Ahead of the 2024 college football season, the Rutgers quarterback room is looking different compared to previous seasons.
It may not seem like it now, but the 2024 college football season is right around the corner. Soon enough, the bands will be playing, the crowd will be roaring, and the great matchups will be underway. For the Rutgers Scarlett Knights, there have been some shakeups in the all-important quarterback position. Between a new starter taking the reigns and some new depth options, looking at the quarterback position is a great place to start when looking at Rutgers’ outlook for 2024.
Starter: Athan Kaliakmanis
Heading into Rutgers’ spring game, the quarterback competition was a two-horse race. The first major competitor was longtime starter Gavin Wimsatt. Helming the Scarlett Knights’ offense over the past 19 games, Wimsatt held an edge in terms of running Rutgers’ specific scheme.
On the other hand, Kaliakmanis was one of the team’s most significant transfers, landing him from Minnesota in the transfer portal. The former Golden Gopher did not have the experience with the current Rutgers scheme, but he had better production than Wimsatt (1,838 yards and 14 touchdowns compared to 1,735 yards and nine touchdowns) and played under offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca.
By the end of spring practices, head coach Greg Schiano named Kaliakmanis the team’s starter, allowing Wimsatt to explore opportunities in the transfer portal. Kaliakmanis outplayed the incumbent in the spring, including a 170-yard and two-touchdown performance in the team’s Spring game.
Back with his former offensive coordinator, it will be interesting to see how the Minnesota transfer can elevate the offense.
Kaliakmanis was only a starter for one entire season, playing 12 games for the Golden Gophers in 2023. He threw for 1,836 yards and 14 touchdowns, having a 52.7 completion percentage. Kaliakmanis also had ten big-time throws but had 15 turnover-worthy plays. Outside of the passing game, the quarterback had 202 yards and two touchdowns.
The bar that Kaliakmanis has to cross is not high, especially compared to previous quarterbacks that Rutgers has trotted out. He has the dual-threat ability to thrive and the chance to build on his established knowledge of the current offense. If Kaliakmanis can buoy the offense and facilitate the ball to the team’s variety of playmakers, Rutgers should be in a position to win a good amount of games next season.
Backups: Ajani Sheppard and A.J. Surace
While Kaliakmanis is the sure-fire starter, Rutgers has two exciting options to back him up.
The primary backup at the quarterback position is projected to be rising sophomore Ajani Sheppard, with true freshman A.J. Surace sliding in as the third-string quarterback.
Sheppard has only appeared in one game in his college career, completing two passes for 23 yards against Wagner in 2023. However, he brings a dual-threat ability that led him to become a three-star recruit and the number seven player from New York in the 2023 recruiting class.
In his high school career, Sheppard amassed 4,772 passing yards and 43 touchdowns in the air while running for 2,415 yards and 30 touchdowns on the ground. This insane level of production led Rutgers to pursue him, leading to him being the likely backup in 2024.
Surace, a true freshman, is the son of Princeton football head coach Bob Surace. He was a three-star recruit from Notre Dame High School in Trenton, N.J., where he was a dual-threat like Sheppard. Surace racked up 5,507 passing yards and 69 touchdowns in his career in the air while also having 21 career rushing touchdowns.
Between the two young options, there is a large amount of potential, football pedigree, and talent. Under Schiano and Ciarrocca. These two players may not make an impact in 2024, but they could solidify Rutgers’ quarterback position for years to come.
The quarterback room for Rutgers has always been an enigma for the team to solve. Whether due to scheme, coaching, or failures by the player, the school has seemed to struggle to find the proper foundation for the position.
If the group assembled in 2024 can hit its potential, this group of Rutgers quarterbacks could be among the best seen at the school in a very long time.
