Rutgers Football’s 2023 recruiting class starting to take shape

On Thursday night, Rutgers landed it’s biggest recruit of the 2023 recruiting class so far as high 3-star two-way lineman JaSire Peterson committed. After becoming the first commit in this current class more than a year ago, Peterson decommitted just over two and half months ago. Since January, he has earned offers from Syracuse, Pitt, Nebraska, Boston College, West Virginia and Illinois among others. However, the 6’4”, 270 pounder from Union City, New Jersey has decided to become a Scarlet Knight after all.

Peterson has a 4-star rating from 247 Sports but in their composite rankings he is a high 3-star prospect ranked 381st nationally and as 24th best interior offensive lineman in the class of 2023. In regard to this recruiting cycle, Peterson is the second ranked lineman in New Jersey and eighth overall.

Credit Schiano and the rest of the staff for continuing to work hard in recruiting Peterson even after he was tempted by other power five schools. To bring a prospect back into the mix and ultimately landing him after he decommitted is a rare way to win a recruiting battle.

While Peterson has predominantly played on the offensive line, he also played defensive tackle his junior season last fall and could end up on that side of the ball at Rutgers. Adding a player with versatility to go along with Big Ten size and talent makes Peterson a major win for RU this recruiting cycle.

It’s been a productive week plus on the recruiting trail for Rutgers, as they added a pair of 3-star prospects who could turn into offensive playmakers for the program.

Running back Chris Johnson Jr. from Fort Lauderdale, Florida will bring plenty of speed with his 5’11”, 173 pound frame to Piscataway. He ran the 100 meters in 10.71 seconds this past spring at the Elite 16 track & field event in Florida. Johnson’s father played at Oregon State and his uncle balled at Clemson. Schiano and staff landed Johnson over Louisville, Indiana, Syracuse, Colorado and South Florida. He is ranked 795th nationally in the 247 Sports composite rankings as well as the 52nd best running back in the country and 116th best prospect out of Florida.

The day after Johnson committed, 3-star wide receiver Yazeed Haynes did the same. The 6’1”, 165 pounder will play for North Penn high school this fall and is from Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Haynes is known as a strong route runner who can gain separation multiple ways. He held offers from Maryland, Ole Miss, West Virginia and Boston College. He is ranked 764th nationally, including 104th best receiver and 21st best prospect in Pennsylvania.

All three recent commits join offensive lineman John Stone, who pledged himself to the program in early February. The 6’3”, 270 pounder is ranked 508th nationally, in addition to being ranked the 33rd among all lineman and 9th in garden state. Stone is also a heavyweight wrestler and plays an aggressive style on the gridiron.

Rutgers is on more solid footing with the 2023 recruiting class after the last 10 days. With four pledges, they are now ranked 8th in the Big Ten and 22nd nationally. It’s obviously early so rankings mean less at this stage. However, it’s more important that Schiano and the offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson are landing talent they feel can develop into impact players at the Big Ten level. It’s also notable that the Scarlet Knights already have two of the top ten rated recruits committed from New Jersey this early in the cycle. It’s a good sign that this program can have sustained success for the rest of this recruiting period.