Quotables
Jarrett Paul on maintaining his weight to play cornerback at Rutgers:
“They told me to stay right where I am now. They also told me now it is all about the mental and getting the playbook down and all that stuff.
Irvington head coach Ashley “Smoke” Pierre on producing more FBS recruits:
“We want to make sure these guys do the right thing when nobody else is looking. We want to keep them improving academically and keep grinding athletically. We want to make sure the character pieces are there, so they can lead the younger guys and do the right thing on and off the field.”
Fat Cat Top Five
Top Five RU Spring Position Battles
5.) Defensive End
4.) SAM linebacker
3.) Left Guard
2.) Running Back
1.) Quarterback
Bobby’s Crystal Ball
Rutgers will start three St. Peter's Prep alums on opening day
Coach tidbits
Corey Brown, Rutgers new D-Line coach will be one of the coaches now recruiting South Jersey after the departures of Jafar Williams and Henry Baker. Current wide receivers coach Lester Erb will be covering a small part of South Jersey as well. It appears that Brown will cover Camden, Gloucester, Burlington and Salem Counties where schools like Timber Creek, Woodrow Wilson Camden High, Eastern, Glassboro, Winslow, Shawnee, Cherokee and Salem are all located.
Recruiting Tidbits
ATH Jordan White (West Orange - N.J.)
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound athlete has added offers from Kentucky and Buffalo while he is also generating interest from Syracuse, Temple, UConn, Pitt, Purdue, Minnesota and Maryland. Rutgers has also started to show interest and he will be on campus Feb 25th.
“I talk to Adam Caltury and Matt Hewitt. They tell me that they really like me and can't wait to get me down on campus to spend time there for junior day,” White said.
White recently transferred to West Orange from DePaul and is very close with West Orange grad and current Rutgers defensive end CJ Onyechi.
WR Marlyn Johnson - Peddie School (N.J.)
Johnson has emerged as one of the upper tier wide receiver targets for Rutgers. When news broke of Jafar Williams leaving as wide receivers coach, the staff reached right out to Johnson.
“Coach (AJ) Blazek, he called me right away when Coach (Jafar) Williams decided to go back to Maryland," Johnson said. "It doesn’t change the way I think of Rutgers because I still have a good relationship with all the other coaches. I talked to Coach (Lester) Erb, he’s a really good coach. Him going from running backs coach to the wide receivers coach, I just trust them in their decision-making.”
QB Jalon Jones - St. Frances (Md.)
Rutgers offensive coordinator John McNulty is eying up quarterback targets and some new offers have been going out. One of the latest went out to Jones, who has a reputable list of offers that includes Alabama, Mississippi State, Michigan State and a host of others.
“I picked up my offer from Coach (John) McNulty and Coach (Lester) Erb,” he said. “To get an offer from a former NFL coach who has had success both at the college and professional level is great.”
Jones is currently hearing the most from Ohio State, Clemson, Virginia, Florida and NC State. He plans to visit Ohio State this spring and also hopes to set up a visit to Rutgers. Florida appears to be the early favorite in this one, meaning the RU staff will have some work to do.
LB Jaheim Thomas - Princeton (Ohio)
The sophomore from Cincinnati picked up an early offer from Rutgers, to go along with others from Toledo and Bowling Green. Getting in early in these distant states looks to be a key strategy in RU’s long-term recruiting plans.
“Coach (AJ) Blazek is the one who offered me,” Thomas said. “It means the world to me because it means that all my hard work is paying off and I love that they are in the Big Ten.”
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Thomas said he is hearing the most from some schools that have yet to offer, which includes Indiana, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Penn State, Kentucky and Clemson.
WR Charles Njoku – Wayne Hills (N.J.)
Rutgers continues to fare well with Njoku in the early going and factoring into that progress is the fact that his teammate Jaaron Hayek is already committed to Rutgers. That puts one more recruiter in RU’s corner.
“Jaaron is one of my closest friends on the team,” Njoku said. “He’s been telling me Rutgers is a great school, a hardworking school.”
OL Reggie Sutton - Calvert Hall (Md.)
The Rutgers commit held off his signing day ceremony until the actual national signing day because he wanted to share the monumental moment with his whole family.
“It was really great, I have been working so hard for this past four years, so it was a great experience for me,” Sutton said. “My sister was in Korea, so I wanted to wait for her to come to my signing day. So I kept a lot of stuff quiet and did not say much publicly until that was done.”
Rutgers Weekend Matchups
Wrestling
The Rutgers wrestling team will wrap up its dual meet itinerary this weekend, with a Friday night contest against Wisconsin followed by a Sunday afternoon tussle at Princeton. Wisconsin currently holds a 7-3 record and a No.18 ranking. Meanwhile, Rutgers is ranked No.21 and is 6-7 on the year. The Scarlet Knights need to win both duals to avoid the first sub .500 season of Scott Goodale’s coaching tenure.
Hoops
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a thrilling overtime win over Northwestern and will face Maryland on the road Saturday night with an 8 p.m. start time. Maryland is 17-11 on the season, but holds a 14-2 record at home. Rutgers is 13-15 on the season and has not won a game in seven tries on the road. The Scarlet Knights have just three more regular season games remaining.
Lacrosse
No. 11 Rutgers will visit No.13 Army this weekend in what is expected to be a very tight matchup. The weekly lacrosse polls often have a good deal of fluctuation, as a loss could boost Rutgers up quite a few spots while a loss could drop them out of the rankings altogether. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Rutgers.
Jarrett Paul on maintaining his weight to play cornerback at Rutgers:
“They told me to stay right where I am now. They also told me now it is all about the mental and getting the playbook down and all that stuff.
Irvington head coach Ashley “Smoke” Pierre on producing more FBS recruits:
“We want to make sure these guys do the right thing when nobody else is looking. We want to keep them improving academically and keep grinding athletically. We want to make sure the character pieces are there, so they can lead the younger guys and do the right thing on and off the field.”
Fat Cat Top Five
Top Five RU Spring Position Battles
5.) Defensive End
4.) SAM linebacker
3.) Left Guard
2.) Running Back
1.) Quarterback
Bobby’s Crystal Ball
Rutgers will start three St. Peter's Prep alums on opening day
Coach tidbits
Corey Brown, Rutgers new D-Line coach will be one of the coaches now recruiting South Jersey after the departures of Jafar Williams and Henry Baker. Current wide receivers coach Lester Erb will be covering a small part of South Jersey as well. It appears that Brown will cover Camden, Gloucester, Burlington and Salem Counties where schools like Timber Creek, Woodrow Wilson Camden High, Eastern, Glassboro, Winslow, Shawnee, Cherokee and Salem are all located.
Recruiting Tidbits
ATH Jordan White (West Orange - N.J.)
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound athlete has added offers from Kentucky and Buffalo while he is also generating interest from Syracuse, Temple, UConn, Pitt, Purdue, Minnesota and Maryland. Rutgers has also started to show interest and he will be on campus Feb 25th.
“I talk to Adam Caltury and Matt Hewitt. They tell me that they really like me and can't wait to get me down on campus to spend time there for junior day,” White said.
White recently transferred to West Orange from DePaul and is very close with West Orange grad and current Rutgers defensive end CJ Onyechi.
WR Marlyn Johnson - Peddie School (N.J.)
Johnson has emerged as one of the upper tier wide receiver targets for Rutgers. When news broke of Jafar Williams leaving as wide receivers coach, the staff reached right out to Johnson.
“Coach (AJ) Blazek, he called me right away when Coach (Jafar) Williams decided to go back to Maryland," Johnson said. "It doesn’t change the way I think of Rutgers because I still have a good relationship with all the other coaches. I talked to Coach (Lester) Erb, he’s a really good coach. Him going from running backs coach to the wide receivers coach, I just trust them in their decision-making.”
QB Jalon Jones - St. Frances (Md.)
Rutgers offensive coordinator John McNulty is eying up quarterback targets and some new offers have been going out. One of the latest went out to Jones, who has a reputable list of offers that includes Alabama, Mississippi State, Michigan State and a host of others.
“I picked up my offer from Coach (John) McNulty and Coach (Lester) Erb,” he said. “To get an offer from a former NFL coach who has had success both at the college and professional level is great.”
Jones is currently hearing the most from Ohio State, Clemson, Virginia, Florida and NC State. He plans to visit Ohio State this spring and also hopes to set up a visit to Rutgers. Florida appears to be the early favorite in this one, meaning the RU staff will have some work to do.
LB Jaheim Thomas - Princeton (Ohio)
The sophomore from Cincinnati picked up an early offer from Rutgers, to go along with others from Toledo and Bowling Green. Getting in early in these distant states looks to be a key strategy in RU’s long-term recruiting plans.
“Coach (AJ) Blazek is the one who offered me,” Thomas said. “It means the world to me because it means that all my hard work is paying off and I love that they are in the Big Ten.”
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Thomas said he is hearing the most from some schools that have yet to offer, which includes Indiana, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Penn State, Kentucky and Clemson.
WR Charles Njoku – Wayne Hills (N.J.)
Rutgers continues to fare well with Njoku in the early going and factoring into that progress is the fact that his teammate Jaaron Hayek is already committed to Rutgers. That puts one more recruiter in RU’s corner.
“Jaaron is one of my closest friends on the team,” Njoku said. “He’s been telling me Rutgers is a great school, a hardworking school.”
OL Reggie Sutton - Calvert Hall (Md.)
The Rutgers commit held off his signing day ceremony until the actual national signing day because he wanted to share the monumental moment with his whole family.
“It was really great, I have been working so hard for this past four years, so it was a great experience for me,” Sutton said. “My sister was in Korea, so I wanted to wait for her to come to my signing day. So I kept a lot of stuff quiet and did not say much publicly until that was done.”
Rutgers Weekend Matchups
Wrestling
The Rutgers wrestling team will wrap up its dual meet itinerary this weekend, with a Friday night contest against Wisconsin followed by a Sunday afternoon tussle at Princeton. Wisconsin currently holds a 7-3 record and a No.18 ranking. Meanwhile, Rutgers is ranked No.21 and is 6-7 on the year. The Scarlet Knights need to win both duals to avoid the first sub .500 season of Scott Goodale’s coaching tenure.
Hoops
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a thrilling overtime win over Northwestern and will face Maryland on the road Saturday night with an 8 p.m. start time. Maryland is 17-11 on the season, but holds a 14-2 record at home. Rutgers is 13-15 on the season and has not won a game in seven tries on the road. The Scarlet Knights have just three more regular season games remaining.
Lacrosse
No. 11 Rutgers will visit No.13 Army this weekend in what is expected to be a very tight matchup. The weekly lacrosse polls often have a good deal of fluctuation, as a loss could boost Rutgers up quite a few spots while a loss could drop them out of the rankings altogether. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Rutgers.
