By Ryan Dunleavy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

At the time that Rutgers coach Chris Ash was hired, in December 2015, arguably the top recruit in the nation was located about an hour away.

Paramus Catholic's Rashan Gary was uncommitted for the next two months until Signing Day, but Rutgers had long ago fallen out of the race for his services under former coach Kyle Flood.

Still, Ash did his due diligence with a five-star prospect in his backyard.

After a quiet true freshman year at Michigan, Gary has blossomed with 35 tackles and two sacks in 2017.

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Justin K. Aller | USA TODAY Sports

“I had gotten to know Rashan and his family through recruitment when he had come to Ohio State," said Ash, who was the Buckeyes defensive coordinator.

"I knew he wasn't going to come here, but like all the players we called him and tried to reach out to him. Rashan is a great player. Rashan has to be one of the top five defensive players in the country. He's going to probably make a lot of money one day in the NFL. Great kid, great player, he's playing very well right now."

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Ahmir Mitchell update

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Ash said over the summer that wide receiver Ahmir MItchell was "way ahead of schedule" in his rehab from a torn ACL injury, but the start of Big Ten play -- initially identified as a best-case scenario return date for Mitchell -- has come and gone without Mitchell even getting involved in practice.

Like Gary, Mitchell was a highly regarded prospect in the class of 2016 who left New Jersey to go to Michigan.

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The four-star wide receiver was suspended by coach Jim Harbaugh and then transferred to Rutgers before fall semester classes started in 2016. He sat out last season and doesn't appear close to making his college debut.

“He is not on schedule," Ash said of Mitchell's rehab. "Not anymore.”

Asked if Mitchell could play this season, Ash said, “don’t know yet.”

Mitchell hasn't been available to the media since arriving in Piscataway. His older brother, Damon, was brought as a graduate transfer in part to act as a mentor to Ahmir.

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Chris Faytok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Room for 2

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Since dual-threat Giovanni Rescigno replaced Kyle Bolin as Rutgers quarterback two games ago, Johnathan Lewis has taken one snap. Lewis had a role as a run-first quarterback when the pass-first Bolin was starting.

But Ash said there is still room for Lewis (ankle) in the game plan when healthy.

"If he's healthy and has good weeks and understands the game plan, playing with him has never changed," Ash said. "There are situational things that come up that may not allow him to be in. He hasn't been 100 percent health-wise. It's kept him out. That's where it's at."

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Lewis, who played extensively against Morgan State and Ohio State, is no longer eligible for a medical redshirt.

Rescigno's mobility has hampered by an injury of his own, so Lewis' running ability will be welcomed.

“It has nothing to do with that," Ash said. "It's like I said when we named Gio the starting quarterback. There's still a role for Johnathan. There's still a role for Kyle. It's no different than when Kyle was the quarterback. When is that? It just depends. It's all situational.”

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Rutgers' newest star

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With touchdowns in each of the last two games and high praise from offensive coordinator Jerry Kill, true freshman running back Raheem Blackshear is a burgeoning star.

Blackshear showed that he could be a versatile X-factor with a 35-yard touchdown catch against Purdue, but Ash said his other running backs have that same ability.

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“They're all capable of coming out off the backfield," Ash said. "Gus (Edwards) can catch balls, Rob (Martin) has caught balls. Blackshear happened to have a big one the other day that everybody remembers.

"It is a huge asset offensively when you have running backs that are threats out of the backfield. You have tight ends that are threats. Everyone wants receivers to be threats, but when you have all three of those positions that are legit options, that's pretty good. It opens up some things offensively.”

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Senior year recruiting

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Blackshear played a range of different positions -- including wide receiver and defense -- at Archbishop Wood High School in Pennsylvania. So why was he targeted as a running back by Rutgers?

“We saw what he did at running back," Ash said. "He did what he needed to do to help that team. To me, he's what recruiting should be -- senior evaluation. Everyone gets caught up in (recruiting) stars. Everyone gets caught up in early offers and commitments. I still think senior evaluation is very important, even on kids that are committed.

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"IIf a kid is not playing the way you want, you have to find out why. Blackshear, if you looked at his junior film, yeah -- good little player. Look at his senior film, wow. Pretty impressive.

"We evaluated senior film, I don't care what position he was playing, the kid was making plays. We weren't sure if he would be a receiver or running back until we got him on campus. We put him at running back, and he's just excelled since he's been here."

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Practice week observations

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Ash closed practice to the media this week, so what were his closed-door observations of his team off of back-to-back wins against Illinois and Purdue?

“It's looked like it's been," Ash said. "We have a team right now that embraces our process and what we're doing. They come out every single day to work. Right now, they're committed and focused on trying to be the best that we can be. We haven't done that yet. We're still striving to get that done. Practice has been good.”

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Ryan Dunleavy can be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy.