Ohio opens its season coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history. They had a record 11 wins, including a Mid-American Conference title, and a victory in the Cure Bowl against Jacksonville State.
The Bobcats will travel to start week one with a night game in Piscataway, New Jersey, and strive to upset the Scarlett Knights.
Head Coach
Greg Schiano has a long history in college football, and much of his tenure occurred at Rutgers. He is now on his second stint with the team, having coached from 2001-2011 before returning to Piscataway in 2020.
The 17-year veteran coach was named National Coach of the Year in 2006, and he has led this program to nine bowl appearances, where they have won six of those attempts. Furthermore, last season, on top of not only making but winning a bowl game, Schiano and the Scarlett Knights won their most Big 10 Conference wins in program history with four.
Quarterback
The Scarlett Knights will be rolling with returning senior quarterback and captain Athan Kaliakmanis. Kaliakmanis started every game last season with 2,696 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. He was the first quarterback since 2015 to surpass 2,000 passing yards for the program, taking Rutgers out of the trenches of quarterback play. He is also on the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watchlist alongside Parker Navarro.
Running Backs
One of the biggest losses for Rutgers exiting the 2024 season was star running back and First Team All-Big 10 player Kyle Monangai, who was drafted by the Bears in May. Rutgers knew his shoes would be hard to fill, so they will work a bit by committee; however, its lead man will be senior C.J. Campbell Jr., who transferred in from Florida Atlantic in the spring.
Campbell, who has also had experience with Florida State, has played in 28 career games with 12 career starts. He has accumulated 1,095 rushing yards on 190 carries and has scored 14 rushing touchdowns; furthermore, he has 40 receptions for 476 yards and three receiving scores.
Wide Receivers
The Scarlett Knights lost three senior wide receivers due to graduation and hit the portal hard as they hope to compete in the pesky Big 10 this season. They brought in senior DT Sheffield from North Texas and senior Dane Pardridge from Northern Illinois.
Sheffield is in the running for both the Biletnikoff Award and Paul Hornung Award, which are both well warranted due to his statistical success so far in his collegiate career. He has played both Football Bowl Subdivision and junior college football and has accumulated 190 receptions for 2,670 yards and 35 receiving touchdowns over that time. Sheffield has established himself as a top-flight college football receiver.
The other two receivers to watch for Ohio are junior Ian Strong, who has 59 receptions for 906 yards and 7 touchdowns in two seasons with Rutgers, and sophomore KJ Duff, who, in his first year with Rutgers, had 27 receptions for 425 yards and a touchdown.
Defense
Rutgers struggled to get to a quarterback in 2024 and made massive changes this offseason, even taking senior Bradley Weaver from Ohio. They are hoping to force more quarterback mistakes through a rebuilt defensive line. Rutgers hopes to limit more touchdowns as they allowed over 25 points per game last season.
The Scarlett Knights transferred in four defensive backs with experience to limit big plays. They were second-to-last this past year in the Big 10 in yards per game, giving up nearly 400. The big addition is another former Bobcat in Jett Elad, who transferred in from UNLV. He has played 39 games at the FBS level with 187 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 17 pass breakups and 3 interceptions.
Ol415422@ohio.edu
