Offers keep going out at a steady pace. That makes sense with such a loaded year locally, although it'll be interesting to see how the scholarship math works out. I very much want to sign 20+ players in the '11 class. One new reported offer is MD OL Donovan Smith, who earlier named PSU, MD, VT, and WVU as early favorites. Others include MA CB Albert Louis-Jean, PA LB Ben Kline, NC TE Eric Ebron, SC OT Brandon Shell, FL DT Deon Green, FL ATH Sammy Watkins,
Roxbury OL Angelo Mangiro on his visit schedule.
He will go to Ohio State during his spring break. Later in the spring he plans to visit Rutgers, Tennessee, Boston College, Maryland and Virginia.
If you've been reading everything linked here, most of the talk about Mangiro to this point has centered around Rutgers and Penn State (who still haven't offered), so it's surprising to see this article mentioning interest in other schools. That site also has some quotes from CT OL Conor Hanratty, who will probably verbal early to Notre Dame.
Good find by nik12 with this Max Issaka piece from THNT.
""(A Pittsburgh assistant coach) came in and said, "We have two defensive ends that are going to be draft picks and Max looks like them right now,"" Russo said. ""Max has a body that sells the part. Connecticut is very interested. Their coaches are right now in the process of talking about what they are going to do. (The Panthers) have not offered. We’ve had a lot of schools come through. I guess we will find out more when Max goes to some camps in the summertime.
Kristian Dyer has a ton of a great, RU-centric info in his latest SI column. Read it.
QB is one of the bigger needs in the '11 class, with Rutgers possibly looking for its quarterback of the future, with the ability to offer up to three years as a starter after Tom Savage graduates. The big question for now is whether or not Don Bosco QB Gary Nova wants to follow in Mike Teel's footsteps.
Rutgers--"With them being the closest to home, I love that. A bunch of people I grew up with would be able to watch me play, and I'd be playing with a lot of guys from New Jersey who I've already played against and know."
I'm not sure about all the board speculation about Bosco and St. Peter's Prep. Would anyone say that Piscataway, Hackensack, Atco Winslow, Wayne Hills, Lata, or Paterson Catholic is anti-Rutgers? Of course not, even though all have sent players out of state in recent years. Not every program can be a St. Joe's, Union, Union Hill/City, or all of those rabidly pro-Rutgers high schools within a fifteen mile radius from campus.
DE Ishaq Williams was one of several Brooklyn prospects taking in Rutgers at Saturday's Premier Showcase event. Check out what that article says about Wayne Morgan too.
His recruitment has picked up considerable steam since the season ended. Maryland, Rutgers, West Virginia, Syracuse, Miami, Pittsburgh, Penn State and North Carolina State have all offered him a scholarship, Lincoln coach Shawn O’Connor said. Williams has already taken unofficial visits to Rutgers, Maryland and Syracuse, where his parents attended school, but doesn’t plan to commit until his senior year.
As mentioned last week, many high profile prospects were on campus, including the likes of ATH Damiere Byrd and LB Anthony Sarao from South Jersey.
PA RB Jameel Poteat just returned from Pitt's Junior Day.
Scout currently lists MD S Nick Law as holding an offer, even though this Yahoo Sports article from last week says he doesn't yet. Some other out of state offers who aren't mentioning RU much at this time are OH TE Ray Hamilton and FL ATH Wayne Lyons. FL QB Jeff Driskel is denying reports that he favors Auburn. FL DE Clay Burton's brother plays for Florida. FL OT Jordan Prestwood still looks factory bound.
Bill Connelly has a writeup on Football Outsiders detailing his recent findings on the importance of football recruiting. Short summary: recent on-field success has about a .74-.75 correlation with success in any given year, while recruiting rankings have a somewhat smaller correlation (while still being quite predictive). Looking at past class rankings in fact has far more predictive value than other factors, like returning a certain number of starters.
The Big East manages to slightly edge out the Mountain West as the #1 conference in terms of exceeding expectations based on the rankings. Which could mean either that their recruits are underrated as a whole, or those conferences have an edge with their coaching staffs.
The chips are already starting to fall, with Florida ATH Karlos Williams committing to FSU.
Watchlist: Ronald Baines, Ruben Carter Jr., Sam Collura, Garrett Clark, Brian Dowling, Dan Foesel, Drew Harris, Kyshoen Jarrett, Matt Johnson, Zair Pollard, DeAndre Reaves, and Nevon Williams.