http://www.nj.com/sports/gloucester/inde...xml&coll=8


Sunday, December 17, 2006

By Harvey Yavener
Newhouse News Service

His broken foot may have have him hobbled, but Tiquan Underwood will be a busy guy the next two weekends.

It is visiting time for the top football recruits, and Underwood, the personable wideout from Notre Dame High, established himself last year while still a freshman as one of Rutgers' top salesmen.

Won-loss records are a great selling point, facilities are a major factor in the wooing of blue-chips, coaches who know how to close the deal are critical, but nothing may be as important to a visiting youngster as the kind of people who will be his new teammates and what they think of the program.

Ty Underwood's infectious personality is as big a plus as any Greg Schiano has in making the visitors to Rutgers come away with something top prospects can cherish for a long, long time.

And top prospects they are. Never before have so many multi- starred, multi-talented high-school players agreed to visit and give Schiano and Company an opportunity to present the arguments why they should cast their lot with Rutgers.

Already 15 have given verbal commitments, players that include Trenton High's 6-foot-5, 300-pound tackle Keith Newell, who is ranked among the top 20 players at his position in the country, and Nottingham's 6-6, 285-pound defensive tackle Wayne Thomas, also one of the country's best.

But it's not an official commitment until signing day the first Wednesday in February, and the official visit can go a long way toward cementing any shaky stars, though it's hard to imagine any being shaky after the kind of season the Scarlet Knights enjoyed.

But it's the rest of the class that will be in focus these next weekends, the superstars who can lift the class to heights once unimagined. Players coming from Florida and players from around this state. And maybe the highest-rated one from a few blocks away, Piscataway High's 6-5, 330-pound tackle Anthony Davis, who after being wooed by USC and Florida State and just about every major power, reportedly is down to two Rutgers and Ohio State. He's been around practices and at games, but the official visit still could sway his choice.

Big tackles are high on the Knight wish list. Some already are committed verbally. But there are others the Knights are chasing, including John Elliott of Long Island, who has Michigan high on his list of suitors, and Richard Muldrow, a 6-8, 285-pounder from York (Pa.) Catholic, who'll visit next weekend. Defensive tackles due on campus this weekend include 290-pounder Dontee Nicholls from Florida.

Nine Rutgers players were named All-Big East this season but only was a linebacker, senior Devraun Thompson, a second-team pick. There is a plethora of linebackers on the roster, but where's that super-stud? Maybe it will be Paulsboro's 6-4, 225-pound Alex Silvestro.

Keeping his Florida ties is just as vital. Four Sunshine staters have said they're coming, but the big- name ones haven't committed yet. Wide receiver AJ. Guyton and four- starred halfback Antwain Easterling would look great in scarlet.

Still, dominating the homefront is just as critical. The visit of two- way back Mason Robinson from Somerset County will be a big one. Maybe a Ty Underwood will sweep him off his feet.

It's almost a lock to be the best class ever to enroll at Rutgers. How good, w'll find out in the next couple of weeks. Logically, it should be an easy sell, with all the great things that have been happening. But you're dealing with 18-year-olds and you better keep pushing.

Like Schiano says, the moment you get satisfied and let off the throttle for a minute is the moment you start to decline.

Part of it is whom you play, but it's intriguing to see all five Big East bowl teams favored and all five likely to win. By contrast, five of the Big Ten's seven entrants are underdogs.

The negative thing for Rutgers fans is that so many of the Scarlet's conference rivals took major strides this season and will be better still next year. Who said the Big East is a football league?

So how do you stay with the top tier? Part of that answer is to get get a jump on 2007 by giving the current freshmen three extra weeks of drills during bowl preparations, giving them an extra spring training in effect. For 14 weeks, said Schiano, the redshirts have been building their bodies in the weight room, going from baby fat to man muscle, and now they start to learn football, to acquire game skills.

Come spring, there could be major shakeups in the two-deep.

They've lost a couple biggies in New Jersey recently. I imagine it will take Schiano a bit before it becomes difficult to get New Jersey kids to leave the state for another school. However, there is always a percentage of those dissatisfied with their current background and imagine the grass is greener elsewhere. I know I did when I was growing up.

bitcruncher Wrote:They've lost a couple biggies in New Jersey recently. I imagine it will take Schiano a bit before it becomes difficult to get New Jersey kids to leave the state for another school. However, there is always a percentage of those dissatisfied with their current background and imagine the grass is greener elsewhere. I know I did when I was growing up.

We will never get every Jersey blue chipper and we don't necessarily want all of what the recruiting services consider the blue chippers. We also recruit Eastern PA, Southeastern NY, Delaware, Maryland, and South Florida very very hard. We will make up for lost ones from those areas and enhance our own backyard's talent with talent from elsewhere. I expect us to make a push into Ohio every now and then too in the future. Some kids just want to get out of NJ for school plain and simple.

brista21 Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:They've lost a couple biggies in New Jersey recently. I imagine it will take Schiano a bit before it becomes difficult to get New Jersey kids to leave the state for another school. However, there is always a percentage of those dissatisfied with their current background and imagine the grass is greener elsewhere. I know I did when I was growing up.

We will never get every Jersey blue chipper and we don't necessarily want all of what the recruiting services consider the blue chippers. We also recruit Eastern PA, Southeastern NY, Delaware, Maryland, and South Florida very very hard. We will make up for lost ones from those areas and enhance our own backyard's talent with talent from elsewhere. I expect us to make a push into Ohio every now and then too in the future. Some kids just want to get out of NJ for school plain and simple.

From what I have read, you guys at Rutgers have arrived as a legit top 20 recruiting program.

Rutgers, Louisville, and WVU are contending amongst the top classes in the country.

The rest of the league, I think is much further behind which is probably a good thing because too much parity is not good for a small football conference......this was the case with the MWC 8...solid football programs beating up on each other.

Airport KC Wrote:

brista21 Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:They've lost a couple biggies in New Jersey recently. I imagine it will take Schiano a bit before it becomes difficult to get New Jersey kids to leave the state for another school. However, there is always a percentage of those dissatisfied with their current background and imagine the grass is greener elsewhere. I know I did when I was growing up.

We will never get every Jersey blue chipper and we don't necessarily want all of what the recruiting services consider the blue chippers. We also recruit Eastern PA, Southeastern NY, Delaware, Maryland, and South Florida very very hard. We will make up for lost ones from those areas and enhance our own backyard's talent with talent from elsewhere. I expect us to make a push into Ohio every now and then too in the future. Some kids just want to get out of NJ for school plain and simple.

From what I have read, you guys at Rutgers have arrived as a legit top 20 recruiting program.

Rutgers, Louisville, and WVU are contending amongst the top classes in the country.

The rest of the league, I think is much further behind which is probably a good thing because too much parity is not good for a small football conference......this was the case with the MWC 8...solid football programs beating up on each other.

You assume wrong--Rutgers is not in the top 20. Let's wait until early Feb. Pitt has a better class than Rutgers. Syracuse is just behind Rutgers with a possibility of getting a huge TE recruit.

Pitt has consistently had the best recruiting class in the BEast for a few years, but they sure haven't played like it in Wanny-time. I don't put much stock in the recruiting rankings. These are high school kids they are trying to guage. You have no idea where their head is, and whether or not they have the intestinal fortitude needed to excel at the next level. Jason Gwaltney is a prime example - at least for now. If he gets his head together and applies himself, he can still reach the potential they tabbed for him. I'll wait and see.

TexanMark Wrote:

Airport KC Wrote:

brista21 Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:They've lost a couple biggies in New Jersey recently. I imagine it will take Schiano a bit before it becomes difficult to get New Jersey kids to leave the state for another school. However, there is always a percentage of those dissatisfied with their current background and imagine the grass is greener elsewhere. I know I did when I was growing up.

We will never get every Jersey blue chipper and we don't necessarily want all of what the recruiting services consider the blue chippers. We also recruit Eastern PA, Southeastern NY, Delaware, Maryland, and South Florida very very hard. We will make up for lost ones from those areas and enhance our own backyard's talent with talent from elsewhere. I expect us to make a push into Ohio every now and then too in the future. Some kids just want to get out of NJ for school plain and simple.

From what I have read, you guys at Rutgers have arrived as a legit top 20 recruiting program.

Rutgers, Louisville, and WVU are contending amongst the top classes in the country.

The rest of the league, I think is much further behind which is probably a good thing because too much parity is not good for a small football conference......this was the case with the MWC 8...solid football programs beating up on each other.

You assume wrong--Rutgers is not in the top 20. Let's wait until early Feb. Pitt has a better class than Rutgers. Syracuse is just behind Rutgers with a possibility of getting a huge TE recruit.

I can see us getting a top 20 recruiting class next year. Next year's class will have seen 2 successful seasons at Rutgers and will be in the middle of a third. Thats when we start to clean up in NJ.