Gary Nova (born April 27, 1993) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

and was the Scarlet Knights starting quarterback from 2012 to 2014.

Early life

Nova attended Don Bosco Prep High School in

Ramsey, New Jersey Ramsey is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of New York City, located northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's ...

College career

Nova started five games in 2011, his first being against

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

as a true freshman and led Rutgers to a victory in the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

27–13, despite throwing for just 20 yards. In 2012, Nova was named the starting quarterback and led Rutgers to its best start since 2006, starting 7–0. When Rutgers was ranked (#15 in Coaches polls and #18 in the AP Poll), Nova did throw six interceptions in a loss to 6–1

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Ashtabula, Burton, East Liverpool, Jackson Township, New Philadelphia, ...

35–23, however. The 2013 season proved rather unsuccessful for Nova, as he threw for 14 interceptions in 10 games, and had a 54.2 completion percentage. Among those games was a four interception game in a 24–10 loss at Louisville, and a three interception game in a 49–14 loss vs Houston. As a result, he was replaced by Chas Dodd in the final two games as the starting quarterback. Rutgers moved to the Big Ten Conference for the 2014 season. Nova regained the starting job for the 2014 season. In Rutgers' Big Ten debut against Penn State, Nova would throw no touchdowns and five interceptions in a 13–10 home loss. On September 27, 2014 Nova set the Rutgers record for career touchdown passes. In his final game in the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl against North Carolina, he completed 9-of-20 passes and threw for 184 yards with 2 touchdowns. He was named team MVP at the 2014 awards banquet. It was the most successful statistical season for Nova, as he threw for a career high 2,851 yards, 57.2 completion percentage, 3 rushing touchdowns, 22 passing touchdowns, and an 8.7 yards per attempt.

Statistics

Nova's career statistics are as follows:

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

, Nova attended rookie

minicamp A mini-camp, also spelled minicamp, is a short camp held by National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) teams usually in spring of each year. The camp usually only lasts 3 days, but the length varies by a day or two depending ...

on a tryout basis with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in May 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nova, Gary Turn 1993 births Living people People from Elmwood Park, New Jersey Players of American football from Bergen County, New Jersey Don Bosco Preparatory High School alumni American football quarterbacks Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players