The Monday Morning Kickoff
Recruiting continues to move along through the spring as Rutgers continued to hand out new offers last week. A good deal of those offers went out to prospects from the state of Georgia.
One of those Georgia offers resulted in Rutgers becoming an immediate favorite for running back Edmond Graham of Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Ga.
“The uniforms are crazy nice, but the thing that stood out about Rutgers was Coach Williams and how confident he was when he offered me. He just seems like he knows I'll be a great part to the team,” Graham said. “It seems like there is a great atmosphere at Rutgers.”
An offer also went out to a highly-touted junior from Florida last week as Winter Park’s Jordan Pouncey finally landed an offer from Rutgers.
“It was really cool. Rutgers is a prestigious school,” Pouncey said. “My cousin graduated from there and my other cousin did her part of her grad school there.”
Meanwhile, a New Jersey offer went out to Don Bosco Prep junior defensive end Marcus Valdez last week as well.
“My brother went to Rutgers, I watched and went to games growing up and I know season ticket holders and other students there,” Valdez said. “Also, it's 20 minutes from my house so that's crazy.”
Down in South Jersey, another Timber Creek prospect pulled in a Rutgers offer, this time it was sophomore quarterback Devin Leary.
“I was extremely excited when my coach told me I received the offer in first period today,” Leary said. “It feels so great that an in-state school, especially Rutgers, has offered me and recognized my talents and it's just truly an honor for Coach Ash to reach out and extend an offer to me.”
This past weekend, Scarlet Nation was in attendance at the Next Level Greats 7-on-7 tournament in Pitman, N.J. Among the highlights were strong performances from Rutgers targets Eddie Lewis of Mater Dei and Markquese Bell of Bridgeton.
“Coming out here and playing really helps my game,” Bell said. “It teaches you little things, like how to go open without pads and stuff like that.”
It is easy to see why Bell is such a coveted prospect as he combines excellent size with a great deal of athleticism. Look for a full-length feature on Bell later on this week on Scarlet Nation.
As always, stay logged onto The Round Table for all the latest Rutgers recruiting news.