Louisville Grad Transfer QB Kyle Bolin Visiting Rutgers Football This Weekend

UPDATE: Bolin commits to Rutgers.

With backup quarterback Zach Allen out indefinitely with a torn ACL, Rutgers only has one scholarship player at the position in current starter Gio Rescigno. I took stock of the quarterback position for next season here, which includes incoming freshman Johnathan Lewis, who is thought of as the future signal caller for the program. While it’s possible he could usurp Gio as the starter this fall, the reality is that even if that does happen, Rutgers needs more depth at the quarterback position.

The good news is that a grad transfer candidate is visiting the program this weekend, which includes the Scarlet-White game this Saturday.

It appears another grad transfer, Ross Douglas from Michigan, who joined Rutgers last summer, will host Kyle Bolin on campus during his visit. The biggest difference between this QB and Allen, who transferred from TCU last year, is that Bolin saw significant action at Louisville.

Editor’s note: Kyle reached out to me to clarify a few things I originally misspoke on his career timeline. I apologize to Kyle for this unintended error and have corrected the below.

Bolin is set to graduate Louisville this May, which means he will be eligible to play immediately next season. He redshirted as a freshman and played the past three seasons for the Cardinals, so he has just one more left to play.

Bolin started 5 games as a sophomore during the 2015 season after starting the season at third string. He ultimately finished that season as the starter, but lost his job to Lamar Jackson at the start of the 2016 season. Jackson went on to win the Heisman Trophy that season.

He is obviously looking to compete for a starting role at his new destination. Here are the other schools that have reportedly offered Bolin aside from Rutgers, according to Louisville’s Courier-Journal football reporter Steve Jones:

Here is Bolin’s stat line during his Louisville career:

2014: 45-78, 57.7 completion %, 716 yards, 9.2 ypc, 4 TD, 3INT

2015: 78-137, 56.9 completion %, 1154 yards, 8.4 ypc, 7 TD, 6 INT

2016: 18-28, 66.7 completion %, 234 yards, 8.7 ypc, 2 TD, 1 INT

For a complete stats review, click here.

In terms of the interest from Rutgers, Bolin is actually more of a pro-style quarterback than dual threat. He has no significant rushing statistics in his college career. Pursuing the able armed signal caller is another sign of the flexibility under new offensive coordinator Jerry Kill. When I spoke to him back in February, here is what Kill said about the importance of being able to adapt the offense to your personnel:

“You have to be. We certainly are not going to be what we were at Minnesota, we will be different than that. We may be similar to what we were at Northern Illinois, a little bit more. We’ll have some stuff that we had last year. There was some good stuff the staff had in last year. Right now, we are putting together who we are going to be and what we going to do with the personnel that we have. We’ve started that and that’s what we have to do in the next few weeks before the start of spring ball. We won’t have it all in, but we have to identify, okay this is who we are and this is what we have to do. These are the players we have to get the ball to and get mismatches. However you can do that, you have to have a philosophy. It will be different and each place that I have been, it’s been different.”

The reality is Rutgers needs to add talent and depth, so if Bolin is the best option available to add to the quarterback room, you have to do it. The experience of Kill should breed confidence that he will find a way to make things work, whether it’s Gio, Lewis, Bolin, or anyone else behind the center calling plays next fall.

As for Bolin, the Lexington, Kentucky native was rated a 3-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals, while 247 Sports rated him a 4-star prospect. According to 247 Sports, he held offers from offers from Cincinnati and Illinois, in addition to Louisville. There was also interest from Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Notre Dame, among others. Here is an interesting article that covered Bolin’s recruitment, in which he complained about Kentucky not offering him despite their strong interest and the negative affect it had on receiving offers from other schools.

In terms of big games for Bolin at Louisville, he came off the bench with the Cardinals trailing rival Kentucky 13-0 in the second quarter. He flourished in the game, completing 21 of 31 passes for 381 yards and 3 touchdowns. Bolin did have an interception returned for a touchdown, but he led Louisville to the winning score on the final drive of the game, resulting in a 44-40 victory. Here are the highlights:

In the 2014 Belk Bowl Game versus Georgia, Bolin completed 20 of 40 passes for 300 yards, including 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Louisville lost the game 37-14.

In 2015, Bolin began the season as the starter ahead of Lamar Jackson. Louisville lost to eventual New Year’s Day participant and eventual #8 ranked Houston 34-31. Bolin was just 10 of 18 passing for 157 yards and 1 TD. The next game against eventual national runner-up Clemson, Bolin was 19 of 34 passing for 238 yards and 2 interceptions. His best game that season came against Syracuse after Jackson had taken over the starting role, but missed the game due to injury. Bolin was 24 of 35 passing for 362 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Louisville won 41-17. Here are highlights from that game:

Let’s hope Bolin has a great visit this weekend and if you attend the Scarlet-White game, keep an eye out and welcome him to the garden state. This tweet below indicates that Bolin is of good character, which is nice to hear about a potential player joining the program.

For all the information you need regarding tomorrow’s Spring Fever activities at Rutgers, click here.

For a complete look at all of the quarterbacks expected to be on the roster by this summer, click here.