It’s always cool when a player jumps onto your personal draft scouting radar by catching them in person for a first viewing. Such is the case with Rutgers RB Kyle Monangai.
My very first look at Monangai was in attendance at Michigan Stadium in 2023 for Rutgers’ game against the host Wolverines. It was not an impressive statistical game for Monangai, who netted just 27 yards on 11 carries against the eventual national champions. Yet even in that meager output, the compactly built Monangai impressed.
I counted exactly one run where Monangai got beyond the line of scrimmage without being touched. The Rutgers blocking was overmatched, to be charitable. But Monangai was not dissuaded. He kept battling, showing vision and toughness as well as a very good lower body churn through contact. Pass protection assignments were carried out effectively and with enthusiasm. This is a guy who takes pride in his physicality.
At 5-foot-9 and 210 listed pounds, Monangai is built like a between-the-tackles back. And that’s where he’s at his best, sifting through tight traffic and using his lower-body strength and momentum-based running to maximize what’s blocked for him.
In watching more of Monangai and Rutgers, he continued to prove very good at running through contact and punishing tacklers that don’t establish leverage. His ball security is literally perfect–no lost fumbles, which for a hard-nosed interior runner is wildly impressive.
Out in space, Monangai isn’t as effective. His speed is more burst-based and not “long” speed to outrun defensive backs in pursuit. No. 5 can effectively press the edge and get north-south to try and run through tackles, but he’s not overly elusive or blessed with quick feet in space.
Rutgers barely used Monangai in the passing game outside of pass protection, so his receiving skills are limited in experience. He has never been a return specialist during his time with the Scarlet Knights.
Teams looking for a power back and short-yardage/red-zone grinder, a la Jamaal Williams, will probably like Monangai a lot. There is some stylistic and size resemblance to NFL journeyman Jeremy McNichols if McNichols ran with more power, too. It would be great to see Monangai get better blocking and more passing game usage to better project his NFL draft stock. Entering the year, he looks like an early Day 3 type of talent if he had been in the 2024 NFL Draft.
