The Rutgers football team currently has 20 commits in the class of 2021 with 10 being from schools located in New Jersey including South Jersey’s Alijah Clark, Keshon Griffin, and Carnell Davis.

The Scarlet Knights were also able to flip and snag a few late recruits in the 2020 class down in South Jersey such as Tyreem Powell, Malachi Melton, and Chris Long. Much of that success in the lowest third of the Garden State is due to the presence of secondary coach Fran Brown, a Camden native.

Brown, who was head coach Greg Schiano’s first hire on the defensive side of the ball, said that when he was brought in, multiple coaches from all over reached out.

"First off I heard from probably every coach, not just from South Jersey. But we don’t just call it South jersey, we call it South Rutgers. I’ve heard from every coach down there, even if we didn’t know each other. I’ve even heard from coaches in North Rutgers. I hear from the whole state and we are excited about it. I always thought it was a deal breaker as I was always able to get a couple of guys to go to other schools, but now we can be able to get guys to stay home and continue to get guys from South Rutgers to be able to stay home and help us build this program.”

Brown was a hire that excited many because of his ties, his ability to recruit, and the ability to connect and relate to the prospects, especially in South Jersey. However, he isn’t limited to just the counties down south and he said it’s a group effort.

“We talk about recruiting in that area, but I'll go anywhere and recruit. It's just the relationships that I'm able to build and it's me being genuine and it's understanding who you are as a person, allowing you to understand who I am as a person,” Brown said. “A lot of people don't tell kids the truth. They tell the kids what they want to hear. I'm comfortable telling them what they might not want to hear. I'm comfortable telling them what their parents haven't told them over the last four years because they're football players. So when you start to get that and you're very weak, different things. Our coaching staff will talk to you in a different way than others.

“Other guys are recruiting South Rutgers, too. It's not just me. It's the same thing up North. God blessed me with the skill set of being able to adapt to people. We're all rooting for each other for us to be as successful as we possibly can so you know. It's a team effort. We're all pulling our weight.”

When he was at other stops like Baylor and Temple, he was trying to beat Rutgers so to speak for kids. But now, he’s all in and wants to win.

“Once (Schiano) got the job, I was just pitching for that call and it all worked itself out,” Brown said. “But I wanted to beat them in every way possible (previously). Now, I want to win a national title (at Rutgers).

“It’s fun recruiting at Rutgers, just getting an opportunity to recruit for a Big Ten school, one that’s in your home state with a coach who is an outstanding recruiter himself,” Brown said. “It’s just something that I’ve been able to add on to my own skillset that I have as a recruiter. Just the honesty and making sure they understand what we believe in here, that we are a family and making sure that they want to be a part of the family. Forget about me I love you and making sure that guys are willing to sacrifice and that will allow for us to be successful. Guys understand who we are and what we are all about.”

Brown said it’s important for guys to give their home state school a chance and he came to Rutgers to represent New Jersey and coach and learn from Schiano.

“First off, I'm from New Jersey. (Rutgers is) our state school. If you're in Ohio, you go for that school up there in Ohio. If you're from Louisiana they go to that school in Louisiana. I bought a house in the middle of the other places where I was working and I was a slow ride away from Rutgers. You can predict certain things could happen, but I got the chance to talk to coach Schiano,” Brown said.

“When I got done playing in college, he was turning around Rutgers. It was crazy. When I got a chance to sit on the phone -- and we talked for like 45 minutes maybe an hour -- it was just our beliefs like how he loves his wife. He's truly a man of Christ. We talked about things I needed to hear. It wasn't just about me coming here for him to develop me as a coach. He is who I want to be as a father and a husband and what I want to be as a coach. ...I'm excited about coach Schiano and his vision for this program.”

Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisWasky.