Latest news with #Schiano
USA Today
23-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Iowa football 2025 schedule preview: Week 4 vs Rutgers
Following a home contest against UMass in Week 3, the Iowa football team will pack their bags for Piscataway, New Jersey, for the Big Ten opener against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. This isn't your parents' Scarlet Knights football program. Greg Schiano has found a way to breathe new life into a program that needed a spark. After an 8-5 record and a bowl win in 2014, their first season in the Big Ten, Rutgers went 13-47 across the next five seasons, including a disastrous tenure for Chris Ash. Following the 2019 season, Rutgers fired Ash and brought back Schiano, who had previously coached the Scarlet Knights from 2001-2011 and won five bowl games. The move has paid off. Since Schiano returned to Piscataway, Rutgers is 26-34 with three bowl game appearances and a victory in the 2023 Pinstripe Bowl over Miami (FL). And the hype around the team is high entering the 2025 season. After back-to-back seven-win seasons, Rutgers is looking to take the next step. And they return some really talented players. Let's take a deeper dive into the 2025 Rutgers football team. Who are some of the key returners for Rutgers? Who are some exciting newcomers for the Scarlet Knights? History between the Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights Iowa and Rutgers have played each other four times on the gridiron, with the Hawkeyes winning all four games. In those games, Iowa has outscored Rutgers 96 to 17, including a 22-0 victory in the last matchup between the two teams on November 11, 2023. The closest game in the series was the first game between the two back in 2016, a 14-7 Iowa victory on the road. While Rutgers lost star running back Kyle Monangai to graduation, they still have a talented team that will provide Iowa with a great test to begin their 2025 conference slate. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on September 19 at SHI Stadium. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Zach on X: @zach_hiney
USA Today
12-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What to Expect from Rutgers Scarlet Knights in 2025
Rutgers are certainly a team in flux right now. Whether or not you truly believe that the Scarlet Knights under Greg Schiano have evolved as a team is entirely up for interpretation. While the Scarlet Knights achieved their best-ever record in over a decade, it still feels like baby steps as Schiano enters his pivotal fifth year with the team. Now, with one of the more daunting conference slates in recent Big Ten memory, the Scarlet Knights could either be in for a rude awakening or stun the world with continued and steady internal improvement. 2024 in Review Rutger's 2024 was turbulent, but almost certainly not a disappointment. To achieve the escape act they did while reaching bowl eligibility was actually quite impressive. Considering how they started off, losing several pieces on both sides of the ball, to start off 4-0 was far more than they could have imagined. Then came the topsy-turvy part. 4 straight losses, three within the conference, saw them head into the bye week, looking for answers and reinforcements for several injured players. Coming out on the other side was a Rutgers squad given new life. A win over Minnesota. A win over Maryland to clinch a bowl berth. Then, probably the most Rutgers game of last year. Up by one with four seconds left, and Illinois on their 40-yard line, they gave up a last-gasp touchdown to lose a heartbreaker on the road. It was an encapsulation of all things that went right and wrong for the Scarlet Knights. So, of course, leave it to them to finish their regular season with a resounding win over Michigan State to close out their best season and win total in over a decade. Overall, it wasn't pretty, but it was a winning record and was a continuation of the steady progress Schiano has made with this roster. Head Coach Profile To say that Greg Schiano has made the correct kind of progress for Rutgers is an understatement. Whether he can lead them to a full-on revitalization remains to be seen. While in his second stint with the Scarlet Knights, he has started off quite similar to his first, producing 9 NFL players in this current span in the process. Nevertheless, at some point, 7-5 won't be enough for a Scarlet Knights program that feels ready to turn the page. He has 5 more years with the program to show he is the right man for the job. Now he has to prove it continuously. This 2025 season especially feels like a marker for him. The schedule is an absolute gauntlet with no gimmes in the slightest. While a 7-5 finish in this hellhole of a season would be well-earned and deserved, it will largely depend on how it's executed and, most importantly, who their wins are against. Look for Schiano to be hyper-focused on putting wins on the board during conference play. Top Offensive Player While Athan Kaliakmanis was one of the most steady QBs of this current Schiano era last year, and the passing attack gained new life, Ian Strong almost became a superstar before our very eyes. In a young wide receiver room, he started to separate himself from the pack in an offense that may become more pass-oriented this year with the loss of bell cow Kyle Monangai. In just his second full season as a starter, the converted receiver did things no other Rutgers receiver has done in countless years. For one, there was the receiving touchdowns in four straight games, not done since 2010 by a Rutgers receiver. In a loaded receiver conference, he somehow ranked 10th with 15.7 yards per reception. And in Rutgers' bowl game, he was the most impressive receiver, perhaps between both teams, with just five receptions but for 105 yards. The junior is ready to catapult his name into the annals of Rutgers history with another stellar, potentially All-Big Ten season. Top Defensive Player This Rutgers defense could certainly carry it to more victories than expected this season, but it will really have to rely on depth. And if Greg Schiano relies on this young man much like he did last year, chances are it will pay off. Kaj Sanders as a true freshman made a good kind of history last year. He became just the second true freshman ever to start a season opener for Greg Schiano. That just speaks to the level of trust Schiano is placing in certain athletes and with Sanders, it looks like it is already starting to bear fruit. Sanders in high school wasn't even a defensive player either. For NJ powerhouse Bergen Catholic, he was their star running back, rushing for over 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns. Thus, his transition from running back to safety was ever more incredible. The switch immediately paid off, as he totaled 43 tackles and four pass breakups in just six starts. If he wasn't Rutgers' best defensive player last year, he will almost certainly be just that this year. 2025 Schedule Preview It's one thing to speak glowingly of what we could expect from Rutgers this season after major steps forward. It's quite another when you actually look at who they will be playing. In fact, every game outside of maybe Ohio and Norfolk State to start the season will be a huge test. Iowa is no easy start to their conference slate and its all downhill from there. They have to welcome a CFP squad in Oregon three short weeks later, but that's not all. Two weeks after, they travel to Champaign to visit an impassioned Illinois squad who this time won't want to leave it till late this time around. But the games every Scarlet Knights fan are fretting are the back to back gauntlets where they have visit both Ohio State in the Shoe and perhaps the most experienced Big Ten team in Penn State rolls into town. Facing Jeremiah Smith is one thing to end your season. But to have a Penn State machine roll into your house to end the season is quite daunting. Like I said above, if somehow Schiano's crew come out on the other side a bowl squad, they will have earned it.
Miami Herald
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Rutgers Preview 2025: The Scarlet Knights Looking Like a Big Ten Team
Things have settled in under Greg be next to impossible to find the same high-end success he enjoyed in his first stint with the program - the Big Ten is light-years better than the (sky point) Big East - but coming up with two straight winning seasons since making the conference move in 2014 is an program still doesn't get the talent the top Big Ten teams do, and it's still a battle to be consistent, but after five years of rebuilding, this should be the best team Schiano has fielded at Rutgers. The record might not reflect it compared to some of the great years in the 2000s, but again, he's doing this in the Big Ten now. The base has been built with a slew of good home-grown players, some of the transfers from the last few seasons are established, and this year, Rutgers flexed a little bit of Big Ten needed pass rushers, and it picked off a few few the Group of Five ranks. It needed receivers and defensive backs, and it upgraded there, too. And best of all, it was able to keep most of the key guys isn't a sure-thing win for anyone now. This year's team will look, act, and play like a real Big Ten program. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Preview 2025: Offense X CFN, Fiu | CFN Facebook | Bluesky Fiu, CFN- There was a bit more of a passing game, but Rutgers will continue to be about the ground attack, ball control, and not screwing up. For the first time in a while, it has the continuity, experience, and depth to do a bit more.- The line has to be good for this all to work. It's okay in pass protection, but it's at its best when grinding away. There will be movement, and top tackle Hollis Pierce is gone, but four starters return in some configuration. Guard Kawbena Asamoah is the best blocker, but veteran center Gus Zilinskas should be in the All-Big Ten, and the tackles are versatile and solid. - The backfield loses heart-and-soul back Kyle Monangai, but No.2 back Antwan Raymond is back after running for 457 yards and eight scores, and Florida Atlantic transfer CJ Campbell is a great fit coming off an 844-yard, 11-touchdown season.- Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis is fine. The former Minnesota transfer threw for close to 2,700 yards and 18 scores, ran well, and now has two years of Big Ten starting experience. He has a good receiving corps to work with. Ian Strong led the team with five touchdown grabs, and deep threat KJ Duff is good on the outside. DT Sheffield should be the big star, catching 11 touchdown passes at North Texas last year. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Preview 2025: Defense - The defense wasn't good enough. It was fine against the mediocre attacks, but it allowed more than 24 points five times and lost all five games, finishing 17th in the Big Ten in total D. There wasn't any pass rush, the front wasn't good against the run, and now it's up to the transfer portal to fix it all. - The entire front line will likely be from the portal, but that's not a negative. Bradley Weaver (Ohio) was one of the MAC's top pass rushers over the last two seasons, and Eric O'Neill (James Madison) was one of the Sun Belt's best defensive players in 2024. Doug Blue-Eli (USF) and Darold DeNgohe (James Madison) are great fits on the inside.- The linebacking corps is solid with leading tackler Daniel Djabome in the middle after making 105 tackles, and Moses Walker got in plenty of work in the rotation. - If the pass rush is better - and it will be - the secondary should be strong. Kaj Sanders is back at one safety spots, and Bo Mascoe is a good all-around corner who made 50 tackles with a pick and five broken up portal is helping with three new starters. Corner Cam Miller (Penn State) and safety Jacobie Henderson (Marshall) know what they're doing, and Jett Elad (UNLV) is coming off an 84-tackle season with five tackles for loss and six broken up passes. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Key to the Season Don't give up a lot of duh, that's sort of the idea, but some teams have no problem keeping up in shootouts. Some are comfortable in the back-and-forth style - not Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights were 0-5 last season, and 0-22 since 2021, when allowing more than 24 points. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Key Player Doug Blue-Eli, DT Sr. The Rutgers run defense got ripped up too easily. The transfers should help the cause in a hurry, at least that's the hope. It starts with 6-2, 315-pound Doug Blue-Eli on the a long-time starter who began at TCU before moving to USF, and now it's his job to clog things up as an anchor for the front four. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss Top Transfer In: Eric O'Neill, EDGE began at Long Island University, coming up with 131 tackles with 15.5 sacks and 44.5 tackles for loss as one of the best all-around pass rushers in the FCS. He left for James Madison, and he became an instant Sun Belt star with 13 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, and 52 Transfer Out: Mohamed Toure, LB Sr.A mainstay of the Rutgers defense in 2021 and 2023, when healthy, he's a tackling machine and disruptive force in the backfield. He missed all of last year with a knee injury, but he's expected to be back and part of the Miami linebacking corps. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Key Game Iowa, Sept. 20It's not just the Big Ten opener, and it's not just a shot at 4-0 - Rutgers should open with three straight wins. It's a chance to finally beat the Hawkeyes. Not only are the Scarlet Knights 0-4 in the series, but they've been outscored 93-17.- 2025 Rutgers Schedule Breakdown Rutgers Scarlet Knights Top 10 Players 1. Dariel Djabome, LB Jr.2. Eric O'Neill, EDGE, Sr.3. Bradley Weaver, EDGE, Sr.4. Kawbena Asamoah, OG Jr.5. CJ Campbell, RB Sr.6. Ian Strong, WR Jr.7. Jacobie Henderson, S Jr.8. DT Sheffield, WR Sr.9. Athan Kaliakmanis, QB Sr.10. Bo Mascoe, CB Soph. Rutgers Scarlet Knights 2024 Fun Stats - Fumbles: Opponents 14 (lost 5), Rutgers 4 (lost 2)- Two Point Conversions: Opponents 5-of-9, Rutgers 2-of-4- Penalties: Opponents 84 for 682 yards, Opponents 42 for 444 yards Rutgers Scarlet Knights 2025 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen Again, the starting 22 should be among the best yet under Schiano. The schedule doesn't help too much, though. There's no Michigan, and missing Indiana matters now, but the Scarlet Knights still have to face Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State. This year, going to Illinois hurts, and the 3,000 mile trip to Seattle will be as always, the non-conference slate is light and breezy, Purdue should be a stress-free road win, and there a few more wins will pop in here and there. But November is brutal, and a road dare at Minnesota won't help. As long as there isn't a home loss to Maryland, it should be a third straight bowl The Rutgers Scarlet Knights Win Total At … 5.5Likely Wins: Miami University, Norfolk State, Ohio, at Purdue50/50 Games: at Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, at Minnesota, at WashingtonLikely Losses: at Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State © 2025 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How Rutgers football safety Kaj Sanders is working to build on strong freshman season
PISCATAWAY – Kaj Sanders accomplished something last season very few Rutgers football players had ever done before. Just one, to be exact. The safety out of Bergen Catholic started the Scarlet Knights' season opener against Howard, becoming just the second true freshman ever start a season opener as a defensive player under coach Greg Schiano. Advertisement Sanders was filling in for the injured Flip Dixon, but the fact Schiano placed that much trust in him spoke volumes. 'It meant a lot because I love Coach Schiano, I love the school, I love my teammates,' Sanders said following a recent spring practice. 'So for them to be able to trust me as a true freshman and trust me to do my job and make plays, it means everything to me.' That game was only the start. Dec 26, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights defensive back Kaj Sanders (5) against the Kansas State Wildcats during the Rate Bowl at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Sanders went on to play in all 13 games and started a total of six of them. He finished with 43 tackles and four pass breakups, making a strong impression in his true freshman season. The focus this offseason and in spring camp for Sanders is to build on that valuable experience and continue to develop into an elite defensive back under safeties coach Vic Hall and Schiano, who's well known for developing NFL-ready defensive backs. Advertisement Hall is new on the Rutgers coaching staff, but he's been impressed by the young safety so far. 'When I first met Kaj, we talked about how his career had jumpstarted,' Hall said. 'He played as true freshman. My impression on him is just the growth since I've been here, seeing him out there taking command of the defense and growing that way from a maturity standpoint. It's been a great experience so far for me with Kaj.' Sanders committed to the Scarlet Knights as a highly touted recruit. He was a four-star prospect and the No. 8 overall recruit in New Jersey, according to the 247Sports Composite, which also ranked hm as the No. 41 overall safety in the nation for the Class of 2024. Along with Rutgers, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin were the finalists to land Sanders, who ultimately chose to stay close to home. Advertisement MORE Rutgers football has 'high expectations' for this young wide receiver; here's why 'It means everything to me, especially being able to play in front of my family and have some of my friends, my teammates from high school,' Sanders said. 'It means everything. I can show them they can come to Rutgers do, show out, make it to the league and do everything they want to do in life.' But for now, Sanders said his focus is on taking the next step in his development so he can have an ever greater impact on the defense. 'I really need to focus on watching film more and the things I eat,' Sanders said. 'I want to keep gaining weight. I want to weigh more but also be as fast as I was. Those are the two main things I really have to focus on outside of meetings and stuff.' Advertisement Sanders is a long way from where he was a year ago, when he was an early enrollee true freshman trying to learn Rutgers' culture and defensive scheme. Now he has a full Big Ten season under his belt with plenty of production and experience to show for it. 'I'm way different of a player,' Sanders said. 'I'm way comfortable now. I'm not as nervous as I was last spring, I feel like I'm getting to know the defense a lot more now. It feels amazing.' This article originally appeared on Rutgers football: Kaj Sanders looking to build on big freshman season
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Yahoo
Onondaga teen charged with reckless enlargement and possession of a fire arm
ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. (WSYR–TV)– A 17-year-old male suspect is being held on a $100,000 cash bail after a shooting incident that happened on February 28. At 6:41 p.m. on Friday, LaFayette Police were called to a reported shooting in the Town of Onondaga involving a teenage driver. Onondaga teen charged with reckless enlargement and possession of a fire arm Suspect arrested in Sangertown Square mall shooting Auburn strikers now faced with counter-protesters across the street on day 12 Man shot inside Sangertown Square mall in New Hartford; police say 'not' an active shooter Seneca Falls police arrest suspect in a December 2024 home break-in The police investigation found that a Ford Fusion carrying three passengers was driving on Roswell Avenue when they encountered a Subaru Crosstrek driven by a 17-year-old male with his girlfriend. The driver of the Ford Fusion recognized the teens in the Subaru Crosstrek, who reportedly honked at them while stopped at the intersection of West Roswell and Midland Avenue. After one of the passengers was dropped off in the Ford Fusion the remaining two people continued down Orchard Avenue, where they saw the Subaru Crosstre backed into a driveway. As the Ford Fusion passed by, the teen suspect exited his car. This prompted the driver to slow down and roll their window down. The teen then took out a handgun from his waistband and fired a single shot into the front passenger-side door of the Ford Fusion The two victims immediately fled the scene and broke off from the Subaru Crosstrek on Kennedy Road. Although there were no injuries the victims drove directly to the LaFayette Police Department to report the incident. The 17 -year-old was arrested and charged with the following: The 17-year-old male suspect was arrested for Reckless Endangerment 1st degree (class 'D' felony) Criminal Possession of a Firearm (class 'E' felony) Criminal Possession of a Firearm 2nd degree (class 'C' felony) The 17-year-old was arraigned by on-call CAP Court Judge Schiano and remanded to Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center on $100,000 cash bail / $250,000 bond. The investigation remains ongoing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
