Taylor Marini Commits to Rutgers

Tight End Taylor Marini of Lake Mary High School (Lake Mary, Florida) became the tenth member of Rutgers' 2013 recruiting class, earlier this week. Marini made an unofficial visit to Rutgers last week, and he offered his commitment to the Knights on Wednesday, after completing a tour of eight colleges. He had 2 receptions for 44 yards and a TD for the Rams last season.

Measurables: 6'4'' 230 lbs 4.82 40 yd dash

Stars:

Rivals	Scout	ESPN	247
3 star Tight End	2 stars, #55 TE	3 stars,  #32 TE, #177 in FL	3 stars

Offer Sheet: FIU, Louisville, UMass, Memphis, Minnesota, South Florida, Temple, and UCF all offered him a scholarship.

Scouting Report: Marini has very good size and enough athleticism for the tight end position. As a blocker he has good technique, firing out low and keeping leverage with a nice, wide base, solid hand placement and knee bend. He is not overly dominant at the point of attack, but he does deliver crushing down blocks, and block the second level effectively. He keeps his feet driving through the whistle, and this allows him to rack up a decent amount of pancakes. He has good feet and moves well, but he needs to improve the angles he takes on his blocks. He is not very experienced as a receiver, recording only 2 receptions in his career, but he seems to have good hands, and he catches the ball away from his body. He is a big target who runs well and has long strides, so he should be able to stretch the seam and be a threat after the catch.

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My Take: Marini gives Rutgers another commit at a position they sorely need to address in this recruiting class. He is a good blocker and an interesting athlete who I believe can develop into a legitimate receiving threat. This is Kyle Flood's first commitment from the Sunshine State, so it's nice to see RU maintain their presence in the area in the post Schiano era. Marini also has the ability to long snap, which is under rated, since other schools have been offering long snap only prospects scholarships lately.

Myles Nash Commits to Rutgers

Athlete Myles Nash of Timber Creek High School (Sicklerville, NJ) became the eleventh class of 2013 prospect to commit to Rutgers, yesterday. Nash played wide receiver and defensive end for the Chargers last season, and he recorded 84 tackles, 13 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and an interception as a junior. He is expected to be the starting quarterback for TC this year, and apparently Rutgers was recruiting him as an outside linebacker. He is from the same High School as 2012 signee Quanzell Lambert.

Measurables: 6'5'' 205 lbs 4.68 40 yd dash

Stars:

Rivals	Scout	ESPN	247
3 stars, #32 Athlete, #14 in NJ	3 stars, #62 OLB	4 stars, #49 Athlete, #16 in NJ	3 stars, #68 Athlete, #33 in NJ

Offer Sheet: Arizona, Boston College, Clemson, Kentucky, Purdue, Temple, Virginia, and West Virginia were the other schools to offer Nash a scholarship.

Scouting Report: Nash is a very fluid athlete who posses great length and a frame that can easily carry more weight. He is a physical freak capable of playing a multitude of positions at the high school level, including quarterback, but his future is on the defensive side of the ball. He fires out off the snap very quickly, does a decent job staying low, and uses his hands well to disengage from blockers. He is quick to diagnose plays and he absolutely blows up the play when he is left unblocked as the read key on options. He has great closing speed and change of direction ability, which allows him to make a number of plays in the backfield. He needs to improve as a tackler, as he basically just bear hugs the ball carrier and drags him to the ground. He needs to get lower and drive through the man with the ball. He should have the explosiveness to be an effective tackler.

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My Take: Nash is an instinctive player and he has tremendous athleticism. Although he is a bit raw and needs to add a lot of weight and strength, he has tremendous upside. I would prefer a player who possesses Nash's rare length to play defensive end, but he might not be able to gain the necessary weight for the position. Linebacker is more realistic. He also has three heavily recruited teammates receiving interest from Rutgers, and he said he will help try to convince them to commit or flip to Rutgers. That's always a plus.

Sebastian Joseph Commits to Rutgers

Stroudsburg High School (Stroudsburg, PA) defensive lineman Sebastian Joesph committed to Rutgers earlier today while making an unofficial visit with his family. He attended the Big Man Acadmy at Rutgers a few weeks, and he is the 9th class of 2013 prospect to commit to Rutgers.

Measurables: 6'4'' 270

Stars: Scout is the only website that has him listed, and they have him as a 2 star defensive end.

Offer Sheet: Akron, Connecticut, Maryland and Temple also offered him a scholarship. Penn State was also interested in him, and he attended their camp, but they have not offered him a scholarship.

Scouting Report: Joseph has great size and a massive wing span. He plays both offensive and defensive line at the high school level, and Brian Dohn of Scout.com says he wants to play defense. Dohn also points out that he is explosive, quick and moves well.

My Take: Joseph's size and wing span are, at the very least (I have no idea how is as a player right now) a great starting point. He is supposedly a hard worker and, with the right coaching, could become very intriguing.

Nick Arcidiacono Commits to Rutgers

Offensive/Defensive Lineman/Tight End Nick Arcidiacono of Archbishop Wood Catholic HS in Warminster, PA became the eighth class of 2013 prospect to commit to Rutgers, on Thursday. He attended the Big Man Academy at Rutgers a couple weeks ago and is from the same high school as 2012 signees Desmon Peoples and Brandon Arcidiacono, who is also his brother.

Measurables: 6'4'' 230

Stars:

Rivals	Scout	ESPN	247
2 star strong side DE	3 stars, #14 Center	3 stars, #26 Tight End, #29 in PA	3 stars, #43 Weak side DE, #32 in PA

Offer sheet: Boston College, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, and Temple were the other FBS schools to offer him a scholarship. West Virginia, Nebraska, Miami, Penn State, Maryland, Pitt, and UConn also showed some interest in him.

Scouting Report: Arcidiacono is a 2 way lineman at the HS level, but he will have to make the move to tight end because he is much too small to be a college lineman. He is a solid run blocker, as he fires out of his stance low, and gets good leg drive through the whistle, but he has a narrow base and doesn't rack up a ton of pancakes. He is very good at blocking the second level, displaying good balance and quickness, but he is at his best when he is pulling, thanks to his athleticism, even though he tips when he is going. He is a natural knee bender and slides well in pass protection with a good base and fit on the defender, but he does not deliver a particularly strong initial punch. He does not have a lot of experience playing in space and he will also have to totally develop his receiving skills from scratch.

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My Take: Rutgers is very thin at tight end and the few players at the position on the roster are upper class men, so it was imperative for them to add a tight end in this recruiting class. In fact, they'll probably need to add at least one more. In the offense Rutgers runs, the tight end is heavily involved as a blocker in the running game, so a former lineman like Arc should be a good fit.

Chris Laviano Committs to Rutgers

Quarterback Chris Laviano of Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville, NY became the seventh class of 2013 prospect to commit to Rutgers on Friday. The Scarlet Knights offered him a scholarship over a year ago and he has since garnered a lot more attention nationally after an impressive performance at the Elite 11 QB Camp in Dallas in March. During his junior season, Laviano completed 60% of his passes for 1713 yards (7.4 ypa) and threw 14 TDs against 9 interceptions for the Titans.

Measurables 6'2'' 200 lbs 5.24
According to Laviano himself, some SEC schools (he visited Florida and Tennessee) shied away from him because of his height. 6'2'' is probably a shade below average for a pro style QB, but it's not really that big of a deal. You would think the success of quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Drew Brees would make coaches look beyond height, but apparently that's not the case.

Stars:

Rivals	Scout	ESPN	247
3 stars, #28 Pro Style QB, #2 in NY	2 stars, #70 QB	4 stars, #176 overall, #10 pocket passer, #2 in NY	3 stars, 85 overall rating, #35 pro style QB, #7 in NY

There is a very wide variety of opinion on him. It's worth noting that the ESPN gurus got a first hand look at him during the Elite 11 Camp.

Offer Sheet: Boston College was the only other school to offer Laviano, while Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Miami, NC State, Purdue, Syracuse and Tennessee all expressed interest in him. I find it very odd that he only received two offers.

Scouting Report: Laviano is very mobile and he throws well on the run, as his offense requires him to make a lot of throws off bootlegs and sprint outs. He has very smooth footwork on his drop backs, a lightning quick release and he delivers a good, catchable ball. On short to intermediate throws he displays good timing, anticipation and accuracy. When attacking the defense vertically, he shows good arm strength and tremendous touch. However, he sometimes does not get enough zip on his passes over the middle because of a tendency to throw off his front foot. While in the pocket, he is able to "stare down the barrel" when a defender comes free, but when things collapse around him, he scrambles out instead of hanging in there and sliding. Overall his mechanics are solid, but he needs to fix the front foot thing and he throws the ball out of a lower arm slot than you would like. Laviano is a smart player and he reads defenses well. His stats will underwhelm you, but he doesn't have a great team around him and he certainly has talent himself.

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My Take: I really like Laviano. He has a lot of talent, smarts and polish. He is very well coached, the tape I saw of him was from his sophomore season and he looked very experienced and poised. Laviano gives Rutgers even more depth at the quarterback position, and he certainly has all the tools to be a future starting QB at the BCS level.

Eric Wiafe Commits to Rutgers

Defensive End Eric Wiafe of Egg Harbor Township High School (Egg Harbor, NJ) became the sixth class of 2013 prospect to verbally commit to Rutgers, last Tuesday. Wiafe attended the Big Man Academy (a  football camp just for high school lineman) at Rutgers a couple weeks ago, and received an offer three days later. He is from the same high school as redshirt freshman cornerback Tejay Johnson.

Measurables: 6'5'' 258 lbs 4.94 40 yard dash

Offer Sheet: Buffalo and Massachusetts were his only other FBS offers. Boston College, Pitt, Temple, Penn State, East Carolina, Florida, Iowa, Miami, NC State, Clemson, Maryland, and Syracuse were also recruiting him, but they have yet to offer him a scholarship. He may pick up some more offers this summer, as he is still going to attend some of their camps, but he seems like a back up option for most schools. If  Tashawn Bower of Immaculata did not commit to Auburn last Tuesday, Rutgers may not have offered him.

Stars:

Rivals	Scout	ESPN	247
3 star SDE, #26 in NJ	3 Stars, #34 DE	N/A	2 stars,  #64 SDE, 73 overall rating, #40 in NJ

Scouting Report: Wiafe is a great athlete and has very long arms, but he is extremely raw as a football player. He fires out of his stance way too high and often times he is just standing straight up. He is pretty strong, delivers a good punch, and is able to bat down or other wise alter a number of passes, but he needs to extend his arms more while engaged with the opposition in order to use his wing span to his advantage. Wiafe does a solid job wrapping up as a tackler, but he needs to get lower and coil his hips in order to deliver a more solid blow.

Video: here

My Take: Wiafe is an interesting prospect because he is a great athlete, but extremely raw. He is a player who will need a lot of coaching and development before getting a chance to see the field. Jim Panagos is one of the best defensive line coaches in the nation, and he will have his work cut out for him in trying to turn Wiafe into a useful player. But, with other targeted defensive line recruits headed elsewhere and an excess of available scholarships, it's ok to take a risk on a player like this.

Quick Hits 6/8/12

-Anthony Campanile is the new Offensive Grad Assistant. Campanile was the Offensive Coordinator at Don Bosco the last few seasons, and he played linebacker at Rutgers from 2001-2004. I'm not sure if grad assistants are allowed to recruit, but this will certainly strengthen the Bosco  to Rutgers pipeline, regardless.

-Three games for this upcoming season are set to air on SNY: the September 8th home opener against Howard (3:30), the October 27th home coming game against Kent State (3:30), and the November 17th road game at Cincinnati. This is good news, as the Howard and Kent State games would have been relegated to ESPN3 in the past. ESPN3 is just awful because it's not available on Cablevision, the number one television and internet provider in New Jersey, and  most normal people don't do stupid crap like watch sporting events on their computers. ESPN3 has really hurt Rutgers' region wide exposure, but at least theses two home games will be televised. The November game against Army is the only game at risk of being on ESPN3.

-High Point Solution Stadium is going to have a new food vendor beginning this upcoming season. The new vendor will be selling alcohol, and considering the current state of Rutgers Athletic Department's balance sheet, they need to do everything possible to bring in money.

-Former Rutgers defensive back Pat Kivlehan was drafted in the 4th round of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft by the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday. Kivlehan was a back up on the Knights football team, getting playing time mostly on special teams and as a rover against option teams Army and Navy, and he just gave baseball a try this year, after not playing since high school. After thee years away from the game, he only went on to win both the Big East triple crown and Big East player of the year, hitting to a tune of .399/.484/.710 with 14 home runs and 24 stolen bases. He played third base for Fred Hill's squad, but he might end up as an outfielder at the professional level. Good luck to Pat.

T.J. Taylor Commits to Rutgers

T.J. Taylor, a safety and wide receiver from South Brunswick High School in Monmouth Junction, NJ, became the 5th class of 2013 prospect to commit to the Scarlet Knights, today. Taylor hails from the same high school as Mohamed Sanu and 2012 signee Jevon Tyree and he had 54 tackles, 17 receptions for 525 yards and 7 touch downs for the Vikings last season.

Measurables: 6'3'' 186 4.57 (Height, Weight, 40 time)

Stars:

Rivals	Scout	ESPN	247
2 star athlete	2 stars, #101 Safety	N/A Athlete	N/A Athlete

Offer Sheet: Pitt, Syracuse, Temple, Old Dominion, and UMass were the other FBS teams to offer Taylor a scholarship, and Notre Dame, South Carolina, UCF, Boston College and Cincinnati expressed some interest in him. 

Scouting Report: Taylor has great length and his frame can easily hold more weight. Offensively, he is a deep threat, averaging 31 yards per reception, but his future is probably on the defensive side of the ball. Taylor usually lines up as a single high free safety and he is very physical, delivering big hits to wide receivers who venture across the middle. Unlike a lot of big hitters at the high school level, Taylor is solid wrap up tackler with a nose for the football. He is a rangy, explosive athlete. Since he lines up 15 yards off the ball, he usually doesn't have chance to make plays in coverage, but his ball skills on offense should translate to the other side of the ball. If he is able to add some weight, he could end up as a linebacker.

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My Take: Taylor is a very physical player with good size, and some speed and athleticism. Depending on how he fills out, I could see him end up as a safety, linebacker, or tight end. The coaching staff will probably want to get a look at him on the field at Rutgers before they decide on their ultimate position. This is yet another solid, under the radar pick up, and that seems to be the theme in Rutgers' recruiting class so far this year.

The Defensive Assistants/ RB Coach

Robb Smith Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach
Smith, who is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, was promoted to defensive coordinator after spending the last three seasons as a defensive assistant and special teams coordinator under Greg Schiano. Prior to his time at Rutgers, Smith was an assistant at Maine for 8 seasons, spending the last three as defensive coordinator after coaching linebackers for the first five. According to scarletknights.com, Maine finished in the top 3 in total defense in all 3 of his seasons as coordinator. He also previously coached as a grad assistant under Kirk Ferentz at Iowa.

Schematically, Smith will keep the fast, attacking defense Greg Schiano ran in place. Kyle Flood wanted to keep this defensive philosophy the same, and Smith's familiarity with the X's and O's and personnel earned him this job. Smith has also been a solid recruiter, doing most of his work down the shore. There were bigger names connected to this position, but Smith is a fine choice for the afore mentioned reasons.

Dave Cohen Linebacker Coach
Cohen, a Huntington, NY native, was the last head football coach at Hofstra, leading the Pride to a 18-27 record in his four seasons as head coach. When the Pride terminated their football program following the 2009 season, he moved on to Western Michigan, where he served as defensive coordinator. His defenses were amongst the worst in the nation statistically, but the Broncos had very young defenses in the wild, wild MAC. Prior to becoming a head coach, he was the defensive coordinator at Delaware and Fordham and a linebacker coach at Albany, Lafayette, and Delaware. I can't find any information on him as a recruiter. This may be a questionable hire because of his head coaching and coordinating past, but he does have experience and Flood has worked with him before (at Delaware), so he knows him as a position coach.

Jim Panagos Defensive Line Coach
Panagos, a Brooklyn, NY native and East Islip resident (that's the rich side, right?), was Central Florida's defensive line coach from 2007-2011, after serving as a quality control coach and assistant defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2002-05. Panagos, the former Maryland player, lead one of the best defensive lines in the country (statistically) and earned All Star Coaching honors from Rivals and Football Scoop during his time at UCF. He has a strong recruiting background, having recruited mainly Florida and New Jersey in addition to some forays in Texas and California. Flood met Panagos in the week leading up to the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl, and was very impressed with him. NFL experience, ties to the area, and productive units make Panagos a fantastic hire.

Norries Wilson Running Back Coach
Wilson, who originally hails from Markham, Illinois, is coming off a pretty bad tenure as the head coach at Columbia (going 17-43), but that program is historically awful and he has a great resume as an assistant coach. Prior to his time in the Ivy League, he was Connecticut's offensive line coach from 1999-2001 and offensive coordinator from 2002-2005. His fine work earned him national recognition, as he was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2004, when the Huskies lead the Big East in both scoring and total offense. Prior to his tenure at UConn, he coached at three small schools, including Bucknell, after his playing career at Minnesota ended. I have no idea how he is as a recruiter, but he has a lot of experience coaching in the north east. This is a pretty good hire, especially considering how late it was.

Joe Rossi Special Teams Coordinator
Rossi actually coached with Smith at Maine, and replaced him as defensive coordinator when he left for Rutgers. His defenses were among the best in the country at Maine, and he has been a special teams coordinator in the past.