Many Rutgers fans fear former coach Greg Schiano returning to the college ranks and raiding New Jersey for recruits.

It's a valid concern considering Schiano's desire to build a fence around the state of New Jersey in his 11 years as head coach at Rutgers. Schiano may not have built an impenetrable fence, but he landed his share of top Jersey recruits. And it's safe to assume wherever he lands – he's been mentioned as a candidate at Nebraska and Michigan – Schiano will look to open that fence and create a pipeline from Jersey to his new locale.

But don't expect Schiano to recruit New Jersey just because he has ties to the state. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Schiano said that while at Rutgers he sometimes felt pressured to take recruits because "he's a New Jersey kid."

The comment was part of interesting discussion with Pete Thamel, who wrote an in-depth profile of Schiano last month detailing how the coach learned from his failures in two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Here's an excerpt of the Q&A Thamel published Wednesday related to recruiting:

The comments are interesting coming from Schiano, who excelled at finding under-the-radar prospects, but also loaded up on the top New Jersey talent late in his tenure. In both 2011 and 2012, Schiano landed eight of the top 20 players in the state, including the No. 1 prospect each year, according to Rivals.com.

Schiano's replacement, Kyle Flood, held the 2012 class together when Schiano left for Tampa Bay less than a week before national signing day. But Flood hasn't been able to match Schiano's success in Jersey.

In 2013, Flood landed four of the top 20 Jersey recruits, including No. 6 Nadir Barnwell. In 2014, Flood landed two of the 20 Jersey recruits, and none in the top 16. Flood currently has two of the top 20 Jersey recruits, with none in the top 11, for the incoming 2015 class.

While Schiano returning to the sidelines, particularly in the Big Ten, could make Jersey recruiting tougher for Rutgers, maybe the coach will look elsewhere since he wouldn't be pressured to keep players in state.

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.