Rutgers will head into the season with a pair of offensive standouts already drawing national recognition. Wide receiver KJ Duff and running back Antwan Raymond were both named to the Walter Camp Preseason All-American Second Team, giving the Scarlet Knights two players with a fresh dose of preseason buzz.
The honors fit what both players did last season. Raymond, who is set to enter his junior year, started all 12 games and finished with 1,241 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on 244 carries. He also picked up College Sports Communications Academic All-District Team recognition and was a Doak Walker Award semifinalist.
Duff is also heading into his junior season after a breakout year of his own. The 20-year-old led Rutgers with 60 catches for 1,084 yards, becoming just the seventh player in school history to top 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He started all 12 games, earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in the second week of December, and was later named to the All-ECAC Offense team.
Both players are expected to take on even larger roles this year, and Rutgers will be counting on their production and leadership. The two come from different places - Duff from Riverhead, NY, and Raymond from Montreal, Canada - but they share the same goal of competing at a high level and helping push the Scarlet Knights forward.
Rutgers has also continued to build its roster and staff, and the expectation is that the program should be in position to win more games this season.
In Other News...
Pikiell Just Made Rutgers Biggest Roster Concern Feel Far From Solved
Rutgers has already done a lot of its offseason work, stacking seven newcomers onto the roster through transfers, an international prospect and a high school signee, but Steve Pikiell made it clear the shopping is not finished. The plan, as he laid it out, is to add two more frontcourt players before the 2026-27 season, which keeps the focus where it has been for much of the offseason: size, depth and how the Scarlet Knights want to piece together the paint.
The timing matters because Rutgers is already carrying 13 scholarship players, so every addition has to fit both the roster math and the long view. Lewis Duartes NCAA status remains unresolved and looks increasingly unlikely to change in time for next season, so the frontcourt picture still feels unsettled even after all the recent movement. For a team that has already spent the summer reshaping itself, the most important part of the roster may still be the part it has not filled yet. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Nonconference Schedule Is Taking On A Very Familiar Look
Rutgers 2026-27 nonconference slate is starting to look especially familiar, with St. Peters and Delaware State now added as home dates to go along with a schedule that already includes Bryant, Army, NJIT, Syracuse, Seton Hall and the Players Era Tournament. The two newest additions keep the Scarlet Knights close to home in December, with St. Peters set for Dec. 13 and Delaware State coming to Piscataway on Dec. 29.
The matchup with St. Peters brings back a regional opponent that has been competitive in the MAAC, while Delaware State has been trying to climb after a difficult season in the MEAC. Rutgers has recent history with both programs, too, which gives these games a little more familiarity than your typical nonleague tune-up and helps round out a schedule that already has a distinctly local feel before the more prominent national tests arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Added Another Local Test For Its Rebuilt Roster
Rutgers is still filling out the edges of a non-conference schedule that should tell a lot about where the rebuilt roster stands, and one of the more relevant local dates is now on the calendar. St. Peters will come to Jersey Mikes Arena on Dec. 16, giving the Scarlet Knights another nearby opponent and another chance to measure a roster that has been reshaped through the transfer portal to address some obvious needs.
The Peacocks are coming off a strong season in the MAAC, and Rutgers handled them in the most recent meeting, a useful data point even if the personnel looks different now. Between the home date with St. Peters, a schedule that also includes several familiar regional names, and a mid-November trip to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival, Rutgers will get a mix of tests before Big Ten play starts to define the season. [Read more 🡒]