Next up on our Rutgers football 2024 position preview list, we have the special teams. Rutgers special teams were truly special last year as they typically are under head coach Greg Schiano. Multiple blocked kicks and consistent field goal kicking were major backbones for the Scarlet Knights in 2023 and 2024 looks to be more of the same.
Special Teams Position Previews: Kicker
Rutgers will return junior kicker Jai Patel, who will handle the field goal duties. In 2023, Patel nailed 15 out of 17 of his field goal attempts, splitting the uprights two out of four times from beyond the 50-yard marker. He also tied the program record for the most accurate overall season for a kicker. He only missed one point after attempt the entire season.
Patel earned Big Ten special teams player of the week against Temple, going three for three on all of his attempts and he was named to the third-team All-Big Ten being the third Rutgers kicker ever to receive all-conference honors. It is safe to say that Rutgers will have nothing to worry about in the kicking department so long as Patel is there.
Special Teams Position Previews: Kickoff and Punt
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These two squads arguably suffered the most due to losses in the offseason. Jude Mctamney, who handled most of the kickoff duties, is now trying to make his way in the NFL and has signed a free-agent deal with the New York Giants. He has been replaced with international prospect Jack Scullion, who we currently know very little about.
At least the kickoff duties have a current replacement, unlike punter. Flynn Appleby, who was the Knights punter last year, had a pretty solid season for himself despite his leg strength coming into question a lot. Flipping the field and helping the defense out with field position was crucial for the Knights’ bowl game run last season, especially with the struggles their offense had faced. Bad news for Knights fans, they do not have a punter as of right now. There have been some mild rumors of Schiano trying to get some people through the door but they have no solution to that problem currently. This could become a huge issue if Rutgers’ offense sputters like it did last season.
Special Teams Position Previews: Punt Return and Kick Return
One thing about Rutgers’ return team last year in kick return was how smart they played the ball. Due to the new fair catch rule, returners on kick returns can now fair catch a kick and have it brought back out to the 25 just as if it was a touchback. Rutgers’ return men made a lot of high-IQ plays and used this new rule to their advantage. The Rutgers offense had the best average kickoff return in the nation with 33 yards per return This proved to be a major boost to the team, especially considering the offensive struggles.
The punt returners weren’t particularly special either but what was for Rutgers on that side of the ball was their punt block unit. Rutgers blocked two punts for touchdowns and recovered one muffed snap on a punt in the end zone for a touchdown, all of them in winning efforts and two reversing the momentum of the game back in the Knights’ favor. (Michigan State and Miami) Rutgers has been dominant at blocking kicks under Schiano in both of his stints.
