Rutgers Football has landed their third verbal commitment for the 2025 class as the Scarlet Knights added a rather local prospect in offensive lineman Jayden Elijah out of Matawan High School just days a little over two weeks after his visit to campus.
Elijah is listed as a 6-foot-7, 300-pound athlete, who plays both offensive tackle and defensive tackle for his high school team. He also is the starting center on the high school's basketball team, where he averages a double-double in points and rebounds along with nearly three blocks per game as well.
With Elijah now a part of the CHOP25 class, that brings the total number of prospects in the class up to three total commitments as he joins QB Sean Ashenfelder and fellow in-state ATH Talibi Kaba.
In the end, Elijah chose the Scarlet Knights over 15 other offers from the likes of schools such as Boston College, Cincinnati, Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and a few others.
RIVALS REACTION....
This is a very good get for Rutgers as they add a local offensive lineman with some seriously high upside. Elijah already has the size to play at the Big Ten level, listed as a legit 6-foot-7, 300-pounds and that's a big reason why so many schools were after him.
Now he's still a bit raw as an offensive lineman and needs to learn some better blocking techniques and work on his bend a bit, as he's gotten away with just his pure athleticism alone at Matawan Regional. However the good news is that if anyone can teach him, that would be 40+ year coaching veteran Pat Flaherty who's done it at the highest of levels. Don't be shocked to see Elijah move up a bit in the rankings as well, as he recently impressed the Rivals staff at the Underclassmen Combine down in Texas.
On top of it all, Elijah already has a pretty good connection to the Scarlet Knights as his advisor in Latish Kinsler of Lifestyle Sports Agency, who also represented 2024 signee Kaj Sanders and also has a nephew on the Scarlet Knights roster currently in running back Jordan Kinsler.
