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Key takeaways from Rutgers Football Scarlet-White Game

Heading into Saturday's Spring game, Rutgers had glaring issues and concerns they wanted to address. Unfortunately, the weather conditions played a vital part in determining some of those concerns. That said, one of the questions revolving around Rutgers was about who the starting quarterback would be by the fall. Another concern was if the Scarlet Knights could replenish their wide receiver room after losing three of their key contributors to graduation. 

“I think what we're going to have to see how quickly we get to operating the offense at an acceptable level,” Rutgers HC Greg Schiano stated. “But we have training camp and summer to get that ready. The steps along the way are going to be the key.”

Some believe Rutgers' defense has continued to prove how talented they are, however, the offense remains to be a concern in competing among other Big Ten schools. This upcoming season, the Scarlet Knights have brought in first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and are looking to bring an improvement in that area. During the spring game, the playcalling appeared simplistic possibly to not wanting to reveal a significant amount of the playbook as well as the weather conditions playing a factor as well.

This offseason, the run game is an area Schiano and the Rutgers coaching staff looked to improve greatly. Throughout the game, both teams proved to establish the run game and continued to be consistent. Both Rutgers running backs junior Al-Shadee Salaam and senior Aaron Young both combined for 37 carries and 131 yards and a touchdown. 

“Certainly, we need to get better at running the football and we have people who can run the football,” Schiano emphasized. “We got to get better on the offensive line and we’re doing that.”

Who Will Lead the Scarlet Knights?

Although the conditions played a factor in each quarterback's performance, there’s still no definitive answer to who will be leading the Scarlet Knights come the fall. Naturally, this will be determined over the next few weeks of camp, however, the position race is still wide open.

“Kirk and I are going to sit down for the next couple weeks and kind of decide where we are with everything, but I think we’ll have a good idea of who is who pretty quickly,” Schiano expressed about the QB decision.

That said, junior Gavin Wimsatt played an extremely efficient game and even concluded his final plays with a daggering touchdown pass to give Scarlet the lead with eight minutes remaining. Wimsatt threw for 124 yards with a touchdown and interception. He managed to complete 10 out of his 20 passes on the day for a 108.6 quarterback rating (QBR). The pass was beautifully placed at the corner of the endzone to Max Peterson. However, there were opportunities in the game that he did miss that proved to be crucial passes in the series.

Both Wismatt and junior Evan Simon had moments of inconsistency, however, they both had moments of great passes in tight coverage as well. Although the White team was defeated, 21-19, Simon managed to deliver big passes down the sideline in between zones and safety help. Simon managed to throw 71 yards and have a rushing touchdown. He completed nine of his 17 passes for a QBR of 88. 

“Yeah, today’s a tough day to judge QB play with winds gusting 25 mph in rain being constant throughout the game,” Schiano said when speaking about Wismatt and Simon. “The equipment guys did their best trying to get the dry balls in there. But even with all those factors, I thought they [Simon and Wismatt] handled it well.

“… There’s no great thing to look at and say that was fantastic, it was a hard day to throw. I think their ability to control the offense and really run the offense is what I was impressed with today.”

What are the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Working Towards?

Ultimately, the Scarlet Knights appear to attempting to find their identity as a team and will continue to work towards it as the offseason progresses. Schiano mentions that they’re attempting to secure some players in the transfer portal that are more culture fits rather than individual talents. Once this is finalized, the Scarlet Knights will begin building on their foundation for the start of the season.

“I’m confident, they showed me this spring they've grown quite a bit,” Schiano expressed his confidence in his team. “Games are different, I know it’s a spring game but games are games.”