Rutgers Football Recruiting: A Tale of Two QBs

Brace yourselves for SHOCKING news: a Rutgers offeree from New Jersey just chose an out of state school.  This time, it was Montclair's Elijah Robinson, an electric athlete who plays both dual threat QB and safety, who committed to Boston College this morning.

But this one is different, and it's not a bad thing.

Robinson badly wants to play QB, and his unique talents make him a stellar fit for an uptempo, running QB type offense.  They run one of those offenses at BC, while Rutgers remains firmly committed to running a pro-style set.  Kyle Flood offered Robinson the chance to try out at QB, but advised that the pro-style offense is not going anywhere, and Robinson seemed likely to end up as a safety at Rutgers.  So Robinson chose Steve Addazzio and the Eagles.

You know who does NOT want to be a dual-threat QB in a run and gun offense?  The guy on campus today, LSU transferee Hayden Rettig.

Rettig was a consensus four-star recruit when he committed to LSU from Los Angeles' Cathedral High School in 2013. Rivals had him as the third-ranked pro-style QB in the country that year, and the 76th overall recruit, which would make him the highest rated QB recruit Rutgers has ever had.

Here are his senior highlights (turn the sound down - horrendous background music)

The 6'3" 205 lb. pro style QB with one of the strongest arms in college football has been buried on the depth chart in Baton Rouge, but not for lack of talent.  The Tigers do not recruit kids who don't have talent, and they consistently pull in top ten recruiting classes.

Rettig is a talented pro-style QB, trying to make it in a system designed for dual-threat QBs, which the Tigers have been recruiting in spades.  In other words, he suffers from a similar mismatch of system and athlete to what Robinson would have encountered at RU, except this one works in Rutgers favor.

Rettig's brother Chase was a three year starter at Boston College from 2011 to 2013.  That's what makes the Robinson commit this morning so interesting: Boston College was considered a strong contender as a landing spot for Hayden Rettig, because his brother did so well there.  But Robinson just took a QB scholly off the board in Chestnut Hill, and his style of play is a much better fit than Rettig's for what Addazzio wants to run.

Wherever he commits, Rettig will have to sit out the 2014 season, and will have three years to play three beginning in 2015.

Sometimes, things just work out right (note: at least that's what friends at other schools tell me).  Rettig on the Banks the same day Robinson commits to our prime competitor for his services might be one of those serendipitous circumstances.  Let's see if Fridge and Flood can get it done today.