Category: Rutgers recruiting

Former Rutgers recruiting target Elijah Taylor enters transfer portal

Former Rutgers basketball recruiting target, power forward Elijah Taylor, has officially entered the transfer portal

One of the top 50 power forwards and the No. 6 basketball prospect out of Pennsylvania from the class of 2020 is officially a free agent. Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Elijah Taylor entered the transfer portal on Friday.

The Philadelphia, PA native is transferring out of Notre Dame after just one season with the Irish. His freshman season was shut down before it got started. Taylor underwent ankle surgery on December 11, 2020, and sat out the entire 2020-21 season through rehabilitations.

He saw game time in three contests in the 2021-2022 season, averaging under four minutes per contest and totaling eight points, two rebounds, and a block.

A three-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite, Taylor was noted as being a tough, aggressive guy who would can mix it up in the paint and add good athleticism to boot.

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Prior to committing to the Fighting Irish, Taylor received offers from Seton Hall, Florida, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Penn State, George Washington, and Rutgers. His first offer came from the Scarlet Knights.

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Academic issues caused him to not only not be able to play, but also to practice with the team this past season. Nevertheless, at the time, Taylor pledged to be back and get things worked out so he could continue his Irish career. He entered the portal a few days prior to the deadline for players to be able to transfer and play immediately in the fall.

Former Rutgers recruiting target Rondel Walker enters transfer portal

Former Rutgers basketball recruiting target Rondel Walker has officially entered the transfer portal

One of the top 15 combo guards and top-five recruits out of Oklahoma from the class of 2020 is once again available. Former Oklahoma State Cowboy Rondel Walker has officially announced he entered the transfer portal on Friday.

The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma native is transferring out of OSU after two seasons. Walker is the fifth player for the Cowboys to enter the portal this cycle. He did so just two days before the May 1 deadline, allowing him to play this next season.

Walker played in all 30 of Oklahoma State’s games this past season, making eight starts. He averaged 4.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game in 2021-22. His 48 steals ranked fifth in the Big 12.

A four-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite, Walker was noted as being smooth, explosive three-and-D guy by scouts. Prior to committing to OSU, he received offers from Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, and Rutgers among others.

As a freshman, Walker averaged 7.8 points a game, scoring in double figures 12 times. He put up a career-high 20 points in Ames against Iowa State as a freshman.

Rutgers defensive lineman/linebacker Brian Ugwu enters the transfer portal

Rutgers defensive end/linebacker Brian Ugwu officially entered the transfer portal on Thursday.

Rutgers defensive end/linebacker Brian Ugwu officially entered the transfer portal Friday. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound edge rusher will now have three years of eligibility left to play college football elsewhere.

A three-star recruit in both the 247Sports Composite and per Rivals.com, Ugwu committed to the Scarlet Knight program on signing day back in February of 2019. Former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash was the one who recruited and offered Ugwu when he was at Hillside high school.

He made his collegiate debut in 2019 against Massachusetts, but ended up tearing his ACL and was passed on the depth chart while recovering from injury. As a sophomore in 2020, he did appear in two games (Penn State, Maryland) and was named to the Academic All-Big Ten list.

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Ugwu did not see game action in 2021. He did not feature heavily in Friday’s annual spring game scrimmage as other edge rushers have lept ahead of him on the depth chart.

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Prior to committing to Rutgers, Ugwu saw offers from Pittsburgh, Duke, Syracuse, Temple, and Nebraska.

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Rutgers football lands another 2022 commitment in Kareem Lewis

Kareem Lewis commits to Rutgers football on Thursday night.

Kareem Lewis announced his commitment to Rutgers football on Thursday night.

A standout defensive back at Roman Catholic (Philadelphia, PA), Lewis is a hard hitter who is solid in coverage and steps up as part of the run defense. He is a member of the class of 2022.

Lewis is rated a two-star athlete by Rivals. He had four offers including Bowling Green, UConn, UPenn and Temple.

Last June, he committed to UConn. He de-committed from the program in late November.

247Sports ranks him as the No. 47 player in Pennsylvania for the class of 2022.

He announced his decision via social media on Thursday night:

 

Roman Catholic is home to a number of top recruits and is a powerhouse of the Philadelphia area.

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Some of the top prospects on the roster include offensive lineman Austin Ramsey (a three-star class of 2023 prospect with a strong offer list including Boston College, Maryland, Miami Nebraska and Penn State among others) as well as wide receiver Tyseer Denmark (a four-star athlete in the class of 2024 who is a consensus top 150 player in the nation). Both players have been offered by Rutgers.

Booyah! New Rutgers football offer out to Adham Abouraya

Rutgers football offers Adham Abouraya this week,

A new offer went out from Rutgers football on Wednesday night, this one for Pennsylvania offensive lineman Adham Abouraya.

On Wednesday, Abouraya received his first two offers from Power Five programs with offers from Syracuse and then Rutgers. He previously held an offer from Temple.

Abouraya plays for Downington East (Exeter, PA). The 2024 prospect is an offensive lineman who checks in at 6-foot-5, 285 pounds.

He has good arm length and is a solid blocker who moves well. He gets into the second level and is a solid downfield blocker. Does a nice job of finishing on most of his blocks.

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Abouraya tweeted about the offer on Wednesday night.

 

Rutgers has recently had some success in landing talent from Downington East, including tight end Tyler Kroft (who last season played for the New York Jets) and offensive lineman Taj Alexander.

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The Scarlet Knights currently have three commitments in the class of 2023. Two of those players are ranked as top 10 in New Jersey (four-star defensive lineman [autotag]JaSire Peterson[/autotag], three-star offensive lineman [autotag]John Stone[/autotag]).

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The third commitment is [autotag]Yazeed Haynes[/autotag], a three-star wide receiver from Pennsylvania.

Rutgers basketball latest to offer Florida four-star forward

Sam Walters, a four-star from Florida, got an offer from Rutgers basketball this week.

Sam Walters pulled in an offer from Rutgers basketball this week, putting the Scarlet Knights fresh in the mix for one of the top big men in the nation.

The 6-foot-9 forward plays his high school ball at The Villages Charter (The Villages, FL). Last season, he averaged 24.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. He also averaged 1.9 blocks per game.

Walters is a four-star recruit according to Rivals and ranked the No. 28 player in the nation.

The Rutgers offer is the second in less than a week for Walters. Last Saturday, Walters pulled in an offer from Alabama.

He currently holds offers from Florida, Georgetown, LSU, Ole Miss, South Florida, Stetson, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech in addition to his recent offers from Alabama and Rutgers.

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As with most players recruited by Steve Pikiell, Walters has good shooting range and is strong defensively.

Walters tweeted about the offer on April 26:

 

Rutgers has also been heavily involved with Gus Yalden, a four-star power forward from North Carolina who has been on-campus multiple times.

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The Rutgers 2022 recruiting class was a solid one, featuring two commits.

New Jersey three-star guard Derek Simpson was the first member of the 2022 recruiting class to commit to Rutgers when he gave his verbal last August. Antwone Woolfolk, a three-star power forward from Ohio, committed to Rutgers last fall.

Ja’elyne Matthews talks his new offers from Ohio State, Penn State and Georgia

Ja’elyne Matthews breaks down his recent offers from Ohio State, Penn State and Georgia as well as where Rutgers football stands in his recruitment.

Ja’elyne Matthews has seven offers from Power Five programs since Monday. It is a remarkable run of offers for Matthews, who is becoming one of the hottest recruits in New Jersey.

Oh, and Matthews is still a freshman in high school.

The offers keep rolling in for Matthews, a standout offensive lineman at Toms River North (Toms River, N.J.). The offers show no signs of slowing down.

On Thursday morning, the 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive tackle got offers from Cincinnati and Louisville before 10 AM.

It all started this past fall when Matthews hauled in an offer from Rutgers football in late October, his first offer coming from the Big Ten program. He came into April with offers from the Scarlet Knights, Boston College and UConn.

Then, things started to heat up.

This week, he got an offer from Georgia, the reigning national champions (the offer from Georgia came from Fran Brown, a former Rutgers football assistant). Shortly after that, some other big-time offers came in including Ohio State, Texas A&M, Penn State, Syracuse and others.

Penn State made Matthews their first offensive tackle for a class of 2025 recruit.

On Friday night, Matthews took a visit to Rutgers for the annual spring game.

 

Check out what [autotag]Ja’elyne Matthews[/autotag] had to say about his recent offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State and also his thoughts on where Rutgers stands in his recruitment.

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Former Rutgers recruiting target Audley Isaacs enters transfer portal

Former Rutgers football recruiting target Audley Isaacs has officially entered the transfer portal.

One of the top 150 linebackers and top 50 high school football players out of Pennsylvania from the class of 2017 has entered the transfer portal. Former Temple linebacker Audley Isaacs officially entered the transfer portal last week.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native and Valley Forge Military Academy alum is leaving Temple as a graduate transfer.

A two-star recruit according to Rivals and a three-star linebacker in the 247Sports Composite signed his letter of intent to play for the Temple Owls in May of his senior high school season. Prior to that, he received interest  from UConn, West Virginia, Cornell, Army, and Rutgers.

Isaacs finishes his time at Temple mostly seeing time on special teams. He did finish with 26 tackles and a fumble recovery in 27 games played during his time with the Owls. Greg Schinao’s defense is strong and tenacious, something Isaacs has shows when given the opportunity when rotating in at linebacker.

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He did suffer a season ending injury in a game against Memphis in 2020, but that was after stepping in at linebacker and setting a career-high in tackles (eight), as well as scooping up that fumble. He would bring veteran experience and leadership to the Scarlet Knight locker room.

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Semaj Bridgeman adds major offer from Alabama

Four-star linebacker Semaj Bridgeman now has an offer from Alabama football.

Four-star linebacker Semaj Bridgeman just pulled down an offer from Alabama on Wednesday, bringing another big-time offer to the Pennsylvania linebacker.

Bridgeman, a multi-year starter at Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia), tweeted about the offer from the SEC powerhouse on Wednesday morning.

The linebacker has been considered a bit of a lean to Rutgers, having made multiple visits the past year and developing a good relationship with the Scarlet Knights.

The Alabama offer shouldn’t be a surprise given that Bridgeman holds a number of top offers.

There has been a flurry of SEC activity in the Mid-Atlantic area over the past few days. Class of 2025 offensive tackle [autotag]Ja’elyne Matthews[/autotag] (Toms River North; Toms River, N.J.) got an offer from Georgia football on Monday. In addition, Georgia offered New Jersey defensive end [autotag]Jordan Thomas[/autotag] (Don Bosco Prep; Oradell, N.J.) on Wednesday. Both Georgia offers came from secondary coach Fran Brown, a former assistant at Rutgers.

Bridgeman got an offer from Georgia in February.

 

According to Rivals, Bridgeman is the No. 11 linebacker in the nation and the seventh-best player in Pennsylvania.

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In addition to the aforementioned programs of Alabama, Georgia and Rutgers, Bridgeman also holds offers from the likes of Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State among others.

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Former Rutgers recruiting target Ryan Conway enters transfer portal

Former Rutgers recruiting target and Seton Hall Pirate Ryan Conway has entered the transfer portal. Rutgers should target him again

The NCAA transfer portal has been very active in April. One of the top 25  point guards overall and the No. 4 recruit in Maryland from the class of 2021 is a free agent. Ryan Conway from Seton Hall officially entered the transfer portal Thursday.

The 6-foot-one guard was a two-time All-Metro selection by The Baltimore Sun. Conway was also a First Team All-State selection by the Maryland Basketball Coaches Association.

As a sophomore in high school, he averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.7 steals per game. He exploded for a 55-point game in January of his senior high school season, as well.

A three-star shooting guard in the 247Sports Composite, Conway did not see the court during his freshman season with the Seton Hall Pirates despite being heavily recruited out of high school. The sophomore will have four years of eligibility whenever he makes his decision. He committed to Seton Hall in May of his senior season. Prior to committing to play for the Pirates, Conway received offers from Stanford, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Kansas State, and Rutgers.

Rutgers needs scoring help and depth at guard. With head coach Steve Pikiell’s penchant for getting the most out of players, Conway revisiting Rutgers may be best for both parties.

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