PISCATAWAY – It all came down to a conversation.
After battling throughout spring practices and training camp, Dylan Lonergan learned from Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca that he had shown enough to earn the job as the Scarlet Knights’ starting quarterback.
“I was really excited,” Lonergan said following his team’s practice on Tuesday, Aug. 25. “I'm looking forward to get to work now.”
Lonergan will now command an offense that features multiple weapons, including wide receiver KJ Duff and running back Antwan Raymond, as Rutgers kicks off its season Sept. 3 against UMass at SHI Stadium.
The game after that?
At Boston College, the same team Lonergan transferred away from in the offseason.
But that storyline’s for another week. For now, Lonergan’s just settling into his role as QB1.
He joined the program with the understanding he’d be in a competition with AJ Surace, who’s in his third year with the program and plenty familiar with Ciarrocca’s offense.
But he said throughout the competition he wasn’t focused on the battle itself – just on trying to perform at a high level.
“I was trying really not to worry about any comparisons,” Lonergan said. “I was trying to just do the best I can every day. Honestly, that's all I could do, just still grinding, learning the system, learning the guys, and building connections.”
There was a lot on Lonergan’s plate, but he’s gone through this before.
Lonergan, a former four-star recruit from Georgia, joined Alabama as a Nick Saban recruit, then had to learn a whole new system once Kalen DeBoer was hired following Saban’s retirement.
Lonergan transferred to Boston College ahead of the 2025 season – learning a whole new system followed.
“I’ve done it three times now, so it gets easier,” Lonergan said. “I think just it's honestly just practice, the more I've done it, the better I've gotten.”
Lonergan had an up-and-down season at Boston College, completing 190-of-284 passes (66.9 percent) for 2,025 yards and 12 touchdowns.
He was benched midway through the season before earning it back again at the end.
And that benching?
The exact reason Lonergan’s not letting himself get too comfortable.
“You’ve still got to earn it every single day,” Lonergan said. “I think I learned that last year. You’ve just got to approach every day like it could be the last, and you’ve got to do your best and that's all you can do.”
Even though Surace is his backup, he’s still been a valuable resource for Lonergan.
He knows the ins and outs of the program, in addition to the offense as well as the personnel.
“We've grown closer since I've been here the whole time,” Lonergan said. “He's pushed me, I've pushed him, so it's been great to kind of have him, to lean on him whenever I have questions, if he has any questions. So just being able to bounce questions off each other's been awesome.”
Heading into the opener, though, Lonergan is QB1 and Surace QB2.
It’s up to Lonergan to keep it that way.
“I think for me,” Lonergan said, “I'm just going to control what I can control and do my best.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: What Dylan Lonergan is saying about being named Rutgers football's QB1