The Monday Morning Kickoff
Rutgers wrapped up a busy recruiting week with a Saturday commitment that added a prospect from a new area. Fairmount, W.V. class of 2017 defensive tackle Darius Stills jumped on board and committed to Rutgers while on campus Saturday.
“I choose Rutgers because they are the school that showed me the most love,” Stills said. “Ever since Rutgers offered, they talked to me daily and never lost contact with me at all. I’ve been comfortable at Rutgers ever since I first visited there for a camp. It just felt like it is a really good for me to spend my next 4-5 years playing football.”
Rutgers continues to fare well with another defensive lineman from beyond the state of New Jersey as Ohio defensive end Brendan Bordner also enjoyed his time on campus this past weekend.
“It went really well, gave me a good chance to get around the players and commits,” Bordner explained. “I got in Friday night and spent the night with Kevin Wilkins. Then, [Saturday] morning, I had a short tour of the Hale Center. Then, I got into like a mini campus tour with some competition events mixed in. It was followed up by a lunch and talking with the coaches more.”
There was also a long line of commits in attendance and the feedback was also very favorable among them.
“It went great. [The] only downfall of the trip, Owen [Bowles] beat me in a pie eating contest, but I just enjoyed being around the commits and coaches,” said Union defensive end Mike Tverdov. “I was also doing some recruiting myself and getting to know some of the other recruits. I had a great time like usual.”
Rutgers also continues to fare well with DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) class of 2017 four-star offensive tackle Marcus Minor, who put the Scarlet Knights in his final seven last week along with Auburn, Michigan State, Florida, Miami, Virginia Tech and Maryland.
“After visiting Rutgers earlier this summer, I learned about all the programs they have up there,” Minor said. “They really help set you up for life after football and things of those sorts. They just make sure their guys don't leave not ready for the real world.”
Last week, the RU men’s hoops team also landed a commit as Proctor Academy (Boston, Mass.) point guard Geo Baker offered up his verbal pledge.
“I called Coach Pikiell [Wednesday] to tell him that I was going to commit, he was really excited,” Baker said. “He actually told me he couldn't stop smiling and kept saying big things are coming. Also, he kept on telling me that he's going to get some stud wings to help me out on the floor when I get there.”
Scarlet Nation has also confirmed that Rutgers will receive a visit from Class of 2016 wing Eugene Omoruyi of Orangeville Prep at Athlete Institute (Canada) on Tuesday. Omoruyi already holds a Rutgers offer.
Football will return to Piscataway next Monday when training camp begins as season one approaches with head coach Chris Ash at the helm.
Thus far, Ash has put together the No.16 recruiting class in the nation and explained the formula he has used for recruiting.
“We had a plan when we came into Rutgers on how we wanted to recruit and create the type of environment that recruits wanted to be a part of. It started in our own locker room,” head coach Chris Ash said at Big Ten Media Day. “We created a culture in our locker room that our players bought into and believed in. They could go out and sell to recruits. At the end of the day, if your players are not your best recruiters, you don’t have a chance to recruit at a high level. We wanted to work on our players in our locker room, in our building, build relationships and connections with those guys and they could, in turn, go out and try to sell our program and what we are doing to the recruits.”