Welcome to episode No. 47 of The Scarlet Faithful podcast. This episode focuses on new Rutgers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, who was hiredlast week.. He spent four of the last six seasons as Minnesota’s OC and had a lot of success. In order to find out more about his two tenures under PJ Fleck, I welcomed Dan Dietzel of Gopher Insight.
After serving as the offensive coordinator from 2017-2019, Ciarrocca returned for the 2022 season.
The high point of Ciarrocca’s time at Minnesota was during the 2019 season. It was a banner year for Minnesota as a program and the offense. Ciarrocca is credited with developing quarterback Tanner Morgan, who was a MAC level recruit and became a productive signal caller in the Big Ten. He threw for 30 touchdowns and over 3,500 yards. The Gophers also had two very good receivers in Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman, both catching over 1,200 yards. Even so, Minnesota is known for their run game and Rodney Smith rushed for over 1,100 yards in 2019. His backup was Mohamed Ibrahim, who just finished a tremendous career last season with the Gophers.
Topics for this episode include Ciarrocca’s offensive style and how PJ Fleck influenced it, his ability to develop and recruit quarterbacks, play calling, recruiting in general as well as the many connections between Rutgers and Minnesota through the years.
Thanks for listening and/or watching to this episode. And thanks to Dan for taking time to speak with me about Kirk Ciarrocca’s past at Minnesota.
Audio
Video
Thanks for reading the The Scarlet Faithful. For more Rutgers Athletics content from The Scarlet Faithful, follow us on Twitterand Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to The Scarlet Faithful podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. For advertising inquiries or to reach out directly, email at breitmanaaron@gmail.com
