The premium site are reporting several new offers over the past week. ATH Brandon "Bam" Reddish out of Brooklyn (confirming that earlier rumor from several weeks back), DT Al Page from The Bronx, CT OT Tommy Jordan, S Nick Law from Maryland, DE Clay Burton, TE Nick O'Leary (the grandson of Jack Nicklaus, so there's a good chance he'll go to Ohio State), S Wayne Lyons, and QB Jacoby Brissett out of Florida. Then there's another important local in Woodbridge DE Max Issaka.
Issaka is very familiar with what the Scarlet Knights have to offer. He said he has visited Rutgers six or seven times. He was supposed to go to a recent junior day but did not make that trip.
"I don’t know what I’m going to base everything on yet, so I can’t say I have any favorites."
Thanks to nik12 for finding those articles about Reddish and NY DE Ishaq Williams (2). As expected, RU and PSU have several similar targets at the top of their RB and OL boards, like Savon Huggins. Lots more Nittany Network articles have been unlocked, including ones on Ben Koyack, Terrell Chestnut, Trip Thurman, Sheldon Royster, Kevin Reihner, and Connor Wujciak.
Another new QB offer is Kevin Hogan from D.C.
"I’m excited about the offer because a friend of mine (Brandon Coleman) just committed there for the 2010 class," he said. "Hopefully I’ll get to learn more about the school soon."
"I’m hoping to get up there for a visit sometime soon, but I’m not sure when because of basketball."
This point can't be emphasized enough: don't have any direct contact with recruits. That inevitably leads to results like this, where a Cocky Talk (South Carolina forum) poster grills Timber Creek ATH Damiere Byrd on the Gamecocks, and how awesome Steve Spurrier and (assistant coach) G.A. Mangus supposedly are. If there was any direct contact, then that's a violation which the Gamecock program will have to report.
Interesting to see this in another South Carolina slanted article on Savon Huggins.
His sole junior day visit has been to Rutgers where he has established a solid relationship with Head Coach Greg Schiano.
Combine season is starting up again, and a lot of prospects will be at the upcoming Premiere Showcase at the TEST Sports club in New Jersey. Many names on RU's radar will be in attendance.
PA OL Brandon Clemons is just starting to focus on recruiting.
"I’m going to visit all of the schools that have offered me," Clemons continued. "I’m not sure where else I’ll go. The whole recruiting process has been kind of overwhelming. I’d say I’m pretty familiar with the schools that have offered, though."
S Lorenzo Waters is only one recent prospect to come out of the DeMatha program in Maryland. They're expected to have another big class next year, led by junior OT Cyrus Kouandjio (his brother just signed with Alabama).
This FL QB Jeff Driskel article doesn't have any mention of RU, nor does this one on FL OT Jordan Prestwood. I'm not even going to bother with FL ATH Teddy Bridgewater, since he clearly wants to stay close to home. Ohio TE Ray Hamilton is another offer to watch for now. Other out of state longshots include FL RB Mike Blakely, NY LB Quentin Gause,and MD DT Vincent Croce.
It's nice to read positive comments from Sam Bergen about Rutgers honoring his scholarship after his second ACL injury. That's by no means the rule in cutthroat college football. Sure, there's also an ulterior motive at play here too. Incidents like what Wisconsin did to Nate Nurse, or what Nebraska did last year to Scranton LB Shawn Bodtmann generate a lot of bad publicity. How can any high schooler from the northeast trust those programs now? If Bergen never plays again, then his scholarship won't count against the limit of 85. If he can, great, everybody wins.
Terry Shea stuck by Nate Leonard when no one else would, and that ended up working out well. It's worth noting that '11 CB Kyshoen Jarrett is also from East Stroudsburg, PA (and there are other up and coming targets in Eastern PA). He doesn't have a RU offer yet, but if you read the Yahoo Sports article about him last week, Jarrett can't say enough good things about Rutgers. I think the track record shows that Greg Schiano generally is a good guy, but something like that can't hurt, and it's good to see good behavior rewarded.
Just what exactly is Greg Schiano doing at Penn State next month?
Wow, Don Bosco OC Nunzio Campanile is the new coach at Bergen Catholic. He's considered a bright mind who may have a future in college.
Apparently there's some guy in Piscataway who mentors young football prospects in Essex County.
Watchlist: Jamal Abdur-Rahman, Ronald Baines, Kelvin Benjamin, Anthony Chickillo, Garrett Clark, Shaquan Coles, Nick DePaola (again, props to nik12) Jonathan Fisher, Dan Foesel, Josh Goodman, Tyriek Harrison, Myles Jackson, Ish Mack, Curt Maggitt, Corey Majors, Shawn Oakman, Anthony Rabasa, Shawn Robinson, and Nevon Williams.