Week Five: Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Date & Time: Saturday, October 3 at 8 pm ET
Venue: SHI Stadium, Piscattaway, NJ
TV: TBA
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Add Hoosier Huddle to GoogleScarlet Knights at a Glance
Head Coach: Greg Schiano
Entering his 18th season as Rutgers’ head coach
Record at Rutgers: 99-108 (43-87 in Big East/Big Ten)
Overall Record: 99-108
Last Season: 5-7 (2-7 in Big Ten)
Series History vs. Indiana
Record: 5-5
Last Meeting: Rutgers won 31-14 in 2023
Scarlet Knights Returning Leaders
Passing: AJ Surace (4-9, 58 yards, 2 TDs 0 INT)
Rushing: Antwan Raymond (244 rushes, 1,241 yards 13 TDs)
Receiving: KJ Duff (60 catches, 1,084 yards 7 TDs)
Tackles: DB Kaj Sanders (65 tackles, 1 PBU, 2 Kick Blocks)
Scarlet Knights Names to Know
Antwan Raymond, RB
KJ Duff, Wide Receiver
Dylan Lonergan, Quarterback
Abram Wright, Linebacker
Scarlet Knights Preseason Predictions
Athlon: 16th in the Big Ten
Lindy’s: 18th in the Big Ten
Phil Steele: 16th in the Big Ten
Sporting News: 18th in the Big Ten
SP+: 62nd Nationally
Impact Newcomers for the Scarlet Knights
Dylan Lonergan, Quarterback (Transfer from Boston College)
Ty Morris, Linebacker (Transfer From Rice)
Malachi Davis, Edge (Transfer from Toldeo)
Biggest Questions Facing the Scarlet Knights
1. Has Greg Schiano hit his ceiling at Rutgers?
2. Can the offense get its excellent playmakers the ball?
3. Will the defense improve enough to make a bowl game?
Program Preview
The move to the Big Ten before the 2014 season has not been as lucrative for the Scarlet Knights as they had hoped. The old saying goes, “cash the check, take the L’s”. The Scarlet Knights brought Greg Schiano back in 2020 to right the ship and get back to where they were under him in the mid-2000’s.
That success has not materialized to that degree. Rutgers seemed poised to take the next step with a 7-6 2023 that ended with a Pinstripe Bowl win over Miami, followed by another 7-6 season with a loss to Kansas State in the Rate Bowl. It was something to build on, until it wasn’t.
The Scarlet Knights went 5-7 (2-7) in 2025 and the defense cratered to 16th in the conference, spoiling a pretty dynamic offense.
Rutgers heads into 2026 with low expectations, but has a couple of preseason All-Americans on offense in running back Antwan Raymond and wide receiver KJ Duff. There will be a competition at quarterback between Dylan Lonergan and AJ Surace. If the Scarlet Knights can figure out the quarterback, they could exceed their low expectations.
Defensively, Rutgers stunk in 2025 and Schiano brought in former South Dakota head coach Travis Johansen to do the job. They cannot be much worse than a season ago and return some key players, but 8 of the 11 projected starters are new.
Special teams has always been a staple under Schiano and Rutgers blocks kicks consistently. The Scarlet Knights are usually the best special teams unit on the field when they play.
The schedule does Rutgers no favors, even though they are no longer in the dreaded Big Ten East. A week two game at Boston College could define the season. A win would be some momentum heading into a three-game stretch that sandwiches Howard between visits from USC and Indiana. Michigan, Nebraska and Michigan State round out the home slate. While the toss-up games against Northwestern and Maryland are on the road. Rutgers will also travel to Penn State and Wisconsin.
Rutgers Offensive Preview
The biggest question heading into fall camp is who will be under center for Rutgers when they open the season against UMass. The battle is between former Boston College and Alabama transfer Dylan Lonergan and redshirt sophomore AJ Surace.
Lonergan has the upper hand in experience with nine starts and 13 games played at Boston College and Alabama. In 2025 with the Eagles, he made nine starts and threw for 2,025 yards and 12 touchdowns. Lonergan threw five interceptions last year and completed just over 66-percent of his passes.
Surace has been in the program for two seasons already and has played against Ohio State and Oregon, but he only has nine passes in three games under his belt. He was a top-10 prospect in talent-rich New Jersey.
Whoever wins the job will have plenty of weapons to get the ball to. Running back Antwan Raymond is a stud and built like a bowling ball. He carried the ball a whopping 244 times for 1,241 yards and 13 touchdowns. He can also catch the ball out of the backfield as he had 18 catches for 225 yards and two more touchdowns. Raymond is a patient runner and can find holes that develop late and is good in protection, which allows him to stay on the field more.
Rutgers will look to Louisiana Tech transfer Clay Thevenin who ran for 634 yards last season. Even though Raymond can carry the load at running back, Rutgers will benefit from having a productive backup to take some of the wear and tear off Raymond.
Another preseason All-American headlines the Rutgers’ receiver corps, in KJ Duff. The Scarlet Knights lost Ian Strong to the portal, but retained Duff who was tremendous in 2025. Duff is 6’6” and 225 pounds. He’s a big play threat as he averaged 18.1 yards per catch on 60 receptions. He totalled 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns. Duff may be Rutgers’ best pro prospect.
The Scarlet Knights also return Ben Black, who has 25 games of experience but has yet to really break out, and redshirt freshman Jourdin Houston should round out the starting trio. There is not much production or experience behind Duff and Black.
Rutgers brings in Kameron Anthony from Ball State to compete with Logan Blake at tight end. Anthony, who has a big frame at 6’5” and 255 pounds, made 10 starts for the Cardinals in 2025 and totalled 117 yards receiving. Blake has 19 games with three starts to his name and brings a 6’6”, 265-pound body to the tight end room. He only had 12 yards of offense, however.
It all starts and finishes upfront, however. If the Scarlet Knights do not figure out their offensive line, it will not matter how many playmakers they have. Rutgers returns the right side of its line from 2025, but may not keep it intact. Tyler Needham, a 6’4” 300-pound senior, will flip to left tackle after starting 20 games on the right side the previous two seasons. 6’6” 320-pound junior Moshood Giwa will likely take over the right tackle position after 1 start and 10 games there last season.
The interior of the line will have Terrence Salami (great OL name btw) at center. He has played in 21 games since the start of 2024. The guards will be senior Kwabena Asamoah on the right side and Dantae Chin on the left. Both are seniors and tip the scales at 310 and 320 pounds, respectively.
Rutgers Defensive Preview
Rutgers’ defense cratered last season as they allowed 31.8 points, 433 yards and 210 rushing yards per game. If the Scarlet Knights want to get back to a bowl game in 2025, they need the retooled defense to improve drastically.
Schiano hired away former South Dakota head coach Travis Johansen to be the defensive coordinator and brought in several new position coaches. Rutgers also tapped into the transfer portal to add playmakers at each level of the defense.
Rutgers finished with just 11 sacks for all of 2025 so they need to upgrade on the defensive line. Up front the Scarlet Knights brought in Second Team All-AAC defensive end J’dan Burnett from Tulsa. Burnett had 6.5 sacks last season in just five starts with Tulsa. Malachi Davis comes in to set the edge from Toledo. In 13 starts, Davis made 5.5 sacks and earned Third Team All-MAC.
On the interior of the line, a pair of seniors, Keshon Griffin (6’4” 305) and Zaire Angoy (6’3” 301), anchor the defense. Last season, they combined for three tackles for loss.
In the middle of Rutgers’ 4-2-5 defense are linebackers Ty Morris and Abram Wright. Morris comes in from Rice, where he made 88 tackles, including 9.5 for loss in 2025. Wright came on late last year and finished with 58 tackles after Schiano took over the defense.
In addition to not creating sacks and tackles for loss, the Rutgers’ defense did not create interceptions. The Scarlet Knights registered just five for the ‘25 season and four of them came from defensive backs.
To combat this, the Scarlet Knights brought in Kevyn Humes from Maryland who made 16 tackles in three starts for the Terrapins. Humes will play one corner position. Sophomore Kevin Levy will man the other corner spot.
Rutgers does return leading tackler in boundary safety Kaj Sanders who will be joined by former Mercer transfer Chris Joines. Joines played in seven games with Rutgers last season, but only made seven tackles. In 2024, he made 70 tackles in 14 starts with Mercer.
Senior Jesse Ofurie plays what Rutgers calls the ‘stud’ position. He has played in 24 games the last two seasons, mainly in a reserve role.
Rutgers Special Teams Preview
Special teams is a staple of Schiano’s Rutgers tenure. They are a dangerous team in punt and field goal blocks. According to Phil Steele, Rutgers has led the NCAA in blocked kicks since 2009 with 67.
Rutgers returns field goal kicker Jai Patel who was 13-18 with a long of 50 yards last season. Oddly, he missed two field goals (blocked) from within 30 yards and was just 8-11 from 30-49 yards.
Punter Jakob Anderson is solid with a 44.2-yard average. He forced 17 fair catches and placed 10 punts inside the 20-yard line.
Wide receiver Ben Black was the primary kick returner last year with just six returns. Much like IU, Rutgers does not return a ton of kickoffs with just 10 all of last season. Expect Dyaln Braitwaite to be the primary punter returner.
2026 FIRST GLANCE PREVIEWS
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