Athan Kaliakmanis primed for career year in inaugural Rutgers football season
While the story of this Rutgers football season is still yet to be written, senior quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis has already penciled one of the best years the program has seen from a signal-caller in recent memory.
Last week, Kaliakmanis threw for 238 yards, beating Maryland and helping the Scarlet Knights (6-4, 3-4) become bowl-eligible for a second straight season. Kaliakmanis has thrown for more than 2,000 yards, becoming the first quarterback to reach this mark for Rutgers since Chris Laviano totaled 2,247 yards in 2015.
Rebounding from a winless October that saw Kaliakmanis throw four interceptions to only two touchdowns, Scarlet pain has turned into Scarlet gain. Kaliakmanis re-found his footing for the Knights this November, throwing for five touchdowns with just one interception.
He has tossed 14 touchdowns and six interceptions on the year. Through 10 games, he has passed for 2,128 yards and might find his name in the record books with three games left.
If he maintains his yards per game average of approximately 218, Kaliakmanis will finish the year with 2,782 yards. This would rank him fifth all-time in passing yards for a single season as a Rutgers quarterback, passing Ryan Hart's 2003 season but just missing out on the fourth spot, held by Gary Nova in 2014.
Looking back at Kaliamakanis's time at Minnesota compared to his play with the Knights, the improvement in his game is clear. He is being asked to throw the ball more for Rutgers than at any point in his career, yet his completion percentage has stayed steady all season. Kaliakmanis has already tied his career high with touchdown passes in a season while having three fewer interceptions.
Even though his career-best quarterback rating (QBR) came in his first season starting for the Golden Gophers (6-4, 4-3), seeing his QBR rise with the Knights is more impressive.
In his first year, Kaliakmanis started only 5 of 11 games and threw approximately 10 times per game on average. In his second and final season with the Golden Gophers, he was given the keys to the offense. He almost doubled his attempts and yards per game, finishing with a QBR of 115.2. At Rutgers this year, despite being asked to throw the ball approximately 30 times a game, that rating has risen to 124.9 with two regular season games left on the schedule. It is evident that Kaliakmanis is in the midst of his best season as a collegiate athlete.
Kaliakmanis has a chance to help the Knights win nine games this season, which would be the program's most since joining the Big Ten and the most outright since 2012 when it was in the Big East. The Minnesota transfer and the rest of the Rutgers squad will take on Illinois at SHI Stadium on Busch campus this Saturday before heading off to Michigan State the following weekend for their regular season finale. Then, in December, the Knights will compete in their 13th-ever bowl game.
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