There is change coming to Rutgers football, with Greg Schiano announcing Athan Kaliakmanis as the starting quarterback on Wednesday. Incumbent starter Gavin Wimsatt will enter the transfer portal, a source confirms.
Just a day prior to the news (which was broken by ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Wednesday morning), Rutgers head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag] was asked about the state of his quarterback competition. Kaliakmanis and Wimsatt were engaged in a quarterback battle that appeared destined to drag out until the summer.
But on Wednesday, Kaliakmanis was named the starter heading into fall camp and Wimsatt, who has two years of eligibility left. Last season at Minnesota, Kaliakmanis completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 1,831 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He had previously played for Rutgers offensive coordinator [autotag]Kirk Ciarrocca[/autotag], who three years prior had recruited him to Minnesota.
In speaking on Tuesday to the Big Ten Network, Schiano perhaps foreshadowed the coming change in the quarterback room during his interview with Anthony Herron.
“Well, I think it starts with coach Ciarrocca,” Schiano told the Big Ten Network during an interview on Tuesday.
“You know, coach Ciarrocca recruited him and worked with him at Minnesota so we knew exactly what Athan is and what he was going to be able to do. His brother Dino (Kalaiakmanis) came with him, which he had a good spring as well. So I’m excited.
“You know, I think our quarterback room is as strong as it’s ever been in all my years as the head coach here at Rutgers. And I know that it’s a very fluid thing when you talk about college personnel, right? Because there is a transfer portal there is NIL, there’s all those things that make it that way. So what you do is you literally take it day by day you have a plan, but you got to be ready to adjust. And I feel really good about Athan and I feel good about Gavin and I feel good about our other two quarterbacks as well. You know, they’re doing a good job. So we have some depth at the position. But you know, you don’t know how long that lasts all the time.”
Wimsatt is coming off a third season at Rutgers where he completed 47.8 percent of his passes for 1,735 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also ran for 11 touchdowns.