With the start of Big Ten Conference media days this week, it means we are one step closer to the start of the college football season.
On day one of the event, Rutgers Football HC Greg Schiano alongside the likes of Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, and Wisconsin will be addressing the media.
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 7-6 season where the program won their first bowl game appearance since 2014 and their sixth all time under Schiano.
After their first winning season since 2014, Rutgers will return a good chunk of their team and is looking to make that next step, but if they are going to do that they will have to answer these three questions.
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WILL THE QUARTERBACK PLAY IMPROVE?
Rutgers Football went out this offseason and dipped into the transfer portal adding Minnesota’s starting quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis.
This spring, Kaliakmanis battled against former Scarlet Knights starter Gavin Wimsatt for the quarterback job and ultimately won after just a few weeks of practices.
Now we know Wimsatt had some serious struggles over the past few years and judging just on the numbers alone Kaliakmanis should be better, but how much better is the question. With a run heavy offense Kaliakmanis won’t be asked to do a whole lot, but if he can hit just the simple passes then this team could be in a prime position for a big season.
CAN THE DEFENSE CREATE MORE SACKS IN 2024?
While the Scarlet Knights defense was among the best in the country last season, they still haven’t been able to create as many sacks as they’d like.
In 2023, DC Joe Harasymiak’s unit had 24 sacks on 28 hits and 87 hurries on the year. While the sack number jumped a bit from 2022 where they had 21 sacks, the hits (56 in 2022) and hurries (101 in 2022) are down a bit.
With a heavy veteran presence along the defensive line and just about every single starter on that side of the ball returning from last year, this could be the year where we see a big jump in sack numbers, but only time will tell.
HOW WILL THE RUNNING GAME FALL IN LINE BEHIND KYLE MONANGAI?
The main constant in offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca's attack will be continuing to run the football and running back Kyle Monangai, the Big Ten's rushing leader in 2023, will once again be at the head of that arsenal. The next question is who will supplement Monangai in the run game?
The senior has a good amount of tread on his tires, as his 242 carries ranked 12th nationally last season. He also lost his main backfield companion with Wimsatt and his 131 rushing attempts in 2023 now at Kentucky. While Kaliakmanis is a willing scrambler at times in the passing game, he will most definitely not be able to take on the same volume running the football. So where do the rest of the carries go?
Junior Samuel Brown V looked like he was still trying to get back to full health after dealing with the lingering effects of his season-ending foot injury in 2022, but he showed flashes of his old self, particularly in the Pinstripe Bowl win over Miami (FL). Sophomore Ja'shon Benjamin was mostly used as a change-of-pace back but made multiple highlight-reel plays out of the backfield as a receiver, and can continue to do so behind the two starters. Those two can soak up the carries left behind by Wimsatt and also take on some of Monangai's carries if the coaching staff want to dial back his workload as the season progresses.
On the younger side, freshmen Antwan Raymond, Edd Guerrier and Gabe Winowich probably won't see too many opportunities but each had moments in the Spring Game and add to the stable of depth running backs coach Damiere Shaw has at his disposal. Veterans Donovan Delaney Jr., Michael Robinson II, and Jordan Kinsler also likely won't get many carries but have contributed later on in certain games in the past, as well as the Spring Game in April.
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