By: Adam Baliatico

Back on March 19th, 2015, myself, a previous owner, Jay Poole, Matt Agnoli, and another previous writer launched the Rutgers 247 platform, at that time known as The Chop Nation (a few days later, we added Ryan Lance). I still remember interviewing my first recruit (it was South Brunswick and current Pittsburgh safety Phil Campbell) like it was yesterday.

My background prior to starting the site was well connected to the New Jersey high school football and recruiting scene, but I had never formally interviewed a recruit. I had never reported on that interview in a position where people were paying to read what I wrote and discovered.

The experiences I have had the past two plus years will last me a lifetime. From the skills I developed, to the memories I made, breaking stories, covering Rutgers football recruiting in its fullest details, and the relationships I made, with Rutgers coaches and players, recruits, fellow 247Sports employees, members of Scarlet Insiders, and my co-workers here at Scarlet Insiders - they will all be cherished forever.

Over the last few weeks some business decisions have been made and I’m here to sadly announce that effective on Friday evening, myself, Ryan, Matt Agnoli, Jay Poole and Chris Nalwasky will no longer be running the Rutgers247 platform. With 247Sports recent purchase of Scout, the site will transition its leadership to Sam Hellman who has been running the Scarlet Report site since 2011 (Details will follow, but your membership status will not change and you will still have all the VIP access you currently pay for).

The past two and a half years were an absolute blast. Through it all, one thing remained constant. Our team here at Scarlet Insiders set out with the sole goal of providing diehard Rutgers fans a place to discuss Rutgers athletics free of trolls. A place where you could express positive opinions without being shouted down upon. And a place where you could get detailed, inside access to the Rutgers program presented in a fashion that didn’t portray constant doom and gloom.

We went through some challenging times during this two-and-a-half-year span on the field (the Kyle Flood era and the end of the Eddie Jordan era to name a few) but over the past twelve months, the trajectory of Rutgers athletics has changed much in thanks to the hiring of Pat Hobbs, Chris Ash, and Steve Pikiell as well as the launching of R B1G Build and the generous donations of many alumni and fans alike. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the donations of the Towers family as well as the Garutti family as two families who made particularly impactful donations.

Through it all, I believe we accomplished our goal of providing a pro-Rutgers atmosphere to discuss Rutgers athletics. While the site did not grow as quickly as we had hoped, we were able to create a community of passionate and loyal members who shared their thoughts on Rutgers athletics without being attacked, without being trolled, and without a constant negative tilt and for that, I am extremely proud of what we accomplished.

At this time, I’d like to thank a few people who helped make this site and this experience what it grew into. First, thank you to Pat Tholey and the 247Sports upper management team for giving us the opportunity to pursue a passion. Second, thank you to Ryan Lance for sticking with me through some mistakes and allowing me to cover and grow on the Rutgers recruiting beat. Third, thanks to Jay Poole for the countless articles you edited in the early going. Fourth, a big thanks to Alex Gleitman for helping me develop as a recruiting analyst and a writer while also providing countless scoops. Thanks to Steve Wiltfong and Chad Carson for responding to our constant requests to update recruit rankings and rewatch film. Thanks to other network partners such as Sean Fitz, Ahmed Ghafir, and other 247Sports writers I’ve engaged with not only for sharing resources and information, but also for pushing me to constantly improve at my job.

And now for my last three thanks, two of which will make sense and one that may come off as confusing at first.

Thank you to all of our Scarlet Insiders subscribers, free or VIP, past or current. Without you guys (and girls), this experience would not have been the same. Engaging with all of you on features like the War Room, Ask the Insiders, and many others was an absolute blast. Each and every one of you played a role in shaping this experience for me and for that, I’m grateful.

Now, for a thank you that may not make as much sense, but thank you to all the opposing fans who bashed or attacked my work and discredited my reporting. The criticisms levied at me pushed me to improve and I’m better today than I was two and a half years ago when I started.

And finally, thank you to the rest of my Scarlet Insiders team. Thanks to Chris for his unrelenting coverage on the actual beat. Chris came into a tough environment, balanced several jobs, and truly thrived and his contributions were crucial in making our site what it ultimately became.

Thanks to Matt for providing the absolute best Rutgers basketball recruiting content anywhere. There is not another person out there with his combination of work ethic and connections to Rutgers basketball recruiting and you still may see him dropping info on the boards from time to time ;). Thanks to Jay for helping us out tremendously in the early going and thanks to Ryan for dealing with the transition of the site after our previous owner left, taking responsibility for the site, and ensuring we continued to produce high quality, pro-Rutgers content.

With that, I’d like to let you know I won’t be a stranger to the 247Sports network. I will still continue to run the Boston College 247Sports site so I’m sure we’ll cross paths again soon given the way Rutgers and Boston College have been going head-to-head on the recruiting trail.

From all of us here at Scarlet Insiders we thank you again for your banter and loyalty and we promise you that you’ll be in good hands going forward!







Thanks again,

Adam Baliatico

adam.baliatico@gmail.com