7/9/2020 football Edit

Rutgers Football D-Line coach Jim Panagos excited to be back, ready to work

Richie O'Leary • TheKnightReport

Publisher

Just a couple weeks after Greg Schiano’s return to Rutgers was official, the head football coach reached out to and convinced former Scarlet Knights defensive line coach Jim Panagos to also return to the "banks".

Panagos was the Rutgers defensive line coach from 2012-15 under then head coach Kyle Flood before moving on to Pittsburgh, then Temple, and most recently Minnesota. During his tenure in Piscataway, Panagos helped develop the likes of Scott Vallone, Darius Hamilton, and Kemoko Turay, all of which earned all-conference honors.

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The old/new defensive line coach spoke with the media on Thursday for the first time since he was hired back in the middle of December.

“Hope everyone is healthy and safe, practicing social distancing and wearing a mask so we can get back to playing football here pretty soon," Panagos said on the video conference call. "Since I met coach (Greg) Schiano back In 2009 when I played in the bowl against him when I was at UCF, I really wanted to work for him, so this is my chance to come back and have that opportunity. It's been unbelievable so far, especially with the staff that he has put together on defense with coaches (Bob) Fraser, (Robb) Smith, both of whom are phenomenal coaches who I've worked with before. Also we added Fran Brown, who I've known since 2013 and he's done an amazing job on defense and then on offense I have an amazing relationship with Augie (Hoffman), Nunzio (Campanile) and now Sean (Gleeson) and Andy (Aurich). It's just a staff that is aligned the right way. Now I also have the chance to work with Scott Vallone, Charlie Noon and Jamal Westerman, all of whom I'm really close with, it's been awesome and a great feeling for me. I'm just really happy to be back home and make New Jersey great again and just really excited to start the journey with coach Schiano and the rest of the guys."

This offseason, the Scarlet Knights brought in four different transfers (Mayan Ahanotu, Ireland Burke, Michael Dwumfour & Malik Barrow) along the defensive line to what is now somewhat of a crowded D-Line room. However coach Panagos said as long as guys are giving it all in practice, they will all play snaps come gameday.

"As you know I like to play a lot of players on gameday," said Panagos. "I tell my players this, it's my job to put them into positions to make plays and it's their job to make those plays. As long as they are practicing at a high level and doing what I tell them to do, I will play as many guys that have earned that opportunity to play. To me it's eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, there isn't really a number there. It's more about these guys give us an opportunity to win and I'm going to play them. I think when you have a lot of defensive lineman, it creates buy-in, they have a role and number two it creates competition and competition s the most important thing in life. Those are the reasons why I like to play a lot of defensive lineman and it's merited, sometimes it's not because they aren't doing what they are supposed to do on the football field, but if all goes to plan we are going to play a lot of defensive lineman and see what happens."

Along with being a solid on the field coach, Panagos is also known as a pretty darn good recruiter. This offseason wasn't an easy one for coach as he had a lot to learn about video call services such as WebEx and Zoom, but now that he got the hang of it, he plans on using in the future, even when the pandemic does come to end.

"It was a challenge at first, I had to learn about WebEx and Zoom, but now I love it," said Panagos. "At first it was a challenge for me because I wasn't used to doing something I never did before. Honestly recruiting is all about relationships. If you recruit the kids the right way, a lot of people say I'm a great recruiter, but I'm a great listener. If you listen to kids, they give you the answers to the test. It's our job to listen to kids, listen to what they want and then keep building that relationship. That's the key is listening. A lot of times people want to hear them selves talk, I'll take your approach, ask a question and they give me all the stuff I need to know. Every time I talk to them, I keep building that relationship and it takes time, but that's the key. But, this whole thing with WebEx and Zoom has been pretty challenging, but it's been really fun and some stuff I'm going to keep using when the world opens up because to me it's an advantage."

One of the biggest things that Panagos is looking for when it comes to recruiting is guys who are excited about football and love the sport of football. He went into detail about exactly what he is looking for when evaluating high school recruits.

"Number one they have to love football," he said. "Number two they have to be really competitive. Number three they have to have energy, low motor doesn't work for me. Number four I think having football intelligence is key and number five they have to be want to be coached. I want players that have a coach me coach attitude, if you have that I can make you a great player, if you don't have that then it's not going to work for me or you.

Stay tuned for more on Panagos and other Rutgers Football news right here on The Knight Report!