I hesitate to make an official barometer for recruiting, but I wanted to at least sketch a rough idea of what to expect moving forward.
- Rutgers has, by my count, 12 seniors on scholarship who are certain to exhaust their eligibility next season (barring injury). There are several redshirt juniors who might not be asked back, but it's honestly too early to say at this point with any of them. Certainly some won't return for a fifth year. At this point, I can see most of them at least having a shot to see playing time. I don't know whether walk-ons like Billy Anderson and DePaola are on ship or not, or whether any ships are being saved for contingencies.
- I'm really impatient, so I probably miscounted.
- Factoring in that, the inevitable transfers/injuries/etc..., and the non-zero possibility of one certain player declaring early, my early ballpark figure for the number of available scholarships would be around 15.
That's actually more than I had expected. Those numbers always, without fail, tend to rise. Meaning that it may end up closer to 20. - On the other hand, Rutgers has continually found room the past few years, and eventually may take a smaller class. Specifically, because
- At this moment, the New Jersey Class of 2010 does not appear to be as good as the Class of 2009. However, this situation is fluid and more offers are going out every day. At this moment, I haven't analyzed exactly what RU needs in this class, but I'm already thinking 2 RBs and 4-5 OL. "Needs" of course are for long-term depth.
- I wouldn't worry too much about offers at this point. The spring evaluation period lasts until May 31st. Offers are going out daily. The RU staff usually brings in linemen for a look in mid June, and holds its main camp in late June. This is also prime Combine season. More offers are certainly going out, especially when the players make it to campus and the staff can see them in person.
- Likewise, don't sweat early commits, or worry about last year (decommits aren't particularly novel, and it all worked out in the end). Tom Savage was on board early, and he was the first domino for the class. RU isn't in the position to get many Tom Savages to begin with yet, and only the top programs can typically bring in elite QBs every year.
- Yeah, it looks like Penn State is going to have a huge year in the East, you might as well make peace with it now. There's zero cause for alarm at this point, and we can only be concerned with the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers didn't start getting a flood of commits last year until June, and that was the first time it had happened so early. It looked like the class was filling up, and players accelerated their timetables. We're fine, if not in good shape again.
- Positions aren't set in stone for most prospects. 90%+ of fans haven't seen any of them in person. At this point, I can only guess where certain players will end up. Positional assignments may be dictated by other signees or roster needs.
- With Brian Jenkins on staff, Rutgers is sending out more early offers in South Florida again (with somewhat more emphasis on Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville than in the past). We don't have a realistic chance at the bigger names, so I'd like to see more mid-levels offers go out in time (they probably have, it takes a while to learn about them). Emanuel and Trivers are likewise trying to make inroads in Maryland, and the staff seems to be at least dipping its toe in the water in Western PA. All of those are worth monitoring going forward.
I'll look at specific positional needs later in the week. I'm also working on other things that still aren't close to being ready.