4-star OL Jacob Allen commits to Rutgers

The recruiting renaissance under head coach Greg Schiano continued on Thursday, as 4-star offensive lineman Jacob Allen announced his commitment to the program an hour before kickoff of the Scarlet-White Game.

The 6-foot-6, 270 pound tackle plays at The Hun School in Princeton. Per 247 Sports composite rankings for the 2020 recruiting class, Allen is the top prospect in New Jersey, the 11th best offensive tackle nationally and 110th overall. He holds over two dozen power five offers with Penn State and Michigan State as the two programs that Allen included in his final list and was the most involved with aside from the Scarlet Knights. He took a visit to Happy Valley this past spring and was scheduled to visit East Lansing in June. However, RU was able to secure his commitment after making him a top priority over the past year.

Landing Allen is a huge win on the recruiting trail for Schiano, offensive line coach Andrew Aurich and the rest of the coaching staff. Adding a top recruit to a high priority position group is a big addition. Doing so with the top player in New Jersey from a prep school that Rutgers has struggled getting players from in the past makes it even better.

The Spotswood native is an elite prospect who is very athletic and plays a physical style. Allen displays very good fundamentals and footwork. While he needs to bulk up his frame, his potential ceiling is extremely high and could become a regular contributor as soon as he steps on campus ahead of the 2022 season.

Allen is the fifth offensive lineman to commit to the class that includes 3-star tackles Taj White, Joe De Croce and Nelson Monegro, as well as guard Kwabena Asamoah. All four prior recruits to commit to the program along the offensive line did so within a few days of each other this past February, making quite a statement. It paved the way for Rutgers to land three highly touted recruits on the offensive side of the ball in the months since. They include top 100 recruit Gavin Wimsatt, the 3rd highest rated dual quarterback in the nation. The other two are wide receiver Amarion Brown and running back Samuel Brown.

Overall, Rutgers now has five 4-star prospects committed to its 2022 recruiting class with inside linebacker Anthony Johnson the lone defensive player. He is the third highest rated commit in the class behind Wimsatt and Allen.

With Allen’s commitment, Schiano’s second recruiting class since returning to Rutgers is now ranked 7th nationally and 3rd in the Big Ten per 247 Sports composite rankings.

You can watch 2019 season highlights of Allen here.