Rutgers Football's biggest win on signing day was keeping Fran Brown
Rutgers Football’s biggest recruiting win this recruiting cycle wasn’t a high school football prospect, but rather keeping secondary coach and recruiting shark Fran Brown on staff.
Ever since Temple fired head coach Rod Carey back in late November, rumors have swirled about Fran Brown potentially becoming the next head coach of the Owls. So much so that Football Scoop reported just last week that the Owls admin was zeroing in on Brown and he was one of two finalists for the job.
However Rutgers Football head coach Greg Schiano was able to keep him on board as Temple went in a different direction and he’s more than happy he did as Brown played a big role in the CHOP22 recruiting class.
“Fran is certainly one of those guys who works incredibly hard at recruiting,” Schiano said during his Signing Day Presser. “Everyone says, well, Fran's a young guy. Fran relates. Absolutely, he does all that. But what gets lost is that Fran works and works and works and works at recruiting.”
Coach Brown was the point man for six of the 18 recruits that signed in this year’s recruiting class and on top of that he helped out with a a number of other signees as well.
“As I said, the best recruiters I've been around are those guys who work at it,” said Schiano. “He's an important part, whether he's the primary -- you know, we do something, Richie, called team recruiting. So there's a captain for each player, but we have a whole team of people that are recruiting each individual prospect. So Fran is a captain of many teams, and he's also a member of many teams. I think that in itself says a lot about who Fran is because he's willing to take the lead on some and be a supporting cast on others, but he's certainly a big part of our recruiting picture.”
Now just how much of an impact did Brown have on some of these signees that are now officially a part of the 2022 Rutgers Football recruiting class? Here's what some of the signees had to say about Coach Brown.
RB SAMUEL BROWN: “Coach Fran is just a real genuine guy,” he said. “My family and I love him as a person as well. I feel like he’s going to help develop me as a player and as a man.”
LA SALLE HC JOHN STEINMETZ ON WHY RUTGERS IS A GOOD FIT: “Fran Brown is a local guy and Coach Schiano has a plan. He knows what he wants to do and he knows the type of kids he wants to recruit. He has a clear idea and the process was crisp with them.”
DE KENNY FLETCHER: "Coach Fran is the realest coach and recruiter that I've ever spoken with. He's definitely all business.”
LB ANTHONY JOHNSON: "It was really coach Fran that really recruited me but all the coaches really did their part," said Johnson. "It was different with him. He's been on me for a while. He gave me my first offer when I was a freshman. As soon as I was a junior, coach Fran stayed on me and was pushing me but not in a bad way.
NEUMANN GORRETTI HC AL CROSBY ON WHY RUTGERS IS A GOOD FIT: “Anthony had a lot of schools recruiting him that told him they wanted him and needed him. I think what made Rutgers different was Coach Schiano and Coach Fran [Brown] talking to him about how he would be used, but also life after football. They talked to him about the benefits of going there and the things that interested him in life. The reasons Anthony chose to come to my school are the same reasons he chose to go to Rutgers.”
DB ZILAN WILLAIMS: "Coach Fran has been with me since I got my first offer in January," Williams said. "He has been by my side calling and mentoring me. He's your best friend, he's not just a coach. It's a different bond than any other coach.
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