Rutgers football’s Kyle Monangai is ready for an expanded role

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Following a strong redshirt freshman season, Kyle Monangai is eyeing a bigger and more expanded role in the Rutgers offense.

With Isiah Pacheco heading to the NFL and getting ready for his Kansas City Chiefs debut this weekend, the backfield will have more carries to split with Aaron Young and Monangai likely to see their carries grow this season.

Last season, Monangai had 235 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 62 carries. He spent this offseason working on what could be an expanded role in the Rutgers backfield for the former Don Bosco standout.

“I think everything comes down to, as a running back, you need to be explosive. So you know ‘JB’ (strength coach Jay Butler) gets all of this right, you know, everybody in the running back room, we’re all big on explosion and being able to burst through things,” Monangai said on Wednesday.

“I’d say weight room but it’s also on the field stuff. You know, we work it in individual periods and stuff like that with ‘Coach A’ (running backs coach Andrew Aurich). It is something we emphasize for sure.”

Monangai’s most significant carries last season came in a 20-14 win at Illinois. He had 15 carries and 77 rushing yards with a touchdown in the Big Ten road win.

Rutgers football opens the season at Boston College in what will be a big test for the still rebuilding program. Monangai is encouraged by what he sees from the Scarlet Knights in training camp.

“I think our goal is we take everything a s one game season. So you know that’s our first team on our schedule, and it’s gonna be for us the only thing that’s on our minds and we obviously want to start off strong,” Monangai said.

“You know, we want to go 1-0 that’s a goal, but they obviously want to too we’re gonna have to be on our P’s and Q’s to get that done. The way we’re going to training camp and everything’s looking good right now.”