to be the LBs coach. Good lord. Smith is certainly qualified, and I get that Schiano wants to reward his friends and loyal former staffers, but this is ridiculous. You're telling me he couldn't have found someone else who was qualified for the job? Bob Fraser is a great LB coach, so I don't even see what's the point in the first place. Stay tuned - I'm going to do a survey later tonight to see who might be a realistic option, besides an internal hire. (Pure speculation - Dave Cohen has DC experience, and one rumor has been that Dave Brock was trying to hire him at Delaware.)

In a year where Rutgers has a lot of NFL prospects, a lot of snubs are inevitable. The following players were invited: RB Jawan Jamison WR Mark Harrison TE D.C. Jefferson LB Khaseem Greene LB Steve Beauharnais CB Logan Ryan Players notably missing include: RT R.J. Dill DE Ka'Lial Glaud DT Scott Vallone CB Brandon Jones S Duron Harmon Dill, Vallone, and Jones are fringy prospects probably in the late day three range, but Harmon could be late day two/early day three, so his snubbing is a big surprise. Seeing all this NFL talent only makes coming short in 2012 that more upsetting, even if we know that guys like Harrison and Jefferson were mainly invited due to their physical measurables.

According to Coahing Search, Ron Prince interviewed for the vacant OC position. Ron Prince?!!! You have got to be kidding me. With the upcoming move to the Big 10, surely we can do better. Has anyone heard of who else has interviewed?

The missing piece for RU the past two years has been a wing that could make the opponents pay from beyond the arc. Hopefully Rutgers has found that in the 6'5" Craig Brown. In his freshman season, Brown averaged 20 points a game and shot nearly 40% from beyond the arc. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining starting next year. Brown joins Shane Rector as a part of this recruiting class. Rutgers has 1 more scholarship to give and is hot on the trail of guard Jon Severe and F Demetrius Henry.

More details still have to come out, but this sure is a strange situation. Brooklyn JUCO lineman Ali Kassem issued a public verbal commitment to Rutgers today, only to switch to NC State several hours later. Personally, I was lukewarm on Kassem. I thought he was a decent prospect, but only decent. I wanted Rutgers to sign another high school offensive lineman in this class, not a JUCO, as they already had plenty of upperclassmen. Perhaps some more behind the scenes details will come out, but I don't really see this as making much of a difference either way regardless of what happens.

Craig Brown, a 6'5" JC shooting guard at Broward C.C. in Florida, committed today according to Matt Sugam. According to Rivals he had offers from Gonzaga and Auburn.

Talking Rutgers and St. John's with Norman from Rumble in the Garden. Touches on Jakarr Sampson, Eli Carter, Rutgers woes, Mike Rice and what St. John's will be doing for the rest of the season.

The Catholic 7 departees are still formally members of the Big East conference for contractual reasons - after all, they are not inclined to walk away from nearly $70 million dollars in the bank. But as Big East football fans know, the Catholic 7 are the most detestable, greedy, unethical bunch in all of college sports (which is really saying something), and their shameless capacity for inducing outrage knows no bounds. The latest cardinal sin is that the Catholic 7 are collaborating with Notre Dame, funneling ND inside information in its quest to leave the Big East conference early. The Catholic 7 working against the league's collective financial interests isn't exactly news, nor is their blind devotion to a Notre Dame program that surreptitiously abandoned them with zero qualms. To see those two phenomena converge really is a sight to behold however. Catholic 7 hypocrisy and greed destroyed the Big East, and it's still continuing to this day when they theoretically are already out the door.

From their current spot closer to downtown New Brunswick. The lede in the story is that Rutgers itself may get into the Grease Truck business, but I think the information about their new location is the bigger part, and should hopefully quell any fears about the ultimate fate of the trucks.

The team officially announced five incoming freshmen today - QB Chris Laviano, RB Dontae Ayres, LB Lester Liston, CB Nadir Barnwell, and CB Delon Stephenson. Barnwell and Stephenson should have good opportunities to see time next fall both because of talent and need, while Liston has a chance at the two deep. The other two will probably redshirt. One surprising name not on the list is punter Dean Crozier. He seemingly came out of nowhere a few weeks back, only to disappear just as fast due to eligibility issues. Honestly, it was a surprise that a 24-year old foreigner was eligible to begin with. So, that raises the question about whether the staff is comfortable with DiPaula next year or not.