From Times Square to the Jersey Shore: Inside Rutgers' big recruiting weekend (2024)

Before the first wave of June official visits kicked off last week, coaches at Rutgers reached out to three-star athlete Talibi Kaba with a simple question: What about his upcoming visit was he most excited about?

There was plenty to choose from for Kaba, a New Jersey native who committed to Rutgers in February. Friday night would feature a train ride into New York City for an Italian dinner at Tony’s Di Napoli in Times Square, with extra time to explore afterward. On Saturday, Rutgers’ recruiting department planned for prospects and their families to spend the afternoon at Long Branch Beach — complete with a barbecue, games and a DJ booth. Later that night, the group would cap off the evening with dinner at Cuzin’s, a local seafood and steak restaurant, where fish is imported daily and steaks start at $59.

Kaba, though, wasn’t too concerned about the bells and whistles. His primary focus was elsewhere.

“I just wanted a lot of people to commit over the weekend. That was my wish,” he said. “They asked what I was looking forward to with the visit and I just said, ‘More teammates.’”

Mission accomplished.

No other program had a more productive first weekend of summer official visits. The Scarlet Knights landed commitments from 10 Class of 2025 prospects in a three-day period, headlined by three-star offensive lineman N-kye Wynn.

Rutgers’ class currently ranks No. 11 nationally, due in part to the 18 overall commitments, with an average player rating of 86.85.

“I ain’t gonna lie. I (follow the) Rutgers Rivals (account) on Instagram and I saw the official visit list and then I just saw a whole bunch of commits,” said three-star athlete Steven Murray, who committed in April and will take his official visit this week. “And I had talked to (tight ends) coach Scott (Vallone) and coach (Greg) Schiano and they told me, ‘We’re gonna go get you some teammates.’

“And then it exploded.”

Wide receiver Vernon Allen, who raved about the food all weekend, said he committed Sunday because of the positive conversations he had with current Rutgers players about the coaching staff.

Kaba and offensive lineman Chris Vigna, who both live in New Jersey, credited their bond with Schiano as the difference maker. In Vigna’s case, he and his family went back to their car to leave for the weekend after their individual meeting with Schiano on Sunday, only for Vigna to knock on the door of the football facility a few minutes later so he could commit to Schiano and the coaching staff on the spot.

“When they were expressing to me how important I was to them, it was just really remarkable,” Vigna said. “It just stuck with me.”

As for Murray, his decision to commit in April came down to relationships and communication. During one of his visits, coaches gave him constructive feedback, telling him that they loved his speed and competitiveness but wanted him to work on using his hands more, as opposed to just his body, to make it harder for defenders to make a play on deep balls.

“None of the coaches are telling you what you want to hear. They’re telling you what you need to hear,” Murray said. “When I sat down with (wide receivers) coach (Dave) Brock and (senior analyst) (John) Perry, we sat down and we evaluated my game.

“Catching, footwork, route-running, stopping ability — we ranked all of that for me and we broke it down while watching film.”

Starting Friday, Rutgers will welcome its second batch of visitors before the Scarlet Knights wrap up their official visits for the summer on the weekend of June 15. Approximately 20 prospects came to campus last week and 14 are expected to attend each of the next two weekends.

Four-star safety Tariq Hayer from Washington, D.C., is expected to be on campus this weekend. He is ranked No. 164 nationally and the No. 14 safety in the class. Four-star linebacker Kamar Archie, No. 279 overall and the No. 9 player in New Jersey, will visit the following weekend.

After going 7-6 in 2023, the program’s first winning record since 2014, Schiano now has proven results as he looks to build Rutgers into a winner for the second time in his career. That success, plus the messaging from coaches, has resonated with prospects and current Rutgers commits believe there’s still more to come.

“I feel like we’re gonna be a dominant class. A class that’s gonna set a mark,” Murray said.

Kaba took it a step further.

“This is going to be the best recruiting class Rutgers has ever seen,” he said. “That’s the goal, and we’re working toward that.”

(Photo of Greg Schiano: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today

Grace Raynor is a staff writer for The Athletic covering recruiting and southeastern college football. A native of western North Carolina, she graduated from the University of North Carolina. Follow Grace on Twitter @gmraynor