One of the top recruiting classes in the nation, Rutgers football isn’t just deep with their 2025 class. They are, according to the ESPN 300, also a very talented group of commits to the Big Ten program.
Rutgers has been hot on the recruiting trail over the past month, with 20 commits during that span. The flurry of verbals, nearly one a day, has led the Scarlet Knights to have a top-10 recruiting class and one of the best classes in the Big Ten.
And there is the potential for this class to be the best ever in program history. Following the commitment over the weekend of four-star linebacker D.J. McClary, Rutgers now has one of the top recruiting classes in the ESPN 300 for the class of 2025.
Currently, four Rutgers football commits in the 2026 class are ranked in the ESPN 300. And perhaps most impressive is that three of the four committed players are in the top half of the class.
Here are the four Rutgers football commits who are in the ESPN 300:
- No. 111: Michael Thomas III (wide receiver at Donovan Catholic in Toms River, New Jersey)
- No. 125 Tariq Hayer (defensive back at St. John’s College in Washington, D.C.)
- No. 150 D.J. McClary (linebacker at Snyder High School in Jersey City, N.J.)
- No. 258 Jaelyne Matthews (offensive lineman at Toms River North in Toms River, New Jersey)
Also of note here is that three of the four players (Thomas, McClary and Matthews) are from New Jersey. A state that is notoriously difficult to recruit (and is perhaps over-recruited) has certainly shown confidence in Rutgers this recruiting cycle.
A major win for head coach Greg Schiano.
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There are still some top New Jersey players left for Rutgers to target including four-star offensive lineman Malachi Goodman and four-star linebacker Kamar Archie (who took a recent official visit to Rutgers).
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Goodman and Archie are both top 12 players in the state this recruiting cycle.