Class of 2016 OLB/RB Rashawn Battle (PA) Verbal to Rutgers

[SUFaninNJ]

Zachary Kastenhuber and Dymelle Parker are my two guesses. I think we're in excellent shape with both.

Would you say they are better prospects than the 2 LBs RU got that SU was pursuing?

 

[jekelish]

Would you say they are better prospects than the 2 LBs RU got that SU was pursuing?

Honestly, I couldn't tell you. Obviously the staff thinks they're better than Manning, at least, since they're actually willing to take these two guys. As far as Battle, I don't know.

 

[Noexcuse]

Is that the Boxing Heavy Weight Championship Belt he's holding?

 

[retro44]

Is that the Boxing Heavy Weight Championship Belt he's holding?

Can't be,it's made out of cheap plastic and red lipstick

 

[anomander]

Would you say they are better prospects than the 2 LBs RU got that SU was pursuing?

Kastenburgher is good, but I'd take Battle over both without much thoughht

 

[Noexcuse]

I wonder if Rutgers gave him the Devan Carter treatment? You know, "of course you can play running back" then shift him to line backer where he belongs.

 

[Ky Je]

I wonder if Rutgers gave him the Devan Carter treatment? You know, "of course you can play running back" then shift him to line backer where he belongs.

I doubt it, once I saw some rumors on twitter I checked out his page and saw one of their LB commits telling them that they were the 4 best LBers in the B1G

On a side note, it sucks hearing we lost one of our topic targets

 

[PhatOrange]

Battle i dont' believe ever visited up here. We have about 200 offers out to kids with varying degrees of priority. do we have to read about the sky falling and us 'losing' a recruit 185 times this year?

 

[TheCusian]

Rutgers hopped on the name Battle trying to steal a top bball recruit only to discover they nabbed the wrong one...

 

[Ky Je]

I don't think anybody saying that the sky is falling, just sucks loosing someone that the staff had high on their board.

 

[PhatOrange]

just sucks loosing someone that the staff had high on their board.

is this fact ?

 

[Ky Je]

is this fact ?

Do you know anything that says otherwise or are you just playing devils advocate? It was mention by another poster that he was a tier 1 option and nobody seemed to disagree with that assessment

 

[jekelish]

Do you know anything that says otherwise or are you just playing devils advocate? It was mention by another poster that he was a tier 1 option and nobody seemed to disagree with that assessment

I've seen him listed as a probable tier 1 prospect by TOS, but who knows if that's accurate, or how hard they've been going after him?

Look, I'm not saying he isn't a big loss. For all I know, the coaches wanted him bad. But the fact remains that we don't really know how the staff rates half of these guys. I don't remember the last time I read anything about Battle, so I don't know how high he was on the board other than TOS suggesting he's probably a tier 1 guy.

 

[PhatOrange]

Do you know anything that says otherwise or are you just playing devils advocate? It was mention by another poster that he was a tier 1 option and nobody seemed to disagree with that assessment

he might very well have been tier 1 but when we consider he never visited Syracuse (that I can find) we didn't really lose the kid and he wasn't a blow to our recruiting efforts. Every 5 star kid we've offered is a tier 1 kid but if they're not interested then...in other words, this kid chose Buttgers but he didn't really chose Buttgers over Syracuse. Other than letters it's hard to say we were ever in the picture or to what degree we prioritized him. I don't recall seeing anything that says we visited him either.

 

[jekelish]

he might very well have been tier 1 but when we consider he never visited Syracuse (that I can find) we didn't really lose the kid and he wasn't a blow to our recruiting efforts. Every 5 star kid we've offered is a tier 1 kid but if they're not interested then...in other words, this kid chose Buttgers but he didn't really chose Buttgers over Syracuse. Other than letters it's hard to say we were ever in the picture or to what degree we prioritized him. I don't recall seeing anything that says we visited him either.

Yeah, I feel like this one might be similar to Koby Quansah choosing Duke. Yes, we offered him, but he's a kid who never visited either, and there wasn't any real interaction that I ever heard of...so it's not like he chose Duke OVER Syracuse. He had a Syracuse offer, but we never really had a seat at the table. Which sucks, but it's different than "losing" a kid when you were never really in the game to begin with.

 

[jgeorge322]

i think we also have to consider we have some very promising young LBs already on the team.

 

[anomander]

Yeah, I feel like this one might be similar to Koby Quansah choosing Duke. Yes, we offered him, but he's a kid who never visited either, and there wasn't any real interaction that I ever heard of...so it's not like he chose Duke OVER Syracuse. He had a Syracuse offer, but we never really had a seat at the table. Which sucks, but it's different than "losing" a kid when you were never really in the game to begin with.

We were very involved with Quansah early on. He visited during his junior year and loved it, and believe camped with us before that.

 

[anomander]

Do you know anything that says otherwise or are you just playing devils advocate? It was mention by another poster that he was a tier 1 option and nobody seemed to disagree with that assessment

I mean he never really visited so I can't say it hurts that much. Can't be mad about someone we never really were involved with.

 

[jekelish]

I mean he never really visited so I can't say it hurts that much. Can't be mad about someone we never really were involved with.

Exactly, this. Just because we offer a kid doesn't mean we're ever really in the picture.

 

[money3189]

At 6'3, I honestly think he will grow into a D end. Actually I feel the same way about Elias Reynolds.

 

[anomander]

At 6'3, I honestly think he will grow into a D end. Actually I feel the same way about Elias Reynolds.

Unless Rutgers is trying to change their style on defense. They went into the B1G playing a similar style to us, favoring smaller guys with speed. Maybe they realized they need some more beef in the B1G?

 

[DJSpanky]

Unless Rutgers is trying to change their style on defense. They went into the B1G playing a similar style to us, favoring smaller guys with speed. Maybe they realized they need some more beef in the B1G?

Yep, we're building up our front 7 on defense because, I hate to say this, last season we got pushed around by the premier teams (OSU, UW, MSU, UN) in the trenches. So we're definitely looking for bigger players at LB, particularly since in years past we've actually pulled safeties in to play OLB and give us more speed.

 

[tep624]

One of the things that people need to take into consideration is that offers are often expected to gauge interest. We may send out upwards of 10 offers for one slot we're trying to fill. Obviously 10 kids are committing for that one spot.

It works both ways. For me, a kid committing elsewhere who was offered but never was really interested is about as significant as a kid that commits elsewhere after we've filled a slot.

I think one of the biggest indicators for success is when the staff is clearly doing the choosing, and in the case of Manning we've seen that already. LB is about the last position we should worry about filling, we'll be fine.

 

[anomander]

One of the things that people need to take into consideration is that offers are often expected to gauge interest. We may send out upwards of 10 offers for one slot we're trying to fill. Obviously 10 kids are committing for that one spot. It works both ways. For me, a kid committing elsewhere who was offered but never was really interested is about as significant as a kid that commits elsewhere after we've filled a slot. I think one of the biggest indicators for success is when the staff is clearly doing the choosing, and in the case of Manning we've seen that already. LB is about the last position we should worry about filling, we'll be fine.

We definitely need to bring in a couple stud LB recruits. We are very thin, especially considering LBs are used a ton of special teams

 

[tep624]

We definitely need to bring in a couple stud LB recruits. We are very thin, especially considering LBs are used a ton of special teams

I don't disagree with that, I think Moskal leaving definitely makes it a need to take a least a few this class, but based on the way things are lining up we'll probably have a few in the fold within the next few weeks. Interestingly, I think if Moskal hadn't decided to transfer, we probably wouldn't be chasing Kastenhuber.