Rutgers football's AJ Surace confident, well-prepared as he enters season as QB2

PISCATAWAY – Greg Schiano has no doubt.

If Rutgers football needs to call backup quarterback AJ Surace into action, Schiano fully believes Surace will be ready.

“I am very comfortable with AJ,” said Schiano, whose team opens its season Thursday against Ohio (6 p.m., BTN) at SHI Stadium. “He just hasn’t played. But other than that I’m very comfortable.”

The Scarlet Knights have to hope they won’t need Surace this season – if he does receive extensive time, that likely means starter Athan Kaliakmanis has suffered an injury. But Surace as he enters the season as QB2 is confident in his knowledge of the offense and is well-prepared after the work he’s put in off the field.

The 6-foot-2, 212-pound Surace, the son of longtime Princeton head coach Bob Surace, said he absorbed everything he could throughout the offseason.

“I feel really good about the offense,” Surace said. “Starting out this January being able to go over everything again, and then getting those reps in spring ball and now a whole training camp. I’m really excited for the season.”

Surace was a highly touted recruit out of Notre Dame High School near Trenton, ranked as a four-star prospect and the No. 7 overall recruit in the state for the Class of 2024, according to the 247Sports Composite.

He joined Rutgers as an early enrollee and showed his talent during spring practices last year. But then Surace suffered an upper-body injury prior to training camp last season, and that limited how much work he could do on the field.

“It was an injury that affected his ability to throw,” Schiano said. “First he had to get physically back to where he was. I was so excited watching him that first spring and summer. And then that injury happens. In the beginning when he came back from the injury he wasn’t throwing it the same. (The doctors) told me, ‘Just be patient, it’ll come back.’ And it has.”

But while Surace couldn’t throw on the field, he maximized his time off it.

“For me it was a tough because I’m not the most patient person,” Surace said. “I want to be out there, it stunk sitting on the side and watching other guys do stuff. I love to throw the football and I couldn’t do that, so it was tough. But they really harped on me doubling down on film, on the offense, on everything I could do. My workouts. I think that’s what that whole process really was, doubling down on my rehab and all the things I could do.”

Schiano said Surace “worked like crazy” with offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca.

Learning from Kaliakmanis has also been important.

“That’s been huge for me,” Surace said. “Really being able to sit back and ask him questions and pick his brain about anything, from how he leads to his footwork to how he sees a play. It could be anything. Just being able to watch him and try and compete with him in everything we do has been really fun for me.”

What’s always helped Surace is his football IQ – being a coach’s son has helped.

He was always around his father’s program, and he said around the sixth grade was when he really started picking players’ brains and learning the intricacies of the sport.

But Surace said he always gravitated toward the quarterbacks.

Now as he enters his second college season, Surace is the unquestioned backup.

Schiano feels comfortable with Surace in that role.

Surace is comfortable with the strides he’s taken.

He’s ready as QB2.

“I think the most growth I’ve made is just my consistency, in really all areas,” Surace said. “Just being able to be consistent with the offense, my execution. I think that’s been my biggest jump.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: AJ Surace as QB2 is ready