Not one week ago today, it seemed as if nothing at all could go wrong for the Rutgers football program. The Knights were on a roll, dominating in their bowl game against an overmatched opponent, and being on the verge of a third top recruiting class in the past four years. Rutgers football was on a hot streak, and all suddenly came crashing down with the abrupt departure of Greg Schiano last Thursday. The pundits predicted an unmitigated disaster as a result of Schiano leaving so close to Signing Day, but that analysis failed on two levels.

The compressed recruiting calendar served to screen out potential opponents, with time short for contact and visits, and most top-level programs either full up or chasing bigger names. Even a wounded Rutgers is still the most attractive program for recruits in the northeast. There was that, and Tim Pernetti's single-minded focus on preserving the class with his coaching hire. Pernetti took abuse and ridicule far and wide for generating a supposedly uninspiring list, and for supposedly going cheap. True, his options were limited on short notice, as context dictated alacrity. However, Pernetti intentionally limited his pool of candidates by solely focusing on those who could keep the class intact. At least for today, his strategy comes off as warranted and justified, with a top 25 class secured, and what could have been a devastating crisis momentarily averted.

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It's no thanks to some recent hangup at works and internet issues, but signing day approaches, and there's quite a bit to discuss. Time to catch up.

Committed players:

Hooray! Quanzell Lambert is coming to Rutgers - for the engineering program, of course. Lambert is a great prospect, but given past trends, he will probably grow into a defensive lineman before long. Now Quanzilla is working on Hammer, and besides that, getting into Timber Creek's 2013 class is a very big deal.

Brandon Arcidiacono is Big 33-bound.

Uncommitted players:

So yeah: even though the content of Yuri Wright's Twitter feed isn't exactly breaking news, he's suddenly in trouble for it thanks to some negative attention from the internet. Wright won't be able to finish his last semester at Don Bosco as a result. Wright's recruitment as always weird in many, many respects. There's no way that anyone could really say what he would have ended up doing, but now Rutgers is certainly in a strong position with him should they choose to take his commit.

I think you do. Whatever issues there are with Wright, if there's one coach who can get to him on and off the field, it's Greg Schiano. If he chooses to roll the dice with Wright over a safe prospect like a Kye Morgan or a Jevon Tyree, then Rutgers fans have to trust his judgment. The program has earned that right, in passing on a few really bad apples, and redeeming some guys who were really at a crossroads in high school. Either Yuri gets with the program, and the rest of the Bosco crew get him in line, or he won't last long here. So there's that reason, and the importance of keeping up a strong connection with Bosco. The right call here is to dial Coach Toal, and see what he wants to do.

Long-rumored Rutgers commit OL Ryan Brodie will finally go public with his choice in a few days.

QB Devin Fuller visits Rutgers this weekend, with Arizona last on his list. Given how Fuller isn't a fit in the offense at all, you have to feel confident at this point that RU is still in it, especially if Rutgers can get some momentum with the rest of the remaining targets like Darius Hamilton.

'13 NJ DB Eli Woodard favors OSU.

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Timber Creek HS middle linebacker Quanzell Lambert just announced his commitment to Rutgers. The four star talent is a major coup for Schiano and company, as Rutgers has not had the best success in the past with South Jersey's elite prospects. Most of us in RU land thought that we would have no shot with Lambert earlier in the recruiting process. But, we made huge strides the past few weeks after his official visits.

Side note: Scarlet Nation and Scarlet Report have been killing it lately on the live recruit reporting.

Committed Players

'12 PA OT Chris Muller made all-state in PA.

'12 NJ WR Leonte Carroo is keeping a diary for the Bergen Record. Don't tweet recruits, but Carroo floated a good idea the other day. WIth Mohamed Sanu graduating, Rutgers fans will just have to tweak Sanu's chant a tad next year to "Carrrrrooooooo!"

Uncommitted Players

'12 NJ S/LB Elijah Shumate is finally wise to South Carolina's snake oil, but his choice may be Notre Dame instead of Rutgers. The idea of ND offering Shumate as a RB seems like an obvious ploy though. He will be announcing at the Army AA Bowl, which is of great interest to RU fans.

'12 NJ QB Devin Fuller is also keeping an online diary at the game practices.

In case you've been living in a bubble, '12 NJ DT Darius Hamilton is really, really good.

NJ LB Quanzell Lambert will announce today, with RU, Iowa, and Nebraska as his final three. Very good player, and Rutgers needs more LBs. However, with his size, Lambert could be another LB that grows into a DE here, so he is not necessarily a must have. Still would be great to sign him though.

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Committed Players

Blake Rankin is still feeling good about Rutgers.

Plenty of North Jersey skeptics have been talking up Khalif Herbin or Eli Hughes at various points. They're good players, but Rutgers doesn't run a Kirk Ciarrocca or Rich Rodriguez offense. They can't take a million slot receiver types. Delon Stephenson got the nod over those two, and he's no slouch himself. This isn't your father's Rutgers. Every year, there will be legit in-state DI prospects who won't get scholarships. Delon and Carlton Agudosi had strong senior seasons.

Desmon Peoples conceivably could play a few different positions, and he's been playing well too. In fact, Urban Meyer took a brief respite from poaching every Penn State commit to see if Peoples was solid to Rutgers. Really? Peoples is a good prospect, but Ohio State is loaded at RB, WR, and CB, and the Big Ten doesn't allow oversigning. Shouldn't Meyer be stalking Kyle Kalis (a former OSU OL commit who switched to Michigan after Tressel's firing) or something, instead?

Chris Muller is an Army All-American. He has a special message for Penn State (FYI, Rivals says the assistant recruiting him was Mike McQueary, who barely ranks below Glenn Foley in the Rutgers hate pantheon.)

"Schools bash Rutgers all the time because of the conference they play in and I take offense to it," said Muller who said at least two major programs are still recruiting him weekly. "I don't know if Rutgers will stay or leave the Big East, I can't predict that but I don't like it when schools tell me I made a bad decision. That was another thing that upset me about Penn State, they bashed Rutgers pretty good. I respect schools that focus on their own strengths and sell their own program, but I still tell everyone respectfully that I take pride in my decision to play at Rutgers and I'm sticking to it."

Uncommitted Players

Rutgers is a finalist for NJ QB Devin Fuller. You have to think he must like RU if he's still keeping them in the mix as a mobile QB. J.C. Shurburtt thinks RU signs Fuller and NJ DT Darius Hamilton, but not NJ CB Yuri Wright.

With Hamilton, Urban just needs to keep his greedy paws away. Make like Oklahoma and go home. Don Bosco's big four of Hamilton, Wright, Leonto Carroo, and LB/S Elijah Shumate are all Army AAs. Hamilton is the Star-Ledger's Defensive Player of the Year. Speaking of Bosco, Fordham was reportedly looking at hiring Greg Toal, but now the odds are against it.

So, NJ OT Ryan Brodie, any plans on deciding soon?

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This match-up is part of the Big East/SEC Challenge as the LSU Tigers come to the RAC. These two teams are both 4-3, and the match-up is pretty even. Rutgers will have to deal with a big front line and some seniors who have been clutch down the stretch.

What does RU have to do to win? Find out after the jump...

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Committed Players

Oh no! Blake Rankin is injured! He was having a great season too.

Carlton Agudosi is a big play threat.

Uncommitted Players

What's going on with NJ OL Ryan Brodie?

NJ QB Devin Fuller is going to the Army AA Bowl.

'13 NJ DL Alquadin Muhammad is following on the heels of Darius Hamilton at Don Bosco.

NJ S Elijah Shumate visited South Carolina a few weeks back.

Haven't heard much from NY S Wayne Morgan in a while.

NJ CB Yuri Wright is interested in Ohio State under Urban Meyer. What, the hundreds of Michigan fans committing secondary violations by tweeting him weren't convincing?

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Committed Players

Mike Giacone and St. Peter's beat Boston College High.

Blake Rankin wants to play right away. Knowing the past few years...

Don Bosco and Leonte Carroo blew out St. Edward's from Ohio.

Carlton Agudosi and Franklin beat up on Montgomery.

Davon Jacobs sat out a game against Wayne Valley.

Steve Longa sat out Saddle Brook's game against St. Mary's.

Desmon Peoples is back playing though.

Ruhann Peele and Linden tore up Watchung Hills.

Delon Stephenson is an all-purpose weapon for Sayreville.

Uncommitted Players

NJ ATH Devin Fuller will take an unofficial to RU this weekend.

NJ LB Quanzell Lambert visited Northwestern last week, and has Iowa on tap.

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