PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers standout wide receiver KJ Duff will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a high ankle sprain, according to a report Wednesday from ESPN.
Duff, a junior, is expected to resume football activities in early January ahead of next year's NFL draft. He is one of the top prospects at the position and could be the first Scarlet Knights product taken in the first round since offensive lineman Anthony Davis went 10th in 2010.
Duff, an AP second team pre-season All-America selection, was having a stellar season for the disappointing Scarlet Knights (2-7, 1-5 Big Ten). He ranks seventh nationally with nine receiving touchdowns and 12th with 96.8 yards receiving a game.
Duff missed the game last Saturday against Wisconsin, a third consecutive loss by Rutgers. He left Rutgers’ game against Michigan on Oct. 31 in the second quarter with injury and didn’t return.
Last season, Duff accumulated 1,084 yards receiving on 60 catches with seven TDs, one of just three players in the Big Ten to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark — just the seventh in school history and first since 2014.
He struggled with his decision to return to Rutgers after the Scarlet Knights finished 5-7 and did not play in a bowl game.
“It was tough for me,” Duff told The Associated Press over the summer. “There were obviously other opportunities on the table with the way college football is now. I went back and forth for weeks. One day I’m leaving, one day I’m not. But ultimately, it came down to what was important to me, staying at Rutgers to finish what I started with coach (Greg) Schiano.”
Duff's season-ended one day after the university announced Schiano will be back next season, his 19th at Rutgers.
Duff has 132 catches for 2,283 yards and 17 touchdowns in 30 games. He ranks seventh in program history in career yards, tied for fifth in touchdowns with Kenny Britt and Chris Brantley, and tied for 10th in receptions with Tiquan Underwood.
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FILE - Rutgers wide receiver KJ Duff (8) runs during an NCAA football game against Maryland Oct. 17, 2026 in College Park, Md. Rutgers won 37-30. (AP Photo/Mike Buscher, File)
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Pope Leo XIV declared Peru his “homeland” on Wednesday as he arrived in Lima at the start of his historic visit, returning to the place that taught him how to be a pastor and where a nationwide party erupted to welcome the beloved “Padre Robert” home.
Leo seemed genuinely moved as he emerged from his Aerolineas Argentinas charter plane, smiling broadly at nearly every turn of his first moments on Peruvian soil. The Vatican estimated that some 3 million people lined Leo’s kilometers-long (miles-long) motorcade route into town, waving Peruvian and Holy See flags.
Some in the roaring crowds broke through the tight security to chase behind the car that transported him to the presidential palace, where Leo met privately with Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori. During the formal welcome ceremony in the palace courtyard, he sang the Peruvian national anthem alongside Fujimori and a children’s choir.
In his first remarks to Fujimori and government officials, the Chicago-born Leo said the Peruvian citizenship he acquired in 2015 cemented a bond that began long before, crediting Peruvians with having formed him as a pastor by sharing their lives, joys and struggles with him.
“Today I understand how much of this land remains with me and how much of my own story also belongs to you,” he said.
“That is why I can tell you, with deep gratitude, that I am also returning to my homeland,” he said to applause.
The visit to Peru marked the final leg of Leo’s three-nation South America tour and its emotional highlight, given the more than two decades that the former Robert Prevost spent in Peru as a missionary priest and later bishop. He has said it was here that he learned “what it means to be a shepherd.” As a dual citizen of the United States and Peru, he’s the first pope from each country.
“We love him so much because he's worked here, he knows our sufferings, he knows it all," said 85-year-old Evelina Cruz, who held a pope plush doll made by her niece as she waited for Leo to arrive.
In preparation for the pope’s visit, a huge 46-foot (14-meter) statue of the pontiff was unveiled in the port of El Callao. Baristas in Lima, the capital, were offering cappuccinos decorated with the image of the pope.
“My heart is so excited that it makes me want to cry with joy,” said Zuly Castillo, who served as Leo’s secretary when he was bishop of the northern city of Chiclayo near the Pacific Coast.
Gustavo Morello, an associate professor of sociology at Boston College and the author of “Lived Religion in Latin America,” said the trip was a “return to his origins, without any doubt.”
“Peru is the crown of the trip, the homecoming of the first Peruvian pope, no matter where he was born,” he said.
With hands raised and voices lifted in song, hundreds awaited the pope’s arrival in Lima in front of the presidential palace. “Long live Christ!” the crowd sang, following a Catholic choir on the stage.
Popemania also hit Chiclayo, where Leo arrives on Friday. Leo is painted in colorful murals, emblazoned on T-shirts, baseball hats and even bobblehead dolls.
Over the coming days, Leo will celebrate Mass in all his old stomping grounds including at the nearby sanctuary of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, a city that is a hub of Afro-Peruvian culture, and where the pope often visited to pray to the saint of his devotion.
Since Leo knows his adopted country so well, his speeches will be closely watched, especially one he’ll deliver from the square in front of Lima’s cathedral Thursday “on the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people.”
Peru, a nation of 34 million people, is overwhelmed by challenges, among them the looming arrival of nature’s chaotic climatic agent El Niño, violent crime and income inequality. In 2025, 25.7% of the Peruvian population was living in monetary poverty.
“A small elite has GDP levels comparable to some U.S. states,” Morello said, adding that while the macroeconomy “is doing well, most Peruvians live in structural poverty and economic insecurity.”
While the country is no longer experiencing the terror of the Shining Path rebel movement of the 1980s and 1990s, when Leo was a young Augustinian missionary, it is undergoing a wave of violence and insecurity.
“His return, now as pope, inspires great hope among a large segment of Peruvian society that still perceives and feels the abandonment of the state,” said Rolando Pérez, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
“Deeply etched in the public consciousness is the image of a shepherd who stood by the people, helping to bring into the public agenda their demands and their cry for justice,” he said.
The pope will honor Peru’s Indigenous peoples by traveling to Pucallpa, in Peru’s Amazon, to celebrate Mass. Illegal gold mining and the cultivation of coca leaves, the raw material used to produce cocaine, are affecting Peru’s Indigenous peoples.
“The Amazon is a place where critical issues affecting development — such as the environmental crisis, the exclusion of Indigenous peoples, various forms of violence, and extreme poverty — all intersect,” said Pérez.
Leo will also meet with popular groups of faithful and representatives of local traditions in Cusco — the capital of the Inca empire, an important city of Spanish colonial rule and an important cultural destination, including the nearby ruins at Machu Picchu.
The pope will celebrate Mass in Cusco’s main square, where in 1781 the Indigenous hero Túpac Amaru II was killed following the most significant rebellion against the Spanish during the colonial era.
The conservative Fujimori came to power in July on promises of restoring order to a nation plagued by extortion and homicide, which have nearly doubled, reaching 10.7 per 100,000 inhabitants -- up from 5.8 five years ago.
Alonso Cárdenas, a political science professor at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University, said Peruvians will welcome the pope at a time when many feel disappointed with authorities following a decade of political instability that has seen a revolving door of nine presidents since July 2016. Many Peruvians are also battered by rising insecurity and the increasing cost of food.
“There’s no sign of a reaction, no strategy,” from Fujimori’s government, he said.
As a result, many hope for a message from Leo that will prompt a response from those in power.
“There’s a profound sense of weariness regarding politics and corruption,” said Véronique Lecaros, head of the department of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
In contrast, she said the Catholic Church enjoys a level of credibility that surpasses any other Peruvian institution.
Huge crowds are expected to turn out to welcome Leo home, even though Peru has seen Catholicism fall in recent years. According to the Pew Research Center, the Catholic population was at 76% in 2013-2014, but now stands at around 67%.
That stands in line with trends around the world where many continue to join the growing ranks of the religiously unaffiliated, or “nones.” But Lecaros says this doesn’t mean Peruvians have lost their faith, and most still consider themselves to be religious.
“They’ll listen to the pope, and some inspired by his example, will renew their interest in the church," she said. "In the end though, it will depend on how Catholic lay and clerical leaders choose to behave.”
Associated Press writers Franklin Briceño and Astrid Suarez contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Peru's President Keiko Fujimori at the presidential palace in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Peru's President Keiko Fujimori at the presidential palace in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Pope Leo XIV arrives at Callao Naval Air Base in Lima, on the sixth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV attends a welcome ceremony with Peru's President Keiko Fujimori at Palacio de Gobierno in Lima, on the sixth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Peru's President Keiko Fujimori, left, as he arrives at Callao Naval Air Base in Lima, on the sixth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. At center, Father Manuel Dorantes from Chicago. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) ADDITION: Adds the identity of the person at center
Pope Leo XIV arrives at Callao Naval Air Base in Lima, on the sixth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Peru's President Keiko Fujimori and two children with flowers as he arrives at Callao Naval Air Base in Lima, on the sixth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Peru's President Keiko Fujimori and two children with flowers as he arrives at Callao Naval Air Base in Lima, on the sixth day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Shamans perform a welcome ritual for Pope Leo XIV days before his arrival, in Lima, Peru, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
People cheer as a statue of Pope Leo XIV is installed in 'El Niño' park in Callao, Peru, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, ahead of his planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to17. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A girl runs with a Vatican City flag on the steps of the Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo Catholic church as the community prepares for the return of Pope Leo XIV to Zaña, Peru, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
A person attaches a Vatican City flag to the railings outside Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo Catholic church ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Zaña, Peru. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
A motorcyclist drives past a mural of Pope Leo XIV in the city of Chiclayo, Peru, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
