Bound Brook LB Andrew Campolattano lives minutes from Piscataway. Last night, he became the first Rutgers football commit in the class of '11. Camplattano is an amazing wrestler, which Coach Schiano always loves. This is a very good early commit, and could stir several others who have been sitting on the fence to go public for Rutgers. I'd actually prefer if players held off a little longer to build up their offer lists, but if they're dead set on being Scarlet Knights, then by all means pull the trigger. Be patient, because all the leading indicators look great right now.
Key local visitors continue to take in practice.
On the recruiting end, East Stroudsburg, Pa., cornerback Kyshoen Jarrett came to his second practice, but has yet to receive a scholarship offer. Other big name visitors included Neptune, N.J., running back Charles Davis, Bronx defensive tackle Al Page and Sicklerville, N.J., athlete Damiere Byrd.
'10 signee Tejay Johnson has speed to burn.
Everybody in the state is chasing Johnson. He won the 100 at the Meet of Champions last June in 10.67 and took second in the 200.
Sometimes it seems as if Johnson is chasing Carl Lewis and Dennis Mitchell as well as guys such as Chuck Carter and John Stone and Jamar Ervin. Those legendary sprinters put astounding times on the board for succeeding generations to pursue.
Johnson, who has signed to play football at Rutgers, is trying to move into that territory.
"I am confident Tejay will approach 21.0 [in the 200] and 10.2-10.3 [in the 100] by June or late May," Egg Harbor Township coach George Wilkinson said. "To me, his big upside is the 400, where I feel he is capable of breaking 47."
The only drama left with Neptune ATH Charles Davis is with whether not he can pad his offer sheet before committing. It's rather sparse because he missed time last year with an injury. Davis and his buddy Miles Shuler sure would look good in Scarlet next year.
"I kind of want to get it over and done with, so I’m thinking about maybe committing somewhere real soon. I guess a lot of schools heard that I might be committing to Rutgers so I started getting e-mails from coaches saying, ‘No, don’t do it.’"A lot of them want me to give them a call so I’ll hear what they have to say. I really don’t have a certain date picked but I do want to get it over and done with soon."
Angelo Mangiro finally got his Penn State offer.
"I was at Penn State yesterday," Mangiro said. "I got offered while I was there. It was pretty exciting, especially since Joe Pa gave it to me personally. It was just a regular spring practice they were having and I got to see the facilities and everything. I had been up there for a game once before and really enjoyed it."
Now his recruitment should get into focus, so it should soon be clear whether they're in the driver's seat or Mangiro wants to stay home.
Savon Huggins is visiting Alabama, and will hit up Penn State for their spring practice. The other top back in the East, Jameel Poteat, is just coming back from Pitt and could visit Piscataway soon.
In addition to trips to Florida and USC that have not been ironed out yet Poteat said he will probably be at Rutgers on April 15th.
PA CB Terrell Chestnut just visited Michigan State.
ESPN's JC Shurburtt has a few updates on various Rutgers targets, including NY DE Ishaq Williams, DC DT Kevin McReynolds, and NJ ATH Bill Belton. Williams just added an offer from Alabama. Sure wish Belton would stop praising Penn State.
So does or doesn't PA lineman Brandon Clemons have an offer? I'm confused. PA LB Ben Kline is visiting soon.
Penn State leads for MD OT Donovan Smith.
I'm not feeling confident with Florida backs Tre Mason and Mike Blakely. While Rutgers probably won't get WR Ja'Juan Story, Story mentioned as an aside that he likes Coach Fleck. It's unclear whether RU has offered FL LB Tony Steward. DL Bryant Dubose has no favorites. Rutgers was the first to offer FL DL Deon Green.
FL OT Jordan Prestwood committed to Notre Dame.
Watchlist: Quinton Alston, Deion Barnes, Ashton Broyld, Jazzmar Clax, Malcolm Crockett, Connor Crowell, Darian Cooper, Brian Dowling, Devin Fuller, Jeremiah Hendy, Andre Hodge, Levern Jacobs, Kyshoen Jarrett, Tyrone Johnson, Quanzell Lambert, Tom Macauley, Shutang Mungwa, Shawn Oakman, Rashaun Sligh, and Louis Smith.