UPDATED TO INCLUDE LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON TRANSFER
Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano has had a busy two weeks and on Wednesday afternoon, he announced a 18-member recruiting class of 2020 thus far on the first day of the Early Signing Period.
Of the 18 players, 10 hail from New Jersey, two each are from New York and Florida, and one each from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. The class so far features 14 high school seniors, one post grad, one JUCO, one regular transfer, and one graduate transfer.
SIGN UP FOR PREMIUM NOW AND GET A FREE $75 NIKE GIFT CARD — CLICK HERE FOR MORE!!
“I’m really excited about the class that we signed,” Schiano said during a teleconference with reporters on Wednesday. “I’m grateful to a lot of people. This was an incredible...two week period. We had our press conference on the 4th and 14 days later, we have a class that I’m excited about and proud of.”
Since Schiano arrived, he’s helped pull in eight high school commits, including five flips and both the JUCO and grad transfers.
As of this writing, Rutgers’ class is ranked No. 60 by Rivals (does not include the two transfers).
“I want to start with Eric Josephs, our Director of Player Personnel. He did an incredible job. He was prepared when we arrived and throughout the last two weeks, he did an incredible job putting us in the correct places and on the right people. Nunzio Campanile, who was the interim head coach, as I mentioned before, did an incredible job keeping the program headed in the right direction and did an incredible job this recruiting period. Fran Brown jumped on board about midway through and did an incredible job as well. It was really a herculean effort by a lot of people in a short amount of time not to mention all of the support people behind the scenes who set up the weekends. I’m so appreciative for everything they’ve done. What it amounted to is something that’s going to be very important a few years down the road. We ended up signing a class of 17 young men who love football. Those of you who know me know that’s one of the most important things. There has to be a baseline of talent, but we want guys who love the game of football and everything about it (coaches, playing, teammates, practicing, and training). We’re thrilled.
“From where the class came from home, it’s very indicative of the state of Rutgers. We have 10 from New Jersey, two from New York, two from Florida, one from Connecticut, one from Pennsylvania, and one from Virginia. It’s what we plan on doing in the future and it’ll expand once we have a full staff and years to recruit. Again, I’m proud of how everyone came together to get this done.”
When the Wyckoff, N.J. native was introduced on Dec. 4, he mentioned he wasn’t going to “rush” and take whoever to fill out the class. Schiano was selective with his offers the last two weeks, did everything he could to help make the Scarlet Knights better, and said that there was no magic number of prospects he wanted to bring in for the Early Signing Period.
“I’d be lying to say there was an ultimate strategy, but Eric Josephs had done so much work and preparation for this. Because I was not coaching this year, I did a little preparation on my own from afar. We wanted to find guys who make our team better. We needed to get bigger, longer, and faster. Those are three things we set out to do and I really feel we did a good job with that. There wasn’t a set number, but we weren’t going to just take players. When I arrived, we had 10 commitments and then we had two decommitments. So then we were down to eight and ended up with 17. So in two weeks we just about doubled the class. That wasn’t a goal. There was no goal other than to work as hard as we can for 14 days and try and get as many players that make us better without reaching and doing something we wouldn't normally do knowing there’s a later signing date and then there’s transfer portal players. You keep a little powder dry as well as you go into the spring to see what’s going to become available. That was really the only strategy and I thought it paid off.”
Even before he was hired, Schiano did his homework and was prepared prior to him even taking the job or going through negotiations.
“I think it helped a lot," Schiano said. "As I mentioned, the information I had was what I could gather via the internet and also through some connections through the recruiting field. But when I got here, what Eric Josephs was able to do was take it to another level. He had the info ready for me. That was critical. I think the homework I did beforehand, and some of the video I watched, saved us time. I had already evaluated it myself. But then there were new people who I wasn’t aware of that we as a group worked on. All of it adds up to a 14-day sprint that we’ll laugh about some day.”
This signing period runs until Friday and then another begins starting on Feb. 1, 2020.
Rutgers isn’t finished.
“...Really pleased of what we’ve been able to do in this short period of time and really looking forward to having a whole year to go recruit this ‘21 class and beyond. But this class isn’t over by a long shot,” Schiano said. “We’re going to continue to work for the second signing date. They’ll be a few that we can still get signed up as well as transfer guys and graduate transfers as well.”
More to come. Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.
