Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano met with members of the local media on Tuesday to share some updates on the beginning of what is a very crucial offseason for Rutgers football. This meeting primarily focused
on a postseason wrap-up and a discussion of upcoming changes this offseason, including topics such as the transfer portal, the search for a new defensive coordinator, and various position coach searches.
Is Rutgers Looking to Add a Quarterback in the Portal?
One question that Schiano answered during the press conference was whether they would bring in a quarterback via the transfer portal to challenge AJ Surace for the starting job next season. While not guaranteeing they will bring in a quarterback, Schiano also did not rule it out. Schiano also mentioned that Surace would still have to earn the starting job, whether they bring in a quarterback via the portal or not.
“I love AJ, I think he’s a very talented, committed player,” Schiano said. “I don’t rule out anything as far as is there going to be something that we do in the portal with a quarterback? Maybe. I don’t know. We’re always looking. But I am confident. AJ has worked really hard, but there’ll be a competition. We have other quarterbacks in the program as well. Around here, everything’s based on competition, and quarterback is no different.”
Defensive Coordinator Search Updates
Finding a new defensive coordinator after Rutgers let go of both Robb Smith and Zach Sparber is at the top of Schiano’s to-do list. Whoever takes over the unit will be inheriting a squad that surrendered an average of 7.6 yards per play, the worst in the Big Ten since before 2000.
In Schiano’s eyes, his ideal defensive coordinator shares a lot of similar traits to offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca.
“What I have here in coach Ciarrocca is exactly what I’d like to have on defense. I have a guy who leads the room, calls the plays, and really leads the players. So if we can get that on the other side, that would be perfect.”
When he was asked about his personal control over the defense and whether or not that affects who gets hired, Schiano had this to say.
“I’m not tied to any scheme, people who say that, it isn’t true. Now, there are certain things that I am in favor of but that usually gets hammered out in the process when you’re interviewing people. You won’t go down the path that someone is philosophically different. You shouldn’t really even interview them because you should have known that before you sat down with them. So philosophically, you want someone that you’re aligned with. But as far as the details and the X’s and O’s and the alignments, there’s certain techniques that are non-negotiable, that you just believe strongly in as a football coach. But there’s other things. There’s many ways to skin a cat. If you think it’s better to do this technique than that technique, that’s yours. I mean, you run the defense.”
Will Rutgers Retain Its Top Offensive Talents?
With the new age of the transfer portal, the off-season can often lead to top talent being poached by other teams. The knights have three players who stand above the rest in talent that they are trying to retain. Those three are wide receivers KJ Duff and Ian Strong, and running back Antwan Raymond. While acknowledging nothing has been finalized yet, Schiano is optimistic that they can keep all three on their roster.
“You’re optimistic until you’re not, but I feel good. We have really good players that are attached to this program and I think we have the resources to compete to keep them. But there’s always a lot of factors that go into it. We’ll know when we know.”
When he was asked about the trend of returning announcements that have popped up around the country, Schiano mentioned that they like to keep things in-house, but that they will let the public know on the big ones.
Addressing the Injury Issues
Over the past two years, the Knights have been ravaged by injury issues. Longtime strength and conditioning coach Jay Butler was fired halfway through the off-season. Schiano is hopeful that his replacement, Spencer Brown, who was promoted to the director of sports performance in late May, can alleviate many of the injury issues in his first full off-season with the program.
“We’ve had some issues in the last couple of years with injuries and that has got to be lessened. That is something I don’t talk a lot about it in a performance standpoint. But two years in a row of historic injury numbers, we have to cut those.”
“I love what he’s done so far,” Schiano said of Brown, “After he got promoted, he had seven weeks to get the team ready for training camp. During the season, we made some changes that I thought were positive, and then he had a whole plan of how he is going to attack the offseason. There’s some things that are the same, some things that are different, and everything that I love is the collaboration between he and sports science and the medical people.”
