National Signing Day Preview

This picture has nothing to do with Rutgers, it's just really awesome

Tomorrow is national signing day, the biggest recruiting day of the year when recruits will officially be able sign their binding letter of intent and fax (yes, fax) it to the school of their choice. Rutgers has already had five class of 2013 recruits enroll early, (Nadir Barnwell, Chris Laviano, Delon Stephenson, Dontea Ayers and Lester Liston) and the other 17 members of the class, who are only committed verbally at the moment, will sign with the Knights, barring something extremely unforeseen. The only drama for Rutgers tomorrow will be waiting on recruits who are uncommitted or committed elsewhere to make their final decisions. The class, as it stands right now, rates somewhere in the 30's nationally, according to the four major recruiting websites, and hopefully that ranking will go up with some additions tomorrow. Still on the board for Rutgers are a couple of New Jersey's top players, two highly sought after Floridians, a punter and an under the radar prospect from Big 10 land.

Egg Harbor, NJ quarterback Damon "Duwop" Mitchell has been committed to Georgia Tech since the summer, but he may have had his offer from them pulled back recently, after making an official visit to Arkansas on February 1. Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson has a policy that committed recruits who make visits elsewhere will have their scholarship offer revoked, and he appears to have followed through on that, as he brought in another quarterback and has not contacted Mitchell in a while. Mitchell did not make an official visit to Rutgers, but he made a number of unofficial visits to the school this fall, and they are very much in the mix for him. He will sit down with his mom to make his final decision before signing tomorrow. Along with Rutgers, Georgia Tech and Arkansas, he listed Iowa as a finalist.

Don Bosco defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad surprisingly made an official visit to Rutgers on February 1, despite committing to Miami at the Army All American Game. I never though Rutgers really had much of a chance with him, but this visit shows he at least has some interest in playing for the Scarlet Knights. According to Todderick Hunt, Muhammad's inner circle believes he picked Miami for "the wrong reasons" and they are pushing him towards Rutgers, although Rivals is reporting that he is still 100% committed to Miami. Odds are highly against him picking Rutgers, but the door is at least still cracked open.

Florida linebacker Skai Moore, who decommitted from Rutgers in early January, will make his final decision at 10:00 tomorrow morning on ESPNU. His family was apparently not sold on Rutgers, and they made him reconsider things less than a month after he gave his verbal commitment to the Scarlet Knights. Kyle Flood's staff has made a strong push for him since then, making multiple in-home visits and convincing him to follow through on his scheduled official visit to Piscataway on January 25 after there was speculation that he wouldn't. He will decide between Rutgers, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Arkansas, and the Gamecocks are perceived to be the favorite.

This is a very fluid situation and it may have changed by now, but Denver Kirkland shockingly listed Rutgers as a finalist a few days ago. His recruitment has taken a strange turn over the last week or so, as Miami, who he seemed to be leaning toward signing with, inexplicably pulled his offer, before re-extending it just a few days later. His high school coach is pissed about it, so the Canes are probably out of the picture. He is one of the premier offensive line prospects in the country, and I've seen various lists of finalists for him in all corners of the internet. He is probably headed to Florida State, but Arkansas, South Florida, Ole Miss, and Louisville are other possibilities, in addition to Rutgers. There is a very, very small chance he picks the Scarlet Knights though, even if they are a finalist. His only visit to the school came two summers ago when he attended the big man academy.

With committed Australian punter Dean Crozier unable to meet NCAA requirements, the Scarlet Knights have targeted Texas punter Shane Tripuka. He was an Under Armour All American and only has one scholarship offer, from Sam Houston State, although Boston College Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech all want him as a preferred walk on. He is familiar with the program and he attended the Rutgers- Arkansas game, so an offer would probably seal the deal for the Scarlet Knights.

Tulane commit Ade Arduna, a big defensive end from La Lumiere, Indiana, will also make his final decision tomorrow. He made an official visit to Rutgers on February 1, and he is also considering North Carolina State in addition to the Greene Wave and Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers has stopped recruiting a number of former targets for various reasons.

Corner back MacKensie Alexander of Imokelee, Florida was supposed to visit Rutgers on January 25, but the Knights decided to cancel the visit, according to Hunt's sources, and they presumably are no longer recruiting him or his twin brother Makenro. The twins have been very private and tough to gauge on how interested they were in each school throughout the entire recruiting process, so Rutgers just cut ties with them and focused elsewhere. That's pretty disappointing from a fan perspective, but we have no idea if something else may have gone on here.

Rutgers also canceled a visit from Staten Island running back Augustus Edwards for some reason, and tight end Trevor Johnson (Tampa, FL) is no longer being recruited after he decided to visit South Florida on the 25th instead of Rutgers.

Long time Auburn commit, defensive end Tashawn Bower of Sommerville, NJ, also appears to be out of the picture, and he will likely follow through on his commitment to Auburn.

Rutgers has a solid class and it appears they have a pretty good chance to make it better tomorrow. I think Mitchell, Arduna and Tripuka will pick Rutgers to put a bow on the class. A ranking in the 30's would be the best in the Big East and in the upper-middle echelon of the Big 10. The class is not full of stars like last year's or the year before's, but it is full of very solid players who should contribute. Some of the better players in the class are already enrolled, and there shouldn't be any last minute decommitts, so if there is any commotion coming out of the Hale Center tomorrow, it will be because something positive happened. It should be a joyful, drama free day for the Scarlet Knights.