RU Ready

St. Peter's Prep, Class of '09

He's big, he's strong, and he could stay close to home:

Sean Pearson, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive guard from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., has already taken visits to Pittsburgh, and Syracuse and has plans to go to Penn State and West Virginia over the new few weeks for junior days.
...

“I liked it a lot at Rutgers and there was nothing negative about the trip to speak of at all,” Pearson said. “Head Coach Greg Schiano was pretty cool and they definitely had the nicest facilities I’ve seen so far. Rutgers is close to home which is nice and like I said, I really like everything about them.”

Five McDonald's All Americans

Vivian Stringer is making the rounds talking about her new book, "Standing Tall." Football players and fans -- at RU and elsewhere -- can learn many lessons from this classy coach who is pushing hard with her Rutgers team for another strong season finish. A lot of the attention is not on this year -- it is on the future of the Stringer program, and Coach Stringer has five more reasons to stand tall: a recruiting class that includes Brooklyn Pope of Fort Worth, Texas, and April Sykes of Mississippi. The group includes a total of five All Americans. As Harvey Araton put it in The Times this morning: Thank you Don Imus.

“He pretty much put Rutgers on the map,” said Janice Pope, the mother of Brooklyn.

Not to suggest that Rutgers wasn’t a national power and nearly a national champion before the uproar caused by Imus last April. Not to say that Stringer had not always landed players from afar, just not at the magnetic level of Connecticut and Tennessee.

If the projections for the Rutgers freshman class of 2008-9 are accurate, Auriemma and Pat Summitt may no longer be in a recruiting league of their own. “Basically, we were hoping to get three,” said Carlene Mitchell, Stringer’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. “The chips just fell.”

The blue chips, she meant.

Stringer did a video interview for Forbes.com. Asked what she tells new players about the Imus episode, Coach Stringer said: "We define who we are....these young ladies are great students...they presented themselves in a poised, a class way ... how could I not be proud and extremely happy because they stood so tall."

Great Wrestlers, Great Football Players

An extra honor that comes with winning a wrestling title in New Jersey: a call from Coach Schiano:

In 2006, St. Joseph's Jack Corcoran won the state title at 215 before moving on to Rutgers, where he spent the last year blocking for Ray Rice, one of the top backs in the country.

In 2007, Paulsboro's Alex Silvestro beat everyone on his way to the title. This year, Silvestro spent eight games as a freshman rushing the quarterback from his defensive end position.

Recruiting wrestlers is a trend Schiano says he plans to continue.

"It has made us happy," Schiano said. "Those kids do well."

So who looks like a champion this year? Glenn Carson, from Southern Regional.

"This is what the whole season is hyped up for, this is it," Carson said of the trip to States. "The Beast of the East is an amazing accomplishment, but this is it. This is what I want."

Carson said he has never felt better.

"I don't know why, but I've never been as excited to step on the mat as I have been recently," he said.

Recruiting A Quarterback From Florida

Many New Jersey prospects did slip out of state, but as realfootball365.com notes, one Florida quarterback will be headed to New Brunswick:

Greg Schiano and his staff did pick up two other four-star recruits besides Forst -- defensive lineman Scott Vallone from Central Islip, N.Y., and WR Keith Stroud from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, and an imposing physical specimen of a quarterback in 6-6, 230-pound D.C. Jefferson of Winter Haven, Fla.

"When you look down the street and see him," Schiano said of Jefferson, "you'd think he was with some pro franchise."

He was almost with LSU -- not surprisingly, considering Jefferson has been compared to JaMarcus Russell and Rohan Davey in both playing and body style. But after decommitting to Rutgers and flirting with the Bayou Bengals, Jefferson decided to sign with the Scarlet Knights, after all. With Mike Teel returning for his senior season, Jefferson should have a year to ease in gradually.

Check out the D.C. Jefferson highlight reel embedded in this post (thanks YouTube!).

Recruiting for speed: Carter, Vallone

Carter and Vallone head up Coach Schiano's '08 recruiting class:

Although Rutgers lost three more games in 2007 than it did in 2006, when it finished 11-2, Schiano had fewer scholarships to offer this year and could be selective. A year after signing a number of linemen, he loaded up this year on tall, fast, versatile players.

“Would back-to-back 11-2 seasons have made a difference?” Schiano said. “You never can tell.”

But Schiano said one of the best indications of Rutgers’s extended recruiting reach was the signing of Morgan Carter of C. D. Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Va. Carter, a quarterback, wide receiver and safety, was listed among the top 100 athletes by two rating services.

Schiano also signed Scott Vallone, a highly acclaimed 6-foot-3, 260-pound Long Island defensive tackle from St. Anthony’s in South Huntington, N.Y.

More, from NJ.com on RU recruits:

Morgan Carter, ATH, 6-3, 200, Woodbridge, Va./C.D. Hylton

Greg Schiano's first-ever recruit from Virginia played quarterback, wide receiver and safety in high school.

Schiano: "Our first (recruit) from the state of Virginia, we're stretching the State of Rutgers a bit. It's an area that we're getting more comfortable in as far as building more relationships there. We'll probably start him out at wide receiver and see what transpires.

and

Scott Vallone, DT, 6-3, 267, Central Islip, N.Y./St. Anthony
One of the most acclaimed recruits in the class. A three-year starter who helped his teams go 31-2.

Schiano: "I think Scott's going to be a tremendous defensive lineman for us. He's everything you want as a coach, he's got the tangibles and all the intangibles. Captain of his team, leader, all the things you look for as a coach and I can't wait to coach him. I think he's going to be a force in this league."

 

 

Up next: Maryland

The bye week gave Coach Schiano time to prepare for Maryland and time to concentrate on errors (Daily Targum):

The Scarlet Knights did not dedicate all of last week's practice time to the Terps. The Knights also spent time working on themselves as they have drawn 29 flags in the first three weeks of play.

Rutgers is also using these two weeks to try and recover from the loss of backup running back Kordell Young to injury for the season as seamlessly as possible, placing pressure on third- and fourth-stringers Mason Robinson and Jourdan Brooks.

"I'm pleased with the additional work that Mason and Jourdan got," Schiano said. "With the additional reps that they got they showed me what I thought they'd show me."

One Maryland player on the RU squad is Andrew DePaola, from Parkton, in Baltimore County (Courier News):

DePaola wasn't offered a scholarship from Maryland, but he wasn't offered one at Rutgers either and still chose to walk-on at the latter two years ago.

"I never got a single look from Maryland,'' he said, not a single crack of remorse emanating from his voice. "Coach (Joe) Susan got in touch with me and said he liked my tape, and asked if I would be interested in walking on here at Rutgers.''

DePaola accepted the ''offer'' and now serves as a key special teams performer for the Scarlet Knights. The 6-foot-2, 200 pound sophomore is the placement holder for kicker Jeremy Ito, and also is the backup long snapper on punts.

Not bad for a player who arrived at Rutgers hoping to get a look at quarterback.

"I was a holder in high school and they asked if I could do it here,'' said DePaola, who passed for 2,092 yards and 22 touchdowns in earning All-Baltimore County honors in his senior year at Hereford High. "Anyway I can get on the field I'll try to do it.''

Two other's from Maryland have joined DePaola -- safety Joe Lefeged and running back Jourdan Brooks.  The recruiting field for Rutgers and for Maryland overlaps (NorthJersey.com):

It's not quite the inroads Maryland's made in New Jersey, but it does add to the juice surrounding this non-conference game.

"There's definitely an appeal to playing in your recruiting footprint. There's no question," Schiano said. "I think Maryland is another area [for us]. It's a large population base -- Baltimore, Washington, the metro area. We're a logical choice. It's a short trip up 95."

Schiano's used that driving route -- and time -- as a general template in mapping out his "State of Rutgers." It's grown from Central and North Jersey, and Florida, down to the southern part of the state and Pennsylvania, and up to New York. Now Maryland's in and after that, Schiano said, "I don't think we're going to go much farther. Right now, in the four-hour drive, five-hour drive, the parents can come up."

Of course, that's a trip that goes both north and south. Recruiting websites Scout.com and Rivals.com both show a slew of kids on their Maryland prospects lists -- such as Paterson Catholic defensive tackle Jarel Lowery -- who consider Rutgers a favorite, too. Five of Maryland's 16 freshmen this year are from New Jersey, there's another one from New York City, and while Schiano is too diplomatic to name which he wanted too, he admitted there were a few.

Making offers, waiting for September

Versatile. At 6-4, 197 pounds, this quarterback from C. D. Hylton in Virginia can also play halfback, wide receiver or safety. He's Morgan Carter, and The Washington Post lumps the early Rutgers offer in with several other offers:

Carter, who has offers from Rutgers, Duke, Michigan State, Temple, Connecticut and Towson and strong interest from Stanford and Syracuse, said he doesn't plan to make a decision until September.
By then, Carter said, "I will have a couple that will be my top choices. And then I can finalize my decision and go into the season without having to worry about recruiting."

DC Metro notes that Carter arrived at Hylton as a sophomore and the coach, Lou Sorrentino,  immediately put him to work:

At the time, the Bulldogs were set at the quarterback position but that didn't stop Coach Sorrentino from getting him in the lineup.  Sorrentino heaps lots of praise on Carter because he is a hard worker who is not caught up in his stats.  "Morgan wants to contribute to the team in anyway shape or form he can."  
According to his coach, Carter likes the physical nature of the game and doesn't shy away from contact.  Sorrentino mentions that he played wide receiver, linebacker and in the secondary for the Bulldogs last year.

The paper uses this quote from Greg Schiano: "All you can do is bring him in and see what happens, try him at several different spots and see what works the best.  He's just so versatile, you don't want to classify this guy (Carter)."

Booker from Piscataway

Marvin Booker joins the recruiting class of 2008.
From the Home News Tribune:

Marvin Booker, a rising senior at Piscataway High School, made his decision Sunday after receiving a scholarship offer from Rutgers coach Greg Schiano Saturday, according to Piscataway coach Dan Higgins.

"It's a great fit," Higgins said Sunday.

According to Higgins, the Scarlet Knights recruited the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Booker as an all-around athlete.

"They evaluated him there at multiple positions," Higgins said. "He can run, catch and do it all."

Booker played defensive end and offensive lineman last year for the Chiefs, the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division champs, but Higgins said the plan is to move him for his senior year to better utilize his strengths.

"We're standing him up (at linebacker) to get more out of him," Higgins explained. "It's foolish to keep him (at defensive end) since he won't be playing there in college."

From APP:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: The Rutgers University football team received its sixth non-binding commitment for the Class of 2008 on Sunday. Marvin Booker, a senior at Piscataway High School, made his decision on Sunday after receiving a scholarship offer from coach Greg Schiano on Saturday, according to Piscataway coach Dan Higgins.

UDPATE Piscataway's Anthony Davis is already working to make his mark for RU. Will Booker and Davis get a chance to wear scarlet and play in the new Giants/Jets stadium?

A potential FL recruit

Greg Schiano has made many recruiting trips to Florida. One prospect is Joe Looney, an offensive lineman from Lake Worth, Fla., who now rates Rutgers among his top five schools:

The 6-foot-4, 300-pound lineman said his list – “in no particular order” – is U of L, Rutgers, Wake Forest, South Florida and West Virginia. He said he’ll likely take a few visits before making a final decision.

Looney said he liked the coaching staff and facilities at Rutgers, the coaches and the proximity to home at South Florida and noted Wake Forest was coming off an ACC Championship. He said he wants to look closer at West Virginia.

In May, the Louisville coach watched Looney play the spring game. Schiano has some competition:

Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe traveled to Lake Worth, Florida last week to watch massive offensive lineman Joe Looney play in his high schools spring game. Looney, a 6-foot-4, 320-pound standout, has strong connections to Louisville.

Rutgers prospects in the NJ/NY All Star game

NJ players of the year: linebacker Al-Ghaffaar Lane (Rutgers) and wide receiver Campbell (Temple).

Anthony Davis had some competition, according to this game report from The Journal News (Lower Hudson Online): Derek Dennis (Trinity Pawling/Temple) switched from offensive tackle to defensive end and went up against Rutgers-bound Anthony Davis, a 6-6, 335-pounder from Piscataway - "and more than held his own." Excerpt:

"The coaches moved me to defense this week because they felt I was a big, quick kid," said Dennis, an agile 6-4, 290-pound ex-basketball star. "They felt I was the best fit to go against him. This helped me a lot. It's what I'm going to be going up against a lot next season."

Dennis didn't go up against Davis on every down. But when he did, he managed to make plays. Dennis finished with a team-high five tackles, including one for a loss on the first play of the game going against Davis.

From NorthJersey.com:

Davis, who could contend for a starting spot as a freshman, added that he enjoyed practicing and playing with his future Rutgers teammates for the past several days.

"It was cool getting to know them better," he said.

Davis could play the right guard spot next season, but he played some tackle against New York.

"Football's football, you play the line,' he said. "It's just a couple (of) different techniques."

Game stories here and here. Adam Zagoria had this report in his paper, and on his blog he noted this quote from Lane:

"I told (fellow Rutgers recruits) Al-Majid Hutchins and Anthony Davis, 'As of right now, our record here at Rutgers is undefeated, so we could just take that right into the season.'"

The Rutgers recruits on the roster (Inquirer):

All nine Rutgers recruits who are expected to play in the game will be on the squad of New Jersey All-Stars. Among them is Alex Silvestro, a linebacker from Paulsboro High who also won a state wrestling championship.

The most sought-after player who signed with Rutgers, offensive tackle Anthony Davis, is also on the New Jersey roster. The 6-foot-5, 340-pound Davis, who is from Piscataway, was ranked among the top three linemen in the country by several recruiting services and is widely regarded as one of the most promising recruits in Rutgers history. He chose Rutgers over Ohio State. Linebacker Manny Abreu from Union City is another highly regarded recruit expected to play.

The other Rutgers' signees on New Jersey's roster are: Keith Newell (Trenton Central), Desmond Stapleton (Union High); Al-Majid Hutchins (East Orange); Joe Martinek (Hopatcong); Al-Ghaffaar Lane (Paterson Catholic) and Wayne Thomas (Nottingham).