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With the start of training camp roughly six weeks away, the identity of Rutgers football’s starting quarterback remains unclear.
And that’s not a bad thing.
Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan and AJ Surace began their battle for the job in spring practice, but neither one truly separated himself enough for coach Greg Schiano and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to make a decision.
There's still a long way to go before the season opener.
“It's not that neither did well,” coach Greg Schiano said earlier this month at his annual charity golf outing, which raised more than $200,000 for four different initiatives. “It’s that they both did well.”
Why Rutgers football's Greg Schiano can coach more, fundraise less
This is a spot the Scarlet Knights haven’t experienced the last couple years.
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and provided stability at the position, establishing himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the program’s history – he performed well enough that the Washington Commanders drafted him in the seventh round.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Surace served as QB2. Surace, the son of longtime Princeton head coach Bob Surace, is entering his third year with the program and has embraced the challenge of battling against Lonergan.
Schiano doesn’t hide the fact that positions and jobs must be earned.
“AJ is just a football maniac,” Schiano said. “He loves football. He grew up around it. I know several of the coaches who have coached at Princeton for a long time. And they laugh because they remember him running around the field house, chasing his dad around. The kid grew up doing that stuff. He's fun to coach, because he loves the game. If you love football, there's nowhere better to play than at Rutgers. If you (don't) like football, this is not the right place for you.”
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Lonergan spent two seasons at Boston College after transferring from Alabama, where he was a Nick Saban recruit.
A Georgia native, Lonergan completed 66.9 percent of his passes last season, throwing for 2,025 yards with 12 touchdowns in an up-and-down campaign.
Regardless of who wins the battle, Lonergan brought experience that Rutgers’ QB room needed – beyond Lonergan, no other quarterback on the roster has much game experience.
But Schiano unprompted brought up the growth and progress he’s seen from Sean Ashenfelder, who’s entering his second season with the program.
Ashenfelder, a product of Creekside High School in St. John’s, Florida, is positioning himself as Rutgers’ quarterback of the future.
“Sean was a high school baseball player in Florida, so you play a lot of games when you play high school baseball in Florida,” Schiano said. “When you're doing that, you might not necessarily begin (your college career) with all the quarterback training and all that stuff. I think Sean has made drastic improvement, and put himself in a position where he looks like a real potential quarterback of the future.”
But in the present, it’s a battle between Lonergan and Surace – a battle that will ramp up once training camp begins.
It remains to be seen who will take the first snap against UMass on Sept. 3.
Lonergan and Surace will try to make the decision as difficult as possible.
“I like where we are,” Schiano said. “AJ, Dylan, they're just great young guys to be coaching, and the thing that I love about our quarterback room, and again, it's a testament to Coach Ciarrocca, is although they're all competing for the job, they're helping each other. And when you have that, I mean that's family, right? That's sacrifice.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers football quarterback battle status as camp approaches
Continue reading...
And that’s not a bad thing.
Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan and AJ Surace began their battle for the job in spring practice, but neither one truly separated himself enough for coach Greg Schiano and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to make a decision.
There's still a long way to go before the season opener.
“It's not that neither did well,” coach Greg Schiano said earlier this month at his annual charity golf outing, which raised more than $200,000 for four different initiatives. “It’s that they both did well.”
Why Rutgers football's Greg Schiano can coach more, fundraise less
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Life after Athan Kaliakmanis
This is a spot the Scarlet Knights haven’t experienced the last couple years.
Athan Kaliakmanis transferred from Minnesota and provided stability at the position, establishing himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the program’s history – he performed well enough that the Washington Commanders drafted him in the seventh round.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Surace served as QB2. Surace, the son of longtime Princeton head coach Bob Surace, is entering his third year with the program and has embraced the challenge of battling against Lonergan.
Schiano doesn’t hide the fact that positions and jobs must be earned.
“AJ is just a football maniac,” Schiano said. “He loves football. He grew up around it. I know several of the coaches who have coached at Princeton for a long time. And they laugh because they remember him running around the field house, chasing his dad around. The kid grew up doing that stuff. He's fun to coach, because he loves the game. If you love football, there's nowhere better to play than at Rutgers. If you (don't) like football, this is not the right place for you.”
A Nick Saban recruit
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Lonergan spent two seasons at Boston College after transferring from Alabama, where he was a Nick Saban recruit.
A Georgia native, Lonergan completed 66.9 percent of his passes last season, throwing for 2,025 yards with 12 touchdowns in an up-and-down campaign.
Regardless of who wins the battle, Lonergan brought experience that Rutgers’ QB room needed – beyond Lonergan, no other quarterback on the roster has much game experience.
A sleeper third candidate
But Schiano unprompted brought up the growth and progress he’s seen from Sean Ashenfelder, who’s entering his second season with the program.
Ashenfelder, a product of Creekside High School in St. John’s, Florida, is positioning himself as Rutgers’ quarterback of the future.
“Sean was a high school baseball player in Florida, so you play a lot of games when you play high school baseball in Florida,” Schiano said. “When you're doing that, you might not necessarily begin (your college career) with all the quarterback training and all that stuff. I think Sean has made drastic improvement, and put himself in a position where he looks like a real potential quarterback of the future.”
But in the present, it’s a battle between Lonergan and Surace – a battle that will ramp up once training camp begins.
It remains to be seen who will take the first snap against UMass on Sept. 3.
Lonergan and Surace will try to make the decision as difficult as possible.
“I like where we are,” Schiano said. “AJ, Dylan, they're just great young guys to be coaching, and the thing that I love about our quarterback room, and again, it's a testament to Coach Ciarrocca, is although they're all competing for the job, they're helping each other. And when you have that, I mean that's family, right? That's sacrifice.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers football quarterback battle status as camp approaches
Continue reading...
