Considering it was neck and neck all summer, lack of game reps didn't hurt AJ that much. Even if he played a couple of more snaps it likely doesn't change this outcome.
Football Rutgers Football names Dylan Lonergan starting quarterback for 2026 season
- Thread starter Alec Crouthamel
- Start date
There is no perhaps. It
does. It’s called experience. You can’t simulate game conditions in practice.
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It popped up in my YouTube feed, and started after the KnightReport podcast was completed. I let it roll for 10 or so minutes and shut it off. Never again.
B1G tape…
long ball
red zone read (AK weakness)
red zone touch
note- I will not be accepting tape showing otherwise at this time. This is the QB I’m envisioning going into the season with. Thank you for your attention to this matter
long ball red zone read (AK weakness) red zone touch note- I will not be accepting tape showing otherwise at this time. This is the QB I’m envisioning going into the season with. Thank you for your attention to this matter
This is one of those threads—and I’m not sure that there’s any other kind at this point—in which folks just unload the very things that they’ve been been saying for quite a while anyway. It’s like pressing the play button.
There is no perhaps. It
Yeah sure - if QB 1 goes down, then of course the real experience QB 2 gets as the back up is valuable.
Minutes at the end of a blow out loss where everyone on both sides just wants the game to be over don’t fall into this category. AJ took 2 sacks against Norfolk. Do you really think not sending him on the field to air the ball out against OSU was some major coaching mistake by Greg? Plenty of things to complain about from the 2.0 era but this one is just silly. The Miami Ohio game was a 2 score game until we scored with 5 minutes to go. Our D sucked. There weren’t any other appropriate spots to find him a series. It’s really that simple. Sending him on the field for the last series of Miami to air the ball out would’ve been classless. And wouldn’t have moved the development needle either. Those reps aren’t any more meaningful that the scrimmage reps he got going head to head with Lonergan.
B1G tape…
note- I will not be accepting tape showing otherwise at this time. This is the QB I’m envisioning going into the season with. Thank you for your attention to this matter
Some very nice throws against a very bad defense. Hate to burst Rutgers Sports Talk's bubble, but Michigan State actually had the second worst passing defense in the B1G last year. They were 4 teams worse than Rutgers. Highlighted column is passing yards/game:
When exactly was his initial injury?
I’m not seeing that about his last few games from the film or the stats. Seems to me - his last full game against Georgia Tech was one of his best games of the season. He got hurt in the final game against Syracuse and came out after throwing 2 passes (both completions). Arguably - he was pretty solid in the game before Georgia Tech too vs SMU. Yes - he took 4 sacks in that game and threw a pick so the computer metrics suggest it was a bad outing but context is definitely needed there. He came into the game and replaced the more mobile James who fumbled on back to back possessions. SMU brought constant pressure. Dylan held onto the ball in that game despite getting abused and was highly accurate on 37 pass attempts despite all that pressure.
in my view - he was bad in 2 games Pitt and Clemson. Made 2 poor decisions in the Cal game. Both immediately after his teammates robbed him of big play executions. He was otherwise pretty solid in the Cal game too along with the rest of the season. 2 bad games. A couple untimely mistakes mixed in - yes - but if you take each game as a stand alone, he wasn’t bad in them.
Everyone should know to not base things off one game. You need to look at the entire body of work. But that makes things messy.
When you look at Lonergan’s body of work, he was “bad” in 2 games. I’ll kind of combine ND and Clemson. He didn’t play the whole game in either of them. He only threw 8 passes vs ND. One was a pick but he was otherwise 5 of 7 including a couple nice passes. He got pulled for the turnover. Even in the Clemson game he threw some nice passes - did have one that should’ve been picked. Pitt was rough.
Anyone concerned about anything with Lonergan would have to focus on the number of sacks he took. But BC’s OL really stunk. It’s not like AJ impressed with his mobility to avoid pressure either in his limited reps. He was sacked twice vs Norfolk playing with our second string.
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He was given a chance at BC { where he had 2 excellent games against Fordham and Michigan State. 75% of his TD passes in 2025 came against those 2 teams).
AJ waiting for his “chance”
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You're overlooking the fact that he earned it BC with no prior starting experience. AJ had that opportunity but didn't succeed.
Yep, it's hard to judge a QB coming out of one scheme and project how they will fit into Kirk's scheme without an in-depth understanding of both to see where the execution issues came from. You can't look at film and determine if the OL made the right block or if the WR ran the proper route, for example, without knowing the play call and then judge the QB's performance on the play. All people look at is what the QB did without thinking about the interconnected parts like coaches do.
No reason to isolate the Michigan State game, but I’m not sure why there’s no hype associated with Dylan’s last full game against a Georgia Tech team that was 8-1 going into that game. He threw for 362 yards on 62% accuracy and 2 TDs (no turnovers).
No reason not to believe he would’ve had a good full game against an awful Syracuse team either if he hadn’t gotten hurt after 2 passes.
I am not sold on the QB room so that is why I am only at 4 wins this year . I saw Lonnegan at BC . i wasn’t impressed
Lonergan passes the test as far as I’m concerned, regarding the things you CAN judge from film and stats. It’s simply not true that he threw mostly short passes and that’s why he was accurate. His tape clearly shows a wide variety of pass types.
67% on 285 attempts is very good even without considering that did this while taking sacks on more than 5% of his pass attempts. And oh, by the way, I don’t buy the nonsense that the sacks were a result of him being a statue in the pocket. That’s complete BS considering his “replacement” James took more sacks than he did on significantly less pass attempts. This is highly suggestive of lack of OL protection vs. inability on the QB end to avoid pressure.
If RU fans aren't listening to them, you got to wonder who is
and why can't that still be true? By all accounts it was a close decision, so he is basically as good as the guy named starter.
What exactly concerns you about Lonergan specifically? The facts are as follows. Lonergan went into BC with ZERO in game experience and beat out the STANDING INCUMBENT in preseason for the starting role. BC sucked last year - but what seems to get lost in the discussion is that BC won 7 games the prior season with James finishing the season as their starting QB. Specifically - James finished out the 2024 season in the Pin Stripe Bowl against Nebraska. He threw for 301 yards on over 63% accuracy in a close loss. That’s what Lonergan went in and beat out in pre season (with again, no prior game experience). It’s not “nothing”.
BC sucked. Their D was as bad as ours and their OL was horrible. Seeing the stats James put up when he replaced Lonergan, it seems pretty clear that the QB was not to blame for the issues.
Just about every kid in their 20's has that stache now. You got smoke blown up your *** by media and other posters who made Surace out to be some superstar in waiting. The staff never said, boy, wait til we get Surace out there.
Seems doubtful it was as close as they made it out to be in my opinion. Optically - the staff wants to continue to attract the best possible frosh talent so of course it served their interest to continue to glaze Surace and promote the idea that he’s made a ton of progress over the years. I’m sure he has improved, but that doesn’t mean he’s as good as Lonergan. Lonergan only threw picks on 1.7% of his passes. Would AJ throw less of them? Lonergan completed 67% of his passes. We haven’t had a QB come close to this accuracy level in RU history. Should it be expected that AJ would do this? Lonergan was sacked 15 times last season. James (his replacement) took 17 sacks in far less pass attempts. AJ took several sacks against Norfolk. Are we assuming he’d be an upgrade at scrambling to avoid pressure and protecting the ball? If so - based on what?
Maybe Lonergan is just flat out better. Why is this so hard for some to beleive: it doesn’t mean we failed to develop AJ. Lonergan might actually be good with a significantly upgraded OL. Let’s see what he can do.
You're not wrong, experience is great, but 20 snaps wasn't winning him the job. Being better would have one him the job. Whatever happened to merit based, now you want playing time handed just cause.There is no perhaps. It
This. And not all playing time is created equal. I’m not sure where those preaching this as some major mistake by Greg are thinking the extra difference making reps could’ve come from. Give him a series in OSU garbage time? Wasn’t going to move the needle in his development. No way. Meaningful PT is earned. Period.
“Given”??? You must be kidding.
I guess it needs to be stated again. He beat out an incumbent QB to earn that right. That incumbent (James) replaced the starter midway through the Syracuse game 2024 and led BC to a win (a 10 win Syracuse team). He never looked back and remained the starter. BC went 3-1 in those ACC games with the only loss coming to a ranked SMU team (BC put up a respectable 28 points). Then in the bowl game against Nebraska - James threw for over 300 yards. To suggest Lonergan didn’t have to earn that “right” is beyond ridiculous.
I didn't isolate anything. The guy on X did, making him out to be Johnny Unitas while playing a horrific defensive team. As you noted, against tougher opponents, he did not do as well. And I'm not throwing any shade at the young man, just stating facts. He did reasonably well against better teams. As @-RUFAN4LIFE- so eloquently put it nobody can say how it will work out here compared to his BC experience "without thinking about the interconnected parts like coaches do."
And growth is important too. Athan got better each year, as did Mike Teel. Time will tell how Lonergan does in Kirk's offense.
You’re wrong. Even those plays matter. This isn’t Pop Warner. Anyone who played sports at any real level or coached can tell you this. Going against OSUs two and threes is in a real game setting is far better experience than anything simulated in practice.
There was an analysis published on the premium side last night of Lonergan and Athan last year. One section covered throws by distance and Dylan did throw fewer intermediate and long routes.
Given the state of their OL, that could have been a necessity because of the time needed for the longer routes to develop.
Kirk’s system is all about making the correct pre-snap reads to determine run or pass. No amount of tape from BC is going to show how well he can do that because BoB’s scheme keys on different things. Additionally, Kirk’s offense isn’t predicated on downfield throws. Having Duff and Strong allowed them to take advantage of coverages because both couldn’t be double covered.
We’ll soon find out what Lonergan can do in this offense. All this arguing back and forth is meaningless. He won the competition and now needs to prove the coaches made the right decision.
Georgia Tech won 9 games and was ranked when BC played them. I said I thought Lonergan was solid vs SMU too. Those were among the better teams he faced. I wouldn’t say it’s accurate that he bombed against all the better opponents, at least.
Looking back at the Pitt game there were several drops, one blatant. And he did have some nice throws including a dime to his wide out who then fumbled the ball. I retract my statement that he was point blank “bad” in that game. He didn’t put the team on his back in a game they were outmatched, but he also didn’t stand out as awful. He threw a couple nice passes in the Clemson game too. The fumble was bad, along with the pass that should’ve been picked. But again - no single game stood out where he truly looked terrible on more than a few isolated plays regardless of opponent.
Just curious - why would you compare him to 2025 AK who is in the NFL now as a predictor of this season results? A better comparison would be 2024 AK, no? Just because AK threw more intermediate and long balls doesn’t discount the 67% completion rate as a first year QB. Lonergan averaged 7.1 yards per completion and his longs were mostly earned dimes - quite a few intermediate passes caught in stride (including a few that were fumbled in yards after catch). This wasn’t a situation like Laviano where his yardage average was skewed by Caroo hauling in circus catches down field on Hail Mary style 50 / 50 balls. Lonergan earned his yards for the most part - even on the shorter routes. He made mistakes but had plenty of nice passes mixed in, pretty much every game. The criticism being thrown out this kid on here is nuts. Again - you have to go back really far to find a QB with anything close to 67% accuracy on a meaningful sample size of throws. It’s not “nothing”.
Ok, “they matter”, but how much and at what potential cost? When your team is getting pummeled, it’s in everyone else on the team’s best interest to get the heck off the field and reset as fast as possible. This means keeping the clock ticking with hand offs.
Your really nitpicking here in my opinion by suggesting this to be some kind of major mistake by Greg. Once again - AJ attempted more passes in 2025 than Lonergan had as the back up in 2024. It’s a lot harder to transfer into a program and unseat a starting incumbent QB who went 3-1 in ACC conference games, than it presumably should’ve been for AJ to prove himself if he was worthy competing against a transfer QB whose team didn’t have a good season - with or without 20 or so additional garbage time snaps. Lonergan simply beat him out because he was better. It’s not Greg’s fault he performed better in camp. Suggesting this is ridiculous. Again - there’s enough mistakes Greg has made through the years that he doesn’t need to be blamed for things any decent coach would do all the same.
yupThere is no perhaps. It
this narrative during last year was just so dumb and it was supported by way too many people that should know better. Live reps, game speed, pressure is all tenfold that of practice.
Where did I say he "bombed against all the better opponents?" Nowhere. I said: "he did not do as well" against the better opponents, and that is true for most QBs.
You appear to be trying too hard to go out of your way to defend every little critique of Lonergan's performance. The only performance that will matter will be how Lonergan performs for Rutgers. What happened last year at BC is apples and oranges compared to RU's offense. Different OC, different players--just different.
To be clear, I never threw shade at Lonergan. I threw shade at the X post making him out to be Johnny Unitas when the MSU defense was garbage last year.
a simple analogy for you; everybody thinks that hitting a 85mph fastball is no different than one at 90mph.
Potential cost? For a development team that's the best time to develop players. As I said. Two things can be true. They didn't bring Lonergan in to sit, and they never developed Surace when they had the chance. You're just making things up now. I never posted half the crap you are claiming.
Someone even posted in this thread he'd wished he got Surace more game reps. Any decent coach? Any decent coach would have known he wasn't assured anything via the portal. As such, he had a guy on the roster who would either starting next year or competing for the job. Any decent coach would have realized that and tried to get him as many live game reps as possible, and by game reps, I don't mean just being a handoff machine.
Schiano has been a terrible QB manager his entire career. This is nothing new.
don't forget, there is a comfort level in practice seeing the same eyes and knowing their tendencies and abilities. People discount this heavily; practice players who look in practice and then fold in games get it
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