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In addition to putting together a top 25 2021 recruiting class so far, Greg Schiano was also clearly aiming for some immediate fixes to Rutgers Football—and boy, did he deliver.
Schiano landed ten transfers, many from our fellow Big Ten programs. Out of these ten transfers, will any have an immediate impact for the Scarlet Knights in the next college football season? (Whenever that season may be).
I think five will, majorly bolstering Rutgers on both sides of the ball.
Noah Vedral, QB
Let’s talk about Rutgers’ most important position, one that we have been struggling with for years now—Quarterback.
Rutgers landed a Big Ten transfer Quarterback in Noah Vedral, who is coming from Nebraska. I really think Vedral is the real deal and the realest deal of a QB transfer we’ve had (out of the many who were overhyped and ultimately couldn’t be the ones to right the Rutgers QB position over the years). He has actually started in this conference (2 games... I’ll take it), led Nebraska to a 4th quarter victory against Northwestern, has TWO years of immediate eligibility, and many including myself think he’s going to mesh well with Sean Glesson’s, quick no-huddle offense.
Also, Nebraska fans are sad he left and that makes me happy.
Aron Cruickshank, WR
A hugely hyped transfer, if immediately eligible, is wide receiver Aron Cruickshank transferring from Wisconsin. Cruickshank is actually from Brooklyn, so I imagine being closer to home was a determining factor in his transfer.
An explosive WR and return man, check out this 95 yard return touchdown. I really really hope he is eligible to start for next season.
Michael Dwumfour, DT
Dwumfour, a defensive tackle out of Michigan who is immediately eligible, is definitely going to start as Rutgers needs large defensive tackles and with a defensive minded coach like Schiano, I think he’ll have a big impact. Over the course of his Michigan career he had 36 tackles over 33 games, 7 1⁄2 were for a loss, four sacks, an interception and three pass breakups.
Dwumfour is from Wayne, New Jersey and had received a Rutgers scholarship, but opted for Michigan instead. Check out some of his highlights below.
Brendon White, S
Brendon White, a former four star safety transferring from Ohio State, formed a relationship with Schiano in his time as defensive coordinator at OSU and transferred to Rutgers to have a chance to play in Schiano’s defense after being a little left out in the cold as Ohio State shuffled coaching regimes around.
White is expected to be immediately eligible. NJ.com reporter James Kratch expects him to potentially be the best player on the defense.
Jovani Haskins, TE
Haskins is Rutgers’ most recently landed transfer, and an immediately eligible grad transfer. The tight end from New Jersey has one year of graduate eligibility left and is likely to start because Rutgers does not have much depth in the position. Haskins started his college football career at Miami, then transferred to West Virginia. I don’t know that he’ll have a super stellar role, but he was solid at West Virginia. We could use all the immediately eligible talent we can get.
These are the the five out of the ten transfers I think will have a genuinely immediately impactful role.
Transfers I did not mention include:
Marquis Morris (OL), a formerly FCS walk-on.
Peyton Powell (ATH) who has a really weird situation where he was signed to Baylor as QB, but left in the pre-season because they were likely going to change his position, then he was committed to Utah and flipped to Rutgers at the last second on National Signing Day last year... I guess he’s considered a transfer because he was technically signed elsewhere though he never played? Regardless, I can’t pin him down. Schiano said he was going to have the opportunity to compete for Quarterback, but then Vedral signed and oop.
Ireland Burke (DT), transferring from Boston College, played in 4 games as a true freshman. He has four years of eligibility and is very big, but needs a waiver to be immediately eligible.
Malik Barrow (DT) has unfortunately been unlucky with injuries. The former four start recruit tore his ACL in his senior year at IMG Academy, then his other ACL at Ohio State as a redshirt freshman. He eventually transferred to UCF where he did play in 4 games in the 2019 season, then decided to transfer. He has one year of eligibility left, but may be able to get an injury hardship waiver for a 6th year.
Mayan Ahanotu (DL) from Minnesotas is huge and the son of NFL player Chidi Atanohu. He has three years of eligibility left and needs a waiver to be eligible for the next season. He played in 3 Minnesota games last year.
Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!