Rutgers football: 7 storylines heading into Big Ten Media Days

The 2023 season unofficially begins for Rutgers football this week.
The Scarlet Knights will be in Indianapolis for Big Ten Media Days, where head coach Greg Schiano and three of his veteran stars — linebacker Deion Jennings, tight end Johnny Langan and defensive end Aaron Lewis — will be available to the conference’s media on Wednesday. The four will recap the offseason, preview the fall and discuss a variety of topics throughout their day at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Here are 7 of the biggest storylines surrounding Rutgers heading into the event:
How will Northwestern’s hazing scandal affect season opener?
Playing in front of a nationally televised audience, in a marquee time slot, was already going to be an interesting juggle for Rutgers. Now, even more attention — and eye balls — will be on the Scarlet Knights when Northwestern comes to Piscataway to kick off the season Sept. 3.
Mired in a snow-balling, university-wide controversy, no one knows exactly how Northwestern will respond on the field. We do know this, however ... what was a must-win game for Rutgers has become a can’t-lose contest. Off the field, Schiano will surely be asked to address the steps his program has taken to prevent hazing and also how his team plans to address what will be one of the event’s hot-button issues.
When will Schiano name his starting quarterback?
Only a handful of Big Ten teams will arrive in Indianapolis with a question mark at quarterback. Rutgers will be one of them.
Schiano did not say whether Gavin Wimsatt or Evan Simon won the job outright in spring ball, but there’s momentum on Wimsatt’s side after the Owensboro, Kentucky, native started the final five games last season. The competition will surely play itself out when training camp opens next week, and barring a surprise announcement in Indianapolis, that’s what Schiano will lean on when he takes the podium.
More importantly — how will Schiano get better production from the position? Both Wimsatt and Simon, two of four quarterbacks who started games last season, both struggled with decision making, accuracy and overall effectiveness for an offense that finished as one of college football’s worst units.
How will the offense look under first-year coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca?
At $1.4 million per season, Schiano hired the former Minnesota whiz to the most-lucrative assistant coaching contract in program history. That’s important to note since Rutgers has churned through 13 offensive coordinators in 14 years. The investment — a three-year deal — shows that Schiano believes in Ciarrocca and has given him enough control to revamp last year’s failure.
How fast Ciarrocca works his magic may be one of the biggest storylines of the 2023 season. There’s no “magic pill” for overnight success as Schiano has said, but he believes the offense will be competitive enough.
Based off last year’s offense at Minnesota, every indication points to a run-heavy, ball-controlling scheme that compliments the team’s biggest strength — the defense.
Can solid defense take next step and become elite?
Rutgers had the second-worst scoring defense in the Big Ten last season, but those numbers are deceiving. The unit was solid through the first half of the season and in the first half of most games. But between a lack of depth and a lackluster offense that could not stay on the field, the unit wore down late in games and were worn down by the end of the season. The contest against Michigan — a game Rutgers led 17-14 at halftime before eventually losing 52-17 — is a perfect example.
The Scarlet Knights return a majority of their best players on that side of the ball along with some major reinforcements in the form of transfers (cornerback Eric Rogers, safety Flix Dixon, defensive tackle Isaiah Iton) and returning players coming off of injuries (linebackers Moses Walker, Mohamed Toure). With a year of Harasymiak’s defense under their belt and another offseason of development, the unit has the ingredients to make a leap and rank in the upper half of the Big Ten.
Rutgers survives NIL apocalypse, maintains most key players on roster — how?
In the most active offseason of the transfer portal era, Rutgers’ biggest wins came from the players it kept from entering.
The Scarlet Knights managed to avoid losing any major contributors from last season’s roster, hanging onto star players who would have been highly-sought-after had they tested the waters. Max Melton, a star cornerback who would likely have a high market value in the portal and could have been selected if he entered the NFL Draft, said in the spring that there was “no question in my mind” that he was coming back to Rutgers.
How the Scarlet Knights managed to keep their roster intact, fending off plenty of tampering and big name, image and likeness (NIL) offers, will be something Schiano will likely be asked about — if not by the media, then by the other coaches in attendance.
What does the new scheduling model mean for Rutgers in 2024, 2025?
Say so long to the Big Ten East. Conference officials eliminated divisions and revamped its scheduling model this summer. While the league gave Rutgers some scheduling relief in 2025, it gave the Scarlet Knights one of the nation’s toughest schedules in 2024.
What does Schiano think about the schedules and his program’s “protected game” against Maryland? He touched on it briefly with local reporters this offseason, but the rest of the Big Ten’s media will get the chance to hear his take this week.
How does PJ Fleck feel about Schiano poaching another of his coordinators and players?
For the second consecutive offseason, Schiano hired a coordinator and a player from under his protégé's nose. A year after poaching defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak and adding offensive lineman Curtis Dunlap, Rutgers swooped in for Ciarrocca and added former Gophers safety Michael “Flip” Dixon.
Fleck showed no hard feelings last summer when discussing Harasymiak, calling him “brilliant,” “incredibly intelligent, great with the players” and “a wonderful teacher.” He referred to Schiano as “one of the most influential people in my life.” Will he say the same as the Minneapolis-to-Piscataway pipeline remained active another season?
The answer is probably yes. Even if he was upset, coaches are rarely critical of others publicly, especially in the mentor-mentee dynamic Schiano and Fleck share. But then again, the two teams do not face off again until the 2024 season, so Fleck is no danger of creating bulletin board material for this fall. Still, we’d be surprised if he gave anything other than a glowing review of Schiano.