The Rutgers football family grew larger this season when the 2020 recruits and transfers came on board the team over the course of the last few months.
One of the true freshmen, cornerback Malachi Melton, helped his personal Rutgers family grow too as he joined older brother, wide receiver Bo Melton, a senior, in the program.
The younger Melton hasn’t been available to the media just yet, but Bo Melton chimed in on what it was like having Malachi at Rutgers now as well.
“My brother being here, that's the biggest blessing,” Bo Melton said on Tuesday. “With me being a veteran here to play with my brother means a lot to me.”
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Bo Melton is one of the starters at wide out, and Max Melton has already caught eyes as he’s listed on the depth chart as a backup cornerback.
At practice, the two go head-to-head against one another.
“He's on the two-deep and I'm like 'oh snap, I'm going to play against my brother again’,” Bo Melton said. “We played in high school together. I've been going against him in practice and I've seen him getting better every day. It makes me happy as a brother to see where he can be the next few years at Rutgers especially with coach (Greg) Schiano and coach Fran Brown.”
Aside from the Melton’s, brothers cornerback Avery Young and running back Aaron Young are also on the team as are linebacker Olakunle Fatukasi and 2020 signee Tunde Fatukasi, an offensive lineman who is also on the depth chart at left tackle.
“We don't really talk about it as much as you think. We do at times (thouogh),” Bo Melton said. “With Aaron and Avery and me and Max, it's kind of weird to see your brother across from you.”
“One of the things that jumps out is having two brothers of guys who are currently on our team joining our team, Malachi Melton joining Bo Melton and Tunde Fatukasi joining Olakunle (O3). Two guys who are critical to our future success, their younger brothers are joining our squad,” Schiano said back in the spring. “We talk about family all the time and it’s just another indication of that.”
When Aaron Young was a recruit, he was originally committed to Michigan State, but ended up at Rutgers in the end. Max Melton pledged to play at another Big Ten program, too, in Purdue, but wound up staying home.
It helped that Melton’s father, Gary, played football for the Scarlet Knights as well and his mother, Vicky, played women’s hoops.
“Max is his own guy. He's his own man. So my way of approaching him was the same way as Avery, like he was saying like you're going far away from home and playing far away, it's kind of hard for my parents to see both our games. But now with him coming here we have two years together at Rutgers with the pandemic,” Bo Melton said. “Mom and dad are going to be proud that we both played at the same school they did. My brother changed his mind and he really wanted to play here, and he just flipped.”
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.
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