Offensive line
Keith Lumpkin (Keep in mind he is/was widely considered an NFL prospect. Prototypical size. Multi-year starter)
Dorian Miller (a four star prospect on multiple other sites. Multiple P5 offers).
Derrick Nelson (minimal experience, but a fourth year player. Multiple P5 offers)
Chris Muller (high 4 star)
JJ Denman (consensus 4 star. Crazy offer list)
Defensive Front Seven
Hamilton (Rivals 5 star ok, so he's not 100% and this was his first game back)
Mera (Rivals 4 star)
JPO (experienced player. High 3 star, nice offers)
Lambert (Rivals 4 star, great offers. You wanna argue he's out of position, hasn't quite panned out? Fine. Every program has players that don't turn out to be studs. But those players often still make solid contributions and develop)
Nash (don't even know how much he's seeing the field at this point? ESPN 4 star. Rivals high 3 star. Very good athlete)
Longa (long-considered a good athlete with high potential. Great freshman season. ESPN 4 star)
Kaiwan Lewis (Rivals high 3 star. Great offers. Yes, a transfer which may signal he wasn't quite panning out as a stud)
Gause (highly experienced senior. received decent recruiting attention, high 3 star. High character guy that should be a plus)
Turay (won't link as we know he was 2 stars. But a physical freak that has received many accolades for his potential. Yes, not 100% right now)
The main points here being, in addition to this being a highly recruited and/or highly thought of group, they are all either highly experienced players, or they each at the very least have been in the program several years. No freshman or redshirt freshman in this group. You wanna argue, as I noted in a couple places, that well maybe despite their ratings that some of these players ended up at Rutgers because they really weren't that great? That some just aren't panning out very well? That some are out of position? Transfers/injuries? Guess what, every program has all of those factors in play for all of their recruits. No, methinks it's not primarily a talent issue. Methinks it's something else...or perhaps a whole bunch of other things.
Keith Lumpkin (Keep in mind he is/was widely considered an NFL prospect. Prototypical size. Multi-year starter)
Dorian Miller (a four star prospect on multiple other sites. Multiple P5 offers).
Derrick Nelson (minimal experience, but a fourth year player. Multiple P5 offers)
Chris Muller (high 4 star)
JJ Denman (consensus 4 star. Crazy offer list)
Defensive Front Seven
Hamilton (Rivals 5 star ok, so he's not 100% and this was his first game back)
Mera (Rivals 4 star)
JPO (experienced player. High 3 star, nice offers)
Lambert (Rivals 4 star, great offers. You wanna argue he's out of position, hasn't quite panned out? Fine. Every program has players that don't turn out to be studs. But those players often still make solid contributions and develop)
Nash (don't even know how much he's seeing the field at this point? ESPN 4 star. Rivals high 3 star. Very good athlete)
Longa (long-considered a good athlete with high potential. Great freshman season. ESPN 4 star)
Kaiwan Lewis (Rivals high 3 star. Great offers. Yes, a transfer which may signal he wasn't quite panning out as a stud)
Gause (highly experienced senior. received decent recruiting attention, high 3 star. High character guy that should be a plus)
Turay (won't link as we know he was 2 stars. But a physical freak that has received many accolades for his potential. Yes, not 100% right now)
The main points here being, in addition to this being a highly recruited and/or highly thought of group, they are all either highly experienced players, or they each at the very least have been in the program several years. No freshman or redshirt freshman in this group. You wanna argue, as I noted in a couple places, that well maybe despite their ratings that some of these players ended up at Rutgers because they really weren't that great? That some just aren't panning out very well? That some are out of position? Transfers/injuries? Guess what, every program has all of those factors in play for all of their recruits. No, methinks it's not primarily a talent issue. Methinks it's something else...or perhaps a whole bunch of other things.
