Rutgers Football: Breaking down another massive recruiting win

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano is probably making a lot of other programs jealous because what he’s doing with the Scarlet Knights is impressive.

Not only did Schiano start winning football games almost immediately once he returned as the head coach of Rutgers football, but he’s also been dominating on the recruiting trail.

And no, that’s not an exaggeration.

Right now, Rutgers football is ranked sixth overall in the 2022 team rankings according to the 247 sports, and only Ohio State ranks better in the Big Ten.

Earlier this week, Rutgers class which had 10 commitments, then added an 11th from Schiano’s biggest recruiting victory yet — four-star quarterback Gavin Wimsatt.

Wimsatt is a 6-foot-3, 200-pound dual-threat quarterback from Kentucky and in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2022, he’s ranked 89th overall. He’s also rated as the best recruit in the state of Kentucky.

So not only did Schiano land the best QB recruit Rutgers football has had since Tom Savage (No. 101 back in 2009), he went into SEC country and beat out some big-time programs to do it.

The recruitment of Wimsatt ultimately came down to Rutgers and Kentucky, which pushed really hard to keep him home and even got a late crystal ball prediction in the process. However, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Nebraska were all very interested too.

Yet, Rutgers has tons of momentum right now after landing four-star receiver Amarion Brown and four-star running back Samuel Brown just last month, and it continued with Wimsatt who pledged his commitment Friday. Here’s what he told Rivals about his decision:

"“I chose Rutgers because of the coaching staff they are great and they are building something special and I want to be apart of it.”"

Schiano’s ability to recruit at Rutgers is incredible

Recruiting is the name of the game in college football. If you don’t have the Billy’s and Joe’s, the quality of your coaching doesn’t really matter.

Well, with Schiano, Rutgers is upgrading its Billy’s and Joe’s in a big way.

In the 2021 recruiting class, Rutgers finished No. 41 overall, which was the first top-50 recruiting class the Scarlet Knights have had since 2016.

On top of that, Rutgers won three Big Ten games last season after not winning any in 2018 or 2019. And now that Schiano is going to be armed with an elite quarterback, more wins are going to follow.

The New Jersey area has always been rich with talent, but the Scarlet Knights haven’t done a great job of capitalizing on that, especially not after Schiano left for the NFL after his first stint as head coach.

Five of the 11 verbal commitments in 2022 are out of the state of New Jersey, along with some gets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Obviously, Rutgers isn’t likely to stick at the No. 6 spot, but either way, this haul has been impressive and it’s clear that the Scarlet Knights aren’t a pushover anymore with Schiano.