Rutgers football lands former Alabama, Nick Saban quarterback recruit

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Rutgers football’s quarterback situation just got a lot more interesting.

The Scarlet Knights on Jan. 5 received a commitment from transfer quarterback Dylan Lonergan, who spent last season at Boston College after two years with Alabama, a source confirmed.

The 6-foot-2, 211-pound Lonergan, a Georgia native, has two years of eligibility remaining.

Lonergan will compete with AJ Surace, who was Rutgers’ QB2 in 2025 behind Athan Kaliakmanis, for the starting job.

In 10 games for the Eagles this past season (nine starts), Lonergan went 190-of-284 passing (66.9 percent) for 2,025 yards with 12 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Lonergan, who visited Rutgers over the weekend, was a four-star recruit out of Brookwood High School in Georgia as part of the 2023 recruiting class, the No. 154 overall prospect in the nation and the No. 12 quarterback recruit in the country according to the 247Sports Composite.

He does have a connection to the Rutgers coaching staff – senior offensive assistant John McNulty was an analyst at Alabama during Lonergan’s time with the Crimson Tide.

Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano during a meeting with a small group of local reporters last month didn’t rule out pursuing a transfer quarterback, and Rutgers ultimately followed through.

Lonergan joins Surace, Sean Ashenfelder and true freshman Xavier Stern as the Scarlet Knights’ scholarship quarterbacks – but the battle will be between Lonergan and Surace, who will be in his third season with the program.

“Around here everything’s based on competition,” Schiano said, “and quarterback’s no different.”

Whether or not Lonergan wins the job or not, his addition gives Rutgers solid insurance at the position. Going into the 2026 season with relatively unknown quarterbacks in Ashenfelder and Stern would’ve been a considerable risk.

Whoever wins the job will have huge shoes to fill after two prolific seasons by Kaliakmanis, who threw for over 3,000 yards this past season and became one of the most dynamic signal-callers in program history after transferring from Illinois.

Lonergan’s addition is more good news for an offense that in recent days officially brought back running back Antwan Raymond and wide receiver KJ Duff, two of the top weapons in the Big Ten – crucial returns after losing receiver Ian Strong to the portal.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football adds transfer QB Dylan Lonergan. Here's what it means

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