Zero P4 QBs in the current room.

[AreYouNUTS]

This might sound crazy, but with a passing attack that makes for a frown more than smile, it might be the best way for RU to be competitive
What Rutgers needs to do is to give up its passing game and stay mainly a running team passing around 10 times a game. ( 8 to Duff, Black targeted twice )

Use the updated Wishbone called the Flexbone triple option.
Give Raymond and Thevenin the bulk of the plays and put an extra TE in as blocking back, along with rotating Aiden Gibson in backfield with them and when Benjamin gets healthy again, add him to the backfield mix..

Michigan has one of the best run defenses in the nation.

 

[matei]

Surace was supposed to be THE GUY. Plain and simple.

why it didn’t work out is anyone’s guess. But there’s a track record with QBs and Rutgers. And it’s not good.

What made the situation MUCH MUCH worse was letting go of a good OL coach to bring in this year’s guy, and the OL which should have been dominant this year has been anything but. A great OL makes the offense move just as much as a great QB makes an offense move. Greg screwed up both of these critical elements this year.

 

[Colonel HR]

Surace was supposed to be THE GUY. Plain and simple.

why it didn’t work out is anyone’s guess. But there’s a track record with QBs and Rutgers. And it’s not good.

What made the situation MUCH MUCH worse was letting go of a good OL coach to bring in this year’s guy, and the OL which should have been dominant this year has been anything but. A great OL makes the offense move just as much as a great QB makes an offense move. Greg screwed up both of these critical elements this year.

The QB was pretty good last year, and in the NFL now. Does that not count in the track record?

 

[MADHAT1]

Michigan has one of the best run defenses in the nation.

They do, but with RU;s QB problem the running game is a must to be competitive and a 3 yards and cloud of dust coaching mentality might be the only way to win
I checked and found this :> Michigan's pass defense ranks No. 7 nationally
Michigan's 2026 rushing defense is ranked No. 15 nationally <

Run Rutgers run might be the best path to victory

 

[MADHAT1]

Surace was supposed to be THE GUY. Plain and simple.

why it didn’t work out is anyone’s guess. But there’s a track record with QBs and Rutgers. And it’s not good.

What made the situation MUCH MUCH worse was letting go of a good OL coach to bring in this year’s guy, and the OL which should have been dominant this year has been anything but. A great OL makes the offense move just as much as a great QB makes an offense move. Greg screwed up both of these critical elements this year.

I feel a real solid O-Line can make a poor QB look fairly good and a good QB look great .
A poor OL makes every type of QB look bad
Over the years Rutgers has had OLines that made RU QBs look better then they really were and O-Lines that didn't protect the QB so they could show their talent.
But the real problem seems to be, no matter who is the starting QB they seem not to have the type of coaching that brings out the best in them on a constant bases.

This year the line is a problem and AJ doesn't seem to be talented enough to be a starter and if he had the talent coming out of HS the RU coaching staff must be blamed for AJ's not showing it
As for the BC transfer, so far he;s no AK and the O-Line isn't protecting him enough for him to stay off the injury list., so he can't prove to be a good pick-up or not .

 

[matei]

The QB was pretty good last year, and in the NFL now. Does that not count in the track record?

That’s an excellent point. But I think it speaks more to the qualities of AK than a demonstration of sustained development. There is no sustained development. But there was an exception: AK.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

I feel a real solid O-Line can make a poor QB look fairly good and a good QB look great .
A poor OL makes every type of QB look bad
Over the years Rutgers has had OLines that made RU QBs look better then they really were and O-Lines that didn't protect the QB so they could show their talent.
But the real problem seems to be, no matter who is the starting QB they seem not to have the type of coaching that brings out the best in them on a constant bases.

This year the line is a problem and AJ doesn't seem to be talented enough to be a starter and if he had the talent coming out of HS the RU coaching staff must be blamed for AJ's not showing it
As for the BC transfer, so far he;s no AK and the O-Line isn't protecting him enough for him to stay off the injury list., so he can't prove to be a good pick-up or not .

The OL didn’t make Longeran dive head first into defenders, but apparently our coaches taught him that.

 

[Kbe4]

Most of our fans seemed to expect Surace to win the job. So did the TKR staff.

So true.

 

[Caliknight]

They didn’t bring someone and pay them to be a back up.

This. If they didn’t know Surace was below par then they are worse than we think.

Lonergan was always going to start after they gave him $1.5MM

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

Most of our fans seemed to expect Surace to win the job. So did the TKR staff.

None of which were privy to much information otter than what the program wants them to think and even those with access aren’t allowed to report what they see at practice.

There is zero chance Wimsatt was expected to win that job. He couldn’t even hold down a FCS starting position when he was two years older. That is exactly what GS and KC were staring at when they went to get Athan in the portal.

I have plenty of criticism for this staff, but a narrative that they were clueless because they believed that Wimsatt had a chance to start that year is just false.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

I think the staff didn’t know who would win. They were hoping Surace would figure it out and decided to go for someone who wasn’t clearly going to replace Surace but had starter experience.

Again, especially when you are NIL limited, you likely aren’t going to over recruit a guy that you believe can be a starter. It’s not the right use of NIL budget, as evidenced by the lack of talent on the defense. They must have had significant concerns with Surace and/or Duff demanded to bring in another QB for him to stay.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

Well what do you think happened there? If Gavin knew from the beginning, why’d he stick around through spring? He could’ve left immediately.

Two things can be true.

1. What the coating staff is thinking

2. How they present it to the fans and players

I’m sure they told Wimsatt that we need a higher level of quarterback play than he had shown and that they were going to bring in somebody to compete and that both truly had the chance to win, which I’m sure was true other than the fact that Wimsatt had no true chance to beat Athan out. It would be like hoping that if Ogbole had stayed another year that he’d be a 50% jump shooter.

 

[NewHondo77]

spot on

mind boggling if they really believed that AJ was a potential answer at QB.

Mind boggling that he’s been here how many years and we still didn’t develop him.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

Yeah exactly. I don’t think he knew for sure he was losing his job until AK was on campus and he beat him out. Then he decided to move on. That’s my point. AK did better at RU than he did his last year in Minn. it was a situation like with Lonergan where he didn’t come in with the best numbers which meant Gavin could theoretically have had a chance. We didn’t bring in a clear as day starter in either situation. Now maybe we just couldn’t get better but I think we just did a bad job managing the QB room.

Agree that Wimsatt didn’t know until end of spring camp but that doesn’t mean the coaching staff didn’t know way before that.

I don’t think we are a program that can afford paying two starting caliber quarterbacks, and that is why I strongly believe in both situations, they knew the incumbent was not starting quality. Sure…..it was Wimsatt’s ‘choice’ to leave but I’d like to have been a fly on the wall in coach’e office during that conversation because I’m sure it was made clear that it was in his best interest to leave the program which in effect, freed up a bit of NIL $.

And the optics of doing everything this way are much better for everybody. The optics are that we gave the incumbent a fair opportunity to compete and the incumbent left on his own decision instead of being kicked out.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

The QB was pretty good last year, and in the NFL now. Does that not count in the track record?

He was developed three years somewhere else. It certainly a decent situation for Rutgers but not the same as being able to bring in a guy out of high school and develop him.

 

[Feech_LaManna]

Probably the biggest indictment of the staff. It’s unbelievable the couldn’t get someone to get KJ the ball on the regular.

Dylan shows signs but is very indecisive.

Did I see a that right? Our QB was 3 for 12? He completed 3 mutha-f- passes all game! Schiano’s gotta go yesterday. Bring in Brian Kelly

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

Did I see a that right? Our QB was 3 for 12? He completed 3 mutha-f- passes all game! Schiano’s gotta go yesterday. Bring in Brian Kelly

For complete context, there were 3 DPIs called and 3 drops, all very tough catches.

 

[kupuna133]

Agree that Wimsatt didn’t know until end of spring camp but that doesn’t mean the coaching staff didn’t know way before that.

I don’t think we are a program that can afford paying two starting caliber quarterbacks, and that is why I strongly believe in both situations, they knew the incumbent was not starting quality. Sure…..it was Wimsatt’s ‘choice’ to leave but I’d like to have been a fly on the wall in coach’e office during that conversation because I’m sure it was made clear that it was in his best interest to leave the program which in effect, freed up a bit of NIL $.

And the optics of doing everything this way are much better for everybody. The optics are that we gave the incumbent a fair opportunity to compete and the incumbent left on his own decision instead of being kicked out.

Exactly. There isn’t a coaching staff in the country that is worrying about hurting an underachieving incumbents feelings. You upgrade when you can. Coaching staff knew Gavin wasnt the answer. Athan was signed on Jan2. It’s not like Gavin was a marketable commodity with his performance to date. He tried to make it work in spring and moved in when it was clear to him that he was surpassed. It’s really not that hard to understand.
I’m not sure why we have to explain this years removed from the situation.

 

[Ru-baby]

You know watching a qb do flat footed drills is quite different from seeing them in live action. Sometimes its hard to know when qb choice is gren shirt practice pick.

We know now after watching him mplay but I can see how its difficult to judge until the lights go on.

 

[kupuna133]

You know watching a qb do flat footed drills is quite different from seeing them in live action. Sometimes its hard to know when qb choice is gren shirt practice pick.

We know now after watching him mplay but I can see how its difficult to judge until the lights go on.

You can say that when you have limited time with the qb. AJ has been in the program for 3 years. They knew what they had. Ergo going out and getting Lonergan.

And a qb should never be flat footed.

 

[Ru-baby]

agree sort of--they had him 3 years doing drills Not until this year did we see if he locks on receivers, stands flat footed etc

Only think should be known is subpar arm strength-that has to be known (I posted about thast after his first spring game but was told no it was just a limited smaple. Was only sample I had seen)

 

[RU#1fan]

3 of 12 passing ?
Our QB sucks.
Hey Al where’s Gavin when you need him? Your boy Greg doing a great job developing and recruiting QBs. Other than AK Schiano sucks.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

3 of 12 passing ?
Our QB sucks.
Hey Al where’s Gavin when you need him? Your boy Greg doing a great job developing and recruiting QBs. Other than AK Schiano sucks.

Schiano didn’t do most of the development for AK.

 

[Caliknight]

Surace was supposed to be THE GUY. Plain and simple.

why it didn’t work out is anyone’s guess. But there’s a track record with QBs and Rutgers. And it’s not good.

What made the situation MUCH MUCH worse was letting go of a good OL coach to bring in this year’s guy, and the OL which should have been dominant this year has been anything but. A great OL makes the offense move just as much as a great QB makes an offense move. Greg screwed up both of these critical elements this year.

I’m fairness he’s screwed up a lot of things. He’s got the university in a hostage situation.

 

[Feech_LaManna]

For complete context, there were 3 DPIs called and 3 drops, all very tough catches.

ChatGBT chimes in. Fire Schiano!

“
To put in perspective just how brutal AJ Surace's 3-for-12 performance is: a pro-style offense is specifically designed to prepare players for the NFL by executing balanced, timing-based, and highly complex passing schemes. It is meant to control the game through precision.
When a pro-style system produces a 3-completion game, it means the system failed in every single metric. It is usually the result of three specific collapses:

• No Quick-Game Safety Valves: Pro-style offenses rely heavily on tight ends, short slants, and running back check-downs to keep the chains moving when deep routes are covered. Going 0-for-the-second-half means Rutgers couldn't even execute basic 5-yard screen passes or shallow crosses to give their backup quarterback a completion.
• Predictable Play-Calling: Because pro-style offenses require strict down-and-distance management, once Michigan shut down the early-down run game, Rutgers was forced into obvious passing situations. Michigan’s pass rush knew exactly what was coming, completely overwhelming a young quarterback who didn't have the spread-offense spatial advantages to escape the pocket.
• Complete Inability to Adapt: Unlike a spread offense that can quickly pivot to wide-receiver screens to manufacture easy touches, a pro-style system requires a high level of execution from the quarterback and offensive line. When the talent or experience isn't there, the playbook shrinks to almost ynothing.

Completing only 3 passes in a pro-style offense is essentially playing with one hand tied behind your back. It completely deletes the tight ends and wide receivers from the game plan, makes the offense entirely one-dimensional, and forces the defense to sit on the field until they completely run out of gas”

I’m fairness he’s screwed up a lot of things. He’s got the university in a hostage situation.

So whose fault is that for locking in an aging GenXer into a multi-year deal when it was obvious this OLD MAN didn’t have the same gas in the tank as he did 25 years ago ? Schiano played Rutgers like a flute. He’ll cruise into retirement thanks to it. That was his ambition. All the other talk was just acting.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

For complete context, there were 3 DPIs called and 3 drops, all very tough catches.

If you want to be “complete”, then you have to also point out that Blake made a good play to not only reel in the first of the 3 passes but get the yards after catch for the first down.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

If you want to be “complete”, then you have to also point out that Blake made a good play to not only reel in the first of the 3 passes but get the yards after catch for the first down.

Agree. It was a bad throw and could have even missed and probably cost 3-5 yards vs hitting him in stride.

 

[RU on Manns Planet]

ChatGBT chimes in. Fire Schiano!

“
To put in perspective just how brutal AJ Surace's 3-for-12 performance is: a pro-style offense is specifically designed to prepare players for the NFL by executing balanced, timing-based, and highly complex passing schemes. It is meant to control the game through precision.
When a pro-style system produces a 3-completion game, it means the system failed in every single metric. It is usually the result of three specific collapses:

• No Quick-Game Safety Valves: Pro-style offenses rely heavily on tight ends, short slants, and running back check-downs to keep the chains moving when deep routes are covered. Going 0-for-the-second-half means Rutgers couldn't even execute basic 5-yard screen passes or shallow crosses to give their backup quarterback a completion.
• Predictable Play-Calling: Because pro-style offenses require strict down-and-distance management, once Michigan shut down the early-down run game, Rutgers was forced into obvious passing situations. Michigan’s pass rush knew exactly what was coming, completely overwhelming a young quarterback who didn't have the spread-offense spatial advantages to escape the pocket.
• Complete Inability to Adapt: Unlike a spread offense that can quickly pivot to wide-receiver screens to manufacture easy touches, a pro-style system requires a high level of execution from the quarterback and offensive line. When the talent or experience isn't there, the playbook shrinks to almost ynothing.

Completing only 3 passes in a pro-style offense is essentially playing with one hand tied behind your back. It completely deletes the tight ends and wide receivers from the game plan, makes the offense entirely one-dimensional, and forces the defense to sit on the field until they completely run out of gas”

So whose fault is that for locking in an aging GenXer into a multi-year deal when it was obvious this OLD MAN didn’t have the same gas in the tank as he did 25 years ago ? Schiano played Rutgers like a flute. He’ll cruise into retirement thanks to it. That was his ambition. All the other talk was just acting.

Michigan has the #2 defense. Many of us predicted getting shut out as we simply don’t have the horses and everything would have had to go our way, including 1-2 more DPIs and 1-2 of the tough catches that weren’t made.

I wouldn’t use this game to make the case against the offensive system and staff but there is plenty of fodder in the other games.

 

[Ru0822]

If AJ was that guy they wouldn't have wasted all that NIL on Lonergan. Stop drinking the kool aid and think critically.

We all wanted AJ to be the guy but he wasn't, it happens. You guys need to trust your eyes more and stop with the false hope.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

If AJ was that guy they wouldn't have wasted all that NIL on Lonergan. Stop drinking the kool aid and think critically.

We all wanted AJ to be the guy but he wasn't, it happens. You guys need to trust your eyes more and stop with the false hope.

The thing is, AJ seems materially worse to me than any RU back up in recent memory. Not to crap on the kid, but think about it. Evan Simon would’ve done a way better job in yesterday’s game. So would Sit. Gavin was limited in the pass game after the first read, but even he would’ve been notably better because we could’ve had success on a few rehearsed series to open the halves. And his legs no comparison.

In a whole game, AJ basically completed one design play pass down field that went for a TD. His first completion to Blake was an awful throw and had no business (from the QB end) going for a first down. I didn’t see the final completion to comment.