Did the transfer portal fix Rutgers football's biggest weakness?

PISCATAWAY – Rutgers football’s 2025 season fell short of expectations, and it didn’t take much analysis or retrospection to identify the reason why.

The Scarlet Knights’ defense was the culprit, consistently failing to match the production of an offense that was good enough to compete in the Big Ten.

By the end of the year, the unit was among the worst in the nation.

Coach Greg Schiano responded soon after the 5-7 campaign ended, dismissing co-coordinators Robb Smith and Zach Sparber, and then after a long search, hiring new coordinator Travis Johansen.

So far, Johansen’s made a strong impression – so have his assistants – on the unit.

Still, what’ll have a larger say in the success of the defense will come down to the play of the personnel, something the program devoted plenty of resources to improving in the offseason.

Schiano and his staff hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in more than a dozen players to try and boost the defense – players from various levels and experiences.

“We’re going to be better,” Schiano said of his defense following the team’s second scrimmage of training camp on Aug. 22. “I don’t know what is ‘right.’ You’re playing in the Big Ten Conference. It’s hard. But we’ll be better on defense, I have no doubt in my mind. How much better will be determined by how confident in what we do and can we stay healthy and those kinds of things. But we’ll be better.”

The next three months will determine how much better.

Rutgers returns several players on that side of the ball who figure to make an impact – safety Kaj Sanders, linebackers Moses Walker and Abram Wright, as well as defensive lineman Zaire Angoy and Keshon Griffin among them – but much of the defense’s improvement will rely on the production of transfers, some of whom haven’t played at this level of football.

Relying on transfers in any conference is a risk – Rutgers, like all programs, will have hits and misses when it comes to the portal.

The Scarlet Knights have to hope this season the misses, if any, are at a minimum.

There’s no question that Rutgers have brought in multiple players who have shown high levels of production.

Defensive end Malachi Davis, who spent the previous four years at Toledo, had 5.5 sacks last season for the Rockets. For perspective, the Scarlet Knights had 11 total sacks as a team last season due to a lackluster pass rush.

Tulsa transfer J’Dan Burnett is another defensive end Rutgers brought in who’s had significant production at his previous stop, racking up 6.5 sacks last season.

Schiano has mentioned linebackers Ty Morris and Sean Allison as players who impressed in training camp.

Morris had 88 tackles, including a team-leading 9.5 for loss, last season at Rice, where he spent three seasons. Allison had 126 tackles (eight for loss) with two sacks at Drake – he was among the top defensive players at the FCS level.

Cornerback was an area Rutgers really needed to address, and it did by bringing in Bradlee Jones from The Citadel and Zahmir Dawud, a North Brunswick native who played three seasons at Villanova.

Jones has elite speed, winning the 2024-25 Southern Conference championship in the 60m (indoor), 100m (outdoor) and 200m (outdoor).

Dawud last season tied for second in the CAA with 13 passes defended – 11 breakups and two interceptions.

If these transfers – and the rest Rutgers brought in – can come close to matching their production at their previous stops this season, the Scarlet Knights’ defense will be poised to take a considerable step forward.

Whether that happens is the big unknown, for now at least.

On paper, the transfer portal fixed Rutgers’ defense.

On the field?

We’ll find out soon enough.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Did the transfer portal fix Rutgers football's biggest weakness?