Q&A with Next Gen Scouting's Keith Smile talks Rutgers Midwest recruiting

During Greg Schiano’s first tenure at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights were located in the Big East conference which consisted of schools up and down the east coast so therefore recruiting took place mainly in the same area.

This time around Rutgers Football is located in the Big Ten which consists of schools throughout the Midwest and the Northeast and now recruiting is starting to shape up that way too as the Scarlet Knights have added six Midwest recruits in the 2021 and 2022 classes so far.

Out of those six recruits, two of them hail from the state of Illinois in defensive end Ryan Keeler and athlete Rashad Rochelle. To learn more about those two and how Rutgers is faring in the Midwest, TKR has reached out to Next Gen Scouting’s founder Keith Smile to learn more about those two prospects in particular.

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TKR: For those that don’t know about Next Gen Scouting, can you give us a quick explanation of what you guys do for prospects?

KEITH SMILE: “NexGen coordinates and manages the entire recruiting process for our athletes. We coordinate and schedule game day recruiting visits, spring practice/spring game recruiting visits as well as recommend and coordinate summer college camp schedules as well as spring camp schedules (Rivals, Elite 11 etc.) We directly interact with college staff in terms of film evaluation etc. Additionally we monitor NCAA Academic Compliance from a core course standpoint and ensure that our athletes are on track as full qualifiers."