RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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PISCATAWAY – Greg Schiano is close to making The Decision.
Rutgers football played its second and final scrimmage of training camp, and now Schiano and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca will sit down to finalize who the team’s starting quarterback will be for its Sept. 3 opener against UMass.
So will it be AJ Surace or Dylan Lonergan?
We’ll find out soon.
“I don’t know exactly what day,” Schiano said following the scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 22. “I have enough deadlines, I don’t need to put any on myself. But it’ll be soon. Kirk and I will sit down after we watch this. But it’s more of a conversation than one tape. Today wasn’t that much tape. It was some. Just looking at the full body of work, what we think is right.”
Surace, in his third year with the program, and Lonergan, the Boston College transfer, have had a tight battle since the spring. It’s been close throughout training camp with neither, at least until this point, has separated himself in the competition.
Schiano said the Scarlet Knights have two good options and he has confidence in both of them.
He and Ciarrocca have had an ongoing dialogue about the competition – their conversation to finalize the decision will just confirm they’re on the same page.
“It’s not like we don’t talk about it every day,” Schiano said. “Just confirm what we’ve been feeling. Things go with ebbs and flows. Just confirming what we both believe. He spends a lot more time on it than I do. He’s the expert on that. Ultimately I have to make the decision but he and I are on the same page.”
Offensive line coming into focus
As far as who will be charged with protecting either Surace or Lonergan up front, Schiano said he has a good idea of who the starting five offensive linemen will be.
Rutgers had several spots to fill on the line, especially at center following the graduation of Gus Zilinskas. Kobe Asamoah is a stalwart returning starter who will lock up one of the guard spots, while Dantae Chin is coming back from an injury plagued 2025 and has a strong chance at earning a starting spot on the line. Tyler Needham likely has an inside track on one of the tackle spots.
But how exactly that all shakes out remains to be seen.
Now for Schiano it's more about finalizing what the second line will look like – he’s spoken frequently about the overall depth of the unit, so he and offensive line coach Jim Turner have options.
“I think it’s finding 6, 7, 8 and 9 and possibly 10,” Schiano said. “I think we know who the five are going to be. Just got to find the guys – is there a first guard in the game, is there a first tackle in the game? If so, who.”
Battle at linebacker
Linebacker is another spot Schiano and defensive coordinator Travis Johansen have to iron out.
Who will the starting two be?
It’s been another close battle for the jobs.
“It’s Ty Morris, it’s Sean (Allison), it’s Moses (Walker) it’s Abe Wright, Isaiah (Deloatch),” Schiano said. “It’s all those guys. They all have competed. It’s hard to call right now.”
Ideally, though, Rutgers will have a solid rotation at linebacker to help maintain health and production over the course of a long season.
“I hope that we can play more than just two,” Schiano said. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I’m not going to make it happen. But if we can effectively do that I would love to do that. Because now you get to the back half of the season and instead of having 500 plays under their belt, they have 300. They’re a little bit fresher. Every time you spin the wheel there’s a chance something could happen. But I won’t do that at the cost of execution.”
Decision to dismiss Wydeek Collier-Johnson
Rutgers earlier in the week dismissed defensive end Wydeek Collier-Johnson, a former four-star recruit, for a violation of team rules.
Schiano said the reason will not be made public.
“When we have things like that on the team, that’s internal,” Schiano said. “Got a lot of love for him. Hopeful that he’ll land on his feet.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Takeaways from Rutgers football's 2nd, final training camp scrimmage
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