Recruiting Update

Rutgers recruiting class of 2008 has gotten off to a solid start, with 8 prospects who have already verbally committed to play football at Rutgers next year. They include OT Caleb Ruch, WR Timothy Wright, RB Rashad White, DT Scott Vallone, MLB Eric
LeGrand, WLB Marvin Booker, QB Steven Shimko and OT Devon Watkis. Representing the Garden State are Shimko, LeGrand, Ruch, Wright, Booker and White, while Watkis and Vallone hail from New York. Ruch, a 6-8, 305 lb. OT fits the protocol of the massive, dominating O-Lineman that have played for Rutgers in recent years and is one of the top prospects in the state. He turned down offers from Florida, Boston College, Notre Dame, Clemson and others to attend Rutgers. Scout.com also rates him the #18 OT in the nation. LeGrand is a MLB that appears as a D-Tackle until he runs and pursues and is very athletic for his size. He registered over 150 tackles as a junior and even rushed for 8 touchdowns at tailback. Scout.com ranks him as the #15 MLB in the nation. Scott Vallone is an explosive DT from St. Anthony's HS in NY, who will likely move to DE in college. He set the sack record at his high school with 7 sacks in 2 games this season. He turned down offers from BC, Maryland, Virginia among others to play for RU. Booker is an athletic player with long arms and is following in the footsteps of former teammate Anthony Davis to become a Scarlet Knight after playing for Piscataway High. White is a RB who is closing in on 5,000 yards rushing in his high school career at Teaneck. However, this solid recruiting class has not been finalized, as the Scarlet Knights are still in the running for some of the top prospects around NJ, NY, PA, MD, VA, Florida and even Kentucky and California. They include the New Brunswick Safety Brandon Smith who is rated the #4 Safety in the Nation (Scout.com), CB Brandon Harris of Miami and WR Tommy Streeter, who plays for Tim Brown's former High School at Miami Northwestern. Rutgers had what was arguably their best recruiting class in school history last season, and have a chance to challenge that with this year's class.
Keep Choppin'
-Mike