The quarterback situation is at the forefront of every program's life right now, but it's been a familiar occurrence for Rutgers since the Scarlet White Game.
On Saturday, the Scarlet Knights will play their annual spring game, and both Gavin Wimsatt and Ahsan Kaliakmanis will have a chance to show off what they're capable of.
“I think they all did good things,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said of his quarterbacks. “We had some good results. We made some mistakes. There's a lot to learn on tape. We have a lot of plays to learn, a lot of plays to see, and no one You can see yourself, that's important. It's starting to take shape.”
Gavin Wimsatt will battle it out with Evan Simon in 2022, with both players getting a lot of snaps under center during a down year. There was no announcement in the spring because Simon was a candidate last year, but Wimsatt was expected to take over, which resulted in Simon transferring to Temple.
From now on, Wimsatt will fight against the transferred Ahsan Kaliakmanis.
Kaliakmanis has started 17 games for Minnesota during his career, and this season he was fully placed in a starting role. He threw for 1,838 yards, 14 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Kaliakumanis completed 53 percent of his passes and Minnesota finished 5-7 with a 3-6 record in conference play.
For the most part, Schiano has been happy with his practice this spring.
“It feels like spring football,” Schiano said. “For a while after we came back, it didn't really feel like football. It felt like we were in a play.”
“We're getting better. We're doing a good job of throwing, catching and defending. We've got guys on defense that aren't playing, so it's going to tilt things up a little bit, but on offense. There are players on the side who are not playing.”
The quarterback position remained a key focus in the transfer portal entering the offseason. Wimsatt struggled to throw the ball all season, and this seriously affected Rutgers' offense.
Wimsatt completed just 47.5 percent of his passes, one of the worst in the nation. He totaled 1,735 yards, nine touchdowns, and eight interceptions. The lack of a passing attack has made this offense one-dimensional. The ground game, led by Kyle Monangai, was strong, and Wimsatt also contributed greatly.
Wimsatt rushed for 497 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. This contrast in styles makes for an interesting battle throughout the spring.
“It’s not just spring, but I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress since we came back in January,” Schiano said. “I'm happy with their progress. There's still a lot of work to do, but if we keep taking small steps each week, we'll get there.”
