The Knights Watchman

Scout.com's State of Rutgers page has sent notification that RU football received three more verbals today, highlighted by four-star cornerback Duron Harmon from Caesar Rodney High School in Delaware. The other two verbals came from the lips of highly regarded tight end Malcolm Bush from Hackensack, NJ, and Fullback Robert Joseph from Brooklyn. Click on the link embedded into the title of this post to find out more about these athletes.

On Tuesday, stateofrutgers.com posted that Mark Harrison, a wide receiver from Bunnell High School, in Stratford, Connecticut, had given a verbal commitment to Rutgers for 2009. You can view his specs and statistics at this location. The Connecticut Post has also posted an article about his verbal. Today, Rutgers landed the No. 15 RB in the nation, according to Scout.com’s rankings. Aaron Hayward from New Jersey’s Penns Gove High School has given a verbal commitment to come to the banks. Some reports mention that he could see action as a wideout. It seems as though the 2009 will be heavy on out-of-state recruits, but light on recruits from the State of Florida. The dip in Florida recruiting is understandable. For one thing, each year that Schiano is at Rutgers he becomes another year further removed from his tenure as defensive coordinator at the University of Miami. A case of out of site, out of mind. Coupled with that is the reality that the area high school coaches that Schiano k...

It’s been a hectic week for me, and a fairly busy week in the news for Rutgers football. Watch lists, camps, recruiting commitments, and in some cases, recruits choosing to go elsewhere. Why mention the recruits going elsewhere? Well, the guys getting away are going to school that Rutgers would’ve had no business competing with just a few years back. Some recent examples include Auburn and Notre Dame. Of course, more exciting are the commits the Scarlet Knights have continued to bring in. Mark Brazinski, a center from Immaculata High right here in Jersey chose RU over Boston College. It’s always a nice plus to take one away from BC. Rutgers then got a verbal from Steven Beauharnais, a highly-touted linebacker from Saddle Brook. You can learn more about both commits at stateofrutgers.com . New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and State Senator Raymond Lesniak are combining their efforts and reaching into their own pockets to gather the funds to support the Rutgers Stadium expansion project. ...

Congrats to RU Athletic Director Bob Mulcahy on being named Northeast AD of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors. Read the article from scarletknights .com HERE. Yesterday, New Jersey won the showdown between the best high school football players from New York and New Jersey. Formerly known as the Governor's Bowl, it is now the NY-NJ All-Star Classic. Eight RU recruits were on the team that manhandled NY, 33-22. More details can be found in this article from the Newark Star-Ledger. I saw the highlight of RU-bound Quarterback Mohamed Sanu connecting on a 55-yard touchdown bomb, and I was impressed with his arm strength on that throw. (Although it is believed that his future on the banks will be at safety.) Only other thing I have to add is now that New Jersey has a commanding lead in the series, can we please change the name to the NJ-NY Classic? Former RU offensive line coach Mark Deal, who served during the Graber administration, has joined the...

Scarletknights.com has reported that the RU/Fresno State game on Labor Day has been moved up to 4:00 from 4:30. I don't see any negative to this as I'll be off from work anyway and will have been lounging in the RAC parking lot long beforehand. Only detriment is that if it is a hot day it will obviously be warmer at 4 than 4:30, and I'd like to see part of the game under the lights.

Although it's the off season, there seems to be plenty of Rutgers football action going on in Piscataway. About a month ago, us season ticket holders received a packet in the mail trumping the new additions to the stadium, along with the opportunity to get in on the premium seating. Unfortunately, I am not yet in the income bracket that would allow me to watch the game in those kinds of luxuries, but I'll have to say that if I did have that kind of bank it would be very tempting. A big time college football program should have big time amenities. The money the premium seats will bring in will only help to improve the program and the school in general. For the past few weeks, it seems I've been getting daily e-mails from Scout.com listing yet another stellar recruit that Schiano has waiting in the wings for 2009. Much has been made about the verbals from Tom Savage and Desmond Scott. but there isn't a player on the list so far that isn't either highly rated or has e...