Rutgers football names starting QB, backup enters transfer portal

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The Rutgers quarterback battle has been decided.

Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis has been named the Scarlet Knights' starting quarterback, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday.

As a result of the decision, Gavin Wimsatt — who led Rutgers to its first winning season in nearly a decade after starting all 13 games — has entered the transfer portal, the person confirmed. A former four-star recruit who was the second-highest ranked quarterback prospect to sign with the program in the modern recruiting era, has two more years of eligibility remaining.

"When I finally make the announcement of who (the starter) is, everyone will know, but until then, it'll just be what it is: a competition," head coach Greg Schiano said following Saturday's spring game. "I like all four of our quarterbacks. I think they're all, in their own way, improving. It's just gonna be a matter of making a decision of who gives us the best chance to win. The who, when, I don't know. I'll let you know soon as I know. Actually, that's not true. I'll let you know when I do."

Schiano informed Wimsatt of the staff's decision to name Kaliakmanis the starter in a meeting on Tuesday night, the person said. The timing allowed Wimsatt to decide whether he wanted to remain at Rutgers and be the backup, or enter the transfer portal — which closed at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday — and pursue other opportunities with more playing time. He elected the latter option, initiating the process to enter the portal.

The decision leaves the Scarlet Knights with three scholarship quarterbacks entering the 2024 season: Kaliakmanis, redshirt freshman Ajani Sheppard and true freshman AJ Surace.

"I think our quarterback room is as strong as it's ever been in all my years as the head coach here at Rutgers," Schiano said in an interview with the Big Ten Network on Wednesday. "I know it is a very fluid thing when you talk about college personnel, because there is a transfer portal, there is NIL, there are all those things that make it that way. So what you do is you literally take it day-by-day. You have a plan but you got to be ready to adjust. I feel good about Athan, I feel good about Gavin and I feel good about our other two quarterbacks as well. ... We have some depth at the position, but you don't know how long that lasts all the time."

Kaliakmanis arrived in January, reconnecting with offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, who recruited him to Minneapolis and coached him there for one season.

In his first full season as a starter in 2023, the quarterback threw for 1,838 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions at a 53.1% completion rate (156-of-294), the 13th-lowest completion percentage among the 157 FBS quarterbacks with at least 125 drop backs this season, per ProFootballFocus.

The Antioch, Illinois, native ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns on 74 carries. He would lead Minnesota to a 5-7 record, good enough for a Quick Lane Bowl bid because of its APR scores, but he would not stick around to play in it, entering the portal shortly after the season's conclusion.

Kaliakmanis played in 11 games under Ciarrocca as a redshirt freshman during the 2022 season. He finished that campaign with 946 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions on 60-of-111 (54.1%).

Kaliakmanis started five of the last six contests, initially filling in for injured starter Tanner Morgan before ultimately winning the job. In the final five games of the year, Kaliakmanis threw for 687 yards (137.4 per game), two touchdowns and one interception on 46-of-78 passing (58.9%) to lead the Golden Gophers to a 4-1 finish. In that stretch, he led a second-half comeback against Nebraska, had one of his best career games in a rivalry win over Wisconsin and got off to a strong start against Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl before sustaining a lower-body injury that knocked him out of the game.

As for Wimsatt, he had an up-and-down career in Piscataway.

The Owensboro, Kentucky, native led Rutgers to its first winning season in nearly a decade last fall, helping them finish with a 7-6 record culminating in a win over Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. He had the greatest rushing season by a quarterback in program history, collecting 493 yards and nine touchdowns on 112 non-sack carries, per ProFootballFocus.

But Wimsatt struggled mightily through the air, completing just 47.8% of his passes (138/289), marking the lowest completion percentage among the 157 FBS quarterbacks with at least 125 drop backs this season, per ProFootballFocus. His adjusted completion rate (58.8%) the fifth-lowest among the group.

Wimsatt finished last season with 1,734 yards, nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.

"(The coaching staff does) a good job of just evaluating and keeping (where the quarterback battle is leaning) between themselves," Wimsatt said after the spring game. "I think me and Athan do a good job of not getting too caught up in that. We're competing, we're gonna compete, but just picking each other's brains and not letting it affect us off the field. (Athan is) a great guy, he's lifted up our room a really good amount with his experiences."

The quarterback arrived to much fanfare at Rutgers. He enrolled at the school early, skipping his senior season and arriving ahead of the second game of the 2021 season after seeing fellow standout recruit Quinn Ewers do the same at Ohio State. Wimsatt made a stunning debut against Illinois a month later in October, then flashed his potential in a cameo at the Gator Bowl against Wake Forest to conclude the season.

Wimsatt's redshirt freshman season was a roller coaster as well. He appeared in Rutgers' first three games last season — including his first career start against Wagner — before suffering a lower-body injury that kept him out for three games. He recovered in time to feature in the final five games of the season, but between his inexperience and the lingering injury, he put together a rough statline: 757 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions on 65-of-145 passing — the 44.8% completion rate was the second-lowest among the 146 FBS quarterbacks who threw at least 125 pass attempts this season, per PFF — to go with 156 rushing yards on 21 non-sack carries.

The news of Kaliakmanis being named starter and Wimsatt intending to enter the portal was first reported by ESPN.

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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.

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