Kyle Monangai, the starting running back for Rutgers University, was used to being overlooked as a football player. Out of high school, he was only offered by four total division one college football programs and only two Power Five programs sent him an offer. (Cal being the other one besides Rutgers)
During his first two seasons with Rutgers, Monangai served under then starting running back and current Kansas City Chiefs star Isiah Pacheco, splitting the backup role with Aaron Young. Even in 2022 when Pacheco left the program and Young was out due to injury, Monangai’s efforts were overshadowed by then freshman Samuel Brown V bursting onto the scene in the last seven games of the season.
Then came 2023.
Monangai gets his chance
One of the biggest issues for Rutgers football in general in recent history has been their ineffective offensive coordinator hires and that has certainly been a big hindrance in the early years of Monangai’s career.
Enter coach Kirk Ciarrocca. Ciarocca has much more experience running a division one offense than any of the last few coaches who came before him. He brought in guys who drastically improved Rutgers’ offensive line play, helping the unit take a huge leap in both the pass and run blocking categories. In addition, he decided to make Monangai Rutgers’ bell-cow running back for 2023 and it was one he certainly shouldn’t regret
Monangai went on to have the best season of his career by far. In 2023, he was the Big Ten rushing champion and was a key contributor in bringing the Knights back to postseason football and winning a bowl game for the first time since 2014. He averaged 5.2 yards per carry over the season, a whole 1.1 yards over his highest average in the previous years. He even performed much better as a receiving back, averaging almost 10 yards per catch, an improvement of 4.6 yards per catch over his average last year.
National Recognition
Since Monangai achieved so much in 2023, it only makes sense for him to be recognized for it. Including achieving the Big Ten rushing crown, Monangai has seen his name called for plenty of other honors. Starting off, he made the Big Ten preseason honor roll which is supposed to be a list of the 12 most elite players in the conference as selected by the media. He is the first Rutgers player ever to receive this honor. He was also named to the preseason all Big Ten team by USA Today.
He was also named to the watchlists of several other awards recently. Last week he was named to the Maxwell Award watch list. The Maxwell Award is given to the best player in college football who was selected by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and head coaches. The award has a lot in common with the Heisman Trophy as 8 out of the last 10 of the Maxwell award recipients have also won the Heisman. Rutgers has never had a player win the Maxwell award but if Monangai does what he did last year and more, it becomes entirely possible that will end.
This week, Monangai was named to the Doak Walker Award watch list, an award which is given to the best collegiate running back that year. Not too bad for a running back who spent half his collegiate career and his entire recruiting process being overlooked.
