Rutgers football spring practice 5 key storylines to watch

It’s been a busy offseason for Greg Schiano and Rutgers football, filled with transfer portal additions and the remaking of the defensive coaching staff.

Now all of that work will move over to the practice field as the Scarlet Knights open up spring practices Friday, March 27, the first of 15 sessions.

Rutgers will not be concluding the spring with the annual Scarlet-White Game, with Schiano saying earlier this month that the spring game is “not in the best interest of our program.”

The Scarlet Knights joined a growing list of major programs to make that decision.

Still, this spring is an important one for the program.

Here are five storylines to watch throughout the next month:

The quarterback battle: AJ Surace vs. Dylan Lonergan

It’s been a while since Rutgers has had a true quarterback competition, but that’s changing this spring.

The Scarlet Knights need to replace Athan Kaliakmanis and will let AJ Surace battle against Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan for the job.

Surace, the son of longtime Princeton head coach Bob Surace, has been a loyal member of the program, entering his third season with the Scarlet Knights. He’s gotten into some games and flashed his potential with a strong, accurate arm. Surace is also highly regarded for his ability to quickly process what he’s seeing on the field and his high-level football IQ, characteristic of a coach’s son.

Lonergan, who started at Alabama as a Nick Saban recruit before transferring to Boston College, joined Rutgers in January with two years of eligibility remaining.

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.

A Georgia native, Lonergan brings solid experience – which is important if he loses the starting job because he provide valuable insurance as a backup.

Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca is selective about the QBs he brings into the program, so he clearly believes Lonergan can thrive in his system.

Rutgers’ offense came a long way under Kaliakmanis and it needs to continue that momentum.

The battle for the starting QB job begins now – don’t be surprised if it lasts right up to the season opener.

The defensive overhaul under new coordinator Travis Johansen

Rutgers’ defense underwent an overhaul this offseason, starting with the firing of former defensive coordinators Robb Smith and Zach Sparber.

Schiano brought in Travis Johansen, the former head coach and DC at South Dakota, where he had ample success and also at Grand View previously.

Johansen brought in several highly regarded coaches to his staff.

Even before Schiano hired Johansen, Rutgers went hard in the transfer portal, ultimately adding 10 defensive players to the program.

While it’s unrealistic to think all of them will match expectations – that just doesn’t typically happen in the portal era – the Scarlet Knights need as many as possible to play up to their potential if the unit is going to recover from a poor 2025 season.

The Scarlet Knights also return multiple key pieces, so there is a good core of talent heading into the 2026 season.

But spring practices will be a critical time for Johansen and his staff to begin installing the new scheme on the field, not just in meeting rooms.

Jim Turner’s offensive line

It came as a surprise when Schiano announced shortly after the season that former offensive line coach Pat Flaherty wouldn’t be retained.

Soon after Schiano officially hired Jim Turner as his replacement. Turner has coached at various levels, from college to the NFL to the UFL the previous four seasons. Turner has a strong track record of development and has sent multiple linemen to the NFL.

Turner’s also has a reputation for being an intense, demanding coach.

Now he takes over a Rutgers offensive line that made consistent progress under Flaherty, but still has plenty of room for growth. Success in the Big Ten starts up front, and too often the Scarlet Knights were pushed around by strong, physical defensive fronts.

Rutgers has to replace stalwart center Gus Zilinskas, but returns Tyler Needham and Kobe Asamoah, both integral members of the unit, as well as Dantae Chin and Ryder Langsdale, who had their 2025 seasons cut short (or in Langsdale’s case cut completely) due to injury.

Who emerges at wide receiver to join star KJ Duff?

Easily one of the biggest stories of the winter was when star receiver KJ Duff dramatically announced at a Rutgers basketball game that he was returning for another season.

That’s a huge win for the Scarlet Knights in the portal era. Nothing is guaranteed, especially when it comes to star players coveted by major programs.

But Duff, who caught 60 passes for 1,084 yards with seven touchdowns last season, is sticking with Rutgers – his former high school teammate Ian Strong made a different decision, choosing to enter the portal and ultimately transferred to Cal.

Along with Strong, Rutgers also lost DT Sheffield, who was highly productive as a slot receiver in his only year with the program after transferring from North Texas.

So now the question is who else can emerge from the wide receiver room?

Rutgers has several candidates from a group that’s been on the rise in recent seasons under coach Dave Brock, including Benjamin Black and Famah Toure, who suffered an injury that cost him the season in last year’s spring game.

Vernon Allen and Jourdin Houston are two other younger receivers looking to bounce back from injury-marred 2025 seasons.

Can Rutgers stay healthy?

This is always a major key, but even more so this year as the Scarlet Knights look to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 season.

Rutgers has battled health issues the last couple seasons and they took their toll.

It’s reasonable to think that part of the reason the program is moving away from a spring game is to avoid injury as much as possible, but they can happen during practices, too.

The Scarlet Knights did make some changes when they moved away from Jay Butler, who had been the director of sports performance, and elevated Spencer Brown to replace him.

Many of those changes, though, take a while to take effect.

We could start seeing that this spring.

The Scarlet Knights just need to get through these sessions as healthy as possible and get to training camp in good shape – literally and figuratively.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers football spring practice preview 5 storylines to watch