12/22/2022 football Edit

Rutgers Football Early Signing Day notebook

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

The Rutgers Football team signed 21 members of the Class of 2023 on Wednesday -- 19 high school prospects and two college transfers, as part of Early Signing Day.

There's still work and additions to be had as recruiting never stops, but let's a dive into some important highlights.

Eight different states are represented in the class led by six from New Jersey. Florida is next with five, New York is third with four, and Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas all had one apiece. The Scarlet Knights also inked their fourth Canadian on the current roster. Positional wise, Rutgers lists four as offensive linemen and defensive backs, three wide receivers, two defensive linemen and linebackers, and two athletes. Rutgers also brought in a quarterback, long snapper, running back, and tight end.

"They can see what we're building," Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said. "They understand the culture, and they're a good cultural fit. I think this is two years in a row. Last year's class I felt very, very much the same, and just really excited. Can't wait to get to work with these guys. Some of them will be here mid-year, some will come in June. That's kind of always a floating thing. But looking forward to eventually working with all of them and them being a huge addition to our family."

At the bottom, have a look at two other Schiano interviews with Rivals and Big Ten Network as well.

Bigger, faster, stronger

Schiano says this often. The players he brings in not only love football, but they need to help his team get bigger, faster, and stronger. That was no exception on Wednesday.

"Really, really excited. I love this class. I think we got what we need," Schiano said. "We got longer. We got faster. We got more athletic, and we got a bunch of guys who love football."

Rutgers went 4-8 a year ago, and in order to keep closing the gap in this major rebuild, it needs to add players with those attributes especially when playing in the Big Ten.

Running back Jashon Benjamin ran track at Pahokee (FL.) and ran for 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior. Wide receiver Dylan Braithwaite is known as a blazer, linebacker Davon Fuse stands at 6-foot-4, 200-pounds and played QB and DB in high school, and Deondre Johnson is listed at an athlete at a whopping 6-foot-8.

On the lines, Nick Oliveira (OL) is 6-5, 285, and didn't concede a sack the last two years, JaSire Peterson is a DL at 6-4, 285. He was originally committed as an OL previously. Another d-lineman, Djibril Abdou Rahman is 6-4, 240 and has a quick burst, Dominic Rivera is a huge offensive lineman at 6-8, 310, and John Stone (OL, 6-3, 285), was a heavyweight state qualifier last winter. Ian Strong is a lengthy DB at 6-4, Famah Toure is a tall 6-4 WR, and OL Mozell Williams is 6-6, 340.

Linebacker Abram Wright, DB Bo Mascoe, and athlete Jesse Ofurie, and Fuse, who also played basketball, all competed in track and field, too.

QB was acquired

After not having a QB committed for much of the year, Rutgers only recently flipped Ajani Shepard from Old Dominion. Shepard is a 6-3, 230 signal caller from Iona Prep in the Bronx who Schiano called "a winner".

Prep went 9-3 this past year and made an appearance in the NYCCHSFL AAA title game. He finished the season 150-of-242 passing for 2,393 yards and 21 touchdowns while also running for 1,291 yards and 11 scores. He had 2,357 yards passing and 22 touchdowns and another 1,041 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior in 2021.

"Yeah, he caught my eye. I went by the school, they had a corner that we really liked. I saw him, and he caught my eye. So we kept following him," Schiano said. "Eric (Josephs) kept showing me every week his games, and I just loved his -- the way he played, his temperament, the way he led his team. He's a winner. The guy wins at everything he does. I finally at the end, I just said, I want that guy on our team. Look forward to coaching him."

The State of Rutgers will always include New Jersey and the surrounding states like New York, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and up north more. It also includes down south in Florida, which has been a humongous asset to Schiano and the Scarlet Knights not only in this tenure, but his previous tenure as well.

"Florida has always been an important part of our recruiting strategy, first time around and the second time around. It's hugely important," Schiano said. "I think we've got some really fine players and really good people, guys who see what we're building and want to be part of it, see what our culture is and want to be part of it. That's the most important thing.

"You know, nowadays with all the social media and all the technology, the world has shrunk, so it's even more convenient than it was last go-around. I told you the story, when I went to coach at the University of Miami in '99 and 2000, I fell in love with Florida football. They play it year-round, they practice 15 or 20 practices in the spring, I know a lot of people down there, our coaches know a lot of people, so it's really a natural fit for us to emphasize recruiting in Florida, and there's so many flights from basically every part of Florida to the New York area. It's pretty good natural fit."

QB ---> ??

Rashad Rochelle last year, Fuse and Vilay Nakkoun Jr. this year.

The Scarlet Knights have added several players over the years who played quarterback in high school but moved them to different positions once they get to college. Even former WR Joshua Youngblood played QB as a junior in HS. Fuse will play linebacker at Rutgers (and DB) and threw for 11 touchdowns and ran for 12 more in 2021. Nakkoun Jr. is coming as a wide receiver, but helped the Warriors to a first place finish in 1M District 2 at Orlando Christian Prep as a senior. He had 708 passing yards and six touchdowns with 550 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. He threw for over 1,000 yards in 2021.

TKR asked Schiano how he evaluates those types of players where they play one position but then play another at Rutgers.

"I think in this day and age, there's so much to look at, so there's camps, there's combines where these kids go, other sports you watch hand-eye coordination. But when a guy is really talented as a high school quarterback -- you go back years ago with Coach (Joe) Paterno, he recruited several quarterbacks and put them at all different positions," Schiano said. "

"You've got to remember, even in high school, I think that position requires a great decision making, you have to have hand-eye coordination. In this day and age, if you're at a school that has any quarterback runs, then you have to be able to run the football like a running back, so think of all the skills. You can pretty -- I think if you try, you can see that skill, and we're thrilled with Train, with Rochelle. I think Junior is going to be the same. I think Junior is a really fine athlete, and who knows where they end up. I don't try to -- why pigeonhole them, get them here and figure out where they fit best. If you get guys that are great athletes, that run really well and they're a cultural fit, we'll find a place for them to play."

The transfer portal

Rutgers and Schiano used the portal for needs. The Scarlet Knights got two comittments from the portal so far in DB Flip Dixon and CB Eric Rogers. Both are lengthy secondary players who will have the chance to potentially start in 2023.

Rogers is a Burlington native who played in 15 games with 11 starts at CB at Northern Illinois where he had 43 tackles, two interceptions, five pass breakups, and a fumble recovery. Dixon will look to fill Christian Izien's role on the defense. At Minnesota the last three years, he's played in 30 games (six starts) and recorded 45 tackles with 1.5 for loss, three PBUs, and a pick.

"Number one, both really good players," Schiano said. "That's the first thing that brought us to them. One is a corner and one is a safety. We had some connection with our staff to both of them, and our players, for that matter. So when they went in, we thought they were good targets.

"We immediately jumped on them and got them in to visit and did all those things, and really thrilled with both of them. I think they're going to come in and really be part of our defense in a hurry, and that excites me. In the back end I think we're going to have a really strong back end of our defense."

Name, Image, and Likeness

The two hottest topics surrounding college football are NIL and the transfer portal. We already touched on one, so NIL is next. Schiano is not a fan of the current state of NIL, but knows it is here and it is here to stay.

"I've said that since the day I took this job in 2000," Schiano said. "I mean, I stood up at a coaches' meeting once and suggested and kind of got laughed at, but had we had a little more forethought earlier, I don't know if it would be such a mess right now today, but we are where we are, so there's no use crying over spilled milk.

"I think it needs to get under control. I do think the NCAA is trying, but it's really hard right now. The momentum is in the other direction. What you have to do is you have to build your own."

Schiano knows improper NIL stuff is going on in other programs with teams essentially buying players, but he himself will never stoop to that level and will do things the right way.

"That's illegal. I'm going to give you $5 to come play at Rutgers; you can't say that," Schiano said. "You can't do that. Yet it's done every day multiple hundreds of times a day. We're not going to do that. At the end of the day, I'm going to go to bed at night and know we've done things the right way, and I'm good with that. ...I'm really excited. We're involved in it. We're going to use it the best way we can at Rutgers, and I just encourage our fans to help support that and our supporters, our boosters to help support that because it is critical, very critical."

Schiano confirmed that other teams tried to poach his players away using money.

"Yep They're here, so we're fighting it off. But yeah, it's happening," Schiano said. "...But let's be sure we're under the same understanding. This isn't new to college football. It's been going on forever. It's just different kind of mechanisms to do it now. We're going to keep doing business the way we do it, and I feel confident that it may take a little longer, but we're going to get there. There's not one concern that we're not. We have really good people in this program. We made it even better finally today with this long process in recruiting this class. We'll have more additions, and we'll just keep moving forward."