Rutgers football: Greg Schiano capitalizing on NJ talent for early recruiting wins

Ever since Greg Schiano officially returned to Rutgers, he's said recruiting New Jersey talent to the Scarlet Knights football program will be a priority.

The early results show he meant it.

Schiano and his coaching staff have put together a ststart to the 2021 recruiting class, which so far includes seven commitments, including five from New Jersey.

This is Schiano's first full recruiting class after having just two weeks to salvage former coach Chris Ash's 2020 recruiting class when he was hired back in early December.

Rutgers received four commitments just last week: East Orange Campus's Al-Shadee Salaam, Newark West Side's Shaquan Loyal, Governor Mifflin's (Pennsylvania) Cam'Ron Stewart and Parsippany Hills' Jordan Thompson.

They joined Camden's Alijah Clark, St. Augustine's Prep Carnell Davis and Georgetown Prep's (Maryland) Kyonte Hamilton.

247sports.com ranks Rutgers' 2021 recruiting class 20th in the nation before Georgia and in front of Auburn, and seventh in the Big Ten behind Nebraska but ahead of Michigan.

RELATED: Parsippany Hills' Jordan Thompson latest to commit to Scarlet Knights

ALSO: Rutgers football lands two local commitments in span of 24 hours

It might be early, but theresults so far are promising for the Scarlet Knights.

Excitement around New Jersey

Since Schiano was hired for his second stint at Rutgers, coaches around the state have seen an increased interest and enthusiasm for Rutgers in their own programs.

(Here's a video from Schiano's first press conference after returning to Rutgers; the story continues below)

In recent years, Rutgers had a difficult time keeping some of the state's top talent at home.

That could be changing.

"These high school coaches are dying to send their kids there," said Parsippany Hills head football coach Dave Albano. "I’ve been a head coach for 25 years, I want nothing more than to see Rutgers being a top-25 or playing a bowl game. There would be nothing more exciting than that for all of us."

Albano said Thompson, a three-star prospect, considered Rutgers his dream school. Once the offer from Schiano came in, his decision was sealed and he committed to the Scarlet Knights on Friday.

St. Joseph Regional head coach Dan Marangi, who took over the Green Knights after Augie Hoffmann left to join Schiano's staff, has two players in the 2021 recruiting class with offers from the Scarlet Knights: Four-star running back Audric Estime and four-star offensive lineman Geno VanDemark.

Marangi believes the fact that so many high school coaches in the state previously knew Schiano and his assistant coaches has helped.

"The relationships were already there," Marangi said. "They’re capitalizing on the momentum right now. I think people see that Coach Schiano’s done it before at Rutgers so people are willing to believe in him and they’ve got people believing that they’re going to get this thing turned around and going in the right direction."

Having a rebuilt Rutgers would be significant for the future of New Jersey football.

"It would be tremendous," Marangi said. "To have a school and a college right in our own backyard to go out and compete with the big-time schools, it would be something special. I think New Jersey football is as good as any, and I’ve coached against people from all over the country and played teams from all over the country, Jersey football’s right up there. Rutgers would be a chance to showcase that. Obviously the kids are going to make their own decisions but to have that choice, it would be really good for us."

Schiano has made it clear he wants to bring New Jersey talent to Piscataway.

That's a priority for the program.

Schiano and his coaching staff have had early recruiting success.

"He came back home and he wants to build it and do it right," Albano said.

Email: iseman@northjersey.com Twitter: @chrisiseman