Due to an injury that Dylan Lonergan sustained late in Rutgers’ season opening lost to UMass, backup AJ Surace will be the team’s starter this week against Boston College. In the off-season, Surace lost the quarterback battle to Lonergan in practice. While everyone wishes Lonergan a speedy recovery from his injury, it does provide Surace with a real, game-time opportunity to prove why he should be the starter. So that begs the question: what does Surace need to do to prove that he should be the full
time starter.
The first thing to look for is a sense of poise in the pocket. Granted, it was really hard for Lonergan to have that last game with the pressure on him, but if that is the reality of the Rutgers offensive line, then they need to play the quarterback best equipped to deal with it. If Surace can deliver passes to open receivers, while not rushing throws and forcing passes where they can’t fit, it will only serve him well in the starting quarterback conversations that follow Lonergan’s return.
The second thing to look for is what his medium and deep passes look like. Lonergan has been described as a dinker and dunker by analysts, really good in the short game but reluctant to try a deeper pass. If Surace can deliver short passes with the same accuracy while keeping that sort of consistency with medium- and long-range passes, it will provide reason to believe he is the more versatile option of the two.
Expanding on the versatility angle, Surace was much more of a running quarterback in high school, totaling 975 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns his senior year at Notre Dame High School. If Surace can showcase an ability to escape the pocket and pick up some yards in the running game, without affecting his performance in the passing game, it adds another dimension to Rutgers’ offense that they seemingly won’t have with Lonergan. With the offensive line struggling the way it did, it could be really beneficial for the Knights to have a quarterback who can move a bit and buy himself some time.
Aside from theses three, their are a few obvious answers of what Surace needs to do to keep the starting role, such as don’t turn the ball over, look the part with your own stats and just have an overall good game. Over 200 years passing with a few touchdowns and no interceptions, coupled with a limited number of sacks could be enough to earn Surace a few more looks in a starting roll.
