Devin McCourty did not take Victor Cruz's scholarship

This myth is continually repeated over and over again, even though it is just plain not true. Rutgers was very interested in Victor Cruz to play defensive back, and ultimately decided to sign a defensive back out of St. Joseph's High School instead. However, the back in question was Ron Girault, not McCourty.

A quick glance at Rivals confirms this. Cruz was part of the class of 2004, as was Girault. What's happening is that Cruz's former coach at Paterson Catholic, Benjie Wimberly, is probably mixing up Girault and McCourty because they both played defensive back for the same high school. Girault was an excellent player for Rutgers after being thrown into a starting job as a true freshman. He doesn't make for quite as good of a story as McCourty does though. Devin actually signed with Rutgers a year later, in the class of 2005, and also committed two months before signing day. The actual story with McCourty is interesting in its own right, as he was hurt late in his high school career, and thus did not attract as much recruiting interest as his twin brother, Jason. Both were seen as very talented athletes but extremely raw, and Rutgers was impressed enough to go for the package deal.

As for Cruz, believe it or not, Rutgers did make the right call with him. Like with Miles Austin, RU can't be expected to hit with every small school prospect. It would have been nice if they saw his budding talent, but even the best staffs can't unearth everybody. Plus, don't forget the fact that Cruz prepped for a year, and then had to leave UMass twice. Cruz didn't do a thing at UMass before his junior year in 2008, which is a very long time. Who's to say he even sees the field for Rutgers that year behind the likes of the entrenched trio of Kenny Britt, Tiquan Underwood, and Tim Brown? So really, it is all for the best that Cruz had to take such a roundabout path to stardom with the New York Giants. No one is rooting harder for the guy now, but it really is time to set the record straight on this point. There's no story here.