On Feb. 4, ESPN college football writer and insider Pete Thamel broke the news that Robb Smith would be returning to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights once again next season. In the same social media release, Thamel outlined how Smith is back for a third time as the program’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive play caller.
Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano’s decision to bring back Smith is interesting, but it does make sense in many ways.
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Thamel detailed on the social media platform X that Smith would be returning to the iconic football program next season.
Sources: Rutgers is set to hire Robb Smith as the school’s co-defense coordinator and defensive play caller. This will be his third stop as a defensive coordinator at Rutgers, and third time overall at the school. He’s been the DC at Arkansas, Minnesota and Duke. pic.twitter.com/7AadUQQslz
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 4, 2025
“Sources: Rutgers is set to hire Robb Smith as the school’s co-defense coordinator and defensive play caller. This will be his third stop as a defensive coordinator at Rutgers, and third time overall at the school. He’s been the DC at Arkansas, Minnesota and Duke,” Thamel wrote.
As alluded to in the post, Smith has been with the Scarlet Knights on two separate occasions and is familiar with the school and the program. Furthermore, the defensive unit struggled last season and needs drastic improvements, which Smith can help out with.
Most recently, Smith served as a defensive analyst for the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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The Scarlet Knights are looking to improve on an up-and-down 2024 season, in which Rutgers finished the year with a 7-6 overall record. However, the squad went just 4-5 against fellow Big Ten opponents.
While the offense was not particularly strong either, the defensive unit struggled for the majority of the campaign. With talent on both sides of the ball, it is clear that improvements can be made if Schiano is able to put the right schemes and play-calling in place.
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Last season, the Scarlet Knights gave up 25.4 points per game, a statistic that ranked 70th best in college football.
As a result, it comes as no surprise that Schiano believed change needed to occur, a move reflected in bringing back Smith one more time to run the defensive side of the ball.
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