When Rutgers football needed a ‘Ray Rice moment,’ up stepped Kyle Monangai
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Kyle Monangai delivered in key moments on Saturday afternoon for Rutgers football, the junior running back turning into quite the closer for the Scarlet Knights.
It wasn’t quite Enter Sandman but Rutgers needed a lunchpail effort from Monangai to finish off a most improbable win. Down 24-6 to Michigan State at the start of the fourth quarter, Rutgers scored three straight touchdowns for a win that will go down as among the most dramatic in program history.
But it needed Monangai to churn out yards and end any hopes Michigan State had to wrestle control back of the game. That’s when Monangai ran his best.
With 7:05 left in the game and Rutgers possessing the ball on their own yard line, head coach Greg Schiano turned to his star running back. During his first tenure at Rutgers, moments like this called for a steady diet of Ray Rice to finish off games.
On Saturday afternoon, Schiano called on Monangai.
“In my own mind, I’m thinking we could use one of those old-fashioned Ray Rice drives right now,” Schiano said after the game.
“We’ve had a lot of them. Just bleed the clock out, and then walk out with them a knee, and that’s just what we did, so that was gratifying.”
Trust the process
During the final possession to end the game, Rutgers ran 12 plays to kill off the clock. On nine of those 12 plays, Monangai ran the ball.
Even against a stacked box with Michigan State knowing that Monangai was going to carry the ball, the Rutgers running back managed 55 yards. He broke tackles and plowed through, his legs churning in a blur as he fought for inches, knowing that each step he took brought his team one win closer to bowl eligibility.
The result was four first downs as Rutgers iced the game.
The other three plays on the drive were kneels by quarterback Gavin Wimsatt.
Count Monangai among the true believers.
Monangai was among the first players to buy into this rebuild of Rutgers. A member of the 2021 recruiting class, Rutgers came in late and offered the Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, New Jersey) running back.
Holding just two Power Five offers, the other being Cal, Monangai became one of the first commitments upon Schiano’s return to the program. It is easy to see why.
Wins like the one on Saturday resonate in an especially meaningful way for the running back. He ran like he did late in the game because Monangai is a true believer in Rutgers football, both the rebuild and its culture.
“I mean, for the guys that have been in my class and even older this is what – year three, year four and year four in coach’s coming back the second time around,” Monangai said.
“We’ve been waiting for it. But like I said, it’s just trusting the process and having faith. Having faith in what we’re doing and not growing weary of doing the things that we’re doing. We don’t change much. We just…you hear it all the time,, ‘CHOP’ in the moment. Everybody says the same things. It’s because it’s all we do every day. Like I said, just trust in the process and happy to see it all come to fruition.”
Run Kyle run
On an afternoon when former Rutgers running back Isiah Pachecowas on the sidelines, Monangai produced a vintage performance. He had 24 carries for 148 yards and his 21-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter gave Rutgers their first lead of the game.
Monangai runs hard and violent, with a disdain for defenders and an almost sinister desire to plow through anything impeding his way. He is a throwback player who not only thrives on contact – he seems to relish it.
But Monangai off the field is a serious student and one who held several Ivy League offers out of high school. As a running back, he is a physical presence who plays with a ferocity not seen in many players these days.
Away from the field, he studies as hard as he runs and is a quiet young man with a firm handshake that mixes with an easy nature.
But when the lights go on, opposing defenses have found the affable and at times gregarious Monangai to be a blur of determination mixed with blunt force trauma. It is hard to think of a Big Ten running back this year who runs as physically as Monangai.
“Yeah, when I first committed here. I used to always hear Ray jokes; he and I were the same size,” Monangai said after the game.
“And I’ve actually met Ray before – we are about the same size. So you know, I’ve seen his film. You know, Ray was a special back here – had a great career in the NFL and just to be put in the same sentence, it’s an honor.”
