Marco Battaglia, the Rutgers University football program's first consensus first-team All-American, will be nominated for induction to the College Football Hall of Fame, according to Rick Mantz, the Scarlet Knights' director of high school relations.

Mantz said the state university and the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will both nominate Battaglia, who was a member of the Carolina Panthers Super Bowl XXXVIII team, for Class of 2020 induction before the April 1 deadline.

The Rutgers University athletics department is expected to commence a well-wrought marketing campaign to promote Battaglia for induction in the coming weeks.

Rutgers fans can support Battaglia’s entry, Mantz said, by registering to become a member of the National Football Foundation, whose members are eligible to vote in College Football Hall of Fame elections.

Membership, which costs $40 and can be completed online, includes other perks.

“We are proud of our tradition,” Mantz said, “but only a few members of our program are inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Our chapter is not very strong. We’ve got to grow the Rutgers chapter. We want people to understand we are proud of the football we play here. Part of that is growing our chapter to try to get some momentum for (Rutgers players and coaches to be inducted).”

A member of the Rutgers University Athletics Hall of Fame, Battaglia earned first-team All-America honors from The Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, Football News, Pro and College Football News Weekly and United Press International.

As a college senior, Battaglia led the nation with 69 catches for 894 yards and 10 touchdowns, taking the Big East Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.

He graduated from Rutgers in 1996 as its all-time leading receiver with 171 catches. Battaglia enjoyed an eight-year NFL career, catching 71 passes for 660 yards with five teams.

Battaglia is currently Rutgers University’s assistant athletic director for development overseeing major gifts for his alma mater’s athletics department.

The Rutgers University football program’s state-of-the art practice complex bears Battaglia’s moniker, after Jeff and Amy Towers made a generous naming rights donation.

Mantz, who was on the Rutgers coaching staff as a graduate assistant when former head coach Doug Graber recruited Battaglia as an All-State player at St. Francis Prep, which played in two consecutive New York City Catholic League championship games, said Battaglia epitomizes greatness on and off the field.

“He exemplifies what college athletics should be about,” Mantz said. “He has an incredible personality and you couldn’t outwork or out-tough him.”

Rutgers, which defeated Princeton 6-4 in the first college football game played 150 years ago, boasts five College Football Hall of Fame inductees, while Princeton has 26 former players and coaches enshrined.

The disparity, Mantz said, illustrates how much ground Big Ten member Rutgers has lost since leaving the Tigers behind as a Football Championship Subdivision team in the Ivy League.

Former Scarlet Knights Paul Robeson (end 1915-1918), Homer Hazel (fullback 1916 and 1923-24) and Alex Kroll (center 1960-61) are in the College Football Hall of Fame, along with former Rutgers coaches George Foster Sanford, who compiled a 79-43-6 record from 1913-23, and Harvey Harman, who guided Rutgers to a 140-104-7 record from 1938-41 and from 1946-55.

Only players who meet the National Football Foundation’s stringent criteria, which includes first-team All-America recognition and having a stellar “post-football record as a citizen,” can be considered to be placed on a ballot. Screening committees from eight geographic areas vote to place candidates on the ballot.

The ballot is emailed to more than 12,000 foundation members encompassing 120 chapters in 47 states, according to the National Football Foundation’s website. An Honors Court, comprised of athletic administrators, media and fellow Hall of Famers, receive the tally of votes and determine the final selections for induction.

“Marco is more than deserving,” Mantz said.