Tag: Pat Flahert

Rutgers football got a Big Ten caliber performance from its offensive line on Saturday

The offensive line stepped up in a major way for Rutgers football on Saturday.

Experience mattered for Rutgers football, who got a massive outing from its offensive line on Saturday afternoon. The line paved the way for Rutgers to run its way to a win at Indiana and a third Big Ten win of the season.

Part of the reason why the line has looked so dramatically improved is experience. The unit has, by and large, played together for the past three years and boasts significant experience.

Then there is the experience of [autotag]Pat Flahert[/autotag]y, in his first year as the offensive line coach at Rutgers but by no means in his first year coaching an offensive line.

Flaherty holds two decades of experience coaching in the NFL and his background and experience have been vital in turning an inconsistent line into a very strong unit.

On Saturday, Rutgers had 276 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a 31-14 win at Indiana.

“It starts up front. The guys have gotten better every single week. Are we where we want to be? No. But we’re just getting better every week, and that’s our goal,” head coach Greg Schiano told reporters after the game.

Early in the fourth quarter, Gavin Wimsatt went on an 80-yard touchdown run.

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On an RPO, Wimsatt followed some good blocking, made a tremendous cut and then combined speed with some nice downfield blocking for the longest touchdown run of his collegiate career.

His 143 rushing yards were the most in the game for either side and was tthe highest rushing total of his career.

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“As long as we can keep the arrow going that way.  That was a heck of a play,” Schiano said.

“It really was a great read by him. Everything was done just right by him for that play to work. It’s not an easy one to read. He did it all very well. We needed it.”

With new coaching staff additions, Greg Schiano sees the Rutgers football as getting better

Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano believes that Kirk Ciarrocca and the offensive staff will help the unit improve.

Perhaps the most important reason for Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano to have optimism heading into this season is the experience of his coaching staff. Schiano believes that additions such as offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca will pay dividends this year.

And that additions such as Ciarrocca (as well as wide receivers coach [autotag]Dave Brock[/autotag] and offensive line coach [autotag]Pat Flahert[/autotag]y) will pay dividends for this still rebuilding team.

Even as the enormity of this rebuilding project is often lost on fans, Schiano sees the offseason additions to his staff will help turn around the offense. The Scarlet Knights haven’t had a winning season since 2014, which was also the last time they made a bowl game outright.

During that time, the Rutgers offense has consistently been bottom three in the Big Ten. Enter Ciarrocca, who comes to the Scarlet Knights after being the offensive coordinator at Minnesota.

“Well, you need to continue to develop in the offseason, which we did physically,” Schiano told the Big Ten Network this week..

“I think, you know, one of the things is the way Kurt runs the offense, it’s cumulative repetitions over and over and over again, we’re not going to, we’re gonna be doing a ton but what we do, we’re going to do well. So I think we’re going to get better. I think we have some good players that, were young and now aren’t so young. And that’s the development part. Now they’re starting to be Big Ten-level players and now they can do it.”

The addition of Ciarrocca is important for Rutgers and Schiano. The struggles of the offense last year didn’t help the program’s rebuild (although it may have helped punter [autotag]Adam Korsak[/autotag]…). Ciarrocca has been at Rutgers before, including as offensive coordinator. and has spent time as a head coach (Delaware) and at other Power Five programs (Penn State and West Virginia).

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“I’m just grateful that he’s back. You know, he’s a guy I know very well and it’s good thing because the job of head coach has changed so much in the last even year and the way our time is used,” Schiano said.

“Kirk is a senior guy,- a guy that’s can lead the room. Great teacher schematically knows what we want to do and I’m thrilled to have him back.”

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Greg Schiano’s recruiting philosophy becomes clear: Eyes, ears and relationships over star rankings

Greg Schiano talks recruiting philosophy.

Rutgers football is piecing together a strong recruiting class, one that is ranked among the best in the nation. Head coach Greg Schiano, however, isn’t worried or concerned about the rankings or what recruiting services think of a certain recruit.

Schiano, instead, believes his own eyes and ears as well as those of his coaching staff while trusting relationships to help evaluate and recruit.

That doesn’t mean that Rutgers isn’t having measurable success on the recruiting trail though. As of Monday morning, 247Sports had Rutgers No. 23 nationally for their 2024 recruiting class. At Rivals, Rutgers was No. 17 in the nation.

While the rankings are nice, it also means that Schiano doesn’t chase stars, much to the chagrin of the fanbase.

“Well, you know, the stars are…look, the stars aren’t always right. And the stars aren’t always wrong. And I think the key that I learned early in my career is I got an opportunity to coach the Chicago Bears when I was in my late 20s. And I was around some great scouts and they told me that you have to learn to be a scout with your eyes first, and then your ears to support what you find or to prove what you find wrong. So that’s what I’ve always tried to do. I don’t try to scour the recruiting services,” Schiano told Larry Blustein on WQAM last week.

“We use our relationships, we hear about guys from coaches who we believe. Sure, now there’s some recruiting services that are better than others and I’m not down on all of them. I think you have to use every bit of information but when it comes to stars, I think there’s certain programs that really chase those stars and sometimes it works out for you and other times it does not work.”

Last fall on an appearance on WFAN, Schiano referred to Rutgers as a “developmental program: during an appearance on the morning show. The idea was that while the transfer portal is nice, it isn’t the be-all and end-all solution for building a program.

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This would also explain some offseason moves for Rutgers on their coaching staff, adding a highly-experienced offensive coordinator in [autotag]Kirk Ciarrocca[/autotag] to revamp the unit. Wide receivers coach [autotag]Dave Brock[/autotag] and offensive line coach [autotag]Pat Flahert[/autotag]y bring extensive NFL experience coaching those units as well.

If Rutgers is going to need to develop talent, then they needed to upgrade their assistant coaches. They certainly did that with the addition of Ciarrocca, Brock and Flaherty on offense. Three coaches, all of whom have coached at a high level in college or the NFL.

Schiano has been consistent that high school recruiting will be the foundation of his rebuild at Rutgers. Finding talent, molding the players, utilizing the strength and conditioning program and then coaching them up is the way that Rutgers can be competitive in the Big Ten.

“We are a developmental program at Rutgers. I’m not worried about stars. I’m worried about finding guys that have length guys that have skill. And then guys that are cultural fit for our program, right? So if they have those things and they can run, we’ll take the time to develop them,” Schiano said.

“And that’s why we look at a lot of three stars and some four stars. And yet, why do we have so many guys that are successful in the National Football League? It’s because we identify the right guys, we develop them, and then they go and have successful careers.”

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