2022 Early Signing Period: Q’yaeir Price Signs With Rutgers Football

Q’yaeir Price had pledged to Rutgers verbally on November 6 after decommitting from Syracuse earlier that week so it was merely a formality for him to make it official Wednesday. Signing the 3-star prospect from DePaul Catholic is a massive addition to the 2022 recruiting class for Greg Schiano and the coaching staff.

247 Sports Composite Ranking: 3-star; 10th in NJ; 90th DL & 634th nationally

High School Position: DE/OLB (6’3”, 255 lbs.)

Projected college position: Defensive Tackle

High School: DePaul Catholic (Wayne, NJ)

Hometown: Paterson, NJ

Most notable other offers: West Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Purdue, Kansas

Price committed to the Orange in the summer, but a tremendous senior season skyrocketed his recruiting stock and interest came from a majority of the Big Ten schools and even some SEC, though not all of them offered. Despite that, he had an unofficial nine Power Five offers with that number likely having increased if he didn’t flip to Rutgers so quickly. Q’yaeir shows tremendous burst for his size and simply manhandles most high school players on first contact. The cliché concern would be that he got too much better too quickly and was able to just overpower opponents in 2021, but his floor just seems super high. Even if not big enough to play inside initially he should have the quickness to play outside, but if he lacks that first step (perhaps due to an injury down the line) he will eventually have enough strength and technique to battle on the interior of the line in the Big Ten. For Rutgers’s defensive scheme to be effective they need their defensive tackles to be disruptive to the middle of the field and Price projects well to do so.

The Rutgers Defensive Line improved in its run defense for the most part in 2021, but regressed in its ability to get sacks from its front four. With the losses of Julius Turner and Mike Tverdov, the need to find players who can rush the passer is magnified even further. Adding Defensive Ends who can pressure the outside and Defensive Tackles that can collapse the pocket from the interior is critical for Rutgers to generate the pressure that eluded them in 2021. It’s rare for defensive linemen to play their first season, but the two-deep will include redshirt freshmen already that have a very slim leg up on the incoming class.

Floor: Vantrise Studivant

Most likely: Julian Pinnix-Odrick

Potential: George Johnson

Check out his highlights below:

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