Tag: KJ Duff

What two Rutgers freshmen did Greg Schiano single out for praise during spring practice?

Two freshmen wide receivers are making plays this spring for Rutgers football.

Following the second scrimmage of spring, Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano highlighted the overall emerging depth of his team. In particular, some intriguing names popping up at wide receiver is good news for the offense.

The fact that both players are true freshmen and in their first spring at Rutgers is certainly encouraging for the continued growth and development of the program.

Last season under Kirk Ciarrocca, the Rutgers offense took a big step forward developmentally. Ciarrocca’s return to Rutgers helped elevate what was one of the Big Ten’s worst offenses into a respectable unit that finished middle of the Big Ten in total offense.

Rutgers was led by a ground game that was among the best in the nation. If Schiano’s offense can start making plays with their wide receivers, then the team’s rebuild can take yet another step forward.

Wide receiver has consistently been a struggle for Rutgers to land talent. But this incoming freshman class could prove to be an important cycle for the program’s ability to land multiple wide receivers with the ability to make plays at the Big Ten level.

“I don’t know if they’re big time –  how will we know if they’re going to be big time until they do it, right? But there’s some really talented young guys: Ben Black jumps off is really doing some good things. You know, KJ Duff, I think is really doing some things and he doesn’t look like a freshman out there,” Schiano told reporters on Saturday.

“So that’s good. We have a couple guys as you know, that are bumped up so they’re getting more repetitions. And then we just need to get (to) play bigger and stronger at the position and I think we’re starting to learn how to do that, you know, in the Big Ten there’s big DBs and there’s big nickels and big cover down linebackers and you got to be able to play strong. And it’s something that we didn’t always do at times. So we’re really working on doing that.”

From North Carolina, Black was ranked a three-star and the No. 26 recruit in North Carolina in the class of 2024. At the time he committed to Rutgers, Black had offers from Duke, Georgia Tech and UConn among others.

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Duff was a marquee recruit for Rutgers after being a dominant force in Long Island his final two seasons in high school.

He was a four-star recruit according to Rivals and On3 with  offers from Miami, North Carolina, Syracuse and Tennessee among others.

Oh yeah! Rutgers football wide receiver KJ Duff wins the Gregg Sarra Trophy

KJ Duff is named the top offensive player in Long Island high school football last year.

KJ Duff pulled in another postseason honor this week as the Rutgers football wide receiver won a top honor out of Long Island.

On Sunday, Duff was awarded with the Gregg Sarra Trophy, which is awarded to the top offensive and defensive performers on Long Island’s football fields. The trophy is named after Sarra, a longtime (and legendary) journalist who covered Long Island sports for nearly four decades.

Duff was a four-star athlete in the 247 Sports Composite coming out of St. Anthony’s High School (Melville, New York) when he committed to Rutgers football over the summer. He had a strong offer list that included a final two of Miami and North Carolina in addition to offers from Arizona State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Texas A&M among others.

 

In nine games played as a senior, Duff had 55 catches for 929 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

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The 6-foot-5, 200-pound wide receiver enrolled at Rutgers in January. He brings some position flexibility with the ability to also line up as a tight end.

What members of the ’24 Rutgers football recruiting class are four-star recruits?

Rutgers football’s 2024 recruiting class includes six players ranked as a four-star.

Rutgers football pieced together a very strong recruiting class, one that is balanced and talented.

And in what is an encouraging uptick in recruiting, the class features a significant number of blue-chip recruits.

A total of six committed (and signed) players are ranked as four-star recruits by the big four recruiting services (On3, 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals). While there is no single Rutgers player who is a consensus four-star, three of the six players ranked have been given four-star status by multiple media outlets.

Below are the six players who have been ranked a four-star in the 2024 Rutgers football recruiting class. Their On3 Industry Ranking (which averages the four major recruiting sites) is used to order the rankings:

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White is the only Rutgers commit to be a four-star recruit according to three sites (On3, 247Sports and ESPN)

 

Rutgers football: A pair of four-star commits visit for game against Temple

Rutgers football hosted several prominent recruits on Saturday night.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — There was a healthy turnout of recruits for Saturday night’s game against Temple, this despite massive and violent thunderstorms that struck the area two hours before the game.

Rutgers football currently has the No. 34 recruiting class in the nation. It features several four-star recruits, including defensive back Kaj Sanders and tight end K.J. Duff.

Sanders and Duff were in attendance on Saturday night.

Bold denotes a player committed to Rutgers. Below are the recruits who were att Rutgers football for the game:

Kory Brown

Eidan Buchanan

Renick Dorilas

[autotag]K.J. Duff[/autotag]

[autotag]Kaj Sanders[/autotag]

[autotag]A.J. Surace[/autotag]

[autotag]Gabriel Winowich[/autotag]

Last week, a huge contingent of players were at SHI Stadium for Rutgers to see the win over Northwestern. Miss the list last week? Here it is.

Interesting that Duff, Sanders, Surace and Winowich have been att both games this year.

Bold denotes a Rutgers football commit:

 

Rutgers football: After Kaj Sanders committed, where does the 2024 class stand now?

Rutgers is in a solid spot in the team rankings for recruiting from Rivals and 247Sports.

After a busy June on the recruiting front, Rutgers football continued their momentum this past weekend by securing the commitment of Kaj Sanders. A four-star from Bergen Catholic, Sanders is the highest ranked commit from New Jersey in this 2024 recruiting class for Rutgers.

And with the commitment of Sanders, the Scarlet Knights’ class looks a whole lot prettier.

Rivals has Rutgers as No. 25 in the nation with two players ranked as four stars. Those two players, Long Island wide receiver/tight end K.J. Duff and Sanders, both committed in the last two weeks to help lift the class.

According to 247Sports, Rutgers is now at No. 32 in the nation. The vaunted 2022 class, the highest ranked since Schiano returned, finished as No. 33 in the nation.

Gabriel Winowich, a four-star, is the highest ranked commit in the class per 247Sports’ evaluation.

Also with two players ranked as four star recruits (Winowich and Sanders), On3 has this Rutgers class as No. 37 in the nation.

What does this mean for Rutgers? Well, adding Sanders and Duff in consecutive weeks is no doubt recruiting momentum. It makes for nice headlines and positive press, but it also creates intrigue in this class and moving forward.

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Blue chip players want to play with other standout players. They want to win. So adding Sanders and Duff is improtant for Rutgers if they want to create a groundswell and attract other high-end recruits.

As far as the star ratings, keep in mind that head coach Greg Schiano has been adamant about this being a developmental program and that he is after the best fit, not the stars. But there is no denying that the best programs in the Big Ten attract the most stars.

So for Rutgers to land two coveted players over the past two weeks is a sign that the tide might be turning for Rutgers.

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What recruits are visiting Rutgers football for Tuesday’s spring practice?

Some top players from New Jersey and New York are visiting Rutgers football on Tuesday.

The top recruits in the area visiting Rutgers football shows no signs of slowing down, with a number of high-profile athletes checking out the program this week.

Several priority recruits from New Jersey and New York will be at Rutgers on Tuesday for spring practice.

Last week, four-star safety [autotag]Josiah Brown[/autotag] visited Rutgers. Brown has been a regular at Rutgers for two years now with this most recent visit on Thursday representing yet another chance for the Scarlet Knights to make progress with the standout from Long Island.

Here are the top players who will be at Rutgers on Tuesday:

There will also be players on hand from DePaul (Wayne, N.J.) and Pope John (Sparta, N.J.)

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