I wanted to take a quick glance at this topic following Marcus Witherspoon's departure. Here's a breakdown of the spring roster, with Cooper switched to CB and Givens to S.
QB - 2 (Savage, Shimko)
RB - 4 (Martinek, Robinson, Young, Williams)
FB - 3 (Laryea, Joseph, Solice)
WR - 9 (Sanu, Harrison, Wright, Pratt, Hayward, Stroud, Hayes, Poole, Merrell)
TE - 4 (Jefferson, Carrezola, Bush, Ruiz)
OL - 14 (Stapleton, Forst, Ruch, Wynn, Lowery, Hardison, Lange, McBride, Muldrow, Osei, Quartucci, Watkis, Bujari, Wilson)
DL - 11 (Silevestro, Freeny, Francis, Civil, Merrell, Bayoh, Vallone, Noonan, LeGrand, Larrow, Holmes)
LB - 7 (Lowery, Abreu, Beauharnais, Glaud, Booker, Lane, Carter)
CB - 6 (Bing, Rowe, Ryan, Jones, Cooper, Smith)
S - 6 (Lefeged, Greene, Kivlehan, Harmon, Warren, Givens)
K - 1 (Te)
P - 1 (Dellaganna)
That leaves a scholarship count of 68. I have no information as to whether any former walk-ons are on ship, but you'd think that the player with the best chance of having earned one is Howard Barbieri, and others like Jim Dumont are trickier. Can't say for certain though. There are 22 players coming in this fall, which presumably brings the total number scholarships up to 90 or 91. The limit is 85. What gives?
Kordell Young's situation is up in the air returning from his second knee injury, which could open up one ship for the fall. Sam Bergen is a potential grayshirt coming off his own knee injury. Two recruits in Ken Kirksey and Jorge Vicioso are question marks to qualify. If none of the four are on the roster, and Barbieri isn't on scholarship, the Rutgers sneaks in right at the limit of 85. Obviously, there could well be other developments that haven't yet been made public. These matters do seem to have a way of working themselves out. Injuries happen, and other guys will want more playing time and head out the door.
Furthermore, what of the 2011 recruiting class? Counting Young, and not counting Barbieri, Rutgers has 12 scholarship seniors leaving. They will need a punter to replace Dellaganna, although that may be possible internally. There are three scholarship juniors right now who I think may not be invited back for a fifth year. Other transfers are always possible, if not probable. It's unlikely that anyone would declare early for the NFL Draft though.
Based on those numbers, I'd venture a guess on signing 15 or 16 players in the '11 class. Let me look over my scholarship spread sheet real quick...from the offers extended to this point and their reported leanings, it looks like the staff is gearing up to sign between 18 and 20 players. That number always, 100%, without a doubt has a way of going up as signing day approaches. Like '09, '11 is no year to be stingy with offers, yet the likes of Quinton Alston and Kyoshoen Jarrett still don't have one in hand.
It's hardly the worst case of oversigning out there, but some level of maneuvering looks necessary.