While most of the attention throughout Rutgers football training camp was focused on the quarterback battle, there was another position battle going on behind the scenes.
And now there’s officially a winner.
Dane Pizzaro has beaten out Jai Patel for the starting kicking job, sources told USA TODAY-New Jersey.
Rutgers starts its season Thursday, Sept. 3 against UMass at SHI Stadium.
It’s a significant change after Patel, a South Brunswick High School graduate, held the role for the previous three seasons.
Patel had an up-and-down 2025 season – he had made a program-record 18 consecutive field goals, including 13 straight to end the 2024 campaign and five to start last season.
Then Patel hit a slump, missing five of his first eight attempts in Big Ten play.
He still had some clutch kicks, including the game-tying and game-winning field goals on the road at Purdue to give Rutgers a 27-24 victory.
Patel ultimately finished the season 13-of-18 on field goals with a long of 51 yards.
Pizzaro, in his third year with the program, had one field-goal attempt last season – a 56-yard attempt to send the game to overtime at Minnesota, but the kick went wide right in his first career attempt, albeit a challenging one.
But Pizzaro showed enough throughout the spring and then through training camp to take the job away from Patel. He made two extra points in his debut against Norfolk State last season.
Pizzaro has a strong leg, which is why Schiano sent him in for the 56-yard attempt at Minnesota.
“That’s not in Jai’s range,” Schiano said after that game game. “We’ve always had a long-range kicker and that’s what Dane was. As you saw, he hit it plenty long enough, he just missed it a little right.”
Now Pizzaro will get plenty more chances.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers football set to have a new starting kicker as competition ends