5 sacks over the past two years.

But following the regular season finale against Maryland, Fletcher was asked by head coach Greg Schiano about the possibility of moving positions.

“I played wide receiver in high school, so that was cool. As soon as he brought up tight end, I know I could do the job,” Fletcher told Rutgers Wire last week.

“It really wasn’t hard for me after he told me that was our best chance of winning. After he told me that, it was great.”

Stacked at the defensive end position, Fletcher has a clear pathway to playing time if he continues his development this offseason. With the graduation of [autotag]Johnny Langan[/autotag], who had been with the program since the Reagan administration, as well as transfer portal tight end Shawn Bowman, there is the need for tight ends on the roster.

At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Fletcher has good size to play tight end at the Big Ten level. He also has speed and agility that translate well to the position.

“It definitely factored in, playing time and things like that,” Fletcher said.

“That really wasn’t the main focus for me. The culture that we’ve built in this program, it just makes everyone want to win, no matter what.”

The selflessness of Fletcher to pursue this new position points to not just the culture around Rutgers football, but also the selflessness of the player.

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The transition is going along well, Fletcher said, with the biggest part of the learning curve coming in the tight ends room. Learning the playbook is a big part of his development this offseason.

While the on the field presents daily challenges – “it’s not easy because we’ve got some dogs on this team” – Fletcher’s learning of the playbook and the language on offense is helped by the presence of [autotag]Scott Vallone[/autotag].

In his first year as the tight ends coach, Vallone played defensive line at Rutgers and then with three NFL teams.

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Given that Fletcher is transitioning from defensive line to tight ends, Vallone’s own experience on the other side of the ball can help this process.

“It helps me that I was a defensive end. Certain movements from the defensive end I can recognize quicker and things like that,” Fletcher said.

“As far as coach Vallone, he’s a really good guy, he helps me understand things better, even if he uses defensive terminology to help me in the moment.”

Not moral victories, but progress, mark Rutgers football in loss to No. 1 Ohio State

Rutgers football showed that the rebuild is legit in loss to No. 1 Ohio State.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Not surprisingly, no one associated with Rutgers football acknowledged that Saturday afternoon’s 35-16 loss to No. 1 Ohio State was a moral victory. But, there is the concession that this is a team that is headed in the right direction and making considerable gains in their rebuild.

A 9-7 lead for Rutgers over Ohio State at halftime began trending, as much for the shock value that the nation’s top team was on the ropes as for the fact that Rutgers was holding its own. And hold their own they did, as Rutgers was very much in this game for a long time.

The loss stings for Rutgers.

Down 21-16 early in the fourth quarter, Rutgers had chances to stop Ohio State but simply couldn’t as the star power of the Buckeyes shone forth. What Rutgers did show on Saturday, even if it didn’t want to admit it, was that the rebuilding project under head coach Greg Schiano is paying dividends.

“We’re just not there. We’re getting better. I don’t know how to put it other than we are not there yet. We are a work-in-progress. We are getting better. We are just not there against the No. 1 team in the country, not quite yet. We have to,” Schiano said after the game.

“You can’t say, well, we are going to get there. You have to go make yourself get there, so that’s what we’ll do, we’ll come back in this room, we’ll be honest with each other tomorrow and those kids love each other, those coaches love those kids and we are just going to keep going and eventually we’re going to get there.”

Rutgers outgained Ohio State 361-328 yards. They had more first downs (22 to 15) and held possession of the ball for a little over 11 minutes more than the nation’s top team.

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Some of those numbers can be skewed by the fact that Ohio State is capable of making big plays, but the point is not lost that Rutgers went punch-for-punch with Ohio State for much of the game.

It was a sign that, against the class of the Big Ten, Rutgers has the ability to hang tough. But the message was clearly sent from SHI Stadium on Saturday that Rutgers isn’t rebuilding anymore.

Rutgers is rebuilt, even if the loss hurts for veterans like senior tight end Johnny Langan.

“I don’t know-ย  we we did make some mistakes that normally would crush a team and in the past might have put us back a lot,” Langan said when asking about this team making progress.

“So, yes, and no. I mean, we can’t make those mistakes. If we didn’t make those mistakes, that would definitely be huge progress. But the fact that we made those mistakes and still were in the ball game, I guess you could say that’s progress.”

There was a sting to Saturday afternoon that comes from knowing that Rutgers wasted an opportunity. Games against the top-ranked team in the nation don’t come often and rarely does an opponent step up the way Rutgers did on Saturday afternoon.

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Rutgers played well and could have beaten Ohio State. The argument could be made that but for a play or two, they should have beaten the Buckeyes.

But the sting of this loss comes from the fact that Rutgers hung in there against the No. 1 team in the nation and very nearly de-throned them.

“It shows what coach Schiano has instilled, you know, into the players, into this program,” linebacker Deion Jennings said.

“There’s progress, but we’re still working hard and there’s still progress to be made.”

For Rutgers football, it was more than just big plays. It was a culture that won out

Culture won out for Rutgers football on Saturday.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — For two veteran players on the Rutgers football roster, Saturday’s win over Michigan State was especially meaningful. While Johnny Langan and Mayan Ahanotu took different paths to Rutgers, both understood the significance of Saturday’s win for this program.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, more than just the season was on the line for Rutgers. Yes, Saturday’s game was one of those winnable games that the Scarlet Knights need if they are to be bowl-eligible in this all-important fourth year of head coach Greg Schiano’s return to the program.

But had Rutgers lost on Saturday, it could well have been the end of this rebuild. Down 24-6 to a peer program in the Big Ten, it isn’t unfair to say that the vision for the program could have come crashing down.

Hope could have been lost on Saturday. In fact, with only several thousand fans left inside SHI Stadium, many had potentially stopped believing.

Those on the Rutgers sideline never stopped believing either.

***

Johnny Langan came to Rutgers five years ago, his time predating the arrival of Schiano to rebuild his original rebuild. He became the starting quarterback for Rutgers in 2019 after head coach Chris Ash was relieved of his duties just five games into the season. Langan has been here for some of the lowest moments in program history.

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Moments that lend some clarity and appreciation for what he experienced on Saturday in a 27-24 win over Michigan State.

“I mean, this is probably the best win of my career here at Rutgers,” Langan said after the game.

“So I’m really really happy about that. You know, I’m going to enjoy this…we got the 24-hour rule. So I’m going to enjoy this win for the next 24 hours and then we’re on to the next one.”

Langan, a transfer from Boston College, has bought completely into Schiano’s culture. When asked by Schiano to switch positions from quarterback to tight end, he embraced the idea of becoming ‘Johnny Offense.’

 

The culture is so important to Langan that while his teammates celebrated in the end zone on Saturday afternoon, he stood and screamed for the celebratory music to stop so the team could sing the alma mater.

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Like Langan, the journey to Rutgers for Ahanotu began elsewhere. A transfer addition from Minnesota, Ahanotu was a rotational player at his previous stop but has become a big factor in the heart of the Rutgers defense.

He too has bought into Schiano’s message and culture in the rebuilding of a program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2014.

“Definitely 100 percent -I mean every single player in this program has built this place – I’m saying built and came in here and bought in with the culture. And then with wins like this …it just shows you that the ‘CHOP’ is ours, man. It is our culture and we built this and it’s going to be long-lasting,” Ahanotu said.

“We’re trained for adversity. You know, this is what the whole culture is built off of. Just whenever you hit adversity, you got to keep chopping. You got to just do what you can do, control the controllables and so that’s what we did.”

Born and raised in New Jersey, this win was special for Langan. Not only did the team take a massive step towards bowl eligibility, but the improbable and unlikely comeback win underscored that the culture at Rutgers is what sets this rebuild apart from the two previous coaching staffs.

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Langan gave up more than anyone else for this culture.

As the team’s quarterback to close out the final eight games of the 2019 season, it isn’t easy to willingly hand over the glamour of the sport’s most iconic position for the unheralded role of being a tight end.

But for Langan, it is all about the culture. And moments like Saturday, as the team finished with the alma mater, are ones he will not forget.

***

 

With the team gathered around him and the last notes of the band fading away into the gloom and rain of an autumnal afternoon in central New Jersey, Langan didn’t even pause.

In one motion, as his teammates finished the last words of the alma mater, Langan raised the team’s axe over his head. Symbolic of the mantra to keep chopping, he drove the axe into the end zone.

The point was not lost on Langan. His team had just chopped a game to victory that appeared lost. Culture had won out on Saturday.

The final chop was done for the day.

“I mean, wins like this are extremely important to us. You know, to be able to come back from a deficit like that really proves our culture,” Langan said.

“It’s all about F.A.M.I.L.Y. – ‘Forget About Me I Love You’ – you know, ‘Trust’ and ‘CHOP’ and then that’s what we did today. We just chopped when we were down, we didn’t look up to the scoreboard. You know, we just looked at every single play, and we just did our job and we chopped our job and that’s exactly what we’re about here.”

Rutgers football: Johnny Langan on his transition from quarterback to tight end

Johnny Langan talks about his transition to tight end.

This is the fall when Johnny Langan is expected to take a big developmental step forward and become one of the top tight ends in the Big Ten. It certainly has been a twisting, winding trip for Langan, who came to Rutgers as a quarterback.

Langan arrived at Rutgers in 2019 as a transfer following one season at Boston College, where he was a redshirt and did not play. He came to Boston College as a quarterback, following a high school career at Bergen Catholic was he was a three-star quarterback recruit and the No. 22 recruit in the state of New Jersey.

But a position switch to linebacker was in the offing for Langan, and he decided to transfer to Rutgers. He ended up playing quarterback for Rutgers during the second half of the 2019 season following the dismissal of head coach Chris Ash. But come the next season, Langan had moved to tight end and was on his way to becoming ‘Johnny Offense.’

The transition from quarterback to tight end was brought up in a recent interview with NBC Sports analyst Matt Cassel.

“It was crazy, playing quarterback I never really blocked anyone. That was definitely the biggest transition for me. At quarterback, I like to say that I was a physical player, I ran the ball a lot,” Langan told NBC Sports.

“It wasn’t the physicality of it, but it was really the technique, staying balanced. Because when you’re running the ball, you’re just trying to run through someone. If you try to block, you can get snagged off. That was probably the biggest learning curve for me there.”

Langan is a jackknife for Rutgers, capable of playing a myriad of positions. He is the program’s Wildcat quarterback in addition to playing as an H-back and as a conventional tight end.

Last season, Langan set a career-high in receptions (31) and receiving yards (296).

Cassel dove into other areas of Langan’s life, including how the Rutgers tight end likes to relax.

“I like to spend my weekends in the summer at the Jersey shore. That’s my spot,” Langan said.

“Just going down there every weekend, smelling the sea salt in the air. Driving over the bridge, there’s nothing like it.”

Also in the interview, he admitted to loving chicken parm.

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NBC Sports asks Rutgers tight end Johnny Langan what Big Ten school has the ‘wildest student section’

Johnny Langan talks Big Ten with NBC Sports.

Johnny Langan has been known around the Rutgers football team as ‘Johnny Offense,’ given his versatility around the program. But it might be time to start calling him ‘Jersey Johnny’ instead.

Such is the love that Langan, a senior tight end, has for Rutgers and his home state of New Jersey.

In an interview with NBC Sports’ Matt Cassell during Big Ten Media Days, Langan was asked a series of questions to survey his thoughts about the Big Ten. His first question was about the top uniform in the conference, and he said that the Rutgers black-out uniforms were the best.

Two questions later, Langan was asked to give the best student section in the Big Ten.

“I have to go with the Scarlet Knights again. They show up every week, they bring the energy,” Langan told NBC Sports.

“Just great to have them on our side.”

He was then asked by Cassel to name the worst visiting locker rooms in the Big Ten. Langan’s answer likely resonated with other players from around the Big Ten.

“I remember my first year here, and then we’re going to go back this year. I remember Iowa they have that all-pink locker room,” Langan said.

“I’m sure that’s on purpose, they’re trying to have the worst locker room in the Big Ten and I think they take the cake.”

A 14-year veteran of the NFL, Cassel notably played at USC but never started a game during his college career. He is part of NBC’s lineup for Big Ten games this fall.

Cassel had a final question of Langan that was specific to tthe Scarlet Knights. He asked Langan who was the “best athlete to come out of your school all time, at the (sic) Rutgers.”

“I’m going to have to go Marco Battaglia,” Langan said.

Battaglia spent eight years in the NFL and won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is currently the Senior Advisor to the President of the Rutgers Foundation.

The full interview featuring Cassel and Langan can be found here:

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Johnny Lanagan named to Mackey Award Watch List

Johnny Langan is on the watchlist for a national award.

As the 2023 college football season draws closer, there is optimism in Piscataway about what this season will bring. The Rutgers roster is full of veterans, and the schedule has a few winnable games. One player that will be key to their success is Johnny Lanagan, who was named to the Mackey Award watch list on Friday.

During the 2022 campaign, Lanagan hauled in 31 receptions for 296 yards. He had at least one catch in every game and found the endzone once. The New Jersey native also made an impact on the ground with 139 yards on 31 carries.

This upcoming season will mark Lanagan’s sixth in college football. In 45 games, he has 20 touchdowns and 483 receiving yards. The talented tight end can also play quarterback if needed. Regardless of the situation, Lanagan has made an impact whenever he is on the field since making his Rutgers debut in 2019.

While Lanagan will focus on putting Rutgers in a position to win, he will also be looking to show why he has received Mackey Award recognition. Each year the award is given to the best tight end in college football. Past winners include Kyle Pitts, T.J. Hockenson, and Mark Andrews.

To join that talented group Lanagan will have to take his game to another level. During the 2022 campaign, he set career highs in receptions with 31 and receiving yards per game with 24.7. Even matching those numbers would be huge for a Rutgers team not known for its offense.

Although the Scarlet Knights tight end already had plenty of motivation for the 2023 campaign, Friday’s news adds more fuel to the fire.

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A knight and day improvement? Johnny Langan weighs in on Gavin Wimsatt as the Rutgers starter

Rutgers football tight end Johnny Langan talks about Gavin Wimsatt being named the Scarlet Knights starting quarterback.

Gavin Wimsatt heads into training camp as the starting quarterback for Rutgers football, with his teammates endorsing the news. Tight end Johnny Langan has seen progress this offseason from Wimsatt both on the field and as a leader.

On Wednesday, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano named Wimsatt the starter. Wimsatt and Evan Simon were the presumptive top quarterbacks on the Rutgers roster this spring, with Schiano’s announcement showing that Wimsatt had pulled away in the quarterback competition.

In 2022, as a redshirt freshman, Wimsatt overcame some injuries early in the season to show some flashes of potential. But there were also struggles as Wimsatt finished the season with 757 passing yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

He completed 44.8 percent of his passes last season.

On Wednesday, Langan, a tight end, reacted to the news of Wimsatt being named the starting quarterback. The reaction from Langan was on the Big Ten Network.

“I think from his last game to today, and it’s been a night and day improvement and that’s a lot saying because he’s already extremely talented, great quarterback,” Langan told the Big Ten Network.
“And I think really he took a more of a leadership role on the team. You know, he’s our leader, and I’m really excited to see him play and I’m really hopeful. And I think we got the right guy at the helm.”

Langan, a team captain last year, was a former quarterback at Boston College who transferred to Rutgers in 2019. Last season as a tight end, Langan had 31 catches for 296 receiving yards with a touchdown.

 

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Johnny Langan sees a different culture around Rutgers football this spring

Johnny Langan believes Rutgers football’s greatest growth has been off the field.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. —ย  Johnny Langan isn’t quite the Van Wilder of the Rutgers football, but as the tight end gets set for his fifth year with the Big Ten program, he does so while acknowledging a different feel around the team.

Langan, the team’s starting tight end and one of the most experienced players on the Rutgers roster – or perhaps any roster in college football – will see this year mark his sixth year of college football. He was originally committed to Boston College as a quarterback and part of their 2018 recruiting class. He transferred after redshirting his freshman season.

Midway through the 2019 season, Langan took over as starting quarterback for Rutgers in what was a tumultuous season. Head coach Chris Ash was fired at midseason and starting quarterback Art Sitkowski sat in order to preserve a redshirt season for a possible transfer.

Langan filled in as the starting quarterback and got the offense to a respectable level. Now a jack-of-all-trades on the Rutgers offense who plays tight end and as a Wildcat quarterback, Langan was a team captain last year and is an important voice on this roster.

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As such, it is significant when, on Tuesday, he said that there is a different feel to this team this spring. For Rutgers, this will mark the fourth year of a total rebuild under head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag].

“I think there’s definitely a big difference between this team and the ones that I’ve been on previously,” Langan said.

“I think this team is really just led by the players – it’s a player-led team. Which is a good thing because then coach Schiano, he gets to focus on real football stuff when the leaders get to handle the locker room and I think that’s just something that’s just so priceless to a football team. And I think we’re really headed in that direction.”

Rutgers hasn’t had a winning season in Langan’s four seasons with the program, making a bowl game in 2021 under some unconventional circumstances. Including an interim head coach in 2019, Langan has played for three head coaches and three offensive coordinators during his time with the program.

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But all that is giving way to some stability around the program. Schiano isn’t going anywhere and he upgraded the coaching staff this offseason with a couple of key additions on the offensive side of the ball.

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The talent level has improved as well, but that isn’t what has caught Langan’s eye the most. He said the leadership of this team has evolved and changed over the past couple of seasons as part of Schiano’s shift in culture.

“I think it’s just a combination of guys being around long enough to really take a grip and take ownership of the message,” Langan said.

“And also just, you know, guys that are just ready to start winning.”

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From Albright College to the NFL and now Rutgers, Andrew Aurich is now at home with the tight ends

Andrew Aurich’s career path now set to benefit Rutgers football’s tight ends.

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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Ahead of a fourth season under Greg Schiano, Rutgers football has a different feel to it

Rutgers football faces a crucial fourth season under head coach Greg Schiano.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — There is a sense among the Rutgers football that things are building and growing. That’s the message from two veteran players on the roster, both of whom have been here for the entirety of head coach Greg Schiano’s rebuild of the program.

And as Schiano enters his fourth season back with Rutgers, it is a crucial year for the head coach and his team. If Rutgers is going to make a move within the Big Ten’s pecking order, then this season they will need to show significant growth and development.

For tight end Johnny Langan, set to enter his fourthย year at Rutgers and his sixth in college football, this locker room is showing signs that he hadn’t seen before in the past. He said that things have been “a little bit different” this spring in terms of the team buying into the rebuild.

“The locker room is great. We’re really just like a well-oiled machine,” Langan said on Tuesday following practice.

“Everyone falls in line. The leadership of the team is some of the best I’ve been around. And, you know, we’re kind of just like on a very linear alignment throughout the organization and we’ve got a chance to really do some special.”

The rebuild’s crucial juncture is an important time for Schiano and his staff to show some growth within the program. The 2022 recruiting class, featuring six recruits ranked as four-stars, was a top 30 national class. They are expected to take a big jump this season in terms of development and growth.

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That young, emerging group of talent is met with a strong senior class that is experienced.

They are experienced, and tired of losing. Rutgers hasn’t had a winning season since 2014.

Not even Langan has been around that long.

โ€œWeโ€™re turnt up, this is the most turnt team at Rutgers Iโ€™ve been on. Thereโ€™s nothing wrong with the teams before but I gel with these guys much, much better. Itโ€™s going to carry over to the field when itโ€™s supposed to,โ€ defensive back Max Melton said last week.

โ€œLike I said before, nothing against the teams we had previously when Schiano came back but like, weโ€™re all on one page. Weโ€™re all having leadership meetings, like letting the team know what type of time weโ€™re on this year, like not just going with the flow, or we come out here run plays, we put our daily deposit in football (then) about to go do whatever. Now, we (are) making sure from top – from player one to player 132 – however many players youโ€™re allowed to have on team โ€“ like weโ€™re all on the same page. I think that is gonna help us when it comes fourth quarter versus whatever.โ€

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