PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Greg Schiano only had about two weeks. It was December 2019 and the Rutgers coach from 2001-11 had been rehired at his old stomping grounds to save a program that was the butt of all Big Ten jokes. His first tasks was one of the most difficult in college football roster-building: organizing a transitional recruiting class between his hiring date and the early signing period.
That initial group of 18 players included running back Kyle Monangai, an undersized in-state running back who wasn't even the most highly touted prospect in his own high school backfield.
All Monangai has done as a Scarlet Knight is lead the Big Ten in rushing during a breakout junior campaign in 2023, and now repeating that in 2024 as one of the nation's leading rushers through the first part of the season, ranking second in the Big Ten in yards per game (152).
"To say that it was all science, and we knew it was going to be that now, no chance," Schiano told CBS Sports. "I wish I was that gifted."
Schiano had a small staff initially that winter, with Nunzio Campanile and Fran Brown as his only assistants on staff and Eric Josephs essentially trying out to be his full-time player personnel guy. It's a time when coaches are a little more apt to take risks.
Monangai is the son of Cameroonian immigrants who didn't really understand football at first before he and his older brother Kevin picked it up as children.
Kyle Monangai played high school football at New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep. When the Ironmen needed a yard in a tough situation, he was most likely to get the ball.
But when college coaches cycled through the practice fields in Ramsey, New Jersey, they were drawn to 6-foot-1, 215-pound teammate Jalen Berger rather than the offense's undersized 5-foot-9, 200-pound engine. Berger was a four-star recruit and the sixth-best player in the state. He'd eventually sign with Wisconsin (before transferring to Michigan State and then eventually UCLA).
Monangai had some offers from Ivy League schools, which he mostly entertained because of his mother. Cal -- on the opposite side of the country -- was the only Power Five program recruiting him.
So when he was invited to take a visit to nearby Rutgers, he jumped at the opportunity and signed days later.
"There was no lack of coaches coming through [Don Bosco], so they all saw me, but nobody took a chance on me," Monangai said. "Coach Schiano took that chance and was able to give me the opportunity to play big-time college football.
"Here is my home. I love playing in New Jersey. I love playing for our fans and my teammates."
There are stories like Monangai every year when an overlooked player just needs someone to advocate for them. In Monangai's case, it was his high school coach Dan Sabella, who stood on the table for him when lobbying Schiano to make the offer. It was an important counter. There were multiple people in the Schiano's ear who didn't think that Monangai was a Big Ten-caliber player.
It's a tricky spot for a high school coach to be in, lest they do it too often for too many players and start to burn through the benefit of the doubt, but Schiano has built the Scarlet Knights on taking the right Jersey players. And to do that, he leans on trust with high school coaches in his home state.
"If you can get some of the decision makers to look past the measurables and see what type of player the guy is, even if he's a couple inches shorter, a couple tenths of a second not as fast, but he makes up for it in so many different ways," Sabella said. "And we're just super proud that Kyle's gone down there and done that."
Rutgers running backs coach Damiere Shaw calls Monangai a coach on the field due to his vision and patient running style. It's evident in small ways, like a carry late in the first half against Howard in the season opener.
Monangai initially gained 10 yards on a play called back for holding. On the next play, with 20 seconds left in the half, he went for 31. And instead of going out of bounds, he veered into a defender, drawing a personal foul that got Rutgers even closer to field goal range.
For as competitive as Monangai is on the field, Shaw has to rein him in off the field as well. He comes to meetings so prepared that he sometimes has to be asked to let others answer questions so Shaw can make sure they're picking up the game plans as well.
"I'm just trying to compete, to, you know, be better for myself, to challenge myself to see what I know and to learn it better," Monangai said. "But also be competitive around the guys around me in the room to show them that there's no cool, chill way to go about it, you just got to be on the edge of your seat at all times. And to show them — not that I've done everything that I want to do — but if you want to get to where you want to get to, that's the type of urgency and the type of mentality you have to take to things.
"Like, I want to do the best. I want to get everything right. I want to know what the scheme is. I want to understand every nook and cranny of it and that I think makes you a better football player."
He may not be the biggest or the fastest running back in the country, but Monangai's toughness embodies Schiano's notion that his team always keeps chopping. And his proficiency is leading a resurgent 3-0 Rutgers team that has its sights set on doing some special things for New Jersey.
"When you first get here and you start talking about those things, you can't point to anything other than teams that you coached before," Schiano said. "I think these guys are sick and tired of hearing of the '06 team, the '07 team, the '08 team.
"But now I can point to guys like Kyle Monangai and say, 'You want to be special? Do just what he's doing. And when you look up, you'll be a special player.'"
