2011 National Signing Day Rutgers Recruiting Roundup

Happy belated Valentine's Day to my Scarlet kinfolk, and welcome to my 4th Annual 4-

Week Late National Signing Day Mostly Ignorant and Largely Misinformed Recruiting

Roundup!

RECRUITING!!!  It's not just for players anymore!
It was 4 days after Christmas in 2004 when Syracuse University athletic director Daryl

Gross decided to fire then head coach Paul Pasqualoni, leaving the team and their

incoming recruits in the lurch.  Glenroy Lee and Courtney Greene, a pair of New

Rochelle, NY teammates who were pretty set on Syracuse, sought guidance from their

teammate, a 3-star defensive back who had verbally committed to the Orange the previous

summer.  Whatever which way he went, they said, so too would they go.  Well, their good

friend, one Raymell Rice, didn't like the uncertainty of the head coaching situation in

the frozen tundra of upstate New York and switched his allegiance to Greg Schiano and

Rutgers University.  Glenroy Lee followed suit, as did a reluctant Courtney Greene. 


Needless to say, Courtney Greene started from Day 1 and enjoyed one of the best careers

we've seen on the Banks before heading off to the NFL.  Ray Ray . . . well, all he did

was change the face of Rutgers football forever.  Glenroy Lee?  Best known for being on

the receiving end of a Mike Teel punch/slap at the end of a loss to Navy, but still . .

. the point is that sometimes, you can't make your own luck, but you sure as sugar can

jump all over the mistakes of others.  So when Pitt fired Coach Wannstedt (good friend

of Schiano, by the way) this past winter, Rutgers wasted no time going out and

snatching up their offensive coordinator, their defensive backs coach, and more

recently, their tight ends coach.  Now, I can see how some people might not be all

worked up about hiring coaches that were basically fired for not meeting expectations,

but a couple of things should be noted.  First and foremost, Jeff Hafley (defensive

backs coach) is recruiting dynamite, particularly in New Jersey.  He is directly

credited with stealing 4-star DT Marquise Wright, 3-star DE Max Isaaka, and at least

partially 3-star QB Gary Nova out of New Jersey, and he was just as responsible for

dragging them all back home after each pretty much wanted nothing to do with their

state university.  Given a full year, I think he and WR Coach PJ Fleck will be like Pop

Rocks and Coke on the 2012 recruiting trail.  Second, Frank Cignetti (offensive

coordinator) runs a classic pro-style offense, exactly the kind of offense we want to

see, and I don't think I've ever seen Pitt run the "Wild Panther", let alone every 3rd

play.  Honestly, how could you DEprove our offense from last year anyway?  ("Deprove"

is the antonym of "improve", FYI.  Look it up.).  You can't.  So he's an immediate

upgrade by default.  A very good recruiter in his own right, he also gets most of the

credit for turning Nova to the Scarlet side.  Recruiting is the lifeblood of any

program, and these guys are like blood thinners.  I'm excited.