Tag: Larry Blustein

This has been a busy few weeks for Rutgers football and head coach Greg Schiano, with camp season providing an important opportunity for the program to get in early on some top-tier talent. The offseason is an opportunity for Schiano to grow and develop relationships throughout the evaluation process.

Something that the Rutgers head coach says is vitally important for his program when they recruit.

The focus for Rutgers of keeping top recruiting targets who are in-state from leaving New Jersey has been something Schiano has preached during both his tenures with the program.

In the 2022 recruiting class, New Jersey led the way with nine commitments for Rutgers. Last year, the state had five players for Rutgers (Florida led the way with six).

This current recruiting class has two New Jersey players but is ranked No. 24 in the nation according to 247Sports.

Despite the dip in raw numbers from New Jersey this year, keeping the players within the ‘State of Rutgers’ is something that is important for the continued rebuilding of the program. Speaking this week with Larry Blustein on Florida radio station WQAM, Schiano spoke of the importance of recruiting New Jersey and Florida.

“I think the football here in New Jersey is as good as anywhere in the country. And the coaching as well,” Schiano said on WQAM.

“It’s just not as deep – as you (Blustein) said as some other states. So where you know, Florida annually produces hundreds of division one caliber athletes – that may not be the case (for New Jersey) – we’re not the biggest state either.”

Camps, such as the Big Man Camp this weekend and the annual 7-on-7 tournament, give Schiano and his staff a chance to evaluate talent up close. He also gets to see the work ethic and character of the player in an intense camp setting.

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New Jersey remains an important part of the recruiting success for Rutgers but there is no doubt that Florida is an important part of the equation if the program is to climb the ladder in the Big Ten. Of the 17 commits in this current recruiting class, five are from Florida and there are three apiece from Michigan and North Carolina.

Schiano said that when recruiting out of state, is important to develop strong relationships with coaches and school administration so as to get all the necessary details when evaluating a player.

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“So I think the key to recruiting the right guys is relationships with coaches, relationships with players. And to do that you have to be repeat customers, you have to keep coming back,” Schiano said.

“You have to develop relationships with the coaches, the people in the school, and that really helps you prevent from making mistakes. Because you know, it’s easy to make a mistake if you don’t really know the young man. Does he fit your culture? You know, 40 times, the height and weight – is not enough to determine if the guy is going to make it and be a good fit in your program.

“And that’s what we try to do. Like I said earlier, as much information as you can ascertain and then really put it into a formula that we’ve made over the years that kind of tells us if this is a guy for us.”

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Set for his third season back with Rutgers football, head coach Greg Schiano has had to adapt and adjust his recruiting map. Rutgers, now in the Big Ten, is recruiting like a Big Ten program with a much different recruiting outlook than two decades ago during his first stint with the Scarlet Knights.

Since Schiano’s return, Rutgers has expanded its recruiting blueprint to include more turf within the Midwest. In the last two recruiting cycles, Schiano has landed offensive linemen from Ohio. There were also legitimate Power Five recruits such as Indiana’s Demetrious Allen and Illinois athlete Rachad Rochelle who committed to the Scarlet Knights.

Where the emphasis was on New Jersey and Florida during the first go-around, Schiano is using ties in places like Ohio and other Big Ten hotbeds of talent to help with this second rebuild.

Areas that Rutgers, when in the new Big East under Schiano, simply didn’t pour a ton of resources or effort into.

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In an interview on Monday night with Larry Blustein on WQAM in south Florida, Schiano talked about this new recruiting scope and why he is focusing even more attention on the Midwest this time around.

“You look at our roster since we got back…You know, we’ve recruited young men from the state of Ohio, which I had spent three years there at Ohio State so I certainly developed some relationships, but also in Indiana, Illinois, all states where we play games where teams are in our league,” Schiano told Blustein on WQAM.

“It just makes sense, right? So and, you know, it’s amazing with Newark Airport, the number of nonstops that come from all over the country. So there really is no area at least…that you can’t go in and recruit, you know, whether it’s Cincinnati, Columbus or Cleveland or Indianapolis.”

Schiano said that at one point nearly two decades ago during his first Rutgers rebuild, he had 39 scholarship players on his roster from Florida.

The Florida pipeline is by no means dry, however.

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Given that the ‘Sunshine State’ was the foundation for the last Rutgers rebuild, Schiano is certainly not turning away from Florida talent. And since Florida is the deepest talent hotbed in the country, it certainly makes sense for Rutgers to continue to recruit the area.

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To that end, Rutgers has five verbals in the 2023 recruiting class from Florida.

“It’s always the most important is always going to be New Jersey and New York, right. That’s our backyard. And then Florida is you know, we used to say the state of Rutgers is New Jersey and anything that touches it, and then south Florida. And, you know, we still feel that way,” Schiano said in his interview with Blustein.

“There’s certainly more competition in Florida now than there’s ever been right in recruiting. And so we’re aware of that as well. You know, back when we were doing it, there weren’t all these different programs going down there and not as many at least. So I think everything is balanced. As I said earlier, we’re going to continue to recruit the heck out of South Florida and it’s that important to us.”

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