Rutgers Football Recruiting Updates As National Signing Day Approaches

Locking down three more Class of 2017 recruits

After a week in which we saw one assistant coach leave the program followed by two de-commitments, it was refreshing to see not one, not two, but three commitments over the weekend.

Rutgers brought another prospect into the kicking competition by offering Bridgewater-Raritan kicker Justin Davidovicz a preferred walk-on spot.

The offense added some physicality in the backfield by signing Wayne Hills athlete Brendan Devera to the class of 2017. The high school linebacker looks poised to contribute as tight end/H-back in Jerry Kill’s offense.

In between these two commits, we saw the coaching staff extend their recruiting reach outside the Garden to lock up Tennessee defensive end Tijuan Mason. Mason has excellent size at 6’6” but good be further from finding the field than other 2017 recruits.

Could Eddie Lewis be next?

The new hottest speculation surrounding the 2017 class is the potential addition of 3-star wide receiver Eddie Lewis from Mater Dei High. Lewis appeared to be on track to commit to either Syracuse or Indiana for quite some time, but Rutgers has been trending in the right direction for the last month or so.

Lewis visited RU on January 21st, and would be a great addition to an already deep group of wide receivers in the 2017 class.

Can Rutgers hold on to Olakunle Fatukasi?

Although he’s been committed to Rutgers since this past June, the fight for the rights to Olakunle Fatukasi’s playing days has been heating up over the past few weeks. After a successful senior season at Grand Street High School in New York, Fatukasi has taken visits to both Indiana and Temple within the last two weeks.

With tremendous upside as a pass-rushing outside linebacker, Fatukasi is an extremely valuable piece to this year’s class and would be a big loss if he were to flip his commitment.

Corey Bolds takes his official visit

Arguably the biggest chip left out on the table, 3-star Paramus Catholic defensive end Corey Bolds took his official visit to Rutgers this past weekend. Bolds has been courted heavily by Big Ten foes Penn State and Michigan, as well as, more recently, Minnesota, where he is visiting this weekend.

In a class dominated by outside rushers on the defensive line and linebacking corps, the 6’3” Bolds would be a huge presence at defensive tackle. According to 247Sports, they list Rutgers as the favorite and he would slot in as the 4th highest ranked prospect in the class.

Smith-Marsette de-commits following trip to Iowa

This took place late last night, but the loss of 3-star corner Ihmir Smith-Marsette could loom large for the class of 2017. The speedy DB prospect is reportedly being offered a chance to play wide receiver at Iowa, where he visited last weekend. For more on the de-commitment, check out my story here.

Duggan shows his support for Ash & Rutgers

As unfortunate as it has been to see former commits look elsewhere, it has been great to see the remains of the class of 2017 show their allegiance to the program. First 4-star WR Bo Melton, and now 3-star DT Jaohne Duggan.

Let’s hope the current commits stay true to their word and help recruit a few more athletes to join what can still be a very promising class.

More offers sent out

While commitments are more headline news, offers get sent out at a much more frequent rate. Here are some Rutgers targets who took to Twitter to share the news:

2018 Philadelphia, PA DT Ryan Bryce

2018 Irvington, NJ SDE Lancine Turay

Lancine is the younger brother of senior defensive lineman, Kemoko.

2018 Cincinatti, OH OL Quintin Wilson

While the recruiting trail heats up over the next week, hopefully the commitments will as well. Who are you hoping Coach Ash & Company can lock up before National Signing Day? For a look at where the class currently stands, click here.