DePaul Catholic Linebacker Chris Conti Commits To Rutgers Football

Rutgers football received their second verbal commitment of the week in the 2019 class, as DePaul Catholic’s Chris Conti announced his plans to join the program on twitter on Friday afternoon.

The 6’2”, 215 inside linebacker from Wayne told NJ Advance Media’s Todderick Huntin this article that new Rutgers assistant coach and former Bergen Catholic head coach, Nunzio Campanile, was the primary coach in his recruitment, aside from defensive coordinator Jay Niemann. Conti was a key player on DePaul Catholic’s team as a junior last season, when the non-public Group 3 championship. At linebacker, Conti produced 56 tackles, 2 sacks, 5 quarterback hurries, 3 pass break-ups and a fumble recovery in a breakout season on the defensive end.

Conti also held FBS offers from Army and Kent State, per 247 Sports, as well as FCS offers from Fordham, Lafayette, Citadel, Holy Cross, and Morgan State. Per Hunt’s article on his commitment, Conti said Western Michigan offered and that Virginia, Pitt, and UConn, as well as some Ivy League schools, were involved in his recruitment. Rutgers was the first FBS school to offer Conti in March and they are keeping a solid prospect on the banks. It’s fair to point out that Conti could have been more actively recruited at the FBS level had he camped more this past spring, but he played high school lacrosse instead.

The physical style and fundamentally strong tackling makes Conti an appealing prospect for the Rutgers staff to develop. He could end up being a versatile, high energy guy who loves mixing it up on the defensive end and special teams. Conti plays with North Jersey grit and seems like the type of high character kid that will fit well into head coach Chris Ash’s culture. He reminds me of former Rutgers linebacker Kevin Snyder, whose hard nosed attitude and aggressive playing style was an asset. Conti could develop into a similar player.

Rutgers now has six players verbally committed to its 2019 class. Quarterback Cole Snyder from Jamestown, New York and was just upgraded to a 3-star recruit, pledged to the program earlier this week, in addition to 3-star signal caller from Newark, Zamar Wise, who committed last September. The current class also includes three other 3-star prospects and top 30 players from New Jersey, per 247 Sports, in addition to Wise, in cornerback Donavan Bunch from Winslow Township, safety Donald Williams from Camden, and Jaaron Hayek from Wayne. It’s extremely early in this recruiting cycle, but 247 Sports ranks Rutgers current 2019 class 51st in the country and 13th in the Big Ten.

Here are junior season highlights of Chris Conti.