Gavin Wimsatt’s next developmental step on deck vs. Temple

During Greg Schiano’s game week presser on Tuesday, he was asked about quarterback Gavin Wimsatt and the offense being able to take the next step this weekend against Temple

“That is a young quarterback – that’s hard,” Schiano said. “You grooved it all training camp against Rutgers. Then you grooved it for six practices against Northwestern. Now we’ve got three practices in a short week to get it all ready for Temple.”

Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca’s impact on Wimsatt’s development was apparent in how he played in Sunday’s season opener against Northwestern. Wimsatt looked more poised, confident and in control than at any prior point during his Rutgers career so far. He was able to set the tone for the team in part because Ciarrocca showed trust in him with aggressive play calling in the first two drives

Once Rutgers established a two and three score lead, the offense got more conservative. Even so, it was encouraging that Wimsatt showed real signs of improvement while also signaling his potential to do more down the road.

However, with Temple up next and on a short week, don’t expect the playbook to be expanded too much on Saturday. If Rutgers can play clean, complementary football, it should be plenty for this team to defeat the Owls at home during a blackout night game.

“We have our base offense, but now it fits to what Temple is doing, and what Temple’s doing is in some ways uniquely different than Northwestern,” Schiano said. “In other ways they’re similar – which sounds, ‘oh, that’s good’ – well it’s not always good, because only the certain things that are similar can rules carry over for. And the things that are different, you have to treat them differently.”

Every game this season is important for Wimsatt and the offense to show growth and to be able to give the defense the help it needs to take the next step as a program. Week 1 was a success but week 2 is a brand new week with fresh challenges. Hopefully, Wimsatt can continue to grow as a leader and as an impact player under center.

For more updates from Schiano during his game week presser for Temple, click here.

Watch below a video I created highlighting and analyzing Wimsatt’s top five plays in what was a positive first step this season with his performance in the win against Northwestern.