There’s been a lot of talk on this board about the quality of RU QB play. It’s not a new issue. I decided to take a mid-size dive into the last decade of RU QB’s. 2012-2021, which coincidentally begins with the post Schiano 1.0 era. I’ve listed all of the significant RU QB’s during that time, and a few not so significant ones, with my observations. Pretty much in chronological order. All comments appreciated.
CHAS DODD – A true Loyal Son, Easton Ave Subway gossip notwithstanding. Obviously not Flood’s guy. He didn’t see much of the field until the end of the 2013 season, when Flood realized he needed a win to save his job.
GARY NOVA – 2014 was RU’s last above-average season. 2014 (Nova’s senior year) was also the last season in which we got above-average QB play. Coincidence? I think not.
MIKE BIMONTE – Spent five years patiently waiting for his chance to make his mark. He finally got it – as a holder, fielding Alan Lucy’s errant snaps. Mike Bimonte, Rutgers Man.
BLAKE RANKIN – I have two memories of him: Bobby Deren absolutely loved him, and he helped keep the 2012 recruiting class together. We thank him for that. But it never clicked for him here, and after two years he transferred to Delaware without ever seeing the field.
CHRIS LAVIANO – A decent QB who was the subject of the lowest moment of my long RU fandom. It occurred in 2015 when the home crowd cheered when he went down with an injury, and booed his return. Repulsive. He later became Chris Ash’s square peg in a round hole. Wound up transferring to San Diego State, and eventually completed his college career playing lacrosse.
PHILIP NELSON – The first in a seemingly endless line of incoming transfer QB’s. A tale of woulda coulda shoulda. If only he hadn’t made that one horrific decision after a night of underage drinking.
HAYDEN RETTIG – Next transfer up. The fair haired boy (literally) who Rutgers Nation was counting on to turn the program around. However, under Flood he couldn’t beat out Laviano, and then was buried by Ash. #FreeRettig! Eventually wound up at Tennessee… Tech.
GIO RESCIGNO – A lightly regarded recruit who eventually became Ash’s fallback option at QB. Whenever one of Ash’s preferred options flopped (and there were several, as we shall see) Gio would eventually get the call. We could do worse. We frequently did do worse. Gio Rescigno, Rutgers Man.
MICHAEL DARE – A member of Flood’s final recruiting class. Ash got the job, Dare got the talk, and that was that. Wound up at Sam Houston State I think.
ZACK ALLEN – The first of several Ash transfers-in. From TCU I think. Was said to possess all the intangibles. Tangibles, not so much. My only memory of him is as part of 78-0. Memories are not always fair.
PHIL RUSSO – Technically should not be on this list because he was never a Knight. He was about to be, but Ash decided (probably correctly) that Russo wasn’t his guy. C’est la vie.
TYLIN ODEN – He WAS Ash’s guy. But he couldn’t pass, at least not accurately. Plus he was really skinny. Bless his heart, but he just didn’t have enough ass behind him to punch it in. (A Mehringer quote. Google it.) Wound up getting booted from the team and ended his career at Virginia Union.
JOHNATHAN LEWIS – Enough ass behind him? Check. The centerpiece of Ash’s second recruiting class, he was highly regarded but also had accuracy issues. Plus, he was slow afoot. Wound up at tight end, and then to South Dakota.
KYLE BOLIN – Ash’s second transfer QB. He had a stronger resume than Allen, and was an OK game manager, but we needed more. Lost his starting job after a loss to Eastern Michigan, who was really bad then.
TOM FLACCO – Walk-on transfer from one of the other Directional Michigans. This was back when transfers (other than grad transfers) had to sit a year. Jerry Kill reportedly loved him and thought he was the best QB on the roster. But Kill left. Flacco asked Ash for a ship, Ash said no, and Flacco said I’m outta here. Off to Delaware where he set records. We’ll never know how he’d have fared in the B1G.
ART SITKOWSKI – Next messiah up! I can't say much about Art that anyone doesn’t already know. My own opinion is that he’d be better off at a G5, but I can’t empirically support that.
JALEN CHATMAN – I had entirely forgotten about him. Went from RU to Portland State to Morehouse.
McLANE CARTER – I had him down as Carter McLane until I decided to check. He was part of the Ash parade of transfers. He was the 2019 starter against UMass in which he set a school record for most passing yardage (340) by a lefty. Then he got a concussion in his next game, and that was it. He is now playing in Germany, or so Wikipedia says.
JOHNNY LANGAN – Ash’s last transfer QB and his most successful, although he doesn’t play much QB anymore. Possibly the most popular guy on the current team. I personally think his resume is a tad light to warrant the “Johnny Football” nickname, but that’s just me.
COLE SNYDER – A lightly regarded recruit who in three years has done little to show that he’s the guy. Or maybe it’s that he’s had little opportunity to do so. Anyway, if he’s here for spring practice I’ll be mildly surprised.
ZAMAR WISE – I threw him in here even though he never enrolled. Lacked the grades in 2019, and GS took a pass in 2020. Now at UMass. A lot of folks on this board thought he was going to be “the guy”.
NOAH VEDRAL – Our current transfer and a topic of vigorous board discussion. All I have to add is that the discussion will continue through 2022, ‘cause he’s coming back.
EVAN SIMON – Dear Evan Simon: You will be found! You might not be found at Rutgers for very long though. But I hope you do decide to stay.
And finally, our current messiah…
GAVIN WIMSATT – whose story is yet to be written.
Please share your memories of any of your favorites on this list, and thanks for hanging in there to the end!
CHAS DODD – A true Loyal Son, Easton Ave Subway gossip notwithstanding. Obviously not Flood’s guy. He didn’t see much of the field until the end of the 2013 season, when Flood realized he needed a win to save his job.
GARY NOVA – 2014 was RU’s last above-average season. 2014 (Nova’s senior year) was also the last season in which we got above-average QB play. Coincidence? I think not.
MIKE BIMONTE – Spent five years patiently waiting for his chance to make his mark. He finally got it – as a holder, fielding Alan Lucy’s errant snaps. Mike Bimonte, Rutgers Man.
BLAKE RANKIN – I have two memories of him: Bobby Deren absolutely loved him, and he helped keep the 2012 recruiting class together. We thank him for that. But it never clicked for him here, and after two years he transferred to Delaware without ever seeing the field.
CHRIS LAVIANO – A decent QB who was the subject of the lowest moment of my long RU fandom. It occurred in 2015 when the home crowd cheered when he went down with an injury, and booed his return. Repulsive. He later became Chris Ash’s square peg in a round hole. Wound up transferring to San Diego State, and eventually completed his college career playing lacrosse.
PHILIP NELSON – The first in a seemingly endless line of incoming transfer QB’s. A tale of woulda coulda shoulda. If only he hadn’t made that one horrific decision after a night of underage drinking.
HAYDEN RETTIG – Next transfer up. The fair haired boy (literally) who Rutgers Nation was counting on to turn the program around. However, under Flood he couldn’t beat out Laviano, and then was buried by Ash. #FreeRettig! Eventually wound up at Tennessee… Tech.
GIO RESCIGNO – A lightly regarded recruit who eventually became Ash’s fallback option at QB. Whenever one of Ash’s preferred options flopped (and there were several, as we shall see) Gio would eventually get the call. We could do worse. We frequently did do worse. Gio Rescigno, Rutgers Man.
MICHAEL DARE – A member of Flood’s final recruiting class. Ash got the job, Dare got the talk, and that was that. Wound up at Sam Houston State I think.
ZACK ALLEN – The first of several Ash transfers-in. From TCU I think. Was said to possess all the intangibles. Tangibles, not so much. My only memory of him is as part of 78-0. Memories are not always fair.
PHIL RUSSO – Technically should not be on this list because he was never a Knight. He was about to be, but Ash decided (probably correctly) that Russo wasn’t his guy. C’est la vie.
TYLIN ODEN – He WAS Ash’s guy. But he couldn’t pass, at least not accurately. Plus he was really skinny. Bless his heart, but he just didn’t have enough ass behind him to punch it in. (A Mehringer quote. Google it.) Wound up getting booted from the team and ended his career at Virginia Union.
JOHNATHAN LEWIS – Enough ass behind him? Check. The centerpiece of Ash’s second recruiting class, he was highly regarded but also had accuracy issues. Plus, he was slow afoot. Wound up at tight end, and then to South Dakota.
KYLE BOLIN – Ash’s second transfer QB. He had a stronger resume than Allen, and was an OK game manager, but we needed more. Lost his starting job after a loss to Eastern Michigan, who was really bad then.
TOM FLACCO – Walk-on transfer from one of the other Directional Michigans. This was back when transfers (other than grad transfers) had to sit a year. Jerry Kill reportedly loved him and thought he was the best QB on the roster. But Kill left. Flacco asked Ash for a ship, Ash said no, and Flacco said I’m outta here. Off to Delaware where he set records. We’ll never know how he’d have fared in the B1G.
ART SITKOWSKI – Next messiah up! I can't say much about Art that anyone doesn’t already know. My own opinion is that he’d be better off at a G5, but I can’t empirically support that.
JALEN CHATMAN – I had entirely forgotten about him. Went from RU to Portland State to Morehouse.
McLANE CARTER – I had him down as Carter McLane until I decided to check. He was part of the Ash parade of transfers. He was the 2019 starter against UMass in which he set a school record for most passing yardage (340) by a lefty. Then he got a concussion in his next game, and that was it. He is now playing in Germany, or so Wikipedia says.
JOHNNY LANGAN – Ash’s last transfer QB and his most successful, although he doesn’t play much QB anymore. Possibly the most popular guy on the current team. I personally think his resume is a tad light to warrant the “Johnny Football” nickname, but that’s just me.
COLE SNYDER – A lightly regarded recruit who in three years has done little to show that he’s the guy. Or maybe it’s that he’s had little opportunity to do so. Anyway, if he’s here for spring practice I’ll be mildly surprised.
ZAMAR WISE – I threw him in here even though he never enrolled. Lacked the grades in 2019, and GS took a pass in 2020. Now at UMass. A lot of folks on this board thought he was going to be “the guy”.
NOAH VEDRAL – Our current transfer and a topic of vigorous board discussion. All I have to add is that the discussion will continue through 2022, ‘cause he’s coming back.
EVAN SIMON – Dear Evan Simon: You will be found! You might not be found at Rutgers for very long though. But I hope you do decide to stay.
And finally, our current messiah…
GAVIN WIMSATT – whose story is yet to be written.
Please share your memories of any of your favorites on this list, and thanks for hanging in there to the end!
