The Monday Morning Kickoff

It was a busy week last week on the Rutgers sporting fronts with new additions all through Piscataway. And now it's time for The Monday Morning Kickoff gets you updated on all the latest in the scarlet nation.

A view from the gridiron (Rutgers Football)

Rutgers ushered in a new athletic director last week when Julie Hermann was officially appointed to the position on Wednesday, although her first day will not be until June 17th. She talked a bit about RU football during her incipient speech.

"Coach Flood has a huge task, we all have huge tasks in front of us. But there's no doubt being on the eastern side of the Big Ten, it's tough on anybody," Hermann said. "It's a steep hill. But I trust coach Flood, I think he's a fantastic coach. We will invest time, talent and treasure in him."

The 2014 schedule was released last week and Rutgers has its share of top notch opponents ahead during the Scarlet Knights' incipient season in the Big Ten. The 2014 schedule is as follows"

Saturday, August 30 - Additional opponent to be announced

Saturday, September 6 - Howard

Saturday, September 13 - Penn State

Saturday, September 20 - at Navy

Saturday, September 27 - Tulane

Saturday, October 4 - Michigan

Saturday, October 11 - Idle

Saturday, October 18 - at Ohio State

Saturday, October 25 - at Nebraska

Saturday, November 1 - Wisconsin

Saturday, November 8 - Idle

Saturday, November 15 - Indiana

Saturday, November 22 - at Michigan State

Saturday, November 29 - at Maryland

Rutgers crossed the double digit mark in commits last week when Potomac (Md.) Bullis School offensive lineman Justin Herron became the tenth player to join the class of 2014.

""First off, their academic prestige was big. They have a great business school and great academic," Herron said of Rutgers. "Secondly, a lot of their coaches played or coached offensive line in college, so that's offensive lineman heaven. They all want the best for me and I know I can do really well up there."

The take from center court (Rutgers basketball)

Last week, Rutgers officially added three players to its roster for next season when JUCO guard D'Von Campbell, Iowa State transfer Nkereuwem Okoro, who committed on Monday, and 2013 Rivals150 forward Junior Etou all inked national letters of intent.

The three players join JUCO swingman Craig Brown as signees for the incoming class

New head coach Eddie Jordan told Scarlet Nation he would not have been able to secure signatures from all four players if not for the help of his assistants David Cox and Van Macon, holdovers from the previous regime.

"They've been great. I couldn't have done it without them," Jordan said. "The kids that we signed, David and Van had kept massaging and kept the relationship with and said 'Look, I think if it's Eddie Jordan, it is going to be wonderful.' Those were the kids that we signed. There wasn't any kid up there that I said, 'Let's go get this kid.' They had it; we did it. They're wonderful and I'm glad that they're here with me."

Jordan and his staff are not done, however. They are looking to add more pieces for next season, particularly at shooting guard, where the top target right now is Jackson (Ky.) 22 Feet Academy product Petar Rusic.

Rusic is planning to officially visit Rutgers at the conclusion of this month's dead period, which ends May 25. The visit would likely begin May 27th.

"They've been recruiting him hard recently, within the last three or four days," 22 Feet coach Ryan Schmidt said. "With the new hire coach Jordan, they think their biggest need right now is a shooter…They called us up and find out what is going on. It's a dead period now, so I think they're trying to bring him out whenever the dead period ends."

A pure shooter, Rusic led his team in scoring and steals this past season and drew interest from West Virginia, Purdue, St. Bonaventure and Kansas State, among others.