Back in high school, Jai Patel was 78-for-78 on PAT attempts. After his senior year, he was named Central Jersey Sports Radio Special Teams Player of the Year for 2021.
This past Saturday night for Rutgers he was 3-for-3 on field goal attempts in a 36-7 win over Temple, earning himself Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors. He’s the first Scarlet Knight to be honored in that category since they joined the league in 2014.
While his season long field goals as a junior and senior for the Vikings were in the 40s, Patel nailed a 51-yard field goal in the second quarter Saturday to give RU a 10-0 lead. It was the seventh longest field goal in program history, and the first RU field goal of 50-yards or longer since 2019.
He also kicked a field goals of 43 and 23 yards later in the game, while going 3-for-3 on PATs, logging 12 points in the game.
Patel – in his second season at Rutgers – earned the starting placekicker job this season. At South Brunswick, he finished with school records for extra points, field goals (22) and touchbacks (67).
Rutgers is back in action Saturday for a 3:30 home game against Virginia Tech.