Rutgers football had their first scrimmage of 2024 on Saturday and all eyes were on the Rutgers offense. The quarterback situation, the offensive line competition, and the presumed starting lineup for the wide receiver core all began to take shape.
Kaliakmanis in first scrimmage
As expected, the passing game was under an intense watchful eye during the first scrimmage of Rutgers’ summer practices. It was the first time transfer quarterback from Minnesota Athan Kaliakmanis scrimmaged on the SHI stadium field since winning the starting job over incumbent Gavin Wimsatt, who has since transferred to Kentucky.
Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said that Kaliakmanis showed good accuracy during the scrimmage and that he handled the operation well throughout the whole day.
“Missed a couple of deep comebacks that I’m sure he would like to throw again, but he hit a lot of balls,” Schiano said. “I thought he did just what we needed him to do today.”
Accuracy was an area of concern for the new quarterback however it was one of the things that helped him win the Rutgers quarterback battle last spring and it is something he has worked on at length during the offseason.
“I’d say accuracy is something I’ve focused on since I’ve started playing quarterback, just constantly being better,” he said. “Consistency, I think about that and work on it every single day.”
Offensive Line Competition
Rounding out the receivers
The second element of the passing game has been under the same watchful eyes as the first element of it. Dymere Miller, a senior transfer from Monmouth University, and sophomore Ian Strong seemingly pulled themselves ahead of the rest of the competition last Saturday hauling in several passes from Kaliakmanis.
With that being said, however, Schiano stressed that it will take more time to evaluate the position.
“Let me refrain until I watch the tape, because what you see and what I see is someone catching a ball. What I don’t see is: did they not release correctly? Did they take a poor angle on their block? What I don’t see when I’m not looking for it live is, are they hustling on the backside to cut someone off? Those are the things that an every down receiver has to do for you to win football games. It’s harder to see that live unless you’re looking at one position. I’m sure Dave Brock could tell you.”
