Athan Kaliakmanis returns to Minnesota "changed as a player"
Athan Kaliakmanis is heading home this weekend—in a sense.
Rutgers‘ senior quarterback leads the team for its first road game of the season, as the Scarlet Knights face off against Minnesota in what will be his first time in Huntington Bank Stadium as an opposing player.
Kaliakmanis, however, insisted Saturday will just be another game for him, even with the surrounding storylines.
“I go into every game the same exact way,” he said Tuesday. “And that’s laser-locked focus, and getting ready to get the job done.”
The Antioch, Illinois, native spent three years in Minneapolis, including the 2023 campaign as the Golden Gophers’ full-time starter. Though he started all 12 regular-season games, Kaliakmanis did not have quite the season he was expecting, partially due to offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca‘s move to Piscataway that offseason.
In first-year coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr‘s lone season with Kaliakmanis, he threw for 1,838 yards and 14 touchdowns, with nine interceptions. Minnesota went 5-7, and the signal-caller announced his intent to enter the transfer portal that December. He wound up reuniting with Ciarrocca in New Jersey and has held a firm grasp on the starting quarterback job ever since.
Last November, the Scarlet Knights hosted the Golden Gophers and won a season-preserving battle to kick off November for Kaliakmanis’s first game and win against his former team. This weekend, however, he will face his former crowd donning scarlet and white.
“Excited to be back,” said Kaliakmanis on the emotions returning to Minnesota. “I did live there, did go to school there. But we’re trying to go 1-and-0 in this season, and I’m just happy with where I’m at now. But definitely excited to be back.”
The redshirt senior has gotten off to one of the best starts not only in his career but also in the entire Big Ten. He ranks second in the conference with 1,150 yards through the air, along with nine total touchdowns and just one turnover, an interception in Friday’s loss to Iowa that fluttered into the middle of the defense after being hit mid-throw.
Golden Gophers head coach PJ Fleck – a former Rutgers assistant himself – also downplayed some of the emotions and hype facing his former quarterback.
“Listen, this is Rutgers and Minnesota, you know?” he said in his weekly press conference on Monday. “Got a lot of respect for what they do and how they do it. He’s playing really well. I think his fifth year in that type of same system, so you’d expect to see that type of growth that he has shown and has played in and playing at a high level, that’s for sure.”
Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano gave a similar response on his expectations for Kaliakmanis.
“I think he’s gonna be totally focused on playing the football game,” Schiano said in his own weekly press conference. “Being the quarterback that he’s capable of being, and running our offense. And certainly, he played there, so he still knows guys on the team.”
Even in the era of the transfer portal – one that Kaliakmanis himself took advantage of – there are plenty of Golden Gopher players remaining from his time in the Twin Cities, particularly on the defensive side. Minnesota’s defense currently ranks first nationally in yards allowed, and Kaliakmanis attributes their success to the pure talent levels.
“I know a lot of those guys, I played with them,” he said. “Not that it means anything, because you completely change as a player. And I feel like since they’ve played me, I’ve completely changed as a player, and those guys have changed as players. They got really good dudes. They got really hard-working dudes. They fly to the football, they’re detailed.”
Not just on the field has Kaliakmanis changed, but off the field since his arrival in Piscataway nearly 21 months ago.
I think I’ve matured a lot,” he added. ”I just really bought into Coach [Greg] Schiano‘s culture. I bought into the team, and I just want to show everybody that the words I was saying, my actions match that.”
Even without the bonus intrigue behind the matchup, the Scarlet Knights have plenty on their hands Saturday. After four straight home games to start the year – the first instance since 2007 at Rutgers – the team travels on the road to face off against a talented Minnesota squad fresh off a bye week.
Kaliakmanis’ mindset is simple.
“Just learn from our past experiences,” he said on the opening road trip. “As long as we do that and we just live by our culture, there should be nothing that affects anything in this game for us.”
💬 Wondering what other Rutgers fans are saying?
Head to The Round Table and jump into the discussion →
