Greg Schiano on Evan Simon: ‘He did have two costly turnovers; he did a heck of a job though as well’
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Saturday’s Big Ten opener was a big test for Rutgers football quarterback Evan Simon. And while the performance had some difficult moments and mistakes, there was still plenty that went right for Simon in the 27-10 loss.
In the Big Ten opener and against an Iowa defense that is among the best in the nation, Simon was 28-of-49 for 300 passing yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Despite being consistently under pressure, Simon’s passing yards were more than in his first three games of the season, combined.
The performance of Simon showed some positives for Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. This year is the first season where Simon, a redshirt sophomore, has started a game for the Scarlet Knights
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On Wednesday, Schiano fielded a question about the play of Simon in the game against Iowa. In the question during his media availability, it was noted that Simon had “two costly turnovers” on Saturday against Iowa.
“He did have two costly turnovers; he did a heck of a job though as well. So for a guy who’s not played college football, you look at the guy who’s really really not played very many plays at all to go into against that defense,” Schiano said.
“I thought he did a heck of a job. He did have two costly turnovers. But quite frankly he was the only scholarship quarterback that was available. They were dressed but for us to put them in the game would have been a stretch. It may be a stretch this week; we’ll see. So again we’re depleted a little bit but that’s okay we have other guys that can do it. We have some walk-on quarterbacks that know the system to be ready to go if need be. So just keep playing, right?”
Quarterback Noah Vedral, the incumbent starter from the past two years, has yet to play this season due to injury. And Gavin Wimsatt, largely considered the future of the program, was knocked out of the win at Temple two weeks ago with an undisclosed injury.
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Both Vedral and Wimsatt warmed-up with the team last week and were dressed but neither played.
Rutgers faces No. 3 Ohio State on the road this weekend (3:30 PM ET, BTN).
