Rutgers coach Greg Schiano on wishing he had never left, and why he'll end his career at Rutgers
- Thread starter Tango Two
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I still get eye twitches when he talks about offense
Less misery for us all.
Great interview. I noticed Greg’s face lit up with that coy confident smile when they talked about our WR room and how good it can be. Very telling on how good Greg feels they will be.
7 minute mark says the obvious and everything so many were saying on this board last year.
Putting an end to the absurd counter arguments on our QB play last year.
I will be kind and not actually list the lunatics who participated in the absurdity.
I will be sure to ignore those posters takes moving forward, as they have zero ability to assess football.
You all know who you are. 😂
Putting an end to the absurd counter arguments on our QB play last year.
I will be kind and not actually list the lunatics who participated in the absurdity.
I will be sure to ignore those posters takes moving forward, as they have zero ability to assess football.
You all know who you are. 😂
You mean like Mike Teel?
"The Scarlet Knights were headed in the right direction, and Wimsatt was the quarterback during their breakthrough season. He started all 13 games, leading them to three Big Ten wins — their most in a season during their decade in the league.
“I think you always have to judge a quarterback based upon what the record is and how the team does,” Teel said. “At the end of the day, the kid did win seven games this past year, and he did lead the team to a bowl win. Overall, I think he did a great job.”
I really don't care about Wimsatt one way or another. My point with him has been that RU's QB development sucks (but people keep giving it all a pass).
How Rutgers’ Gavin Wimsatt went from trumpeted recruit to another QB failure
Gavin Wimsatt was once seen as Rutgers football's quarterback of the future. That hope officially died when he entered the transfer portal late last month.
😂😂😂You mean like Mike Teel?
"The Scarlet Knights were headed in the right direction, and Wimsatt was the quarterback during their breakthrough season. He started all 13 games, leading them to three Big Ten wins — their most in a season during their decade in the league.
“I think you always have to judge a quarterback based upon what the record is and how the team does,” Teel said. “At the end of the day, the kid did win seven games this past year, and he did lead the team to a bowl win. Overall, I think he did a great job.”
I really don't care about Wimsatt one way or another. My point with him has been that RU's QB development sucks (but people keep giving it all a pass).
How Rutgers’ Gavin Wimsatt went from trumpeted recruit to another QB failure
Gavin Wimsatt was once seen as Rutgers football's quarterback of the future. That hope officially died when he entered the transfer portal late last month.www.nj.com
You outed yourself
I will be ignoring your takes
Fantastic interview. Loved hearing him talk about how he would've stayed here if the B1G offer had come in time, which is something many of us always suspected and it was also interesting hearing how he made a mistake by "running from a situation" rather than "running to a situation" and how it was the only job he had ever taken that he didn't prepare for as it came out of the blue. I'm convinced we would've never had the down years we had under Flood/Ash if Greg had stayed and - with UM/PSU being down when we joined the league, it's conceivable we would've been quite successful in those years. And he definitely seems quietly confident about this year, which is nice to see. I'm psyched.
Absolutely Schiano would've cleaned-up on the NJ/PA/NY recruiting trail after the Ped St scandal.
GS talking about Monangai "running into a disadvantaged box" - I hate when that happens.
You mean like Mike Teel?
"The Scarlet Knights were headed in the right direction, and Wimsatt was the quarterback during their breakthrough season. He started all 13 games, leading them to three Big Ten wins — their most in a season during their decade in the league.
“I think you always have to judge a quarterback based upon what the record is and how the team does,” Teel said. “At the end of the day, the kid did win seven games this past year, and he did lead the team to a bowl win. Overall, I think he did a great job.”
I really don't care about Wimsatt one way or another. My point with him has been that RU's QB development sucks (but people keep giving it all a pass).
How Rutgers’ Gavin Wimsatt went from trumpeted recruit to another QB failure
Gavin Wimsatt was once seen as Rutgers football's quarterback of the future. That hope officially died when he entered the transfer portal late last month.
No - he means like you and others who seemed to want to blame the QB issue on everyone but Wimsatt - the wide outs, the coaches, and so on.
The bottom line is there was a competition this spring and AK clearly beat out Gavin in an apples to apples environment because just as last year, Gavin couldn’t throw with consistent accuracy. I don’t care what you think of Schiano - no coach speaks definitively of a situation like this (even after the fact) unless it was blatantly obvious to everyone around. Get over it already, Wimsatt probably isn’t going to develop into a star at UK either because most likely it’s not a coaching thing. He just isn’t accurate despite having a strong arm in terms of velocity. Why is this so hard to believe?
Why did you leave out the part where he describes why he named Ath~ the starter so early?You mean like Mike Teel?
"The Scarlet Knights were headed in the right direction, and Wimsatt was the quarterback during their breakthrough season. He started all 13 games, leading them to three Big Ten wins — their most in a season during their decade in the league.
“I think you always have to judge a quarterback based upon what the record is and how the team does,” Teel said. “At the end of the day, the kid did win seven games this past year, and he did lead the team to a bowl win. Overall, I think he did a great job.”
I really don't care about Wimsatt one way or another. My point with him has been that RU's QB development sucks (but people keep giving it all a pass).
How Rutgers’ Gavin Wimsatt went from trumpeted recruit to another QB failure
Gavin Wimsatt was once seen as Rutgers football's quarterback of the future. That hope officially died when he entered the transfer portal late last month.
Asked why he handled the QB change right after Spring Ball the way he did GS responded:
"I really felt Athan outplayed Wimsatt.. so.. if it were close I wouldn't have said anything. It wasn't and I knew I was going to name him starter"
He goes on to thank Wimsatt and his family for choosing Rutgers when he could have gone anywhere and giving him time to make the right decision for himself and his family was teh right thing to do.. and he wouldn't be surprised if he does well at Kentucky.
And they he talks about how a few more completes here and there or lack of a key INT could have meant some big wins... and we all know he is right.. we all saw it. And we all hoped, every spring and summer, that things would be improved "next season".
And we certainly all hope we are right this coming season and we see some consistently Big Ten-quality quarterbacking at Rutgers. How great will it be to see a dependable short passing game coupled with our running game? Have no idea what to expect in mid and long range passing.. but it will be great if out top WRs can go up and beat DBs 1 on 1.. they should get a lot of opportunities to do that with the threat of the running game.
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Right after the spring game GS was asked about the QB contest. Greg said that there were only a few practices and that the spring game was just "an exhibition for the fans." He specifically downplayed the idea spring practice/game was some mighty QB contest. He was honest about that part.
Lets not forget that AK is Minnesota's Wimsatt - a castoff who was told he would never start again (they had a better transfer on the way). Rutgers isn't LSU picking-up Joe Burrow. RU vs Minn in 2023 = passing games 126 vs 127. Both teams had inferior passing (with Minn having better WRs and shorter passes to get completion % slightly higher).
last Year RU's WRs were the worst I ever saw under GS (and he admitted before 2023 the group was weak). RU's WRs were vastly better in the old BE.
A lot of people here really fail to understand that WRs HAVE TO catch bad passes. Its the muggles who think all passes are aimed at a WR hands/numbers. Good QBs intentionally put balls were only his WRs can get them. RUs WR were pretty much incapable of that. There is some excuse in fact that (Schinao said) RU's OL couldn't pass block for long plays so they were minimized. GW is a lanky long ball thrower.
A great example of a QB intentionally throwing a "bad pass" was Dodd to Sanu vs USF (where Nova got benched after extensive booing). A DB was right in front of Sanu so Dodd could not lead him with the ball OR hit him in the hands/numbers. He had to throw the ball behind Sanu - who Dodd knew could make a catch. Noboby on RU could really make such catches in 2023 (Washington being the most likely) . Good WRs catch bad passes.
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I've listened to Schiano long enough to know he speaks in sweet nothings.
I saw enough of the spring game to discount the horror stories. I don't know how the teams were decided but GW made some great throws that were dropped by stone handed WRs. There was no "blowout" spring game in reality
GW also scored 3 TDs to 2 for AK - not exactly the big blowout the game is portrayed as. GW can run circles around most QBs but its the EU way to get a top dual threat QB and cut the dual part away
Right after the spring game GS was asked about the QB contest. Greg said that there were only a few practices and that the spring game was just "an exhibition for the fans." He specifically downplayed the idea spring practice/game was some mighty QB contest. He was honest about that part.
Lets not forget that AK is Minnesota's Wimsatt - a castoff who was told he would never start again (they had a better transfer on the way). Rutgers isn't LSU picking-up Joe Burrow. RU vs Minn = 2023's passing games 126 vs 127. Both teams has inferior passing (with Minn having better WRs and shorter passes to get completion % slightly higher).
last Year RU's WRs were the worst I ever saw under GS (and he admitted before 2023 the group was weak). RU's WRs were vastly better in the old BE.
A lot of people here really fail to understand that WRs HAVE TO catch bad passes. Its the muggles who think all passes are aimed at a WR hands/numbers. Good QBs intentionally put balls were only his WRs can get them. RUs WR were pretty much incapable of that. There is some excuse in fact that (Schinao said) RU's OL couldn't pass block for long plays so they were minimized. GW is a lanky long ball thrower.
A great example of a QB intentionally throwing a "bad pass" was Dodd to Sanu vs USF (where Nova got benched after extensive booing). A DB was right in front of Sanu so Dodd could not lead him with the ball OR hit him in the hands numbers. He had to throw the ball behind Sanu - who Dodd knew could make a catch. Noboby on RU could really make such catches in 2023 (Washington being the most likely) . Good WRs catch bad passes.
Did you not hear what Greg said on media day? AK beat him in camp. He threw more accurately. The difference was drastic. He came right out and said so on national TV. I’m not sure what else to tell you. Just no - wide outs are not supposed to find a way to catch terrible passes in stride for continuation yardage. That only happens when the ball is reasonably well placed which Gavin flat out could not do on short or medium routes pretty much ever.
Greg wasnt going to say this before the spring game because he had not yet officially announced the QB1 decision. Of course not.
I've listened to Schiano long enough to know he speaks in sweet nothings.
I saw enough of the spring game to discount the horror stories/I don't know how the teams were decided but GW made some great throws that were dropped by stone handed WRs. There was no "blowout" spring game in reality
GW also scored 3 TDs to 2 for AK - not exactly the big blowout the game is portrayed as. GW can run circles around most QBs but its the EU way to get a top dual threat QB and cut the dual part away
He said it was decided based on spring camp in its entirety. Not that game. That game was already scheduled and going to happen for the fans. He wasn’t going to announce anything until after it was done. We get it - you wanted Gavin but there’s no conspiracy here. Many people other than Gavin and Schiano participated in and watched spring camp. Give it up already. Your wrong.
Greg also minimized the practices with regard to QB decision. I watched him say it.
As Mike Teel would point out, GW threw for 2 TDs and ran long for another
3 TDs to 2 TDs is not getting blown out.
It was also clear GWs WR were dropping good passes all over the place.
But as I said, my issue isn't with GW but with RUs dollar store offensive coaching/philosophy.
RU's red zone has been garbage time since even back in the good days.
No surprise Minnesota's offense was also criticized for being very dull and dependent on the defense for wins https://www.thedailygopher.com/2023...-best-applies-to-everyone-after-illinois-loss
Another telling quote from Teel:
“I would have thought that (his accuracy) would have gotten better as time went on, (but) there were still a lot of the same issues from when he was younger that showed throughout the course of last year,” Teel said. “Definitely a little bit from a mechanical standpoint, just not being set, not being in tune with being able to make the throws, not having his feet in the right place at the right time.”
What he's basically saying is that RU coaching could not develop GW. The "Schiano way" is repetitions. However just repetitions don't fix mechanical bugs - indeed it can make them worse.
Greg admitted taking GW away from HS so early was a mistake - and he had THREE OCs)
“It’s hard for a player to develop and take those steps in the right direction that everyone’s looking for when you have different people coaching different things.” - Teel.
So my main thesis is that Schiano, Fleck, Kirk S are pretty much less than average offensive coaches but the players keep getting the rug pulled. A good QB coming to RU is probably not making best decision. GW should have taken the Oregon or ND offers - better QB coaching at both
Whatever you say. I guess we’ll see how he does at UK. I don’t think a different coach would’ve mattered at all. Teel would never bad mouth an RU QB in an interview so I’m not sure what you expected him to say or why you think it means anything at all? It doesn’t. The spring game was just one small glimpse of spring camp. You have no idea what went on there because you weren’t there. The Rant guys. The TKR guys. Everyone who had been watching the practices agreed with what Greg said at BIG media. Do you really think if Gavin had been doing well at spring camp - Schiano would say what he just said on national TV? His entire team was at those practices and witnessed what actually went down.
GS said AFTER the Spring Game. It does not mean the Spring Game alone was teh reason he was going to go with Athan. Honestly.. I don't think they pick up an elder QB in the portal unless they intended to replace GW... and they don't take one whose history says he would be lesser than what we already had. I am glad GS announced it rather than string the whole Wimsatt clan along.I've listened to Schiano long enough to know he speaks in sweet nothings.
I saw enough of the spring game to discount the horror stories. I don't know how the teams were decided but GW made some great throws that were dropped by stone handed WRs. There was no "blowout" spring game in reality
GW also scored 3 TDs to 2 for AK - not exactly the big blowout the game is portrayed as. GW can run circles around most QBs but its the EU way to get a top dual threat QB and cut the dual part away
As for my analysis of stats and what little video I have seen of Athan.. I do not know he is that much of an improvement.. but, for me, one real bad aspect of GW's game was the inability to throw screens or late outlet passes to check-downs. That, alone, was a reason to switch QBs and I wish they did so 2 years ago. But eash year I thought.. GW will improved.. he has a great arm.. if he learns to read things and learns to get out of pressure with an eye to really use his legs.. instead of just doing so on designed runs... GW could be great. I still hope that for him. As GS said.. anyone that chooses Rutgers over our competitors deserves respect and consideration. But so have all our backup QBs over the years.
But you, and Teel, were correct here:
*****
Another telling quote from Teel:
“I would have thought that (his accuracy) would have gotten better as time went on, (but) there were still a lot of the same issues from when he was younger that showed throughout the course of last year,” Teel said. “Definitely a little bit from a mechanical standpoint, just not being set, not being in tune with being able to make the throws, not having his feet in the right place at the right time.”
*****
His footwork sucked. I said so and I know very little. It was obvious. But people kept blaming the OL and pressure. That was not it. It was slow feet or a lack of attention to details. I'm sure many coaches his whole life have spoken to him about his footwork. At some point it is up to him to listen and change.
I actually advised that we play into his lack of footwork and always having him moving. When he is set his feet are sloppy and he throws from an "open stance" as often as not. He relives heavily on a live arm and thinks he has the right touch to be accurate. That's why I said let him move.. it would speed up his footwork and, I think, while throwing on the run is not ideal it might be the best we could have gotten out of him.
I do think Athan will be more dependable and, if correct, that will change everything.. I think the WR room will appreciate it and play accordingly but I am especially eager to see our RBs on screen passes put where they can catch and run. That's modern offense, right? Passes behind the LOS so you can block downfield and hit the receiver on the run.. going forward. (I think that should be outlawed.. blocking downfield before ANY pass is caught should be illegal.. shouldn't matter where teh ball is caught).
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I think QBs who have legit talent at running are often weaker in passing fundamentals.
A dual threat is usually better at running.
That's ok but RU didn't like the running - lots of game announcers wondered aloud why he wasn't being run more
If GW was at Army or AF he might be like Navy's Keenan Reynolds (88 rushing TDs in 4 years).
As for screen passes - Eli Manning was worst screen passer I ever saw.
He was a long ball thrower and Burress was ideal WR for him (recall he had two TD in SB and NYGs only made it to SB because Burress put epic beatdown on Al Harris in GB NFC title game).
Rutgers wasn't very good at screen passes for other reasons.
The worst one I saw was vs Ohio St. - RU could not have telegraphed the play any better.
Then RU couldn't block or run
The pass was fine
In the long run , it was probably best for schiano’a development as a coach that he left and experienced failure. Also, got to work in the NFL and again at the highest level of college football. He learned a few things.
But man it really sucked for Rutgers fans when he left. We watched everything the guy built get destroyed by pernetti, flood, Julie and ash
But man it really sucked for Rutgers fans when he left. We watched everything the guy built get destroyed by pernetti, flood, Julie and ash
It was my sense at the time that Greg was also somewhat exhausted after EL's injury.
2010 was a loooong season for GS.
He wouldn't have to be "Father Greg" in the NFL
In the spring game, Kaliakmanis threw two passes that would have been interceptions in a real game, one would have been a pick six. If the starting defenders were in and they did get the pick six and the other interception, I wonder if Schiano would have still named him the starter. The Manis didn't come here to sit on the bench, he may have been told he would be the starter when he committed here. Anywho, the Manis should do good here, hitting passes to complimenting the running game.
Ashokan
Just go watch the 1st throw from Wimsatt in the Maryland game last year to know all you need to know about Wimsatt.
No pressure. Wide open receiver in the flat. And the throw is so bad the receiver makes no attempt to catch the ball. Woulda been a first down. Had to punt instead.
Keep in mind probably 50% of the people on this board could have made that throw.
If that horrific throw occurred once or twice a year, okay, whatever. But Wimsatt did that multiple times every game. Killed drive after drive.
End of story.
Case closed.
I don't care what you, Teel, Gavin's family or Weird Al says. To 98% of people paying attention, it was time to move on.
Just go watch the 1st throw from Wimsatt in the Maryland game last year to know all you need to know about Wimsatt.
No pressure. Wide open receiver in the flat. And the throw is so bad the receiver makes no attempt to catch the ball. Woulda been a first down. Had to punt instead.
Keep in mind probably 50% of the people on this board could have made that throw.
If that horrific throw occurred once or twice a year, okay, whatever. But Wimsatt did that multiple times every game. Killed drive after drive.
End of story.
Case closed.
I don't care what you, Teel, Gavin's family or Weird Al says. To 98% of people paying attention, it was time to move on.
Exactly. It’s the WTF misses. Not saying AK has never had any but I watched a number of Minny games last year and don’t recall seeing any.
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That play was doomed from the start. The QB should have checked out of that. There are 4 defenders to 2 blockers on the play side.I think QBs who have legit talent at running are often weaker in passing fundamentals.
A dual threat is usually better at running.
That's ok but RU didn't like the running - lots of game announcers wondered aloud why he wasn't being run more
If GW was at Army or AF he might be like Navy's Keenan Reynolds (88 rushing TDs in 4 years).
As for screen passes - Eli Manning was worst screen passer I ever saw.
He was a long ball thrower and Burress was ideal WR for him (recall he had two TD in SB and NYGs only made it to SB because Burress put epic beatdown on Al Harris in GB NFC title game).
Rutgers wasn't very good at screen passes for other reasons.
The worst one I saw was vs Ohio St. - RU could not have telegraphed the play any better.
Then RU couldn't block or run
The pass was fine
This. And that doesn’t even account for all the completions our receivers were forced to make falling down because they were underthrown or poorly placed. Also unpressured - Gavin just could not hit anyone in stride - ever. Yes - he has a powerful arm and could occasionally nail a pperfectly passed play on pre-design. That was all he could do though and this is extremely limiting for an offense.
A 70% completion percentage would be good - but it also means 30% of passes failed.
QBs make bad passes all the time - Eli Manning would miss screen passes by 6 feet.
I don't dismiss GW's accuracy weakness but I put some of the blame on bad coaching - RU does not do QB position well.
Like Eli, GW was better at long balls but RU could not call them because OL was weak (GS said)
GWs record setting run ability (lead B1G in QB rushing yards and TDs - set all-time RU records for same) was way underused.
While I can understand getting a new QB - AK is Minnesota's cast-off - he was their Wimsatt.
All of Kirk's "third year is for the mastery" con was flushed to bring in a reject basically.
RU was 127th for passing and Minn was 126th.
There's a good amount of magical thinking over what actually took place.
I could have a good talk with Teel over GW.
Most people here won't know diff between Cover 2 and Cover 0 (pretty basic stuff)
No.. that pass wasn't fine.. he had to turn inside to catch it. Clearly designed to go outside.. although we missed a block there too. But if he caught it in position to run outside, then teh inside cut.. well, that wasn't open either even if the tackler had taken himself by moving outside based on where ball was caught.. two inside defenders were already on the way.. and that is because we had no inside passing game to a TE. A TE goes to the post and that would have drawn defenders.I think QBs who have legit talent at running are often weaker in passing fundamentals.
A dual threat is usually better at running.
That's ok but RU didn't like the running - lots of game announcers wondered aloud why he wasn't being run more
If GW was at Army or AF he might be like Navy's Keenan Reynolds (88 rushing TDs in 4 years).
As for screen passes - Eli Manning was worst screen passer I ever saw.
He was a long ball thrower and Burress was ideal WR for him (recall he had two TD in SB and NYGs only made it to SB because Burress put epic beatdown on Al Harris in GB NFC title game).
Rutgers wasn't very good at screen passes for other reasons.
The worst one I saw was vs Ohio St. - RU could not have telegraphed the play any better.
Then RU couldn't block or run
The pass was fine
As for GW running.. he needed to run PROPERLY off an RPO. That is.. read the DE and handoff or take it himself outside. Instead, it seemed he handed off more than not.. no matter what the read was.. and/or he decided it was his turn to run before the snap.. no read necessary. But since we called running plays for him where he'd just follow the RB.. as if it were an RPO.. which takes away the possibility of fooling a defense.. having defenders take themselves out of the play based on their misreads. GW's runs were largely those overload types.. same or more blockers than defenders because the QB is running the ball and the RB is a blocker.. and Monangai can block!
I don’t know. He tried to be “Father Greg” in the NFL and that was one of his problems
Yuck that play was going nowhere no matter if the pass was inside or out. Seemed like the Buckeyes expected it-good scouting (or stole R signs)- and had the play covered with fast defenders inside and outside.
Yes - pass behind WR to keep defenders away from the ball. A throw to outside or in front could be picked for a INT and TD.
That play wasn't going anywhere no matter what - Ohio read it from the start. RU blockers were dispatched with ease and Dremel was rag-dolled.
That play was typical of RUs red zone lameness.
A little Mahomes shovel pass up the middle would work better than a HS screen pass.
But oh no! Might get fumbled lol
I've listened to Schiano long enough to know he speaks in sweet nothings.
I saw enough of the spring game to discount the horror stories. I don't know how the teams were decided but GW made some great throws that were dropped by stone handed WRs. There was no "blowout" spring game in reality
GW also scored 3 TDs to 2 for AK - not exactly the big blowout the game is portrayed as. GW can run circles around most QBs but its the EU way to get a top dual threat QB and cut the dual part away
While GW may clearly be the better runner, that Spring Game isn't a TD in a real game. You can clearly see the secondary let up and allow him to score.
Using Spring Game TDs, especially rushing TDs that would have not occurred, isn't a great stat for comparative analysis.
Notice how it's not someone defending Gavin that began this discourse. But I know I defended Gavin many times on this board. Not because I thought he was Joe Montana but because I felt he was helping the team have it's best season in a decade. Also because some on the board seemed to believe Evan Simon would have been better and the coaches only started Gavin because he was a 4 star or whatever other reason. This group ignored the fact that the coaches were obviously aiming for a run heavy offense and a rushing threat at quarterback. I actually thought he would develop more as a passer towards the end of the year, like the trajectory of a Jalen milroe from Alabama but he didn't. It is what it is but he still lead the team to a good season and broke the record for rushing yards as a QB. Provided Maybe the most electric offensive play last year with his 75 yard run vs Indiana and a bowl victory. And I had no idea who they'd be able to find in the transfer portal being that developmental program is the Rutgers mantra now. Didnt think a better option was in the budget. Now that Ive heard a little bit about AK-47 I feel he can be a more serviceable QB for this team and if not, speed up the timeline on Sheppard and surace. Things move fast this is a new year and a new roster. Last year you were wrong to want Evan Simon to start over Gavin..
