Not the greatest couple of days for RU

A season ticket hike and three of your top recruits de-committing, it has not been the best couple of days for the Scarlet Knights Nation. It all started on Sunday when four star wide reciever Adonis Jennings decided to decommit, then on Monday it was a triple shot of bad new, first a season ticket increase for fans and then a pair of four star recruits decided to take a walk in Kiy Hester (pictured above) and Lamont Simmons.

I can deal with the season ticket increase, better product is coming in the form of a better schedule.

As for the recruits, its very simple until the NCAA has an early signing period this is going to happen. While Simmons is the one that is  the least surprising, the other two are more concerning. 

Hester has been a leader in trying to get more kids to commit to Rutgers. While Jennings has been one of the longer committed kids in the class. Part of me wonders if these two want to just take visits and will get back in the boat heading the Big Ten. Neither of the two have said they have crossed Rutgers off their list, so there is hope 

Two years ago Kyle Flood was able to hold together a class when Greg Schiano bolted for the Bucs. Let's hope that Flood can do that with this class, if not questions are going to abound. 

National Signing Day: An Ode to the Fax Machine

Over the last couple of years as the use of email has become more and acceptable, the fax machine has been rendered useless. Sure most offices still have them, but the constant hum of them has been replaced for the most part by the bing of email in a person inbox. 

But on the National Signing Day, the fax machine takes its spot at the top of the technological chart. Recruits from all over the country will be sending their National Letters of Intent by fax to their schools. Without the fax machine recruits would have to FedEx their letters of intent and that would not be good for television. 

While the concept of fax machine has been around for nearly 70 years, it really gained in popularity during the 60's. A landmark year for fax machines was 1964, in which the Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance Xerography. This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would truly set the standard for fax machines for years to come. Up until this point facsimile machines were very expensive and hard to operate. In 1966, Xerox released the Magnafax Telecopier, a smaller, 46-pound facsimile machine. This unit was far easier to operate and could be connected to any standard telephone line.

The use of fax machines is not without its negatives, early on National Signing Day FSU officials told ESPN that they were having issues with the fax machines. Lets hope that they got that fixed, so they can get their letter of in intent.

So as we get excited for the classes that our schools get, just remember that the real star of the day is the fax machines. This is one of the few days in the sun that this machines has, so lets respect it.

National Signing Day Giveaway

A National Signing Day giveaway at a liquor store, yes its happening. @birds60 send me this photo of a local liquor store that was offering car magnets to people who stopped by on National Signing Day. Now that is something new.

Social Media: a recruits worst nightmare

As National Signing Day has grown, so has the reach of the recruits. Social media has also increased that reach and also that danger. Social media pose risks for recruits from photos of co-eds to photos at bars. Social Media has really changed the recruiting landscape.

ESPNU and 247Sports rule National Signing Day

National Signing Day has come on gone and people are debating who had the best class in the country. The only true winner on National Signing Day was ESPNU and 247Sports. Its amazing how much college football fans care about 18-years signing scholarship papers. 

Rutgers State Champs

A couple of years, the idea of Rutgers being crowned State champions of recruiting for New Jersey was a joke, but now it appears to be a reality. Recruiting service, 247Sports, crowned Rutgers the state champion of recruiting. 


According to the story, Rutgers got 10 of the top 32 prospects in the state. This was the sites verdict on Rutgers recruiting performance in the state: "Keeping Devin Fuller at home would have made the Scarlet Knights feel a lot better at their relative domicile domination. Still, they deserve credit for fending off the vultures amid their 11th-hour coaching change,'' the report stated. 


It's amazing how things have changed over the years. In 2005, Rutgers was able to get one of the top 30 players in the state to come to the State University of New Jersey. In 2008, Rutgers made progress securing commitments from seven of the top 30 prospects in the state. 


This year, Rutgers did a great job keeping the top prospects in state. Their success in state helped Rutgers get the top ranked class in the Big East.

Our Biggest loss, Our biggest gain

A week ago the Rutgers Football program had their biggest loss, when head coach Greg Schiano left for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Now they have their biggest gain as Don Bosco's 5-star defensive tackle Darius Hamilton commits to Rutgers earlier tonight.

The commitment has a chance to keep the class together and make this the best class in the history of the program.

Standing Up for Schiano

A week ago, I was exchanged tweets with JC Shurburtt, a recruiting guru for 247 sports, on Rutgers upcoming recruiting class. According to Shurburtt, Rutgers was set to make a huge recruiting splash on National Signing Day.

Fast forward to Thursday morning and that has all changed, as Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano made the jump to the NFL to go the Tampa Bay Bucs. Now people are going on message boards and screaming about Schiano's salary, his lack of Big East champions and his game day coaching skills, but I will be one of the few that comes to his defense as a loyal season ticket holder.

Before Schiano got here the Rutgers football was a complete dumpster fire. No one wanted any part of it, in state recruits never looked at going there and it was a joke to everyone. During his tenure at Rutgers, Schiano helped oversee a complete redesign of the school football facilities and make them some of the best in Big East and on the East Coast.

Sure Schiano left the school at the worst time possible time, six days before National Signing Day, but he has not left the school in a bad position. Rutgers is coming off a bowl win and a nine win season. The team has a ton of talent coming back and should be one of the best in the Big East and might find themselves in BCS Bowl at the end of it. If that happens much of the credit should go to Schiano after all it will be his players that took them there.

High School Football All Star Game Recap

The high school football All-Star season has ended. Over the course of the last two weeks, the OTWT Scouting Department has been watching the three majors national games that where played and making a list. Here are some of the players that we where impressed with during the games.


Semper Fidelis Bowl:

• DJ Foster, RB/DB, Arizona: He is a lock down corner who is very comfortable playing against the other team's fastest receiver, and he's very confident with a smooth backpedal and he can turn and run with the best of them. One of the nation's premier cover corners, he also showed great hands, burst, and displayed outstanding moves in the open field at WR.
• Jayodon Mickens, DB/RB, California: One of the more explosive ball players in Los Angeles. He shows the speed, quickness, hands and burst needed to become an impact WR at the next level.

Under Armour All American Game 

• Chad Kelly, QB, Buffalo (pictured above): The nephew of former Bills great Jim Kelly is headed to Clemson. In the skills challenge Kelly arm strong was really shown, he can make any throw out there. Will be a perfect fit in Chad Morris's Clemson offense. 
• Ifenndi Odenigbo, DE, Ohio: The one that got away, instead of picking Ohio State, Odenigbo will be headed to Northwestern. I can not remember the last time the Wildcats had an athlete like this on defense.

US Army All American Game 

• Cyler Miles, QB, Colorado (pictured right):  Miles is a dual-threat quarterback, but he uses his feet more as a weapon than a priority. He has a strong arm and can make all of the throws. Miles, who is heading to Washington next, will be the perfect replacement for Kevin Price in a couple of years. Miles will probably red shirt next years, which will help his development in the future
• TJ Yeldon:, RB, Alabama:Yeldon is an instinctive runner with excellent speed and acceleration. He has a great initial burst, which allows him to hit small windows and attack the defense. His balance and vision allow him to set up tacklers and break tackles. During the game the 'Bama recruit showed his athletic ability hurdling defenders not once but twice. For a larger back he is incredible athletic.

Sometimes getting a 5-star is not all its cracked up to be

In college football, getting 5-star recruits is the name of the game but sometimes it does not work out. Rivals.com took a look at the five years of 5-stars and the results are a mixed bag, for every superstar there is a bust. 

New Jersey HS Football Wants Respect

Players from New Jersey are out to prove that they produce some of the best players in the nation at the Army All-American Game. Players from the Garden State are out to prove they can compete with the best.

Open for Debate: Top 10 running backs in South Jersey history

A very interesting list of the top 10 running backs in S.J. history on comcast. As a person that lives in the area its great to see all of the great backs that have come out of the area.

Is Brandon Coleman Rutgter's version of Jonathan Baldwin

During his time at Pitt, Frank Cignetti had a tall receiver names Jonathan Baldwin to use. Last year Cingnetti did his best to put Baldwin in the best positions that he could. Cignetti, now the offensive coordinator at Rutgers, may have found the next vversion of the Baldwin in red shirt freshman Brandon Coleman. During the Spring Game on Saturday, Coleman was the star of the showing catching five balls for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Teaming Coleman up with Sanu, Deering and Harrison could make the Rutgers receiving corps the best in the Big East. 

Chas Dodd throws a 28-yard td pass to Coleman

South Carolina's State Holiday

Yesterday was a big day in South Carolina as Jadevon Clowney, the number one high school football player in the country announced that he was going to be a Gamecock. The story was such a big deal that it was shown all over and it played a huge part in the front pages of three major state newspapers. Wow who ever said recruiting was not a big deal has never been to the south, its a season in its self.

Recruits in Review

So National Signing Day has come and gone and for once their is no reason to complain about Rutgers 24 member class. Here are a couple of thoughts from the OTWT Scouting Department

• With both Shuler and Johnson in the fold, the Scarlet Knights now have two players that have been crowned the fast high schooler in New Jersey.
• With all of the talk of the Knights getting fellow four stars Huggins, Shuler, and Wright, four star defensive end Djwany Mera is not getting the love that he deserved. Because he went to prep school for a year Mera might be able to step in and play on the DL right away.
• With Tom Savage walking away from the program, it was critical that the program got a qb and they did in Bosco's Gary Nova.
• Since Clark Harris left the program the positions of TE has been an issue for the knights for a while, with DC Jefferson playing the position now, there is a need for depth and the Knights got it in Pennsylvania based TE Tyler Koft. Many experts see him as the sleeper of the class.

Rutgers biggest recruit

Signing Day maybe at least two months away but Rutgers may have already gotten its biggest recruit. No its not a tight end or a QB or even a five star running back from St. Peters Prep but
rather a coach. Over the weekend Rutgers hired Jeff Hafley to its staff in a roll that has yet to be determined, I know what people are thinking wow big deal another assistant. Hafley is more then an assistant. During the last couple of years at Pitt, Hafley has been the one that keeps coming into New Jersey and getting kids to play at Pittsburgh.

Hafley, who has built a reputation as a relentless recruiter in North Jersey, does not have a defined role yet on the staff. He was an assistant for the Panthers the past five years, serving as secondary coach the past three.

"He's the biggest recruit of the off-season for Rutgers," John Otterstedt of ScarletNation.com told Star Ledger. "He is responsible for most of the New Jersey guys going to Pittsburgh the past few years. In North Jersey he's unstoppable as a recruiter,"

It might no show in this class, but in the future it will. Over the course of the last couple of years, some of the top players in the state have gotten away, here is hoping that Hafley changes all of that and more of the Garden State top players come and play at the State University of New Jersey.

William Paterson might need a QB

Approximately four years ago Don Bosco QB Matt Simms was the talk of the New Jersey high school football, fast forward to today and he might be a player without a program.

Simms started his career at Louisville after being a sought after recruit. But that relationship did not last long. In Aug. 2008, U of L suspended the redshirt freshman quarterback for four games for an undisclosed violation of team. After the incident and not being named starting QB, Simms left the program and head out west to El Camino Junior College in California.

After having a great year in JC, Simms signed with then University of Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffan. Reports out of the great state of Tennessee, stated that Simms was chosen over fellow JC QB Cam Newton, that turned out well. During this season Simms has not been that good and has now lost his job to true freshman Tyler Bray. Simms did not take too kindly to being replaced during the South Carolina game a couple of weeks ago: "I had no idea that I was going to get taken out of the game for that. I was playing really well. Extremely well. Probably the best game I've played all year. It's rough but hey, they made a decision and they stuck with it," according to USA Today. Bray ended up starting last week against Memphis and appears to be headed for a long run as the UT starting qb.

So after all that hype at Bosco, Simms looks like a player without a starting job. As a alumni of William Paterson University, I think that Simms would look good in the orange and black.There are many positives to him heading there, he will not have to sit out next year because its a Division III program and its really close to his home town as Rampo. Hey nothing else has worked out for Simms, so why not head back toward home.

LeGrand has support from all over

Support for injured Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand is coming from all over. While cover the Lacey Central football game last night, two banners saying "Believe" were hung on both the home and visitors stands. Central players also wore decals with LeGrand's number, 52, on them.
Its great to see the state coming out to support LeGrand, his family, and the Rutgers football program.
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Making Red Bull Arena work

So Red Bull Arena has opened and its an amazing building, which I got the honor to see on Wednesday night, but their is a question that I keep asking my self. How are they going to make this work. When I say work I mean from a business point of view.

In this economy a building can not survive on one sport alone. I'm not saying turn it into an all purpose facility but I do think that the building needs to hold a couple of different type of events. So far events that are scheduled including the Churchill Cup (Rugby) on June 19 and the Big East Soccer Championships in mid-November.

This is a great start, while not the most sexiest events, these events will bring people in. Another way the building can be used more is to have state finals for soccer there. It would give the players a great feeling of what its like to play in an venue like that. The state already has a similar set up with both the old Giant Stadium and Rutgers Stadium hosting different state football finals. The hosting should not be limited to soccer, maybe even have the lacrosse and football finals there, only if the field is big enough.

How great would a Bergen Catholic vs. Don Bosco sectional football final be in that building. In the past 20,000 people have shown up at Giant Stadium for the game. Sure that is a good number but in a building like Giant Stadium the people get lost, in Red Bull Arena that would be awesome and the atmosphere would be amazing. The Home Depot Center, where the Galaxy play, has a similar set up with hosting the state high school football finals.

These are just a couple of suggestions to make Red Bull Arena a profitable place, hey it did cost them almost $200 million to build the thing.

Professional Tailgating: Rutgers Spring Game

College football is still  a couple of months of away, but the OTWT Tailgating crew got their fix during the Rutgers Spring Game yesterday. Here are some of the sites from the recording setting day.

Bottle caps mark the spot of tailgates past

 The cow was telling us not to eat hamburgers and eat chicken it was weird

 Spring Game was ok, Savage played well and showed that they might be a force in the Big East