Rutgers started fresh with a new quarterback at midseason, and now Chris Laviano wants his turn at a fresh start.

Laviano exclusively told NJ Advance Media that he is leaving the football program but hopes to transfer elsewhere as an immediately eligible postgraduate after the spring semester. He will not be able to participate in spring practice with a new school.

Laviano will hit the open market with 24 career games played, including a streak of 18 consecutive starts until he was benched in late October. He joins Hayden Rettig as the second veteran quarterback transfer this week as Rutgers moves in a different direction at the position.

In his first interview since then, Laviano offered a wide-ranging account of his Rutgers career. Here is what he said over 11 uninterrupted minutes:

"I've been here four years and I've enjoyed honestly every minute of being here, from my relationships with the players to the multiple staff members that I've played under. I've met a ton of people and I have really great relationships with a lot of people. I've consumed a ton of football knowledge, which I'm really appreciative of.

"Looking back on my career, a kid in my position could say it didn't go the way I planned for. Obviously, you want the ultimate success when you are a football player, but at the same time you learn a lot about yourself in those dark times and the times where the program is not going the way everybody else wants it to go.

"I've had to battle and I've had to compete my entire career. It's taught me a lot about myself, and it's taught me to continue to compete and work through the adversity. I'm not done by any stretch of the imagination. I still feel like I have a ton of ball left in me and that's kind of the purpose for this move I'm making.

"As far as my coaches, like I said, I've consumed a lot of football knowledge that I'm grateful for, and that's my favorite part of the game: Dissecting what strategies we have on offense and what we can dissect on defense. I've gotten to learn from a lot of great football coaches and pick their brains each and every year, which I'm thankful for as well. That's something that not everybody has the ability to do.

"This is a true statement: I've had a great relationship with every coach, every strength coach that I've had at Rutgers, no matter how many. And there's been a ton. I've been here for a really long time, and I've seen a lot of different stuff play out and unfold throughout the years. Coach (Chris) Ash and Coach (Kenny) Parker are doing something that is ultimately going to lead to Rutgers football bringing great success.

"I wasn't mad this year. Obviously, as a competitor, when I stopped playing I was pretty pissed off for about a week. At the same time, it's the nature of the business and I understood it. Me and Coach Ash have always seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things. We respect each other because of how we represent ourselves and just the way people respect us. I think it's like that because when you are faced with adversity, teammates and coaches want to see how you respond.

"The way I responded for that one week was I was kind of pissed off because I'm a huge competitor. At the same time, I had two decisions to make. I could've been a really bad teammate or I could've been a really good teammate. I think (that's) the only thing that really kept me in the loop because I wasn't playing and I really wasn't getting any practice reps. Coming from a kid who had started 18 games at the school, I kind of had to take a backseat.

"It doesn't mean that I had to quit or I couldn't be a part of the program. It just gave me a different role. It gave me a perspective on a position that I was in probably three years earlier in my career, which was being a backup. I constantly had conversations with Coach Ash this season about the program and where it was going and letting him know that I still believed in everything they were doing because it really is a formula for success, and it's going to skyrocket some time.

"After that happened, after the week that I got benched, after the Minnesota game, I made a decision to continue that great relationship with Coach (Drew) Mehringer, Coach Parker and Coach Ash although they didn't think that I was in a position to help them win or play. It was a business decision. They had to move on, and I completely respected that.

"I still dove into film study because that's one of my favorite parts of football. I tried to mentor Gio (Rescigno) and help Gio because I had seen probably about 20 quarterbacks in and out of this school since I've been here. I could probably name at least 15 walk-on and scholarship players. That's where my head was at this season. Not to mention Coach Ralph Friedgen and Ben McDaniels, who I still talk to to this day. Even Coach (Kyle) Flood. I maintained a great relationship with everybody.

"I'm extremely thankful for that. My life has completely changed being at Rutgers. I'm never going to sit here and say I regretted anything. It's actually quite the opposite. I'm extremely thankful for everything that this school has brought me. I've enjoyed the time here with my teammates and my coaches tremendously, and I wouldn't honestly do anything different.

"As far as the fan base goes, I want to thank them and appreciate everything that they've done for this program. To be honest with you, the public view and what the reporters write is that we have a rocky relationship because Rutgers hasn't had the utmost success since I've been here. But that's really not the case in my eyes. I've met tons of Rutgers fans that are nothing but supportive, and actually people that are intelligent about football but extremely passionate. That's kind of what you get here. Unless you win, that's just going to be the way it is.

"That's not to say that I try to hide from the fans or the fans are people who just blog and have no idea what they are talking about. There is some of that, but at the same time there is no rivalry between me and the fans. I've had multiple encounters, multiple conversations of tremendous support throughout my career of them black-and-white wanting to see Rutgers do well and win.

"We didn't have much of that this year and not much last year, but that's kind of separate from football in my eyes. Obviously, the goal is to win, but as you prepare as a football player, that's kind of the last piece of the puzzle. I can't blame anybody for that. Unfortunately, the amount of coaching changes, and offenses and things that have happened to us in the last four years is nothing that any program wants. You want stability in the players, stability in the coaches, and that's not what we had. That's just the way it is.

"Unfortunately, the season was unfolding the way it did, and I wasn't the guy to help win the games, which everybody wants to be. At the end of the day, I still believe that I'm a good quarterback. You can ask any strength coach I've ever had -- Coach Parker or Coach (Jeremy) Cole -- I've had great relationships with them. The weight room is a place that is by far my favorite place playing Division I football. It has been for the last five years because it's all truth in there.

"My career has basically been one huge competition. The way everything worked out, I'm going to graduate and I'm going to be a graduate transfer. I still believe that I'm an intelligent quarterback and I have a lot of fight left in me, and I'm only going to get better from here. I appreciate everything that Rutgers has done for me, and it's always going to be my school. I'm going to graduate from here, and I'm always going to support it for years to come."

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.