On the Banks, a Rutgers Scarlet Knights community

For a moment there, it looked like the Rutgers football program was only going to finish off its 2011 recruiting class with two offensive linemen (a freshman tackle and JUCO center respectively). There's always the likely prospect of moving over a defensive line prospect, but no one had to be comfortable after Rutgers saw decommits from Marquis Lucas and highly-touted Josue Matias over the past week. Now there is a little more room for relief. Today Rutgers missed out on junior college tackle Fou Fonoti (who chose MSU), but topped Miami, Louisville, and North Carolina for Florida lineman Kaleb Johnson. For a while things were not looking good with Johnson's recruitment; schools like Miami were showing more interested, and his former high school teammate Casey Turner transferred to Florida A&M. Rutgers fans will savor another Greg Schiano recruiting victory over Al Golden, and have to be even happier about landing another offensive lineman. OL recruiting has been a bit of a sore spot over the past few years. Johnson, Keith Lumpkin, and possibly Marquis Wright should go a long way towards redressing that need in the future. None are likely to play in the near future (Hendrikson will be thrown into the fire from day one), but this position group more than any will be vital to the team's success in two-to-four years.

Paramus Catholic DT Marquise Wright was expected to verbal to Rutgers tomorrow, but has changed course and instead gone public the night before signing day. A little positive momentum to help sway any prospects still on the fence (Lafayette Pitts, Delvon Simmons, Kaleb Johnson, and Fou Fonoti) would be nice. Wright had a productive senior season, is highly-rated and has a lot of offers, and Rutgers doesn't have a lot returning up front. On the other hand, Rutgers did not initially offer Wright, not getting involved in his recruitment until several weeks ago. Many similar DTs have not panned out here, as Greg Schiano's defenses usually emphasize speed, agility, and athleticism even for interior linemen. Taking that into account, and the team's need for offensive linemen in the recruiting class (having only Keith Lumpkin and JUCO Dallas Hendrikson on board), Wright would make a lot of sense moving to guard. Good defensive tackles are hard to find, but one reason that is the case is because they have an extremely high bust rate. Switching defensive linemen to offense is fairly common (read up on Jimmy Johnson's Miami teams some time), and that seems like a reasonable assumption here.