Where is it harder to recruit??

[Gimmy]

We are back to building the fence around Jersey being crucial to our recruiting success. Do you think it's harder given lack of history and big time football to recruit to RU then a school like TCU or Baylor would against the big time schools in their area? Or the smaller FL schools against the big 3 and Georgia?

Just trying to gauge where people think the task here is vs other areas for non traditionally strong programs??

 

[RUich]

Looks like quite a job. :scream:

 

[ru109]

I think it's harder to recruit at Rutgers then most places for a number of reasons.

1. Very little college coverage in the local media. NJ is dominated by NY in the North and Phili in the south and both cities are pro sports towns first.

2. Very little tradition here. In other states kids grow up dreaming of player for the state school. I don't get that feeling in NJ. In places like Alabama you would be considered a traitor if you were a big time recruit and left to go to play for someone other then Auburn or Alabama.

3. The kids aren't afraid to leave. Maybe afraid is not the right word but I think a lot of kids would rather play for a "lesser" school like Baylor or TCU then to leave the state and play for a bigger name school but had to leave.

4. Rutgers itself isn't a huge selling point. You aren't going to me BMOC even if you are Ray Rice good. You're not going to have 100,000 people going crazy at every game. And you have a faculty that doesn't like the sports program and wants it disbanded.

I'm sure I missed some but for the reasons mentioned above I think Rutgers is one of the hardest places in the country to recruit at.

 

[bac2therac]

Baylor and TCU are starting to outrecruit Texas so I would easily say the answer is its harder here

 

[superfan01]

Easier at RU. Just need right coach.

 

[BoogieKnight]

Always harder to recruit up north. Especially in a heavy pro sports market like ours. College ball is king in the south.

 

[cRURah]

NJ HS talent pales in comparison to Texas and Florida in both quality and quantity.

 

[Ataylor1989x]

I always have thought, at least in terms of the power five, it's hardest to recruit at Purdue and Iowa State.....both programs not in hotbeds of football talent and both overshadowed by the success of neighboring schools.

 

[RU Diesel07110]

Our problems are lack of tradition and perception. What is the perception of ru football to the average cfb fan: not good/laughing stock. That's hard to overcome for 18 yr old top shelf recruit, who has offers from traditional FB schools and would prob have to defend a decision to pick ru over most FB schools. Throw in lack of tradition/history of losing to lower level teams and Ashe has his work cut out for him.
On the plus side ru is located in the metro area which could be a huge positive with NYC so close. Academics are top notch. Post graduate opps/pay scale in this area top most.
Ashe has a lot of selling to do but if he can get recruits to buy in maybe the floodgates open. He's young and seems to have confident personality.
Hopefully we end up with a statue od Ashe in front of the stadium-he would deserve it if he can turn ru around.

 

[RUJMM78]

NJ HS talent pales in comparison to Texas and Florida in both quality and quantity.

They are far bigger states with more athletes to recruit .For its size NJ has enough elite recruits to make Rutgers a consistent top 25 team.

 

[RUforlife]

Rutgers is the easiest place to recruit in the country. Every recruit worth a damn wants to come to Rutgers. The problem at Rutgers isn't how many four and five star recruits we will have in each class, it choosing the best of the best. Not every four and five star recruit is worthy of being a "Rutgers man".

 

[Unionst]

Win games, the players will come to play for an in-state B10 team. As fans we should not accept the laughingstock "image" as reality. RU has been in a bowl game 8 of the last 10 years.

 

[WhiteBus]

Always harder to recruit up north. Especially in a heavy pro sports market like ours. College ball is king in the south.

What???
Penn State, along with most of the other Big Ten schools have no problem getting NJ kids. Rutgers has no excuses. Hopefully Ash and company can erase the era of Flood's ways

 

[BoogieKnight]

What???
Penn State, along with most of the other Big Ten schools have no problem getting NJ kids. Rutgers has no excuses. Hopefully Ash and company can erase the era of Flood's ways

I thought the OP meant in general. NJ kids aren't the end all be all of high school/college football. Sure, PSU has a bunch of Jersey kids and a good amount of them haven't been the difference makers they were hyped up to be. I thought Geisicki would be a star and while it's early in his career and he's had some good moments, I believe the PSU fans were down on him at more than a few points during the season. Blacknall is a non-factor and is rumored to be unhappy out there. The best player PSU "stole" from Rutgers over the past couple of years is Barkley and he's a PA kid anyway.

My point is, a lot of these "Jersey kids" are all hype. Sure guys like Carroo, Hamilton, Peppers, Eli Apple, Gary, etc. turn out to be the real deal (or at least we think Gary will be) but those are the cream of the crop. For every 1 of those kids there are 3 Berkeley Hutchinsons, Savon Huggins and Saeed Blacknalls. The latter aren't necessarily bad players or non contributors but they just don't live up to their prep school hype.

 

[bac2therac]

Win games, the players will come to play for an in-state B10 team. As fans we should not accept the laughingstock "image" as reality. RU has been in a bowl game 8 of the last 10 years.

making bowls 8 of 10 years is irrelevant when almost all the bowls are minor. Making any of the top 12 bowls for once is real winning and you have to do it more than once. One appearance in the Champs Bowl where we choked a game away does not give warm fuzzies. RU is an afterthought because of too many 7-5 type seasons which no one on the national landscape cares about.

 

[lighty]

1. Very little college coverage in the local media. NJ is dominated by NY in the North and Phili in the south and both cities are pro sports towns first.

We all saw first hand what can happen if Rutgers wins. When we were entering the game against Louisville, RU got plenty of coverage in NYC media -- even got the guys on WFAN to come to the game.

And after we won, we got TONS of coverage for the game... even had the Empire State Building lit in RU colors.

If Rutgers could have a magical season again -- in the Big Ten -- I think it would change things for a line time. 2006 did a lot for the program and that was in a conference looked down by many. If RU has a year in which it's competing for the Big Ten title, recruits will notice because the NY media will be all over the story. When people say nobody cares about college football in this area they're wrong -- millions do care. Percentage wise its a far lower percentage than in many other areas, but numbers wise it's a huge number.

 

[RUbacker]

We

I think it's harder to recruit at Rutgers then most places for a number of reasons.

1. Very little college coverage in the local media. NJ is dominated by NY in the North and Phili in the south and both cities are pro sports towns first.

2. Very little tradition here. In other states kids grow up dreaming of player for the state school. I don't get that feeling in NJ. In places like Alabama you would be considered a traitor if you were a big time recruit and left to go to play for someone other then Auburn or Alabama.

3. The kids aren't afraid to leave. Maybe afraid is not the right word but I think a lot of kids would rather play for a "lesser" school like Baylor or TCU then to leave the state and play for a bigger name school but had to leave.

4. Rutgers itself isn't a huge selling point. You aren't going to me BMOC even if you are Ray Rice good. You're not going to have 100,000 people going crazy at every game. And you have a faculty that doesn't like the sports program and wants it disbanded.

I'm sure I missed some but for the reasons mentioned above I think Rutgers is one of the hardest places in the country to recruit at.

we are also fighting against the recruits parents and grandparents who probably grew up as fans of PSU , OSU and on and on and don't want their little Johnny going to a non "prestigious" football school.

 

[BoogieKnight]

We

we are also fighting against the recruits parents and grandparents who probably grew up as fans of PSU , OSU and on and on and don't want their little Johnny going to a non "prestigious" football school.

Ugh...so frustrating. I'm not saying you are wrong, you are 100% right, but when Greg got here it was more "let's develop a generation of local kids who only know RU as being a winning program (not Shea Era bad) and things will change. Well, we've done that and 2006 even showed what IS POSSIBLE here (no one pre-2006 would have thought even one season like that was possible) but now it's turned into having to win over the parents of kids who do think of RU as small time compared to regional foes (Michigan, OSU and PSU and ND). The goal posts keep getting moved and it sucks but that is what we are up against. But yes, the local (front running) media will care when we start out 9-0 again and play a top ranked opponent in our building.

 

[RUbacker]

Ugh...so frustrating. I'm not saying you are wrong, you are 100% right, but when Greg got here it was more "let's develop a generation of local kids who only know RU as being a winning program (not Shea Era bad) and things will change. Well, we've done that and 2006 even showed what IS POSSIBLE here (no one pre-2006 would have thought even one season like that was possible) but now it's turned into having to win over the parents of kids who do think of RU as small time compared to regional foes (Michigan, OSU and PSU and ND). The goal posts keep getting moved and it sucks but that is what we are up against. But yes, the local (front running) media will care when we start out 9-0 again and play a top ranked opponent in our building.

We were on our way under GS but the last few years pushed us back to almost square 1

 

[ruthetiger]

Harder to recruit new jersey. Our own home state.

 

[50 yd line RR]

NJ HS talent pales in comparison to Texas and Florida in both quality and quantity.

This is true but both Texas and Florida have multiple power 5 teams. Nj has one.Lack of state pride is a problem here.

 

[jonS]

I think it's easier to recruit for Rutgers but Rutgers must first win... Yes Rutgers doesn't have the tradition or the perception of big time but a successful season against the Big Ten east powers would greatly change the ability to recruit NJ. That's why I like Ashe and the coaching staff having a Big Ten midwest feel. They know what it takes to win consistently in the Big Ten and will broaden Rutgers recruiting territory and get the talent necessary to compete at the highest levels. Once that happens the top NJ talent will then focus on Rutgers. The mistake Flood and other past head coaches have made is to focus on NJ talent first and then broaden the recruiting area if they missed on the top talent. I think you need to win first and then the top NJ talent will follow.

 

[RUJMM78]

I think it's easier to recruit for Rutgers but Rutgers must first win... Yes Rutgers doesn't have the tradition or the perception of big time but a successful season against the Big Ten east powers would greatly change the ability to recruit NJ. That's why I like Ashe and the coaching staff having a Big Ten midwest feel. They know what it takes to win consistently in the Big Ten and will broaden Rutgers recruiting territory and get the talent necessary to compete at the highest levels. Once that happens the top NJ talent will then focus on Rutgers. The mistake Flood and other past head coaches have made is to focus on NJ talent first and then broaden the recruiting area if they missed on the top talent. I think you need to win first and then the top NJ talent will follow.

Rutgers needs top level talent and its far cheaper to concentrate in the NY/NJ/Philadelphia area.The notion Rutgers is going to attract elite talent from other parts of the country is wishful thinking because the elite schools in the South and Midwest will continue to cherry pick the best players.

 

[Machiavelli23]

I think it's harder to recruit at Rutgers then most places for a number of reasons.

1. Very little college coverage in the local media. NJ is dominated by NY in the North and Phili in the south and both cities are pro sports towns first.

2. Very little tradition here. In other states kids grow up dreaming of player for the state school. I don't get that feeling in NJ. In places like Alabama you would be considered a traitor if you were a big time recruit and left to go to play for someone other then Auburn or Alabama.

3. The kids aren't afraid to leave. Maybe afraid is not the right word but I think a lot of kids would rather play for a "lesser" school like Baylor or TCU then to leave the state and play for a bigger name school but had to leave.

4. Rutgers itself isn't a huge selling point. You aren't going to me BMOC even if you are Ray Rice good. You're not going to have 100,000 people going crazy at every game. And you have a faculty that doesn't like the sports program and wants it disbanded.

I'm sure I missed some but for the reasons mentioned above I think Rutgers is one of the hardest places in the country to recruit at.

Our biggest problem is that we don't win a lot of games against top competition. If we can do that, then recruiting becomes a lot easier because our area is a "show me first" type of mentality. That's why what Schiano did was amazing