You can't blame Danny Foose and Jake Kaufman for taking a trip down to Florida together. It would be great to land those two as a package deal this year.
A couple of the bigger linemen besides Nix included Jacksonville, First Coast defensive tackle Tavaris Barnes, Paramus, N.J., Paramus Catholic offensive tackle Dan Foose and Jersey City, N.J., St. Peter's Prep offensive tackle Jake Kaufman. Kaufman said he's heading directly to Miami for an official visit after Monday's session.
Jarrett Darmstatter is setting a timeline for his decision.
Darmstatter is targeting September as month in which he will make his decision."I’ll narrow everything down by the end of the summer," he explained. "Then I’ll probably make my decision right at the beginning of the season."
New offer: Delaware CB C.J. Jones.
"I’ve got offers from Duke, Louisville, NC State, East Carolina, Rutgers, Boston College, Delaware and Temple," he said. "Rutgers and Boston College are new. Rutgers is my most recent in the last two or three weeks and then Boston College I’d say was four weeks ago.
Thanks to nik12 for the link to ESPN's Arthur Doakes video. He also found an interview with Tejay Johnson from the Press of Atlantic City.
Shakim Phillips is one of the few prospects that hasn't given any indication yet as to where he's leaning. That will soon change when he decides where to visit.
"We’re doing that Monday. Me and my coaches are going to sit down and decide where we’re going," Phillips said.
"I’m going to Pittsburgh, Boston College, Maryland, West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. Those are the schools I know off the top of my head I’m going to see.
"We’re gonna do all this in the next couple of weeks or so. Then I’ll start to narrow it down."
The Chicago Tribune asks: is it overkill to rate middle schoolers? One of the companies mentioned is based in NJ. As if on cue, the Ledger follows up with a story on eighth graders and high school freshmen. Malik Bush? Good name to know for down the road I guess.
Sal Conaboy was recently on campus.
"Once I try and visit as many schools as I can I’ll sit down and narrow it down a little more. I’ll probably narrow it down to five and then go from there. I’ll most likely take some officials unless I go ahead and commit. I wish I could narrow it down some, but I really can’t."
"All I can say is the schools I’ve visited so far have all been great. The last place I went was Rutgers, I think about two weeks ago, maybe a little more."
Readers for some reason (the novelty of a five star player from Texas with interest?) everyone here always seem to love clicking on Jackson Jeffcoat stories, so here's another.
New Mustafa Green update doesn't really say anything. Same site also has a blurb on Shane Johnson. The Baltimore Sun spoke with Tyrek Cheeseboro.
The Miami Herald HS Sports blog is a good source for info on Rutgers targets in Southern Florida.
There are a couple new offers to get too. I briefly mentioned Dionte Ponder last week; here's some more-solid info on him.
Trinity Catholic's Dionte Ponder (5-10, 170) added Rutgers, Indiana and Cincinnati to a list that already included Duke, Iowa, Vanderbilt and UCF.
Ponder has indicated he may be close to a decision. Duke, which was the first Division I school to offer him, is thought to be the leader.
Other new offers: Safety Lorenzo Waters out of powerhouse DeMatha High in Maryland (home of Ari Kouandjio and Shane Johnson, and several other legit prospects that RU hasn't offered), and QB/athlete Eddie Sullivan, CB Devont'a Davis, lineman Brandon Wilkinson, and safety Desmond Cooper out of Florida. I've added them to the board, and subsequently cleaned up a few other entries.
Maryland receiver E.J. Scott had Rutgers in his top 3, but committed to Virginia (along with Bosco LB Ryan Cobb, who didn't have a RU offer). Canadian receiver Stephen Alli just received his Rutgers offer, but committed to Florida. Oregon RB commit Ethan Grant out of Florida may be reopening his recruitment, but doesn't have Rutgers in his top five. Kyle Baublitz was a long time PSU lean, and finally went public on Sunday. Brent Benedict committed to Georgia.
Watchlist: Chris Alston, Alejandro Andrade, Nahjee Gibson, E.J. Johnson, Steven Rene, Michael Strauss, and Matt Williams.