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There is no better timing than on Super Bowl Sunday to remember that New Jersey produces elite football players. In fact, New Jersey is among the nation’s best at sending players to the NFL, a point certainly backed up by this year’s Super Bowl.
There are three players from the Rutgers football program in this Super Bowl (Kansas City Chiefs: Isiah Pacheco; San Francisco 49ers Christian Izien and Sebastian Joseph-Day). And while only Pacheco is from New Jersey, the point is still underscored that New Jersey football is among the best in the nation at producing athletes who can play on Sunday.
And if Rutgers could keep the top in-state talent home, it would be a perennial top-25 program with College Football Playoff ambitions. That’s a big if, to say the least, but still noteworthy.
In the fourth season of their rebuild under head coach Greg Schiano, Rutgers showed significant progress. They finished the season 7-6 (3-6 Big Ten) while playing the nation’s second-toughest schedule.
They won the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl 31-24 over Miami.
But Rutgers could take another step forward if they start retaining more of New Jersey’s best talent.
Per capita, New Jersey produces 1.07 football players that are sent to the NFL. That is No. 12 in the nation and the fourth-best production of any state with a Big Ten program (Maryland, Ohio and Iowa led the way, respectively).
It is the best number in the Northeast, a not insignificant stat.
Keeping New Jersey’s best in-state while supplementing with strong regional recruiting from New York (the aforementioned Izien is from Brooklyn) and Pennsylvania (Joseph-Day is from Pennsylvania) would certainly be a big step for a developmental program like Rutgers.
Last week, Rutgers received a commitment from Talibi Kaba, the No. 12 recruit in New Jersey and a three-star linebacker…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/super-bowl-study-good-news-164641965.html
Author : Rutgers Wire
Publish date : 2024-02-11 16:46:41
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