Tag: Rutgers football

by Mike Pavlichko

Former South Brunswick standout, Rutgers kicker Jai Patel nominated to “Good Works” team for community involvement

Rutgers placekicker Jai Patel – a scholastic standout at South Brunswick High School – has been nominated for the 2025 Allstate American Football Coaches Association “Good Works Team,” created to honors college football players who make a difference in their communities.

Patel – twice an Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and a business analytics and information technology major – has been active with three main organizations since arriving on campus three years ago.

Chop4Change is the football program’s effort toward unity and equality, with an eye toward giving back to the community. Through that, he’s been a team representative and leader for Team IMPACT, which pairs children suffering from serious illnesses with college sports teams. He’s created meal kits for Elijah’s Promise, a well-known and prominent soup kitchen and charitable organization in New Brunswick. And he’s been a part of Special Olympics New Jersey, teaching kids football and running a bocce tournament.

Patel has also been outstanding on the field for the Scarlet Knights, kicking 15 field goals in each of his first two seasons. In 2023, he hit on 83.3 percent of his field goials, a school record. And he made his last 13 last season, also setting a program record. He’s seventh on the school’s all-time list with 30 made field goals.

Art Sitkowski
by Mike Pavlichko

Art Sitkowski talks his big win vs. Nebraska, circuitous route to Illinois, and his younger brother playing at Piscataway

The name Art Sitkowski has been well-known to local high school football fans in Central Jersey.

He first came on the scene in 2014, before he was even a freshman at Old Bridge, when he received his first college offer from Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood after making a big impression at a summer skills camp.

Sitkowski backed up senior Mike Gargano in the fall, then started for two seasons for the Knights, leading them to the Central Jersey Group 5 final his sophomore year, where they fell to fellow GMC Red Division foe South Brunswick at Rutgers.

He would end up back in Piscataway after playing his senior year at IMG Academy in Florida, and decommitting from Miami.

But after a tumultuous run with the Scarlet Knights, thrust into the starting job as a true freshman, and sitting out the bulk of the year after Chris Ash was fired by Rutgers, Sitkowski entered the transfer portal and ended up at Illinois, winning the No. 2 quarterback spot behind Brandon Peters.

Last Saturday, he was a key player again, as coach Bret Bielema pulled him off the bench following a shoulder injury Peters suffered in the first quarter. All Sitkowski did was rally the Illini to a 30-22 win over Nebraska.

Art Sitkowski
Art Sitkowski in action for Illinois in a Big Ten game against Nebraska on Saturday, August 28, 2021 in Champaign, IL. (Photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Art joined Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko on “This Week in the Big Central” driven by Mark Montenero and his team at the word-famous Autoland to talk about the win, his preparation, how he got to Illinois, and about his younger brother Aleks, who will be the starting quarterback Friday night as a sophomore for Piscataway when the Chiefs open the season against Phillipsburg.

You can hear the “Big Central Game of the Week” driven by Autoland Friday night at 6 pm on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe calling all the action. Air-time for the pregame show is 6:45, and you can listen live and free by clicking here.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko’s complete interview with Art Sitkowski:

by Mike Pavlichko

Schiano to stick with Vedral at QB for Michigan game

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano told the media Monday he plans to stick with Noah Vedral at quarterback, even after some ill-executed passes that turned into interceptions and cost Rutgers a shot at beating Illinois at home last Saturday.

Vedral will get the start in primetime Saturday night when the Scarlet Knights host Michigan at SHI Stadium at 7:30 pm.

Listen to more of what Greg Schiano had to say at his Monday presser by clicking below:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Recap talks to the “Voice of the Scarlet Knights,” Chris Carlin

What’s it like calling a football game in a stadium that seats over 100,000 fans, with almost all of them empty?

The play-by-play voice of the Rutgers football team, Chris Carlin, answers this and many other burning questions in “Rutgers Recap,” Central Jersey Sports Radio’s weekly look back at the Scarlet Knights’ last game, while looking ahead to the next opponent.

Carlin talks about how the Knights have bought in to Greg Schiano’s Keep Choppin’ mantra, and enlightens listeners on his favorite player “not named Bo Melton” in our third installment of Rutgers Recap, which you can hear below:

by Mike Pavlichko

AUDIO: Rutgers QB decision an “ongoing competition” that’s coming into focus

With just two weeks to go before the start of the season, Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano says “I’m a little more informed today than I was at this time last week,” but still hasn’t made a decision on a starting quarterback.

Schiano made those comments to the media on a weekly virtual conference call with reporters Monday.

“We’ll let the string play out and that’s how we’re going to play it,” says Schiano.

Either way, he says he’ll be adaptable to whatever comes out of the ultimate decision, and unafraid to change it if need be.

Click below to hear the full conference call.