Isaac Holmes turned down an opportunity to visit Nebraska last weekend, and ended up deciding to stay home at Rutgers.
Welcome, Hackensack LB Junior Solice. He was held back in 2008 by a foot injury.
Our biggest recruiting asset this year? Tom Savage, who's personally lobbying receiver Justin Brown to team with him at Rutgers. Just put him on the staff already.
""He's made an invaluable contribution to the football program because he has kept this class together,'' said Farrell, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. ""If anyone beyond this coaching staff has kept it together, it's Tom Savage. He's done everything he could. He's been on the phone and text-messaging with these kids constantly. If he de-committed at the time when the others did, this thing would've fallen apart and I don't think it would've been repairable.
Other article highlights: Savage has been in the fold since the start of his junior year, he's coming to campus on May 26th, and unnamed teams (i.e., Tennessee) tried to change his mind. Now, for one final feat of wonder, The Amazing Savagieri needs to bring his Cardinal O'Hara teammate Corey Brown to the Banks next year.
Rutgers apparently is getting back involved with former decommit Malcolm Bush.
Rutgers has gotten involved with tight end Malcolm Bush, who had his scholarship offer to North Carolina pulled and made an official visit to Syracuse last weekend.
After his visit, Bush named Rutgers as one of four finalists.
Miami beatwriter Manny Navarro is conceding Andrew Tiller to Syracuse. A bit more from Donnie Webb:
Tiller has long been considered (by me, anyway) as a Syracuse lean. A weekend trip to Miami probably clouded the situation. That's going to happen in recruiting, especially this time of year. At the end of the day, Syracuse is the team to beat. I know some of you have been asking me why, and I'll just say the opinion is based on someone close to Tiller.
Two can play the speculation game, is his source John Anselmo? That note at the end about Civil having second thoughts was completely contradicted by a recent story on Rivals, FWIW.
The other visitors this weekend were Andrew Opuku, Dillon Romain, Robert Lisowski, and Kyle Sullivan. There was nothing about Matt Carter.
Tom Luicci details the rising trend of decommitments nationwide, while Keith Sargeant queries Chris Melvin.
Please bear with me on the 2010 stuff: I've tried to stay on top of it the best that I can, but it's been on the backburner as signing day approaches. Dakota Royer (2010) seems to have a written offer now.
Joe Brennan appears to be the second 2010 QB to land an offer, and sounds very high on Rutgers. Penn State is probably out of the picture given their recent verbal commitment from Pittsburgh QB Paul Jones. Given previous reports about another South Jersey QB in Brandon Hill, it'll be curious to see which quarterback chooses Rutgers. Typically, QBs commit earlier than other positions, and you don't really want to take more than one in a class. There were reports of others coming to Junior Day recently, so there's your first big question about 2010.
Another new offer is Philadelphia lineman Sharrif Floyd. Interesting comment from this UCLA blog, given that the beatwriter is actually a Rutgers alum:
What advice would you give to Sharrif Floyd, the Pennsylvania defensive lineman just offered by both UCLA and Rutgers?
I would tell him not to listen to any alums from a school, and to keep communication strong with his family, so he can make the best decision for him, and not for a football program.
Another 2010 offer is out, to Florida receiver Chris Dunkley. I also did not have DE Lynden Trail on the board until recently, but he has an offer too.
Adam Zagoria of SNY recently sat down with Andre Civil for a video interview. Here's another good find on Civil, who's now on campus.
Big and bad, but humble, there probably wasn’t a better run-stuffing defensive lineman anywhere in the city. He’ll be taking his man-sized game to Rutgers next year.
That's not all, there's also a blurb about 2010 lineman Dominique Easley (who Rivals just reported picked up a SU offer).
We can see it now – Easley celebrating at Midwood Athletic Complex, hugging everyone and anyone he can find. He just had four sacks, scored two rushing touchdowns and forced two fumbles. So far-fetched? We thought not. If not for his injury, the Warriors’ season wouldn’t be known for that catastrophic loss to No. 15 Beach Channel, but perhaps for a second consecutive city championship. The man-child of a defensive end is that good.
Mohamed Sanu is on campus, and ready to make an impact this spring.
Antwan Lowery was named to the Florida 6A All-State team.
Zagoria also spoke with Brooklyn fullback Robert Joseph.
Terrance Casper was at Junior Day, but is still waiting for an offer.
No offer yet, but a staff member was recently in to see 2010 Florida athlete James Louis.
It was always a bit curious why there seemed to be mutual disinterest between Rutgers and Irvington athlete Josh Evans. A post on Rivals the other day suggested that Evans may have been upset that a package deal that would have brought his older brother to campus five years ago fell apart. (Rivals also lists him as a potential academic casualty.) A quick glance at that year's class indicates that the other party was probably Nhemie Theodore. Glen Mason always was a bastard on the recruiting trail, and he's still hurting us from beyond the coaching grave!
Bruce Feldman on why recruits don't always pan out.