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Rutgers Football: Top recruit Ahmir Mitchell close to a decision

By Aaron Breitman
Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

On Friday 4 star WR recruit Ahmir Mitchell from Cedar Creek, NJ made news by posting on his Twitter account that he has narrowed his decision down to two schools.

The #3 recruit in the NJ.com Top 50 had previously stated in March that his final six schools were Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech and Rutgers.

With Mitchell's latest tweet and the tweet from Tyler Donohue, one can presume his final two schools are Rutgers and either Ohio State or Michigan.  Never visiting Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Ole Miss most likely rules them out.  There was a lot of buzz from Ohio State fans Friday online that this must mean they will soon be adding Mitchell to yet another loaded recruiting class.  Rutgers fans have grown weary of top recruits lavishing Head Coach Kyle Flood and the program with praise, only to commit to the traditional powers in college football time and time again.  However Mitchell might be the first national recruit from NJ in this class to buck that trend and stay home by committing to Rutgers.  In an interview with Todderick Hunt on April 23rd, when asked about the possibility of being the first top tier NJ recruit in the 2016 class to commit to RU, Mitchell said the following:

"Oh yeah, that has crossed my mind many of times, but it came back to the simple fact that I need to take all my visits first, take all the official visits and things like that," said Mitchell, the 6-3, 211-pounder. "But I definitely thought, 'Who could be the guy to, you know, to trigger the commitments? Or could I be the guy to really start it?,' but that would be something I'm sure all of us are really thinking about. But I think we all come back to talking with each other and speaking with one another, trying to get all the visits in before it really came down to a decision"

Based on Friday's tweet, it seems Ahmir Mitchell has taken all the visits he needs and now is close to a decision.  Landing Mitchell could put into motion a domino effect that could lead multiple top in-state recruits to join him at Rutgers.  He is close with Kareem Walker from DePaul Catholic in Wayne, the #2 recruit in the NJ.com Top 50 and the top RB recruit in the country.  Walker committed to Ohio State at halftime of the National Championship game.  If Mitchell chooses RU over Ohio State it would most certainly give Walker something to think about.  Walker has appeared to still be open to the possibility of Rutgers after visiting the spring game in April.

It is crucial for Coach Flood and staff to land a big name soon and gain momentum with the stellar 2016 NJ class. Never have so many top in-state recruits shown RU such sincere interest as they are right now.  Mitchell could be the recruit that starts a major shift in perception of Rutgers.  Big Ten schools that have dominated recruiting in NJ for years could finally have some competition from the state university on a regular basis.  Rutgers must be able to consistently land top in-state recruits to become a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten.  A dream for so long held by all Rutgers fans could finally be close to becoming a reality.