The coaches at three of New Jersey's perennial powers make no secret of their rivalry on the gridiron, but suddenly they're united for a cause:

Bergen Catholic's Nunzio Campanile, Don Bosco Prep's Greg Toal and St. Peter's Prep's Rich Hansen are supporting Rutgers.

Hours after Rutgers coach Chris Ash announced his program would be joining forces with the coaching staffs at Ohio State and Temple to hold a satellite camp for recruits on the same day (June 8) that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is hosting a camp 30 miles away at Paramus Catholic, the three rival coaches each told NJ Advance Media that they plan to encourage their players to attend the Rutgers camp at Fairleigh Dickinson in Madison.

"I think it's a great response,'' Campanile said. "I think he's sending a message that this is our state. Listen, Michigan has a great program, but I don't think they should be setting the terms on how it's done in New Jersey. Rutgers is the home-state school, and I think we should all respect that. We should all respect the job that Coach Ash has ahead of him. I think that he's doing a great job. We're here helping him any way we can.''

Toal agreed, adding: "I got a ton of respect for (Ohio State coach) Urban Meyer and the Rutgers coach seems like a real gentleman. So I definitely would attend their camp for sure. I think there's a tremendous amount of loyalty to Rutgers and also to Ohio State. I'd love to attend their camp, and I'll try to bring my team for sure.''

Hansen echoed that sentiment, saying Ash reached out to him "almost immediately after the NCAA lifted their ban'' on satellite camps and he expressed his "allegiance is to Rutgers.''

"I think it's a great opportunity for New Jersey kids, and I think it's an obligation in my mind on the part of New Jersey high school football coaches to do everything they can to get kids there and to get there themselves,'' Hansen said. "I think it's a great professional development opportunity for coaches. To have Rutgers, Ohio State and Temple -- guys with a lot of connections to New Jersey. Greg (Schiano) is at Ohio State and Urban certainly has been a prominent, positive coach to New Jersey for a long time.

"I think the fact that Michigan is doing this and Ohio State and Temple want to come in and partner with Rutgers, it speaks volumes about the talent we have in New Jersey, about the quality of kids we have, about the quality of football that we play. It says something about the coaches we have that make it that way. For me, we have a job to do. We have to get our kids to the best places possible and if that's Michigan, then so be it. I have a player at Michigan (Cheyanne Robertson) and I love him and I root for him and I know that they're happy with him.

"But we do have a responsibility to support Rutgers and to do everything we can, and to make sure that our players get on their campus, and to let the Rutgers coaches do their job to recruit them the best that they can. If it's a good fit, then that's great. I've sent enough kids there to know that Rutgers is a really good place. Rutgers needs to win, and I think that will validate everything that they say they want to do.''

If the idea that the coaches of the three New Jersey programs that produce the most recruiting talent annually are uniting behind Rutgers isn't juicy enough, consider that Schiano -- the longtime Scarlet Knights coach now serving as the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State -- is expected to be in New Jersey, along with Meyer and other Buckeyes staffers working the Rutgers Football Tri-State Showcase.

"I have a relationship with Urban and Rutgers is our home university in the state of New Jersey,'' said Toal, who has had two players sign with Meyer (Justin Trattou at Florida and current Ohio State lineman Kevin Feder) out of Don Bosco Prep.

As for Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, Toal said: "I have no relationship with him.''

Another factor in why the three North Jersey power coaches are encouraging their players to attend the Rutgers camp: Michigan's camp is at Paramus Catholic, a rival school whose former head coach, Chris Partridge, made few friends in North Jersey coaching circles before joining Harbaugh's staff.

"Obviously, Michigan wants to conspire with Paramus Catholic to do whatever they want to do,'' Campanile said. "So I don't think they're making friends from that standpoint with a lot of these schools. I really don't know what to say about it. But it is what it is. They're obviously aligned with those guys, and if that's what they want to do, it's their business.

"But I don't think Rutgers should let those (Michigan) guys come in here and have their way. I also think that any high school coach in New Jersey who lets their kid go to Paramus Catholic has to kind of rethink what they're doing. I'm glad that Rutgers is doing it. I'm glad that Ohio State is doing it. And I hope it's extremely successful.''

Michigan's camp will also include coaches from Boston College, Maryland, Monmouth, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Campanile's brother, Anthony, is an assistant at Boston College, but the Bergen Catholic head coach said: "I love my brother more than anything in the world. I just don't want anything to do with my kids going to a camp at Paramus Catholic.''

Hansen offered a similar sentiment, saying: "I wouldn't want my guys going (to Paramus Catholic) for the same reasons, but the great part of it is the alternative is awesome. I have recruiting meetings every year, and the questions come up about which camps to go to, and I tell them: 'Go to a camp where college coaches of your choice are working and they can evaluate their guys. This is exactly what I was talking about.

"Honestly, it really speaks to our support for Rutgers football and to coach (Ash) and the new staff that's trying to get it done. Rutgers has our name on it, and it's incumbent on us to make it happen. It could've been anybody -- it could've been Florida, it could've been Texas coming in here and trying to do it. And I'm sure Rutgers would've felt the same way.

"But my point is it falls on the same night, it creates a conflict for me and I know a lot of other people. Our allegiance, and my allegiance is to Rutgers. And the fact that OSU and Temple are there is just icing on the cake because they're great programs that do a great job (recruiting) in New Jersey, too.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.