Latest news with #ScarletKnights
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Iowa football 2025 schedule preview: Week 4 vs Rutgers
Following a home contest against UMass in Week 3, the Iowa football team will pack their bags for Piscataway, New Jersey, for the Big Ten opener against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. This isn't your parents' Scarlet Knights football program. Greg Schiano has found a way to breathe new life into a program that needed a spark. After an 8-5 record and a bowl win in 2014, their first season in the Big Ten, Rutgers went 13-47 across the next five seasons, including a disastrous tenure for Chris Ash. Following the 2019 season, Rutgers fired Ash and brought back Schiano, who had previously coached the Scarlet Knights from 2001-2011 and won five bowl games. The move has paid off. Since Schiano returned to Piscataway, Rutgers is 26-34 with three bowl game appearances and a victory in the 2023 Pinstripe Bowl over Miami (FL). And the hype around the team is high entering the 2025 season. After back-to-back seven-win seasons, Rutgers is looking to take the next step. And they return some really talented players. Let's take a deeper dive into the 2025 Rutgers football team. Who are some of the key returners for Rutgers? Who are some exciting newcomers for the Scarlet Knights? History between the Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights Iowa and Rutgers have played each other four times on the gridiron, with the Hawkeyes winning all four games. In those games, Iowa has outscored Rutgers 96 to 17, including a 22-0 victory in the last matchup between the two teams on November 11, 2023. The closest game in the series was the first game between the two back in 2016, a 14-7 Iowa victory on the road. While Rutgers lost star running back Kyle Monangai to graduation, they still have a talented team that will provide Iowa with a great test to begin their 2025 conference slate. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on September 19 at SHI Stadium. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Zach on X: @zach_hiney
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rutgers football welcomes back a familiar face to help boost linebacker depth
LAS VEGAS – Rutgers football has reunited with a former player to boost its depth at linebacker. Coach Greg Schiano confirmed Tuesday that linebacker Austin Dean is back with the program. Dean was with the Scarlet Knights for two seasons before transferring to Georgia Tech for two seasons. Dean in 2022 played in all 12 games and made one start. He finished with 19 tackles for the Scarlet Knights that season. Rutgers needed some additional depth at linebacker – especially after Mohamed Toure transferred out to Miami. Dariel Djabome and Moses Walker are likely going to start, but options behind them are relatively thin. Sam Pilof recently announced that he medically retired, and Abram Wright is still recovering from an injury he suffered last season. So it's unclear what Dean's role will be but Schiano's giving him the opportunity to carve out a large one if he earns it. 'Competition is everything,' Schiano said in a meeting with a small group of local reporters ahead of Big Ten Media Days at Mandalay Bay. 'You're coming in and you're competing. If you go do the job, you're going to win the job.' This article originally appeared on Rutgers football: Linebacker Austin Dean returns to program
USA Today
12-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What to Expect from Rutgers Scarlet Knights in 2025
Rutgers are certainly a team in flux right now. Whether or not you truly believe that the Scarlet Knights under Greg Schiano have evolved as a team is entirely up for interpretation. While the Scarlet Knights achieved their best-ever record in over a decade, it still feels like baby steps as Schiano enters his pivotal fifth year with the team. Now, with one of the more daunting conference slates in recent Big Ten memory, the Scarlet Knights could either be in for a rude awakening or stun the world with continued and steady internal improvement. 2024 in Review Rutger's 2024 was turbulent, but almost certainly not a disappointment. To achieve the escape act they did while reaching bowl eligibility was actually quite impressive. Considering how they started off, losing several pieces on both sides of the ball, to start off 4-0 was far more than they could have imagined. Then came the topsy-turvy part. 4 straight losses, three within the conference, saw them head into the bye week, looking for answers and reinforcements for several injured players. Coming out on the other side was a Rutgers squad given new life. A win over Minnesota. A win over Maryland to clinch a bowl berth. Then, probably the most Rutgers game of last year. Up by one with four seconds left, and Illinois on their 40-yard line, they gave up a last-gasp touchdown to lose a heartbreaker on the road. It was an encapsulation of all things that went right and wrong for the Scarlet Knights. So, of course, leave it to them to finish their regular season with a resounding win over Michigan State to close out their best season and win total in over a decade. Overall, it wasn't pretty, but it was a winning record and was a continuation of the steady progress Schiano has made with this roster. Head Coach Profile To say that Greg Schiano has made the correct kind of progress for Rutgers is an understatement. Whether he can lead them to a full-on revitalization remains to be seen. While in his second stint with the Scarlet Knights, he has started off quite similar to his first, producing 9 NFL players in this current span in the process. Nevertheless, at some point, 7-5 won't be enough for a Scarlet Knights program that feels ready to turn the page. He has 5 more years with the program to show he is the right man for the job. Now he has to prove it continuously. This 2025 season especially feels like a marker for him. The schedule is an absolute gauntlet with no gimmes in the slightest. While a 7-5 finish in this hellhole of a season would be well-earned and deserved, it will largely depend on how it's executed and, most importantly, who their wins are against. Look for Schiano to be hyper-focused on putting wins on the board during conference play. Top Offensive Player While Athan Kaliakmanis was one of the most steady QBs of this current Schiano era last year, and the passing attack gained new life, Ian Strong almost became a superstar before our very eyes. In a young wide receiver room, he started to separate himself from the pack in an offense that may become more pass-oriented this year with the loss of bell cow Kyle Monangai. In just his second full season as a starter, the converted receiver did things no other Rutgers receiver has done in countless years. For one, there was the receiving touchdowns in four straight games, not done since 2010 by a Rutgers receiver. In a loaded receiver conference, he somehow ranked 10th with 15.7 yards per reception. And in Rutgers' bowl game, he was the most impressive receiver, perhaps between both teams, with just five receptions but for 105 yards. The junior is ready to catapult his name into the annals of Rutgers history with another stellar, potentially All-Big Ten season. Top Defensive Player This Rutgers defense could certainly carry it to more victories than expected this season, but it will really have to rely on depth. And if Greg Schiano relies on this young man much like he did last year, chances are it will pay off. Kaj Sanders as a true freshman made a good kind of history last year. He became just the second true freshman ever to start a season opener for Greg Schiano. That just speaks to the level of trust Schiano is placing in certain athletes and with Sanders, it looks like it is already starting to bear fruit. Sanders in high school wasn't even a defensive player either. For NJ powerhouse Bergen Catholic, he was their star running back, rushing for over 1,000 yards and 17 touchdowns. Thus, his transition from running back to safety was ever more incredible. The switch immediately paid off, as he totaled 43 tackles and four pass breakups in just six starts. If he wasn't Rutgers' best defensive player last year, he will almost certainly be just that this year. 2025 Schedule Preview It's one thing to speak glowingly of what we could expect from Rutgers this season after major steps forward. It's quite another when you actually look at who they will be playing. In fact, every game outside of maybe Ohio and Norfolk State to start the season will be a huge test. Iowa is no easy start to their conference slate and its all downhill from there. They have to welcome a CFP squad in Oregon three short weeks later, but that's not all. Two weeks after, they travel to Champaign to visit an impassioned Illinois squad who this time won't want to leave it till late this time around. But the games every Scarlet Knights fan are fretting are the back to back gauntlets where they have visit both Ohio State in the Shoe and perhaps the most experienced Big Ten team in Penn State rolls into town. Facing Jeremiah Smith is one thing to end your season. But to have a Penn State machine roll into your house to end the season is quite daunting. Like I said above, if somehow Schiano's crew come out on the other side a bowl squad, they will have earned it.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rutgers basketball fans, take note: Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper could soon fund the team
The email about Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper arrived a few hours before the NBA Draft, and it echoed the sentiments of more than a few Rutgers basketball fans regarding this historic occasion for the Scarlet Knights. 'I don't understand all the praise,' it read. 'This season was an incredible embarrassment.' Advertisement 'I don't get it.' Because their one season at Rutgers yielded a losing record, there seems to be a feeling of indifference or worse among the much of the faithful about these two teammates becoming top-five draft picks – an unprecedented achievement in New Jersey college basketball. Jun 25, 2025; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Dylan Harper celebrates with Ace Bailey after being selected as the second pick by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images If you can't separate the magnitude of that from the shocking disappointment of a 15-17 season, or appreciate the fact that these guys will only call Rutgers their alma mater in an age of incessant school-hopping, then here's another thing to think about. There are potentially $60 million reasons why Rutgers fans should get behind Ace Bailey's and Dylan Harper's fortunes. Advertisement One day, not too long from now, one or both of them could be bankrolling the basketball program's roster. Don't scoff. Stuff like this is already happening elsewhere. Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is the assistant general manager for the men's and women's basketball programs at his alma mater, Davidson College. Curry will 'start an eight-figure fund for both the men and women's programs,' ESPN reported earlier this year. In March, Oklahoma hired alum and NBA All-Star Trae Young as an assistant general manager for its men's basketball program and announced his $1 million donation to the program. Advertisement Last offseason, NBA star James Harden made what was reported as a 'high six-figure' donation to help his alma mater Arizona State land forward Jayden Quaintance, who decommitted from Kentucky. 'I wanted to be a part of helping the team and the school get players,' Harden told Front Office Sports, 'and if NIL is the problem, then I can help with that.' The reporter who wrote the Harden story, Westfield native Alex Schiffer, thinks this could be the start of a trend – especially now that, unlike most current pros, Harper and Bailey benefitted from NIL during their time in college. 'With the way the NBA's (salary) cap is going, it wouldn't surprise me if either of those guys is making $60-million plus a year in a couple of years with their second contracts if they live up to the hype,' Schiffer said on the Jersey Jump Shot podcast. 'A month's interest on that contract, a game check – they give that to Rutgers and that can go a really long way.' Advertisement Rutgers has to do its part, continuing to cultivate the relationships. That's something head coach Steve Pikiell and his staff have been very good at. You see former players around the program all the time – at practices, at games, dropping by Pikiell's office. 'Ron (Harper Jr.) is back all the time,' Pikiell said after the draft. 'Caleb (McConnell) is coming back in a couple of weeks, which I love. Aundre Hyatt's back right now; he's going to play in France. These guys (Bailey and Dylan Harper) are part of our family, too. I'm looking forward to seeing them play a lot, which I will as much as I can, but I'm also looking forward to them coming back and sharing their lessons with our younger guys.' Count on it, both players said before the draft. 'That's home for me,' Dylan Harper said. 'I'm tight with the coaching staff. I'll definitely be returning.' Advertisement When Bailey threw out the first pitch before the New York Mets' game June 24, he bought and signed Mets jerseys for Rutgers staffers who accompanied him to Citi Field. It's a thoughtful gift, probably the first of many. 'I plan on going back and watching my fellow teammates and the new teammates there whenever I can,' he said. Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell embraces former Scarlet Knight Ace Bailey after his press conference at the NBA Draft Much has been said and written about Rutgers Athletics' financial struggles, how it lags peers in the funding department. In this new pay-for-play era, the results on the court reflect that. 'Rutgers hasn't exactly been on the cutting edge of NIL,' Pikiell said recently. Bailey and Harper could change that with the stroke of a pen, and not 20 years from now, either. Advertisement 'It's the biggest gift that Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper can give Rutgers, given that it didn't work out in their one year here,' Schiffer said. 'If you're Steve Pikiell and you're the coach at Rutgers when these guys are getting paychecks like that, that's the hope.' After the draft Pikiell was asked about that possibility. 'They will be great – they'll give back to their community,' he said. 'Hope they sign many, many contracts. They're generous people and good people – and that (the idea of them donating) is never anything I think about. Rutgers, though, really benefitted from these two guys being here. And I appreciate them.' Given just how deep their pockets are going to be, Rutgers fans should appreciate them, too. Advertisement Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@ This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball: Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper could soon fund the team
USA Today
02-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Tennessee basketball to play in 2025 Players Era Men's Championship
Tennessee basketball will compete in the 2025 Players Era Men's Championship. The 18-team tournament will take place Nov. 24-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Vols' first two opponents will be against Rutgers on Nov. 24 (1 p.m. EST) and Houston on Nov. 25 (6 p.m. EST). Tennessee's other opponent will be determined by results of the first and second rounds. Tennessee will play its final game of the event on Nov. 26 or Nov. 27. Game locations and broadcast information will be announced at a later date. Tennessee's contest against the Scarlet Knights will mark the third all time meeting between the two schools. The Vols won both previous meetings, claiming an 87-79 road victory in the NIT Season Tip-off on Nov. 19, 1992. Tennessee also defeated the Scarlet Knights, 67-51, in the first round of the NIT on March 19, 1969. The game versus the Cougars will mark the seventh all time meeting between the two schools. Tennessee and Houston split the previous six meetings. The Vols last played Houston in the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on March 31 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Follow Vols Wire on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
