Quotables
Nick Suriano on his expectations for the upcoming season:
“The most important thing is going out there and feeling good about it. It is about having fun with it. I think when some people are cutting weight, they can get negative a little bit. Just stay positive. There is so much support I have here at Rutgers, from my family and my friends. I have a lot going for me and on the mat is where I get to showcase my skills.”
Chris Ash on Raheem Blackshear:
“Blackshear is a very talented individual. Our job is to try to get the players that have the skill set to make plays on Saturday involved, and he's one that definitely has a special skillset. I think you guys see that when he does get the ball in his hands. He's different. So we have made an effort to try to find ways to get the ball in his hands.”
Dorian Miller on the mood of the team this week:
“It is definitely positive, real upbeat. A lot of guys are excited. The energy is up. Guys also know there are things we can do to improve and really play a more complete, all-around football game. That is a good thing. Obviously, we won last week and on paper, it looks like we didn’t. But a win is a win. We out-willed them, we out-gritted them and I think that says a lot about how far this team has come.”
Fat Cat Top Five
Top Five Toughest remaining RU opponents
5.) Maryland
4.) Indiana
3.) Michigan State
2.) Michigan
1.) Penn State
Bobby’s Crystal Ball
Ahmir Mitchell will not play this season for Rutgers
Recruiting Tidbits
OL Raiqwon O'Neal (Conway, SC)
Not a whole lot has developed since last week with O’Neal. He is still set on taking his officials to Florida, Maryland, Indiana, and Rutgers at the moment. O’Neal is still very pro RU and remains committed as he has developed a very good relationship with O-line coach AJ Blazek.
DE Trey Laing (Godby - FL)
Laing is a USF commit, but he plans on taking some official visits soon. So far, he is set to take an official visit to FAU on Dec 1st, Southern Miss on Dec 8th, USF on Dec. 15th, and he’s still finalizing dates for official visits to Rutgers and Indiana. He hears a lot from RU defensive line coach Shane Burnham, as the two are from the same area (Tallahassee). He doesn’t hold a Rutgers offer yet, but one could be coming soon. Stay tuned as we will keep you updated if a visit date comes up.
DB Johnathan Phenix (McGregor - TX)
Phenix is currently a Houston commit, but Rutgers is sniffing around. The other day, one Rutgers coach reached out to gauge his interest, and Phenix is pretty interested in learning more about the program. He doesn’t hold a Rutgers offer at the moment. Phenix appears to be in the second tier of prospects on the Rutgers board for D-Line, and could be an option if their top prospects go elsewhere.
WR Stephon Robinson (El Camino CC - CA)
Rutgers is still reaching out quite a bit and the staff wants him to take an official visit in January, so that he can be hosted by his former teammate Jalen Chatman who will be on campus as a spring semester enrollee. According to Robinson, Rutgers OC Jerry Kill called the other day and is excited about Robinson coming to visit, which means an offer could be coming soon.
DB DJ Brown (St. John’s College - DC)
This past weekend, Rutgers decided to offer Brown, who is a Virginia commit. He grabbed an offer from Missouri as well, and is planning out some official visits. Those visits will occur after the season and he told Scarlet Nation that one of those visits will be to Rutgers.
RB Nazhir Russell (Pennsauken – NJ)
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior is starting to make some noise this season in South Jersey. Russell is just shy of 1,000 rushing yards in six games and has recently caught the attention of the RU coaching staff.
“Rutgers wants me to come visit and attend one of their camps,” Russell said. “Me and coach Omar [Hales] were talking about how Rutgers would be a nice fit for me.”
WR Amad Anderson (Curtis – NY)
The Rutgers decommit is still set to visit Purdue next weekend. Anderson’s father claims that RU is still in contention, and is very active on Twitter retweeting a lot of pro-RU stuff. Everything else has remained relatively quiet here over the past week since Rutgers bested Purdue.
New offers this week:
Class of 2019
DB DJ Brown (St. John’s - DC)
Class of 2019
LB Shitta Sillah (Mater Dei - NJ)
DE Colby Wooden (Archer –GA)
Db Mike Sainristil (Pope John – NJ)
Extra Tidbit
A decommit looking to recommit
Scarlet Nation has learned that a former Rutgers commit now playing at the FBS level is looking for a way back to Rutgers. No word yet if Rutgers has an interest in bringing this player back. He does play a position of need and would definitely transfer if Rutgers were offered him a spot. For now, we will keep the player’s name under wraps in the event that he remains at his current school.
Nick Suriano on his expectations for the upcoming season:
“The most important thing is going out there and feeling good about it. It is about having fun with it. I think when some people are cutting weight, they can get negative a little bit. Just stay positive. There is so much support I have here at Rutgers, from my family and my friends. I have a lot going for me and on the mat is where I get to showcase my skills.”
Chris Ash on Raheem Blackshear:
“Blackshear is a very talented individual. Our job is to try to get the players that have the skill set to make plays on Saturday involved, and he's one that definitely has a special skillset. I think you guys see that when he does get the ball in his hands. He's different. So we have made an effort to try to find ways to get the ball in his hands.”
Dorian Miller on the mood of the team this week:
“It is definitely positive, real upbeat. A lot of guys are excited. The energy is up. Guys also know there are things we can do to improve and really play a more complete, all-around football game. That is a good thing. Obviously, we won last week and on paper, it looks like we didn’t. But a win is a win. We out-willed them, we out-gritted them and I think that says a lot about how far this team has come.”
Fat Cat Top Five
Top Five Toughest remaining RU opponents
5.) Maryland
4.) Indiana
3.) Michigan State
2.) Michigan
1.) Penn State
Bobby’s Crystal Ball
Ahmir Mitchell will not play this season for Rutgers
Recruiting Tidbits
OL Raiqwon O'Neal (Conway, SC)
Not a whole lot has developed since last week with O’Neal. He is still set on taking his officials to Florida, Maryland, Indiana, and Rutgers at the moment. O’Neal is still very pro RU and remains committed as he has developed a very good relationship with O-line coach AJ Blazek.
DE Trey Laing (Godby - FL)
Laing is a USF commit, but he plans on taking some official visits soon. So far, he is set to take an official visit to FAU on Dec 1st, Southern Miss on Dec 8th, USF on Dec. 15th, and he’s still finalizing dates for official visits to Rutgers and Indiana. He hears a lot from RU defensive line coach Shane Burnham, as the two are from the same area (Tallahassee). He doesn’t hold a Rutgers offer yet, but one could be coming soon. Stay tuned as we will keep you updated if a visit date comes up.
DB Johnathan Phenix (McGregor - TX)
Phenix is currently a Houston commit, but Rutgers is sniffing around. The other day, one Rutgers coach reached out to gauge his interest, and Phenix is pretty interested in learning more about the program. He doesn’t hold a Rutgers offer at the moment. Phenix appears to be in the second tier of prospects on the Rutgers board for D-Line, and could be an option if their top prospects go elsewhere.
WR Stephon Robinson (El Camino CC - CA)
Rutgers is still reaching out quite a bit and the staff wants him to take an official visit in January, so that he can be hosted by his former teammate Jalen Chatman who will be on campus as a spring semester enrollee. According to Robinson, Rutgers OC Jerry Kill called the other day and is excited about Robinson coming to visit, which means an offer could be coming soon.
DB DJ Brown (St. John’s College - DC)
This past weekend, Rutgers decided to offer Brown, who is a Virginia commit. He grabbed an offer from Missouri as well, and is planning out some official visits. Those visits will occur after the season and he told Scarlet Nation that one of those visits will be to Rutgers.
RB Nazhir Russell (Pennsauken – NJ)
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior is starting to make some noise this season in South Jersey. Russell is just shy of 1,000 rushing yards in six games and has recently caught the attention of the RU coaching staff.
“Rutgers wants me to come visit and attend one of their camps,” Russell said. “Me and coach Omar [Hales] were talking about how Rutgers would be a nice fit for me.”
WR Amad Anderson (Curtis – NY)
The Rutgers decommit is still set to visit Purdue next weekend. Anderson’s father claims that RU is still in contention, and is very active on Twitter retweeting a lot of pro-RU stuff. Everything else has remained relatively quiet here over the past week since Rutgers bested Purdue.
New offers this week:
Class of 2019
DB DJ Brown (St. John’s - DC)
Class of 2019
LB Shitta Sillah (Mater Dei - NJ)
DE Colby Wooden (Archer –GA)
Db Mike Sainristil (Pope John – NJ)
Extra Tidbit
A decommit looking to recommit
Scarlet Nation has learned that a former Rutgers commit now playing at the FBS level is looking for a way back to Rutgers. No word yet if Rutgers has an interest in bringing this player back. He does play a position of need and would definitely transfer if Rutgers were offered him a spot. For now, we will keep the player’s name under wraps in the event that he remains at his current school.
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