Committed players
And then there were five: Neptune athlete Charles Davis is on board as the latest member of the 2011 Rutgers football recruiting class. Shore Sports caught up with him on the radio yesterday, so give that a listen.
Quentin Gause is "happy and blessed".
Scarlet Report has free updates on incoming recruits J.T. Tartacoff and Lorenzo Waters.
Scott Stump has your recap for Sunday's NJ-NE game, as does Gannett, the Ledger, and Yahoo Sports, all with some RU-specific updates on incoming players and the new FieldTurf. Keep this quote in mind for a few lines down.
"I’d spoken to a lot of college coaches this spring and they love coming to New Jersey and they love recruiting New Jersey kids simply because there’s a certain element to a New Jersey football player that coaches love to have on their team," Lorusso said. "We’d love to have them stay in New Jersey and play here, but wherever they go, guess what, people know who a New Jersey football player is."
If that wasn't enough, Stump also has video from the game, and MORE Rutgers-specifics tidbits on the game and Davis (a recommended read, as are all the articles linked above), and an explanation on what happened to the broadcast. If My9 doesn't come up with a very good reason for what happened, they've just upset a lot of their viewers.
Uncommitted players
NJ OL Shane Mertz continues to pile up offers at an impressive rate.
Another visitor for Sunday's barbecue was NJ OL Josue Matias.
Matias was at Rutgers for a tailgate on Sunday and he said he enjoyed himself. It was his third or fourth time at the New Jersey school and he has also visited Maryland. He’s hoping to check out more schools before he trims his list.
"I’m just looking for a school where I won’t miss home," he said. "I want to be somewhere I can just focus on football and school."
ESPN On the Trail has updates this week on NJ TE Jack Tabb (moved around a lot and likes UF) and NY WR/TE Devon Cajuste, who just received a PSU offer.
Yeah, everybody wants NJ OL Angelo Mangiro.
many Division I coaches have been in touch with Lorusso regarding offensive lineman Angelo Mangiro, one of the best junior linemen in the entire northeast. Lorusso has spent the offseason dealing with such college coaches as Greg Schiano of Rutgers, Pitt's Dave Wannstedt, Ohio State's Jim Tressel, and Penn State's Joe Paterno, among others.
He's easily the top guard prospect in the country, but was left off the initial Rivals 100 for some indefensible reason or another. You know what, I'll trust the coaches there.
NJ ATH Miles Shuler added an offer from Florida.
NJ ATH Damiere Byrd visited South Carolina over the weekend, and plans to compile a list of favorites soon.
NJ TE/DE Taques Franklin was a mystery up to this point, but wonder no longer.
"If I had to pick three favorites it would be Pittsburgh, Michigan and Florida."
Lots of Rutgers fans are still wondering what's up with D.C. QB Kevin Hogan. My understanding is that UVA is after either him, or a mobile QB rumored to be leaning towards Virginia Tech. IMO, Hogan should be wary of UVA's bad recent history developing quarterbacks.
MD LB Connor Crowell landed an offer from PSU. DC OT Jamar Lewter will be making the rounds on the camp circuit.
He said he plans to attend camps at Clemson, North Carolina, Rutgers, UCLA and USC, all of which have offered him scholarships, in addition to others, including Auburn, Illinois, Maryland, Miami, and Pittsburgh.
One report has Rutgers offering FL QB Phillip Ely. Rivals is now showing offers out to FL OT Max Lang and DE Ricardo Williams. Rivals is also now showing an offer out to FL LB Denzel Perryman (Quintero Frierson's younger brother), but he's probably had an offer for a while (a lot of RU Florida offers go unreported). FL WR Rashad Greene and WR Tacoi Sumler are both sitting on a plethora of offers. UGA offered FL OT Zach DeBell
CT OL Tommy Jordan is a top target for Urban Meyer, but UConn's Randy Edsall doesn't particularly care.
"For a while my coach would call up there and ask what the deal is and whether they’re going to send an offer," Jordan recalled. "Nothing ever got done and that was pretty much the end of it. I don’t think I could consider them at this point."
Seems like that program's relationship with CT HS football is as frosty as ever. Edsall looks to be getting his wish on curtailing junior offers however (h/t: Scott Stump). Juniors like Ryan Brodie and Kaiwan Lewis will have to be sweating that one out just a little longer.
Presented without comment: the Ledger's article on two middle schoolers who decided to attend Bergen Catholic.
There are actually two items of interest in this story about WVU assistant Chris Beatty replacing Doc Holliday (now the Marshall HC) as a recruiting coordinator. Beatty mentions the speculation surrounding the future of Rutgers and Pitt in the Big East, and also mentions that another assistant, David Lockwood, is now tasked with recruiting Southern Florida (where Holliday is considered one of the best recruiters). Lockwood previously recruited New Jersey for both the Mountaineers and under Glen Mason at Minnesota. They haven't had much success up here (thank you again, Ka'Lial Glaud), and needed to replace Holliday, so they decided to cut their losses and re-assign Lockwood.
FL QB Teddy Bridgewater committed to Miami, which is a really big get for the Canes. UVA added VA DE Marco Jones and MD DT Vincent Croce. Pitt added PA LB Ben Kline.
Watchlist: This is a section of this site's weekly recruiting posts featuring links to players that Rutgers may or may not be showing interest in, but has not yet offered.
Jamal Abdur-Rahman, Shawn Hoover, James Kenner, Ryan Malleck, and Nick SanGiacomo.