Rutgers Scarlet Knights Preview: Will We See Any Improvement in 2023?
TLDR: Rutgers is a program that doesn’t seem to have much going for it right now. Since the move to the Big 10 in 2014, the Scarlet Knights have just 1 winning season. Ironically, it was their first year in the conference. Since that first year, Rutgers has won just 25 games and things don’t look to be improving much. Greg Schiano had success here in the early 2000s, but that was a very different college football landscape, and Rutgers was in the Big East then. I’m not sure exactly what needs to happen to turn things around at Rutgers. It’s just a tough job.
Floor: 2–10, Ceiling: 6–6, Projection: 4–8
Rutgers is lucky that Iowa’s offense was as bad as it was last year because it took a lot of eyes off just how bad this offense was. In conference play, the Scarlet Knights averaged just 282 yards per game, and they were dead last in scoring differential at -22.7. For reference, Northwestern was the next worst team and they were -17.4. Basically, Rutgers found a way to beat Indiana and then lost the rest of their Big 10 games by an average of 3 scores. Rutgers had 6 offensive linemen play at least 300 snaps last year and 4 of them return. They’ll be a pretty experienced unit, so I won’t be surprised if they are better up front. Last year, Rutgers allowed pressure on 33% of their passing attempts and they gave up 18 sacks. Rutgers struggled to find a quarterback last year. Juniors Evan Simon and Gavin Wimsatt both played in 8 games and had over 150 dropbacks each, but neither was very good. They combined for 9 touchdowns and 13 interceptions on the season. They’re still battling for the starting job heading into fall camp. Rutgers didn’t have a receiver over 500 yards last year, and their top 2 from last season are both gone to the NFL, so I’m really struggling to see how this passing attack will be better. The Scarlet Knights do return their top 3 rushers from last year, including sophomore Samuel Brown V who had 374 yards on 86 attempts last year.
Rutgers wasn’t horrendous on defense last year, and their defense is the reason they were able to win 4 games. The Knights gave up 350 yards per game last year (38th nationally) but were 95th in scoring defense with 29.5 points allowed per game. This can mostly be attributed to the turnover problems the offense had and points out that the defense was often defending a short field. The Knights had just 3 edge defenders play more than 200 snaps last year, but all 3 return. Wesley Bailey did a good job of creating pressure and had 3 sacks on the year, and Aaron Lewis was a decent player as well. On the interior, they’ll need to replace Ifeanyi Maijeh who led in snap count. They’ll likely turn to Kyonte Hamilton and Mayan Ahanotu for increased roles in 2023. Rutgers had 2 linebackers play 600 snaps or more last season, and both return this year. Deion Jennings led the team in tackles with 93 and was actually a pretty solid player for the Knights last year. Safety will be the biggest concern for this team as the top 2 guys by snap count are gone to the NFL. Desmond Igbinosun returns with 565 snaps played and 52 tackles, but the next guy after him played just 125 snaps. The cornerback spot should be okay despite losing 6th-round draft pick Christian Braswell. Max Melton and Robert Longerbeam (what a fantastic name) return with significant playtime. They also combined for 4 interceptions last year. Overall, I think this unit has the potential to be better in 2023.
Recruiting to Rutgers isn’t an easy thing to do. The Knights check in with a 4-year recruiting average of 52, and their 2023 class finished up ranked 59th. The top recruit of the class is interior offensive lineman JaSire Peterson. Wide receiver Famah Toure has a shot at playing time as a freshman due to the losses at the position. He also checks in at 6–4, 205 pounds, so he’s got the size to compete in the Big 10. Interestingly, Rutgers didn’t really make use of the transfer portal as they just bring in 4 guys there. With the new look Big 10 coming next year, I’m not sold that Rutgers will be able to recruit any better than they are now.
I’m not sure what expectations Rutgers fans have going into 2023, but things aren’t exactly set up for a good season. It is interesting to note that Rutgers had fantastic attendance last season despite the struggles. When the Knights hosted Penn State last fall they broke the school attendance record. It’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues if the team struggles early in 2023.
