Please cut the crap. There is one single reason our defensive talent projects to be as poor as it does and it has very little to do with money. We let the entire portal season expire before putting a new DC in place. No marquis high major transfers were going to consider us without knowing who the coaching staff would be. Full stop.
The proof is on the other side of the ball. We clearly had the money to not only retain our top tier playmakers that would be desirable additions pretty much anywhere (Duff and Raymond), but we paid to bring in a QB from a high major conference (I don’t care what BC’s record is - Lonergan’s metrics are better than AK or Gavin’s ever were going into an offseason. He wasn’t “cheap” and it’s not even a guarantee he’s going to start. We are also paying a 3rd year developmental kid who was a a solid tier recruit - the room is arguably the deepest it’s been in eons). There are some questions at a few spots on the OL, but lets put it out on the table that the only reason the outlook for next season is as low as it is - is because of the above paragraph (1st one) - and again - it didn’t matter how much money we had, there were other teams who could’ve matched it and no top level player is choosing a program without knowing who the damn coaches will be. This isn’t a “minor” thing. It’s huge - and the reason odds are stacked against Johansen big time. Not “money”.
If your still not convinced that “money” is why we can’t have a decent defense- then look no further than the dang year your “Heisman candidate” broke all time incompletion records as a starter at RU, we chose to continue playing him, and still won 7 games despite that because of our strong defense (we were able to “afford” the cost of defensive players then, yes.
All this said - in the spirit of the Sorsby recovery lingo - I, unlike many, am giving Greg the acknowledgement credit that AFTER the damage was done, he did “the next right thing” in relinquishing all control and bringing in a brand new up and coming defensive staff to try to pick up the pieces. This doesn’t make up for the rest - not by a landslide - but for Johansen and the others he’s brought in’s sake - I’d like them to at least get a fair shake. Meaning - if they somehow come in and make noticable progress with the dumpster fire they inherited, I would want them to get another year to see if they could complete the transformation. Clearly - I’m in the minority on this. But you’re really off the wall on this money bandwagon with due respect.
I think you’re more of a basketball fan than football fan. If you don’t see a money problem, then you are lost, because the lack of quality linemen is obvious. It’s going to be a push for us to get 6 wins. 7 would be Schiano’s most effective coaching job ever.
The Front 7 is a mess due to lack of money. When you’re counting on a transfer DT, Doug Blue, to be your best player, who didn’t even play last year, you’ve got big problems, especially when your peers are paying top dollar for recruits. The OL hopefully will be serviceable, but the jury is out. I’m particularly concerned about Tackle, one of which has struggled against top flight competition.
it is hard to win games, when your DL looks like they are playing on roller skates. That’s why a lot of teams ran the ball at will on us.
With all due respect, money is the biggest reason our recruiting, especially our transfer recruiting is not up to par. We could have had all the defensive coaches in place, Dec 1st, and the best recruits in the portal still would not have considered us, because Rutgers and especially its fanbase is not serious about football success. How do you demonstrate seriousness? Money. That’s why we’ve only landed one five star recruit in our HISTORY- Darius Hamilton.
For 157 years, a school our size hasn’t won one serious national championship. It’s not due to geography. It’s due to financial support. Ohio State and Michigan both built their stadiums from funds raised from fans. Rutgers needed government handouts to build both of its stadiums. And that has continued till today. Rutgers is next to Maryland when it comes to donations. But to their credit, Maryland built a brand new Fieldhouse. But their NIL fundraising is similar to ours.
You put enough 0’s at the end of the check, you can get whichever player you want. It’s called a risk premium. We don’t have enough money to even dream of doing that. We are limited as to the caliber of player, especially lineman we can recruit.
Last year, the coaches were in place and our transfer defensive ends weren’t any good.
This year, Our season largely hinges how effective defensive ends from Toledo and Tulsa are. If in 2020, you were to tell me our ‘26 season largely hinges how good our MAC transfers are, I’d say you were nuts. Yet here we are. Last years Defensive End transfers were not up to par, which is why we only only had 9 sacks all year.
This is very disappointing, because by year 7, I expected to have a pipeline of high school players who were not only effective starters, but also effective reserves. So what happened. NIL happened, which is why it has been especially difficult to recruit linemen. There is not one OL or DL starter from the ‘23 or ‘24 or ‘25 classes, because we were not able to recruit enough quality linemen. Some took a bag and left. Most were not good enough. There are 2 starters from the ‘22 class, Chin and Asamoah. Farrell Gnago and Taj White left via the portal.
How good our QB is remains to be seen. Last year Athan was a plus player. If this years Qb isn’t as good, which is likely going to be the case, it’s going to be that much more difficult to win games. CBS has us at 4.5 wins, which seems reasonable.
