NJ Recruiting

[Eagleton96]

Was looking at the football offer list and I was surprised at how few of the recruits were from NJ. It's just an impression, but it seems less than even a few years ago.

I know we didn't always land all of our targets from NJ, but seemed like the offers at least went out.

Anyone have any insight? Are we recruiting over them? Are we not making offers because the top NJ kids aren't interested? Or maybe it's always been this way? Maybe just a down year in NJ?

We all know that the academic reputation of Rutgers gets better the farther away from NJ you get. Wondering if something similar is happening here.

 

[Mr_Twister]

This is a Show Me the Money era.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Was looking at the football offer list and I was surprised at how few of the recruits were from NJ. It's just an impression, but it seems less than even a few years ago.

I know we didn't always land all of our targets from NJ, but seemed like the offers at least went out.

Anyone have any insight? Are we recruiting over them? Are we not making offers because the top NJ kids aren't interested? Or maybe it's always been this way? Maybe just a down year in NJ?

We all know that the academic reputation of Rutgers gets better the farther away from NJ you get. Wondering if something similar is happening here.

The quality of players coming out of NJ in the last few years is not the same as it once was 15 or 20 years ago. There is something different about NJ players of today. IMO, they are front-runners who want the world while not being able to produce according to their ranking.

 

[chase_NJ]

The 2026 NJ class is weak (relatively speaking). You go where the talent is.

 

[DJ Spanky]

The quality of players coming out of NJ in the last few years is not the same as it once was 15 or 20 years ago.

The 2026 NJ class is weak (relatively speaking).

The above, plus we've moved to a more national footprint. If you've noticed we have been pulling more recruits from the Midwest and the Southeast.

 

[satnom]

The quality of players coming out of NJ in the last few years is not the same as it once was 15 or 20 years ago. There is something different about NJ players of today. IMO, they are front-runners who want the world while not being able to produce according to their ranking.

Attitudes no different than years from the past.

GO RU

 

[MADHAT1]

The above, plus we've moved to a more national footprint. If you've noticed we have been pulling more recruits from the Midwest and the Southeast.

When RU was in the BE it's recruiting ground basically was in the East and Florida ( Schiano's connections)
After joining the B1G recruiting area expanded to the Midwest and some were recruited in southern states because of being in the B1G.
Now with West Coast programs in the B1G recruiting there will be easier.
Rutgers now is recruiting talent all across the nation, but the recruiting is still stronger in the areas it plays , like the east and midwest and Florida where Greg still can bring in the talent to RU.

 

[Eagleton96]

The above, plus we've moved to a more national footprint. If you've noticed we have been pulling more recruits from the Midwest and the Southeast.

I've definitely noticed it. But still the small number of offers to NJ kids was striking.

I did a little counting. This year we have 14 offers out to NJ kids. Last year we had 11 COMMITS from NJ kids with 27 NJ offers.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Attitudes no different than years from the past.

GO RU

I got out of coaching because the attitudes of the players and parents are self-centered. Too much influence by what they see. These are HS kids looking for an opportunity, but most think they have arrived already.

 

[yesrutgers01]

I got out of coaching because the attitudes of the players and parents are self-centered. Too much influence by what they see. These are HS kids looking for an opportunity, but most think they have arrived already.

I am so glad that in 2004, my wife and I were blissfully ignorant of the recruiting process. We would often wonder why his HS Coach was so stressed out about it. lol

 

[jakeknight]

Georgia is similar to Fla. in terms of talent, Jersey has a far smaller talent pool, in NJ we need to overcome past perceptions, and familiarity, plus the local media outlets often hurt rather than help RU. We have a much better national rep than we do in NJ.
Jersey every year probably produces 3-6 can’t miss player with another 6-10 with a major offer lists. Fla, Ga. and Carolina’s to a more limited extent produce multiples of the NJ numbers.
Plus the Big and the SEC have a dominant growing National rep. In

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

It's the proverbial there are others higher up the list, if they miss on those then more offers will go out. That doesn't mean that the staff isn't recruiting various NJ kids. It may be a case of that they are doing well with others that have graded out higher.

 

[jakeknight]

Recently Jersey top ranked kids have pretty much underperformed their ranking at the collegiate level for the most part, plus as noted above everybody is chasing NIL, so now you have money and ego involved. if you are going to spend dollars you better be damn sure you are buying performance, its so much easier to grade players who have already played collegiately for 3-4 yrs. Plus you need to reward current players on your two deep to insure they remain, Schiano has done a great job with this difficult balancing with developed players and portal additions and incoming recruits

 

[rutgersal]

Every prospective Jersey recruit has been vetted extensively and if they are not a fit, they won’t be offered. There is a level of effort and consequently cost required for every offer sent out, and we are more judicious with whom we offer.

if they are a fit, they will be prioritized accordingly. So a kid who isn’t offered now, might be offered later. Schiano has recruiting down to a science, and our recruiting operation is a well honed machine, which is benefiting from his years of institutional knowledge. I’d say it’s probably his biggest strength.

 

[Eagleton96]

I can see a lot of reasons for why an emphasis on NJ could go down. Obviously it makes some sense that with player salaries out in the open the role of sentimentality and state pride in making a choice is lessened. That goes for NJ kids, but also kids around the country that we are offering.

But maybe it's just a blip. Will be interesting to watch.