Lonergan Named Starter; Does It Impact Rutgers “Developmental Program” Image?

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Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano has often called his program a “developmental program,” meaning that they look for underrated recruits and develop them to the max of their abilities through their system. There is some merit to this belief, as the program has turned three-stars such as Antwan Raymond and Kwabena Asamoah into superstars. However, there is one position that seems to be an exception to this rule: quarterback.

In the six seasons since Schiano took back over the program in 2020, Rutgers has started a transfer in four of them, and it likely would have been five had it not been for Noah Vedral’s injury issues in 2022. The three best quarterbacking seasons over that time have come from quarterbacks who started their careers elsewhere as well.

That brings us to this week, where former Boston College quarterback Dylan Lonergan has been named the starting quarterback in front of the long-awaited AJ Surace, who was expected to be the heir to the QB1 throne.

So that begs the question: what does this say about Rutgers as a developmental program? It certainly is not a good look because it highlights the issues Rutgers has had developing homegrown quarterbacks. Homegrown quarterbacks in the Schiano 2.0 era, such as Gavin Wimsatt and AJ Surace, lost their quarterback competitions against quarterbacks from other schools. What is even more interesting is that Wimsatt lost his job to a Kirk Ciarrocca product from Minnesota.

There are two sides to this: it could be a string of quarterbacks just not working out as they should, or it could be something more at play. Rutgers did have a string of solid homegrown quarterbacks in Schiano’s 1.0 era that they haven’t replicated in his 2.0 stint.

Surace could likely have benefitted tremendously in this race had he received more playing time last season during Rutgers blowout wins over Norfolk State and Miami (OH).

Even though this might be a bad look on the developmental program mantra, there are a few benefits to this decision. The Knights still get the best out of the two quarterbacks, which hopefully means they will have a serviceable starter at the very least. It also means that they have a quarterback who has played a significant amount, so the transition from practice passing to game-time passing “should” be an easier adjustment.

We want to hear from you. What do you think about Lonergan being named starter over Surace? What do you think about Schiano’s concept of being a developmental program overall? Let us know in the comments below.

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