Has Schiano, with his yearly qb competition, ruined AJ’s chances to play FBS football

[RUTGERS95]

You keep making statements like this as if a glaring mistake was made by our coaching staff last year.

What “chance” are you referring to that would’ve addressed Duff’s concerns? Do you really think throwing him on the field for a series at the end of the OSU game with the outcome in hand was going to move the needle? Even that game was 21-3 deep into the 3rd quarter. OSU hadn’t pulled their starters. Expecting Greg to throw Surace out there at that point is not reasonable. So what are we talking about - maybe one “opportunity” for a series. in the waning minutes of that game? AJ played in the two most lopsided games - Norfolk and Oregon.
Most of our games were within 2 scores into at least the 4th quarter. Back ups don’t get an opportunity to show their stuff anywhere in that situation. They might get on the field for the last series to hand the ball off once the outcome is in hand, but that’s it.

Again, Ryan Day’s back up QB threw 14 total passes last season (compare that to AJ’s 9 - plus two more intended attempts where he was sacked). OSU was in a lot more lopsided games than us. In Lonergan’s first season with Saban, no QB threw more than 10 passes outside of the USF game that the starter missed. Don’t misunderstand - extra reps are never a bad thing, but your off base in suggesting Greg screwed this up. His decisions were very much in line with what most top tier coaches typically do.

Greg just said last week it was a mistake and he should have gotten him more playing time.

Respectfully, I don't know what your athletic background was but every sport is the same in this regard; live reps are significant in all capacities.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Greg just said last week it was a mistake and he should have gotten him more playing time.

Respectfully, I don't know what your athletic background was but every sport is the same in this regard; live reps are significant in all capacities.

Maybe you heard something I didn’t. If it’s what I’m thinking of - he said he would’ve liked to get AJ more live game opportunities last season. That’s very different from stating that he made a mistake. Even as this year’s QB two, now that AK is gone, of course we’d be better positioned for 2026 if AJ had more prior game experience. But that’s true of every single player who is stepping into a bigger role this year. It doesn’t mean Greg made some kind of major coaching mistake not playing the last season. Nor does it mean it’s “highly likely” that 10 extra garbage time passing reps would’ve elevated AJ’s current level of play materially. Maybe it would’ve helped, but I’m not following why the default assumption should be that this is what massively held him back. How does one know this?

Look - even if one (not you specifically) wants to play that card, it should also then follow that Lonergan too would’ve, by the same logic, entered 2025 as a materially better player if he had gotten a handful of additional garbage time throws at Alabama. Same premise - Correct? If one believes this - then one should now be even more excited about Lonergan’s potential for this season considering he has a full season’s worth of meaningful experience under his belt to build from. Instead, it seems most of our fan base is disappointed.

 

[RUTGERS95]

Maybe you heard something I didn’t. If it’s what I’m thinking of - he said he would’ve liked to get AJ more live game opportunities last season. That’s very different from stating that he made a mistake. Even as this year’s QB two, now that AK is gone, of course we’d be better positioned for 2026 if AJ had more prior game experience. But that’s true of every single player who is stepping into a bigger role this year. It doesn’t mean Greg made some kind of major coaching mistake not playing the last season. Nor does it mean it’s “highly likely” that 10 extra garbage time passing reps would’ve elevated AJ’s current level of play materially. Maybe it would’ve helped, but I’m not following why the default assumption should be that this is what massively held him back. How does one know this?

Look - even if one (not you specifically) wants to play that card, it should also then follow that Lonergan too would’ve, by the same logic, entered 2025 as a materially better player if he had gotten a handful of additional garbage time throws at Alabama. Same premise - Correct? If one believes this - then one should now be even more excited about Lonergan’s potential for this season considering he has a full season’s worth of meaningful experience under his belt to build from. Instead, it seems most of our fan base is disappointed.

fair, maybe mistake was too strong but the intimation off the question is there imho. He was basically saying, 'yeah, I should have gotten him more rep' which is functionally the same thing.

I'm not playing a card and I understand why you think this way but live reps have value. Our HC said as much with that admission.

 

[RU Cheese]

I think Surace would've won the job if we had a better fieldhouse

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

fair, maybe mistake was too strong but the intimation off the question is there imho. He was basically saying, 'yeah, I should have gotten him more rep' which is functionally the same thing.

I'm not playing a card and I understand why you think this way but live reps have value. Our HC said as much with that admission.

I respectfully disagree. I interpretted it more as a “stating the obvious” type comment - of course he would’ve much preferred for the Ohio and Miami game outcomes were safely in hand by halftime, for example, in which case, of course AJ would’ve gotten more live reps. The decision is easy on the lopsided side of wins. It’s not as clear when your team is getting the snot kicked out of them, and you just want to get the heck off the field. But again - there were really only 3 games that were majorly lopsided by Q4 in either direction and AJ was brought in for 2 of them. It’s not like there were too many missed opportunities to even point to - the last series of OSU - fine, but what else?

 

[seansherm]

I think Surace would've won the job if we had a better fieldhouse

That, and the fans didn't donate enough NIL $ for Surace to perform better

 

[NickRU714]

I think Surace would've won the job if we had a better fieldhouse

100%
He's Tom Brady if we had a fieldhouse

Rutgers QB AJ Surace bears resemblance to Tom Brady - Forums

People are sleeping on AJ Surace, but not RutgersAl. I think he’s going to be our best Quarterback EVER, though this year, he will hold a clipboard and acclimate to this level of football, as the league he played in wasn’t that great. He’ll have plenty of time to watch film, learn the playbook...

www.on3.com

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

That, and the fans didn't donate enough NIL $ for Surace to perform better

Nah - if we had the money for those things, we presumably could’ve found a way to buy enough influence in court to bring Gavin Wimsatt back instead.

 

[MCRU93]

100%
He's Tom Brady if we had a fieldhouse

Rutgers QB AJ Surace bears resemblance to Tom Brady - Forums

People are sleeping on AJ Surace, but not RutgersAl. I think he’s going to be our best Quarterback EVER, though this year, he will hold a clipboard and acclimate to this level of football, as the league he played in wasn’t that great. He’ll have plenty of time to watch film, learn the playbook...

www.on3.com

Man....at least he's committed to the bit. I semi-respect that

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Man....at least he's committed to the bit. I semi-respect that

Let’s hope his take on this QB battle turns out exactly the way the last one did when he insisted it was a huge mistake moving on to AK from Gavin who he projected to win the Heisman.

 

[NickRU714]

Let’s hope his take on this QB battle turns out exactly the way the last one did when he insisted it was a huge mistake moving on to AK from Gavin who he projected to win the Heisman.

Last one?
Have some respect to the ongoing expert QB analysis. It goes well beyond Gavin.

Ajani is our QB of the future - Forums

www.on3.com

QB Surace is going to lead us to the Rose Bowl - Forums

www.on3.com

Our Future All American QB - Forums

www.on3.com

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

Last one?
Have some respect to the ongoing expert QB analysis. It goes well beyond Gavin.

Ajani is our QB of the future - Forums

www.on3.com

QB Surace is going to lead us to the Rose Bowl - Forums

www.on3.com

Our Future All American QB - Forums

www.on3.com

I'm sensing a theme.

 

[Knight Shift]

Last one?
Have some respect to the ongoing expert QB analysis. It goes well beyond Gavin.

Ajani is our QB of the future - Forums

www.on3.com

QB Surace is going to lead us to the Rose Bowl - Forums

www.on3.com

Our Future All American QB - Forums

www.on3.com

But you missed some:

OT: Evan Simon - Forums

Thus far 8/12 82 yards, 1 TD 1 INT, 5 carries for 13 yards. It is halftime at the moment.

www.on3.com

great thread by @Doctor Worm :

Reviewing a decade of RU Quarterbacks (LONG) - Forums

There’s been a lot of talk on this board about the quality of RU QB play. It’s not a new issue. I decided to take a mid-size dive into the last decade of RU QB’s. 2012-2021, which coincidentally begins with the post Schiano 1.0 era. I’ve listed all of the significant RU QB’s during that time...

www.on3.com

#FreeRettig!!!!

 

[RUTGERS95]

he's an embarrassment

 

[RUbacker]

It’s crazy to me how there’s a portion of this board who seems to feel like AJ was slighted in some way. This is big boy college football. With what amounts to unlimited free agency every year, every team is looking to upgrade pretty much every position every season.

I wish everyone the best, including AJ. And I hope he kicks *** should he get the opportunity to do so this year. But I don’t want a less talented guy (even if just marginally) given the reins due to loyalty and not merit.

the people complaining are from the everyone gets a trophy mindset. they don’t understand competition at the big boy level.

 

[Caliknight]

You keep making statements like this as if a glaring mistake was made by our coaching staff last year.

What “chance” are you referring to that would’ve addressed Duff’s concerns? Do you really think throwing him on the field for a series at the end of the OSU game with the outcome in hand was going to move the needle? Even that game was 21-3 deep into the 3rd quarter. OSU hadn’t pulled their starters. Expecting Greg to throw Surace out there at that point is not reasonable. So what are we talking about - maybe one “opportunity” for a series. in the waning minutes of that game? AJ played in the two most lopsided games - Norfolk and Oregon.
Most of our games were within 2 scores into at least the 4th quarter. Back ups don’t get an opportunity to show their stuff anywhere in that situation. They might get on the field for the last series to hand the ball off once the outcome is in hand, but that’s it.

Again, Ryan Day’s back up QB threw 14 total passes last season (compare that to AJ’s 9 - plus two more intended attempts where he was sacked). OSU was in a lot more lopsided games than us. In Lonergan’s first season with Saban, no QB threw more than 10 passes outside of the USF game that the starter missed. Don’t misunderstand - extra reps are never a bad thing, but your off base in suggesting Greg screwed this up. His decisions were very much in line with what most top tier coaches typically do.

I’ve answer this question on the other thread and you are asking again. Yes. Actual reps where is running the offense and not just handing the ball off is live game experience you cannot simulate in practice. Schiano has never handled QBs well and he still doesn’t.

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

Mike Tyson once said that "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." The RU equivalent is that every QB is an All-American Heisnan candidate until they actually play.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I’ve answer this question on the other thread and you are asking again. Yes. Actual reps where is running the offense and not just handing the ball off is live game experience you cannot simulate in practice. Schiano has never handled QBs well and he still doesn’t.

No - you actually didn’t answer it. What you said above simply indicates that any one live pass rep has more experience value than any one (or even multiple) practice reps for development. I was never arguing this point.

But how many live pass reps do you think any coach could’ve reasonably allocated to him? Maybe 10 or so additional pass attempts, max? Most of our games weren’t blow outs. He was only getting in for garbage time no matter who the coach was. So nothing he was doing was convincing Duff to be confident enough in him as our QB1 to come back without a proven QB added to the roster. If you think 10 or so more pass attempts in blow outs was certain to move the needle materially on where he is today, I don’t know what to tell you.

 

[RUbacker]

I’ve answer this question on the other thread and you are asking again. Yes. Actual reps where is running the offense and not just handing the ball off is live game experience you cannot simulate in practice. Schiano has never handled QBs well and he still doesn’t.

thought he did a great job with athan so much so that he got drafted to the league.

 

[Caliknight]

No - you actually didn’t answer it. What you said above simply indicates that any one live pass rep has more experience value than any one (or even multiple) practice reps for development. I was never arguing this point.

But how many live pass reps do you think any coach could’ve reasonably allocated to him? Maybe 10 or so additional pass attempts, max? Most of our games weren’t blow outs. He was only getting in for garbage time no matter who the coach was. So nothing he was doing was convincing Duff to be confident enough in him as our QB1 to come back without a proven QB added to the roster. If you think 10 or so more pass attempts in blow outs was certain to move the needle materially on where he is today, I don’t know what to tell you.

Who said one? You keep making things up to try and prove a point that is egregiously wrong.

 

[DHajekRC1984]

Unless the TKR report when Duff was retained wasn’t true, I highly doubt it. Greg is loyal as we saw with Gavin to a T - I’m sure he’d have loved to see Surace win the job but Richie made it sound like the way we convinced KJ to stay was by assuring him that an experienced QB would be brought in to compete with AJ. We wanted to keep Duff so we agreed. Went ahead and shelled out the money for someone with legit power experience. Perhaps Greg would’ve preferred to save the money for another lineman and roll with AJ, but it was a sunk cost at the point when the decision was made.

I am not saying it wasnt a good move but now you cant just give a kid NIL..now you need to buy other players for them lol.

We needed another QB option anyway ..

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I am not saying it wasnt a good move but now you cant just give a kid NIL..now you need to buy other players for them lol.

We needed another QB option anyway ..

For sure. To be clear, based on the past, we can thank Duff because we probably wouldn’t have brought in Lonergan if he was willing to stay without him. We’d have no experience on the roster whatsoever.

 

[Caliknight]

BINGO!

 

[knight82]

I don't think people realize how remarkable it was that Athan never missed a game due to injury in his two years here. There is a very good chance AJ will get his shot

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Who said one? You keep making things up to try and prove a point that is egregiously wrong.

How many passes do you think he was throwing in 2-3 more series???

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I don't think people realize how remarkable it was that Athan never missed a game due to injury in his two years here. There is a very good chance AJ will get his shot

Yes - and this the main reason why AJ has limited experience. Not because Greg made an egregious error in failing to extend a 42-7 drubbing against OSU.

 

[Caliknight]

How many passes do you think he was throwing in 2-3 more series???

How many was he throwing in 45 more series?

 

[Caliknight]

Yes - and this the main reason why AJ has limited experience. Not because Greg made an egregious error in failing to extend a 42-7 drubbing against OSU.

Which is all the more reason to get your back up more experience.

 

[RUTGERS95]

guys, it's time to move on. AJ is not a BIG starter, he wouldn't start at any other BIG program. We don't want our starter going down

this thread is borderline tarded now