Earlier this year, Rutgers received one of the biggest commitments in recent years when South Jersey phenom Bo Melton of Cedar Creek High School announced that he would spend his future as a Scarlet Knight.

Melton’s father, Gary, played his college ball at Rutgers and offered his take on how things are transitioning under new head coach Chris Ash.

“Our alumni organization always talks and this is probably the best we have seen. Coach Ash has come in and made this into what a Big Ten school really should be. The support that he has been getting from the alumni and the administration has been great. Now, as a former player, this is what we dreamed about when we were traveling to Giants Stadium to go and play because we couldn’t hold Penn State in our stadium. This is the part we dreamed about so, as these guys are playing, I am playing with them in my heart. And it is only going to get better.”

Melton also shared some of the advice he bestowed on his son throughout the recruiting process.

“Going through the recruiting process myself, my mother always told me to choose where you want to go, but choose it for the right reasons. That is the main thing I told him. I did tell him I have a standard and the standard starts with the ‘R’. So if a school does not have the standards that I believe are at Rutgers, I was going to remind him of the standard. Every parent has a standard. And since my wife and I went to Rutgers, that was the standard.”

Oregon was among one of the younger Melton’s finalists, although that was not a school endorsed by the family.

“The only thing I did tell him was that I was not going to Oregon,” Melton said. “He has his brothers playing and I would not be able to fly out to see his games. That was the only school I told him no. But God bless all the other schools, they did a great job of recruiting him.”

Melton recounted the day when his son told him of his intentions to attend Rutgers, the same school where he played football and his wife, Vicki, was a basketball player for the Scarlet Knights.

“I was actually in Kansas City at a speaking engagement. He called me up and said ‘I don’t think anybody is going to be able to beat Rutgers.’ I am going to commit to Rutgers. As a parent, it was great. He could score a touchdown in the same endzone I did. I like father-son stuff like that.”

Now that Melton’s son is a Rutgers commit, he occasionally shares his insight with parents of other recruits who are considering RU as their college choice.

“When I talk to parents, I tell them what we had before, because a lot of parents don’t know that. So I am able to give them a little history," Melton said. "I think I was maybe the fourth class that was actually in The Hale Center. I am able to give them a different perspective on things. I also have to give Greg Schiano credit. Look what he brought and now look what Chris Ash is bringing. Schiano brought this, but it is still not good enough.

“And to be home, to be at Rutgers and to beat a power, it vaults you up to a certain level. You are used to reading about Ohio State and Michigan. How about getting used to reading about Rutgers and your child being a part of that. That is something special.”