Story and Photos by Rich Chrampanis

MIDDLETOWN – Football recruiting is a maddening process where college programs look to build their program with as many high-star prospects that they can find. Often obsessed with the right height and weight and a time in the 40-yard dash, it takes a perfect storm of natural attributes and a stellar on-field resume to get a coveted chance at Division I football. It’s been proven time and time again that great players can slip through the cracks and miss out on their chance at college football. For every player that was a five-star recruit and had a choice of 20 schools, there are also players who get the one chance, make the most out of it, and outplay that same five-star recruit in front of tens of thousands of fans on a Saturday afternoon.

The last time Dylan Rogers was on a football field, it was on the turf at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, leading a dominating performance by the Middletown South Eagles in a 35-7 dismantling of Phillipsburg in the North 2 Group 4 state championship game. Flying all over the field, he had 15 tackles and 4.5 sacks. One year earlier at Rutgers, he had 23 tackles in the Eagles state finals game against Jackson Memorial. A player with back-to-back performances on the biggest stage with so much on the line should have had colleges knocking down his door. Yet, when dozens of Shore Conference stars put pen to paper on National Signing Day, Dylan Rogers was on the outside looking in with no significant college offers. His twin brother, Cole Rogers, one of New Jersey’s outstanding running backs, was in the same exact situation. It’s a head-scratcher that a linebacker with over 250 tackles over a two-year span and a running back that piled up over 3000 yards were not among their peers taking pictures and celebrating the opportunity to play at the next level.

But recruiting is much more than the first Wednesday in February. Thanks to a savvy coaching staff at Middletown South that has produced numerous college football players at every level, Dylan Rogers found himself getting opportunities to join major Division I football programs as a preferred walk-on. With no scholarship money, preferred walk-ons enter training camp with the chance to earn a spot on the team and down the road, the possibility of earning a scholarship. Knowing the importance of developing depth when their scholarship allotment is filled, top programs are seeing the value of getting quality walk-ons can only make their program stronger overall.

While it may have stung that Dylan didn’t have a scholarship in early February, all of the sudden big time college programs began doing a different type of recruiting and trying to get this diamond in the rough to take the chance of playing football without a scholarship. Temple, Syracuse and Wake Forest all offered the All-State linebacker a preferred walk-on spot, but it was Rutgers and the chance to play for New Jersey’s Big Ten football program that Rogers made his pledge to. Twin brother Cole has chosen to lead the student life at Penn State, but was beaming with pride knowing that his brother gets the chance to play Division I football.

For Rutgers football fans, new head coach Chris Ash has already made a strong first impression in our backyard. As the top players from the Shore Conference fled the state to Penn State, Boston College, UConn and Duke over the past couple of years, Rutgers was virtually invisible when it came to the top talents in Monmouth and Ocean County. With Dylan Rogers set to walk-on and an early commitment from Toms River North junior DB/WR Bryce Watts, Ash and his staff have made it a priority to be involved in recruiting in a conference that has proven that it has outstanding talent year in and year out.

There used to be a stigma that the walk-on was a glorified cheerleader on the end of the bench. He may get into the game during a blowout, a “Rudy” moment where he makes a play and the entire team erupts with joy. But in this day and age of high pressure Division I football where there are academic and physical casualties by way of injury, there are numerous stories of walk-ons who can not only work their way to earn a full scholarship, but can also become key parts of a winning football program.

Prior to my arrival in New Jersey, I spent 14 years covering high school football in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area. A 5-foot-11, dynamic option quarterback for Socastee High School had a tremendous high school football career, but didn’t have any major college football offers due to his pending position change to slot receiver, and he wasn’t quite tall enough or big enough to wow college scouts. Coaches around the area knew he was a tremendous playmaker who had the intangibles to be a contributor at the college level. Hunter Renfrow accepted a preferred walk-on spot at Clemson University. He redshirted his freshman year, learning the offense and bulking up in the weight room. Prior to the start of the 2015 season, Dabo Swinney gave Renfrow a full scholarship and telling media in South Carolina that he may look like the team trainer, but Hunter would contribute to the Tigers. Contribute was an understatement. By mid-season, Renfrow was the starting slot receiver for the #1 ranked team in the nation. In the national semifinals against Oklahoma, he caught a touchdown pass from DeShaun Watson, and in the national championship against Alabama he had two first half touchdown passes, winning one-on-one matchups against a five-star defensive back. So the guy that Kirk Herbstreit was raving about in front of millions on national TV had ZERO major college offers.

Could there be a Hunter Renfrow type of story for Dylan Rogers? He’ll have to work his tail off, adjust to college football and take advantage of any chance that comes his way. It may start off by getting on the field via special teams, then eventually getting in the linebacking rotation for the Scarlet Knights. Perhaps it’s a fitting omen that the best game of Dylan Rogers high school career came at High Point Solutions Stadium when he flew all over the field and made an astounding 23 tackles in a state championship game. It’s far from a guarantee, but if you ask the coaches at Middletown South and around the Shore Conference, there won’t be a whole lot of shock if Dylan Rogers climbs that mountain and becomes a Big Ten linebacker.