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B1G 2021: Rutgers Potluck #1! Quarterbacks and Fat Sandwiches

Rutgers has a highly-touted 4* QB recruit on the way. Should Knights fans listen to the cautionary tales from 2013, or book tickets to Pasadena, because the Sleeping Giant has awoken?

By ZuzuRU
AP Photo/Adam Hunger

HELLO EVERYONE, happy day after the 4th of July.

I'm sure you don't want to think of food right now after all the hot dogs and burgers you had yesterday, but for the first Potluck of Rutgers Week we're talking Fat Sandwiches, a Rutgers culinary treasure. And some of you, I'm sure, could use one to help with your holiday weekend hangovers as that state is arguably the best time to eat one of these absurd sandwiches.

But first let's talk quarterbacks, because these articles are apparently half-productive, half-food-and-other-stuff-related b.s.

The Productive Part

In case you haven't heard, Rutgers has its quarterback of the future signed in our 2022 class.

Dare I say the quarterback that could wake the sleeping giant. Gavin Wimsatt, 4 star recruit of Kentucky, is Rutgers' greatest QB recruit in program history. Though Rutgers has had quarterbacks with a lot of heart and great leadership over the years, we just really haven’t had that stellar, reliable, and formidable QB. Gary Nova was close, but he was painfully inconistent. Wimsatt is a truly game changing addition of a player for Rutgers... if he joins.

Now Rutgers has been here before. I remember we had Anthony Russo, another Elite 11 QB, who decommitted and went to Temple. An incredibly painful loss, and even though it was due to the Flood to Ash coaching change, I still have this feeling of crippling anxiety and dread over decommits of our top recruits when it's early.

The Schiano Reboot hasn’t really given me much reason to fear this, but I can't help it.

So question time:

  1. Do you think Gavin Wimsatt will be On The Banks in 2022?
  2. Can one great quarterback make a difference for Rutgers?
  3. Who is your team’s best QB recruit in recent memory and did he make a difference?

MNW: I don’t know or care if Gavin Wimsatt will be in New Brunswick or Camden or whatever in 2022. If you say he’s good, though, I’ll take your word for it.

One great quarterback could certainly help pull Rutgers toward a .500 record, but they’ll need to keep him upright. It’s exhausting to keeping having the conversation “Improve the offensive and defensive lines first,” but there you go. From an adjusted sack rate that ranked 22nd in 2014 to 31st in 2015, 100th in 2016...it’s not ideal.

That’s part of the cautionary tale of Hunter Johnson. The 5* Clemson transfer came to Evanston and was hopefully—including by my own dumb ass—going to lead the ‘Cats to another Big Ten West title in 2019.

That, uh...that did not work out.

But I’m sure this guy will do it for Rutgers. Don’t worry.

HWAHSQB: Probably he will show up. I know guys flip from time to time, but the odds are he won’t.

One great QB can make a difference, BUT recruiting is always a crapshoot and QB is one of the harder positions to project (OL is the hardest, but QB is 2nd in my opinion).

I’ll just point out that Brandon Peters was a significantly higher ranked QB prospect than Gavin Wimsatt is now. Wimsatt is ranked slightly higher than Isaiah Williams (who is now a WR) was and Artur Sitkowski was also a four star prospect by some services.

In case you missed it, those QBs brought their teams to a level that got their coaches fired.

Green Akers: Careful about putting your emotional eggs in any 17-year-old top QB prospect’s basket. Every one of these kids, post-decision, is 100% committed...until Blue Blood X has their own decommitment, or misses on their Plan A guy, and now there’s a top-15 program zeroing in on your guy.

Also, remember that although recruiting rankings do matter, even the higher-rated guys wash out pretty frequently. Survey, if you will, the B1G’s last true bumper crop of QB talent, which on paper should have led to an offensive renaissance in the conference—the 2013 class (rankings are per the 247 Composite).

For a Rutgers frame of reference, this is the class wherein Chris Laviano was your guy:

My point here isn’t to dump on this particular group of guys, but just to mention that nine or ten years ago, every one of these fanbases was convinced that Prospect X was going to be The Guy, and almost all of them were wrong. Be as hopeful as you want, but if you declare that Gavin Wimsatt Will Awaken The Sleeping Giant, well, that’s a path to continuing to get dunked on hereabouts, because it probably isn’t going to happen.

WSR: Are we doing this again? It feels like just 3 years ago that Rutgers found their bellcow QB who was the top commit in their class and was going to lead them back to mediocrity. And now they’re about to do it again and Artur Sitkowski is at Illinois with his career 8 TDs and 20 INTs. But I’m sure it’ll work out this time.

And just like MNW said, Lather, Improve OL/DL, Repeat.

MarQueis Grey was supposed to be the rocket fuel needed to launch the program into space under Tim Brewster, but he never got off the launch pad at QB thanks to blatant incompetence of everyone employed on that coaching staff.

BrianB2: Yeaaaaaaa, I don’t know who Gavin Wimsatt is, and I half ass it greatly when it comes to Maryland football recruiting, so Rutgers football recruiting is essentially a foreign language to me. As a fan of Maryland football, I am very skeptical a great quarterback can cause some sort of cataclysmic sway in success. Does Rutgers have an Offensive Line, talent at other skill positions...a defense? What is the status on their ACLs?

Kasim Hill was all about that hype train. He won a few games, shockingly blew out his knees, won one or two games more and now...

::Checks Notes::

Plays at Rhode Island.

The Potluck Part

So fat sandwiches. First I'd like to say that even though tons of places all over the country have fat sandwiches now, it is a Jersey invention, and not just Jersey, but originally made for Rutgers. Developed by our famed "Grease Trucks" fat sandwiches are exactly what they sound like. Chicken fingers, cheesesteak, pork roll, gyros, eggs, mozzarella sticks, and many variations, topped off with fries on a sub/hoagie roll. Elite college food.

[See also: Fat sandwiches for the Big Ten]

Take a look at this menu (<- link if you can’t see the image below) from one the more famous Grease Trucks, now with a storefront, RU Hungry?.

  1. Which fat sandwich would your order?

2. What's the most unhealthy cultural food of your state/region?

MNW: I will say the Fat Vastardi this time, actually, hold the lettuce and tomato. Because, honestly, what’s the point? Otherwise the Fat Darrell is a classic.

We just talked about Minnesota’s tater tot hotdish, which can’t be great, and earlier this summer I covered the Snicker Bar Salad, which is just whipped cream and pudding with Snickers bars and apples.

HWAHSQB: I like fried eggs on sandwiches so probably a Buddah or Romano, hold the mayo. Who orders grilled chicken on a Fat Sandwich? Are you going for the healthy version?

We covered this on Illinois week, but central Illinois is home of the horseshoe. I don’t know if this is a local thing or not, but my daughter worked at Arby’s and they had an off menu item called the Meat Mountain, which is chicken fingers, swiss cheese, ham, roast beef, turkey, sliced chicken, cheddar cheese, bacon, cheese sauce and an onion ring.

pkloa: Yeah, lemme get a halal Fat Moon and a Chicken Fingers Fat Cat with a large Diet Coke, no ice.

Green Akers: Yeah can I get a uhhh...uhhhhhhmmmmmmmm...

WSR: We’re doing this again too? Fat Darrell, please. Hold the shame.

BrianB2: I wouldn’t order any of them. I have already experienced the great misfortune of being dragged to the “RU Hungry” in...State College of all places. My ignorant self figured the listed fries were a side item...how could I be so fucking naïve. Fries on a sandwich is perhaps this world’s biggest culinary abomination. (I’m also lookin’ at you Primanti Bros.) Keep in mind that I was miserably hungover the day after ‘State-Patty’s’ day and perhaps was just unprepared for such an aggressive carbo-load.

Maryland, being an elite coastal state does not indulge itself in such unhealthy traditions, we are not monsters. That, and I also really can’t think of anything...Pit Beef sandwiches?

Readers, don't forget to answer these questions in the comments!