Fat Cat Top Five
Top Five Breakout Candidates in Spring Practice
5.) Darian Dailey
4.) Hayden Rettig
3.) Isaiah Johnson
2.) Kevin Wilkins
1.) Kiy Hester
Bobby's Crystal Ball
Rutgers next commit will not come until the month of March
Recruiting Tidbits
ATH Jordan Fuller - Old Tappan
The offers continue to pour in for Fuller, whose most recent one came from Auburn. Yesterday, he made another visit to the Rutgers campus. He was joined by his mother and received a full tour of the campus while also spending time with the strength and conditioning team.
"The visit went very good . I met with the strength staff," Fuller said. "I know I am going to be working with them even more than the coaches if I wind up going there. I like all those guys, their nutrition plan was great."
Fuller said the visit boosted his opinion of Rutgers and he will visit Maryland today. Look for a full article on Fuller later in the day on Scarlet Nation.
QB Eddie Hahn - Red Bank Catholic
Although the focus seems to be on Dwayne Haskins and Jarrett Guarantano at the QB position in the class of 2016, Rutgers is keeping a close eye on Hahn, a potential offeree who picked up his first BCS offer from UConn recently.
"I talk to most of the offensive staff and Coach Rossi," said Hahn."I'm thinking it depends on Jarrett (Guarantano). Coach Rossi said they will know more once Coach McDaniels watches my film."
While most schools had Hahn pegged as an athlete prospect, his strong junior season has schools like UNC, Duke, Northwestern and Boston College giving him a closer look at QB. As of today, Syracuse, Northwestern and UNC are three schools that have confirmed to come watch him throw during the spring evaluation period.
OL Thomas Schaffer - Lake Forrest Academy (Ill.)
The 18-year old Schaffer is seeing his stock skyrocket after playing a couple of seasons following his move to the United States from his native Austria. He is now up to 14 offers and Rutgers recently moved in with an offer of its own. Schaffer is very high on Rutgers at this point, thanks in part to primary recruiter Norries Wilson.
"He seems like a really great guy," Schaffer said of Wilson. "I really enjoy talking to him. He messaged me earlier this week. We talked about if Rutgers was a school I was considering. I told him 'yes it is.' I definitely want to take a close look at it."
Schaffer is hopeful of becoming the seventh Austrian-born player to make it to the NFL . Three were kickers and the last Austrian born position player to play in the NFL was Andy Gross who spent the 1967 and 68 seasons with the New York Giants.
WR Taysir Mack - Grand Street Campus (N.Y.)
Mack's offer list still stands at three with ones from Rutgers, UConn and Syracuse. He maintains contact with head coach Kyke Flood and linebackers coach Bob Fraser, although there looks to be a few receivers ahead of him on RU's board right now. Mack confirmed that many schools want to see him at their camps before extending an offer. He claimed that adding weight and muscle is one of his biggest priorities this offseason . With RU expected to take two more receivers in the class of 2016, Mack may have to wait things out a bit or really impress on the camping circuit.
LB Elias Reynolds - Poly Prep (N.Y.)
Rutgers remains the lone offer for the New York linebacker, who continues to hold a high opinion of the Scarlet Knights.
"Rutgers treated me pretty well when I met with their coaches when I went up to their camp and again when I saw them play Indiana. They said they liked my work ethic and that is one of the reasons why they offered me," Reynolds said.
Reynolds is receiving a lot of interest from a variety of schools and plans to attend Rutgers' Junior Day on March 7th. Rutgers also has a walk-on commit from Poly Prep senior wide receiver Chris Parker.
On Campus in March
As we've alluded to this week, Rutgers is expected to have a number of top prospects on campus Saturday March 7th for its upcoming Junior Day. Invites have started to go out recently so the number of confirmations are low at this point, but class of 2016 targets Tino Ellis and Ellison Jordan of Maryland are a couple of the prospects expected to make the trip up I-95. NJ prospects like Kelvin Harmon and Ahmir Mitchell just to name a few, are likely attendees. This would be a forum for outspoken commits like Ted Field and Mo Jabbie to talk about why they chose the Scarlet Knights. Stay tuned for more confirmations as they roll in over the next couple of weeks.
New Jersey recruiting class of 2017
Although signing day 2015 just passed, it's never too soon to take an early look at four things to watch for in the class of 2017 in New Jersey.
1-Offensive Line
At this point, this is a position where most top prospects have emerged. St Peter's Prep's Ben Petrula and St. John's Vianney's Micah Clark are already holding multiple offers but guys like St Joseph Montvale's Rob Martin, Passaic Tech's Carter Warren and Bridgewater Raritan's Zach Miseo could join that club sooner rather than later. Martin's film against Paramus Catholic, where he was able to neutralize Rashan Gary and Eastern Michigan signee Kwanii Figueroa, will be enough to get him a few offers in itself.
2-Rutgers legacies
Piscataway RB/LB Elijah Barnwell and Metuchen TE/DE Devin Miller are going to follow in the footsteps of their older brothers in terms of being heavily recruited. Will they also follow their footsteps right down the road to Rutgers? Stay tuned.
3-Wide Receiver
While it doesn't seem like this group will receive the national accolades like the prospects in the class of 2016, guys like Elijah Singh of Don Bosco, Eddie Taylor from Mater Dei, Jahmin Muse of Elizabeth, Everett Wormley of Burlington Township and Marquise Bell of Bridgeton have already firmly placed themselves on the recruiting radar.
4-Who is the No.1 prospect?
In past years, guys like Jabrill Peppers, Minkah Fitzpatrick and now Rashan Gary cemented themselves as the top guy in Jersey around this time, if not sooner. At this point, no one has emerged in that same mold in the NJ 2017 class.
Eye on Rutgers
This week's Eye on Rutgers takes a turn to the coaching staff. With the slight changes in the Rutgers coaching staff, expect some movement in the recruiting territories going forward.
As always, expect the position coaches to also be involved in recruiting their respective position players. DL coach Jim Panagos is a frequent visitor to Paramus Catholic to check on DL Rashan Gary and LB coach Bob Fraser made multiple trips to California to bring in JuCo transfer Isaiah Johnson. With Ben McDaniels taking over as OC as well as QB coach, he'll likely take over all in-person evaluations of prospects at the QB position and share recruiting along with the respective area recruiter. McDaniels was recruiting in Connecticut, Ohio and Texas so we'll see if he'll have to cut back some of those responsibilities with the new title. McDaniels spilt Ohio and Texas with Ol coach Mitch Browning and WR coach Anthony Campanile respectively.
Finally back on the road, TE coach/ST coordinator Phil Galiano will give Rutgers some much needed juice in South Jersey. He's also been in contact with some prospects in the Philadelphia area like tight end target Naseir Upshur. Galiano has also recruited Delaware as the lead recruiter for Andre Patton before he left to join the Tampa Bay Bucs. With Coach Ralph Friedgen off the road after this past offseason , Galiano was the utility man for the Scarlet Knights. He visited prospects in New England, New York City, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida.
Last year, Rutgers had four coaches in New Jersey as defensive coordinator Joe Rossi and Campanile split North Jersey. Rossi and Fraser were in Central NJ and DB coach Darrell Wilson was in South Jersey.
Since becoming conference foes, Rutgers now has an even greater avenue to recruit the state of Maryland. Panagos has been a fixture down there as a graduate of the University of Maryland and Darrell Wilson has been the primary recruiter in the area since he joined the staff. As mentioned above, Galiano was also a fixture down there.
In the Midwest, Norries Wilson's ties to Illinois helped bring in Jack Shutack late in the process and he's responsible for bringing in walk-on Andre Hunt and George Behr from Minnesota.
In Florida, the trio of Norries Wilson (North), Panagos (Central) and Rossi (South) hold down the Sunshine State. Rossi just started recruiting the area last year and getting the commitment of Jawuan Harris late along with holding onto Jarius Adams was a good start in the talent laden area.
This post was edited on 2/20 4:12 AM by Bobby Deren
Top Five Breakout Candidates in Spring Practice
5.) Darian Dailey
4.) Hayden Rettig
3.) Isaiah Johnson
2.) Kevin Wilkins
1.) Kiy Hester
Bobby's Crystal Ball
Rutgers next commit will not come until the month of March
Recruiting Tidbits
ATH Jordan Fuller - Old Tappan
The offers continue to pour in for Fuller, whose most recent one came from Auburn. Yesterday, he made another visit to the Rutgers campus. He was joined by his mother and received a full tour of the campus while also spending time with the strength and conditioning team.
"The visit went very good . I met with the strength staff," Fuller said. "I know I am going to be working with them even more than the coaches if I wind up going there. I like all those guys, their nutrition plan was great."
Fuller said the visit boosted his opinion of Rutgers and he will visit Maryland today. Look for a full article on Fuller later in the day on Scarlet Nation.
QB Eddie Hahn - Red Bank Catholic
Although the focus seems to be on Dwayne Haskins and Jarrett Guarantano at the QB position in the class of 2016, Rutgers is keeping a close eye on Hahn, a potential offeree who picked up his first BCS offer from UConn recently.
"I talk to most of the offensive staff and Coach Rossi," said Hahn."I'm thinking it depends on Jarrett (Guarantano). Coach Rossi said they will know more once Coach McDaniels watches my film."
While most schools had Hahn pegged as an athlete prospect, his strong junior season has schools like UNC, Duke, Northwestern and Boston College giving him a closer look at QB. As of today, Syracuse, Northwestern and UNC are three schools that have confirmed to come watch him throw during the spring evaluation period.
OL Thomas Schaffer - Lake Forrest Academy (Ill.)
The 18-year old Schaffer is seeing his stock skyrocket after playing a couple of seasons following his move to the United States from his native Austria. He is now up to 14 offers and Rutgers recently moved in with an offer of its own. Schaffer is very high on Rutgers at this point, thanks in part to primary recruiter Norries Wilson.
"He seems like a really great guy," Schaffer said of Wilson. "I really enjoy talking to him. He messaged me earlier this week. We talked about if Rutgers was a school I was considering. I told him 'yes it is.' I definitely want to take a close look at it."
Schaffer is hopeful of becoming the seventh Austrian-born player to make it to the NFL . Three were kickers and the last Austrian born position player to play in the NFL was Andy Gross who spent the 1967 and 68 seasons with the New York Giants.
WR Taysir Mack - Grand Street Campus (N.Y.)
Mack's offer list still stands at three with ones from Rutgers, UConn and Syracuse. He maintains contact with head coach Kyke Flood and linebackers coach Bob Fraser, although there looks to be a few receivers ahead of him on RU's board right now. Mack confirmed that many schools want to see him at their camps before extending an offer. He claimed that adding weight and muscle is one of his biggest priorities this offseason . With RU expected to take two more receivers in the class of 2016, Mack may have to wait things out a bit or really impress on the camping circuit.
LB Elias Reynolds - Poly Prep (N.Y.)
Rutgers remains the lone offer for the New York linebacker, who continues to hold a high opinion of the Scarlet Knights.
"Rutgers treated me pretty well when I met with their coaches when I went up to their camp and again when I saw them play Indiana. They said they liked my work ethic and that is one of the reasons why they offered me," Reynolds said.
Reynolds is receiving a lot of interest from a variety of schools and plans to attend Rutgers' Junior Day on March 7th. Rutgers also has a walk-on commit from Poly Prep senior wide receiver Chris Parker.
On Campus in March
As we've alluded to this week, Rutgers is expected to have a number of top prospects on campus Saturday March 7th for its upcoming Junior Day. Invites have started to go out recently so the number of confirmations are low at this point, but class of 2016 targets Tino Ellis and Ellison Jordan of Maryland are a couple of the prospects expected to make the trip up I-95. NJ prospects like Kelvin Harmon and Ahmir Mitchell just to name a few, are likely attendees. This would be a forum for outspoken commits like Ted Field and Mo Jabbie to talk about why they chose the Scarlet Knights. Stay tuned for more confirmations as they roll in over the next couple of weeks.
New Jersey recruiting class of 2017
Although signing day 2015 just passed, it's never too soon to take an early look at four things to watch for in the class of 2017 in New Jersey.
1-Offensive Line
At this point, this is a position where most top prospects have emerged. St Peter's Prep's Ben Petrula and St. John's Vianney's Micah Clark are already holding multiple offers but guys like St Joseph Montvale's Rob Martin, Passaic Tech's Carter Warren and Bridgewater Raritan's Zach Miseo could join that club sooner rather than later. Martin's film against Paramus Catholic, where he was able to neutralize Rashan Gary and Eastern Michigan signee Kwanii Figueroa, will be enough to get him a few offers in itself.
2-Rutgers legacies
Piscataway RB/LB Elijah Barnwell and Metuchen TE/DE Devin Miller are going to follow in the footsteps of their older brothers in terms of being heavily recruited. Will they also follow their footsteps right down the road to Rutgers? Stay tuned.
3-Wide Receiver
While it doesn't seem like this group will receive the national accolades like the prospects in the class of 2016, guys like Elijah Singh of Don Bosco, Eddie Taylor from Mater Dei, Jahmin Muse of Elizabeth, Everett Wormley of Burlington Township and Marquise Bell of Bridgeton have already firmly placed themselves on the recruiting radar.
4-Who is the No.1 prospect?
In past years, guys like Jabrill Peppers, Minkah Fitzpatrick and now Rashan Gary cemented themselves as the top guy in Jersey around this time, if not sooner. At this point, no one has emerged in that same mold in the NJ 2017 class.
Eye on Rutgers
This week's Eye on Rutgers takes a turn to the coaching staff. With the slight changes in the Rutgers coaching staff, expect some movement in the recruiting territories going forward.
As always, expect the position coaches to also be involved in recruiting their respective position players. DL coach Jim Panagos is a frequent visitor to Paramus Catholic to check on DL Rashan Gary and LB coach Bob Fraser made multiple trips to California to bring in JuCo transfer Isaiah Johnson. With Ben McDaniels taking over as OC as well as QB coach, he'll likely take over all in-person evaluations of prospects at the QB position and share recruiting along with the respective area recruiter. McDaniels was recruiting in Connecticut, Ohio and Texas so we'll see if he'll have to cut back some of those responsibilities with the new title. McDaniels spilt Ohio and Texas with Ol coach Mitch Browning and WR coach Anthony Campanile respectively.
Finally back on the road, TE coach/ST coordinator Phil Galiano will give Rutgers some much needed juice in South Jersey. He's also been in contact with some prospects in the Philadelphia area like tight end target Naseir Upshur. Galiano has also recruited Delaware as the lead recruiter for Andre Patton before he left to join the Tampa Bay Bucs. With Coach Ralph Friedgen off the road after this past offseason , Galiano was the utility man for the Scarlet Knights. He visited prospects in New England, New York City, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida.
Last year, Rutgers had four coaches in New Jersey as defensive coordinator Joe Rossi and Campanile split North Jersey. Rossi and Fraser were in Central NJ and DB coach Darrell Wilson was in South Jersey.
Since becoming conference foes, Rutgers now has an even greater avenue to recruit the state of Maryland. Panagos has been a fixture down there as a graduate of the University of Maryland and Darrell Wilson has been the primary recruiter in the area since he joined the staff. As mentioned above, Galiano was also a fixture down there.
In the Midwest, Norries Wilson's ties to Illinois helped bring in Jack Shutack late in the process and he's responsible for bringing in walk-on Andre Hunt and George Behr from Minnesota.
In Florida, the trio of Norries Wilson (North), Panagos (Central) and Rossi (South) hold down the Sunshine State. Rossi just started recruiting the area last year and getting the commitment of Jawuan Harris late along with holding onto Jarius Adams was a good start in the talent laden area.
This post was edited on 2/20 4:12 AM by Bobby Deren
