Tag: Kwabena Asamoah

Pat Flaherty has made a tremendous difference for the Rutgers football offensive line this year

Rutgers football has had a huge upswing this year on the offensive line.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The impact that Pat Flaherty has had on the rebuilt Rutgers football offensive line can’t be overstated. The former NFL offensive line coach, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, has done a tremendous job in reshaping the unit.

Flaherty is in his first season back with Rutgers, joining a revamped coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball. With over two decades of NFL experience, including those Super Bowl rings with the Giants, it is hard to think of an offensive line coach with his pedigree in college football.

And the offensive line for Rutgers has been a major factor in why the offense as a whole has developed this year. A season ago, the Rutgers offense was near the bottom of the Big Ten in nearly every statistical category.

This year they are solidly mid-pack in the conference’s offensive standings and the line is paving the way.

“He and his staff, the o-line guys, have done a great job. You know, there’s the experience there. I think that anytime you have a guy with that kind of experience, it’s a calming factor for group,” head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag] said on Wednesday.

“And I think they’re benefiting from all of his experience – and they’re getting better themselves. You know, they’re working very, very hard and they’re getting better. Are we near where we need to be? No, we’re not even close. But we’re a lot better than we were.

“And that’s the key as long as we can keep that trajectory going. We’ll eventually get there…looking forward to the day.”

Improved play from the offensive line is a major reason why Rutgers is 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) and bowl-eligible. They host No. 1 Ohio State (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) on Saturday at 12:00 PM ET (CBS).

The Flaherty factor is certainly a major component to how the offense has improved this year. But the line has certainly gelled and come together as a unit.

Compared to last year, there is a rhythm and a precision in place. Flaherty is to thank for all of this, as is the fact that this is a line featuring several upperclassmen as starters.

Part of the growth of the offensive line is experience based off of the lumps taken over the past two years. That has certainly helped Rutgers be a more seasoned unit this year.

“I’ll say it’s a little bit of both. I mean, coach Flats is a great coach coming from the NFL coaching the guys he’s coached,” said sophomore guard Kwabena Asamoah.

“He’s a great offensive mind just to have him give you tidbits and also like the enter o-line just in general, we’ve become a lot closer as a group. You know, every day in practice and the demands – if we have any questions we help each other out, things of that nature.”

What’s next for Rutgers football after bowl eligibility? ‘No limits’

Rutgers football is buzzing about ‘no limits’ placed on their season.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Now that bowl eligibility has been achieved, the next goal for Rutgers football is now undefined. The idea of ‘No limits’ is something that is now realistically taking hold within the program.

And while running the table in the four remaining games would seem a bit of a stretch, given that two top 10 teams remain on the schedule, it is clear that Rutgers is now playing with house money. ESPN, for instance, is now projecting Rutgers to finish 7-5.

The ‘CHOP’ mentality has not changed or even morphed. But the team appears to be blending the ‘No limits’ mantra this week to embrace the opportunity ahead of them.

Two months ago, the outlook nationally had Rutgers getting maybe four wins. Now with four games left in their season, Rutgers is chasing not just a plateau or a goal, but rather a mindset of being the best they possibly can be.

What that ends up looking like, they say, is up to them.

“The bowl is a ways away. We’re focused on this week, what we have to do for this game,” quarterback Gavin Wimsatt said on Tuesday.

“Coach – he’s been saying this all year: No limits. “No limits on hard we can work, what we can do as a team, what we can do to get better.”

Things like the Big Ten title and the Big Ten Championship are likely out of range for Rutgers, despite their solid record (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten). But getting one or two wins from their final four games would certainly be a step forward for the program.

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Only once since they entered the Big Ten in 2014 has Rutgers had a winning season. One more win this season would get them there.

“Coach Schiano always says no limits. And he says no limits of how far you can go. how hard you can work,” guard Kwabena Asamoah told Rutgers Wire on Tuesday.”

“So you know, just working as hard as you can every day making every day as productive as you can.”

Wimsatt, who has developed nicely this season, sees the next four weeks as the opportunity for Rutgers to continue their program-wide growth. He refers to offensive coordinator [autotag]Kirk Ciarrocca[/autotag], in his first year with the program, as helping to personally shape that mentality.

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“So it’s just like having that mindset where you can always get better at. You know, you never know it well enough,” Wimsatt said.

“That’s a thing coach Ciarrocca talks about – ‘You never know well enough’.Having that mindset (that) you’ll benefit from it. Every day you get better because you feel like you don’t know well enough. So you want to learn just that much more.”

Rutgers hosts No. 3 Ohio State (8-0,5-0 Big Ten) on Saturday at SHI Stadium (12:00 PM ET, CBS).

Rutgers football: Off a strong freshman season, Kwabena Asamoah continues to eye development

Kwabena Asamoah is looking to build on last season as a starter with Rutgers football.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Last season, Kwabena Asamoah pulled off something that doesn’t happen in college football let alone the Power Five. The Rutgers football guard not only played meaningful snaps as a true freshman but by the midpoint of the season, Asamoah was a starter.

Given the nuances of playing the offensive line coupled with the need to get caught up physically (i.e. size and strength) as well as understanding the complexities of the playbook, offensive linemen rarely see the field as true freshmen. If they do, it is in a reserve role or on special teams.

Last season, Asamoah finished the season with starts in the last three games for Rutgers and he goes into this season as the projected starter at right guard.

Asamoah wasn’t the most hyped of the offensive line prospects that made up the 2022 recruiting class, but he was the first from the group to see the field. He started midseason and then never looked back.

“I kind of took my freshman year just like a learning experience – just wanting to take it every day,” Asamoah told Rutgers Wire on Tuesday following practice.

“Just learn something new. So when the coaches told me that I’d be playing, even if it was just a little bit, I was really surprised but also extremely excited.”

A three-star offensive lineman from Ohio, Asamoah counted a handful of Power Five offers during his recruitment.

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His growth and development this offseason is being aided by a new offensive line coach, Pat Flaherty. The veteran coach comes to Rutgers with strong experience in the NFL that numbers over two decades.

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He won two Super Bowl titles with the New York Giants as their offensive line coach.

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“I try to take it every day, just the things he says and take little nuggets away from it. Because you know, he’s been around football for so long,” Asamoah said about Flaherty.

“He knows so much. He says he coaches us the same as he’s coached every other team before – he coaches always learning the same way. So I just try to take everything that he says and learn from that.

I mean, just knowing that you’re being coached by a guy that’s coached a lot of great football players like Chris Snee (former New York Giants standout offensive lineman) – like just knowing that he’s done that…you feel like kind of like had the confidence that he’s done it before. So I know what he’s telling me to do is the right way to do it.”

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Rutgers football recruiting: Scarlet Knights offer three-star defensive lineman Ted Hammond

Rutgers football offers an impressive offensive lineman in Ted Hammond.

Ted Hammond has been offered by Rutgers, the Ohio defensive lineman getting the Big Ten nod on Tuesday night.

A 6-foot-5, 258-pound defensive lineman, Hammond is a three-star out of St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH). The class of 2024 prospect has Power Five offers from Duke, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Northwestern, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt. This week he has offers come in from Wisconsin and then Rutgers.

He is ranked as the No. 24 defensive lineman in the nation and the No. 14 player in Ohio in his recruiting class according to 247Sports. He tweeted about the offer from Rutgers football on Tuesday night:

 

Over the past couple of years, Rutgers has done well in Ohio, specifically with linemen. In the previous recruiting cycle, the Scarlet Knights landed [autotag]Kwabena Asamoah[/autotag], a three-star offensive lineman. In the class of 2023, they currently have a verbal from [autotag]Dom Rivera[/autotag].

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Rivera is a 6-foot-8, 315-pound offensive lineman from Olmsted Falls (Olmsted, OH). The Rutgers commit also held Power Five offers from Boston College, Iowa State and Syracuse at the time that he gave his verbal to the Big Ten program.

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