Athan Kaliakmanis vs Ja’Shawn Scroggins statistical comparison ahead of College Football Week 1 Matchup

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and QB Athan Kaliakmanis open their season against the Howard Bisons on 29 Aug. at 6 pm ET. The Scarlet Knights are a massive 36.5 favorites for this game, which only shows the gulf between the two programs.

Rutgers will be hoping to have a repeat of their 2023 season, which was their first winning season since 2014. For this season, they will have a new quarterback in Athan Kaliakmanis.

The Bisons will have quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins starting the game. But how do the two compare?

Athan Kaliakmanis vs. Ja'Shawn Scroggins Stats Comparison

Completion percentage

During his two seasons with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Athan Kaliakmanis played 23 games. He has gone 216-405 and has a completion percentage of 53.3.

Ja'Shawn Scroggins has been with the Howard Bisons for two seasons. He has been a backup quarterback during this time and made appearances in eight games. He has gone 10-18 with a completion percentage of 55.6.

Passing yards

Kaliakmanis has thrown for 2784 yards and averaged 6.9 yards per attempt.

Scroggins has thrown for 117 yards and averages 6.5 yards per attempt.

Passing touchdowns and interceptions

Kaliakmanis has thrown 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions during his two seasons in college football.

Scroggins has never thrown a touchdown in college football and has one interception.

Rushing yards and touchdowns

The Rutgers QB has rushed for 234 yards from 108 attempts and scored three touchdowns.

Scroggins has rushed for 84 yards from 18 attempts and has been able to score three rushing touchdowns.

Greg Schiano talks about Rutgers' injuries

Rutgers is heavily expected to win this game by a large margin. However, they are going to have to do this with a few key players who are injured. The most notable of these is linebacker Mohamed Toure, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.

While there have been no other major injuries in the build-up to this game, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is ready to play any member of the Scarlet Knights against the Bisons. He told NorthJersey.com earlier this week:

“There’s an old saying: You don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. We’ve got to make sure we’re trained in everything we’re doing and then we’re ready to play. Whoever’s healthy, we’ve got to go out and play.”

Whoever ends up playing for the team, the game is likely to be easy for the Big Ten program on the rise. This will only serve as a warmup for tougher games to come for Rutgers.