Rutgers picked up a major recruiting win Friday night, landing a commitment from RJ Moore, a four-star guard in the 2027 class.
Moore, a 6-foot-6 guard ranked No. 46 in his class by the 247Sports composite, becomes the first player in Rutgers’ 2027 recruiting class. His announcement came at the end of an official visit to campus this week.
That trip included a stop at SHI Stadium, where Rutgers’ football team was handed a shocking 37-21 loss to UMass. While that result stung on one side of campus, Steve Pikiell’s program came away with one of its biggest recruiting victories of the era.
Moore is the third-highest ranked high school recruit to commit to Rutgers in the Steve Pikiell era, behind five-star prospects Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and alongside Gavin Griffiths.
The son of UConn legend Ricky Moore, he chose Rutgers over Alabama, Wake Forest, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt and Utah. Moore had official visits lined up to Tuscaloosa, Nashville and Winston-Salem, but he made his call after his first stop in Piscataway.
Rutgers still has three open scholarship spots for the 2027-28 season, though with more than 12 months left, the roster for that year remains very much unsettled.
Looking ahead to 2026-27, Rutgers’ projected roster includes three players with one year of eligibility remaining: Darin Smith, Jamichael Davis and Tariq Francis.
Will Sydnor is listed with two years left.
The group with three years remaining includes Lino Mark, Kaden Powers, Christian Gurdak and Gevonte Ware.
The players projected to have four years of eligibility left are Imahri Wooten, Martin Tonejc and Mervedi Miteo.
In Other News...
Rutgers Just Turned One Ugly Loss Into A Program-Wide Embarrassment
Rutgers loss to UMass was ugly enough on the field, but the timing and circumstances made it sting even more. The Scarlet Knights paid the Minutemen $1.55 million to come to town, only to watch UMass snap a long losing streak with a 37-21 win that immediately turned into a source of embarrassment well beyond the final score. It was the sort of result that lingers because it says as much about perception as performance, and Rutgers found itself getting dragged into that conversation almost as quickly as the game ended.
The reaction on social media was swift, with plenty of criticism directed at the coaching staff and plenty more speculation about where the program goes from here. For new athletic director Keli Zinn, the loss only adds to the pressure around a football program already trying to prove it can move forward with some stability. In a sport where optics matter almost as much as wins and losses, this was the kind of afternoon that can hang around long after the scoreboard has been cleared. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Fans Are Facing The Greg Schiano Question Again
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For a fan base that has seen this movie before, the issue is not simply one bad result in September. Schianos contract puts a real price tag on any change, with a buyout that would cost Rutgers about $17.3 million if he were fired at the end of the season. So the question hanging over the program is the same one that always seems to come back: whether Rutgers is looking at another uphill year under a coach it knows well, or whether the season is already drifting toward a decision point no one wants to reach too soon. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Just Opened The Season With A Loss Fans Cant Ignore
UMass arrived in Piscataway as a huge underdog and walked out with a result Rutgers cannot brush aside. The Minutemen snapped a long skid against FBS opponents by beating Rutgers 37-21 in Week 1, doing it with a balanced offense and a disruptive defense that made life miserable for the Scarlet Knights throughout the afternoon.
Pop Watson was at the center of it, throwing for 189 yards and three touchdowns while adding 40 rushing yards. UMass also brought real edge on defense, piling up seven tackles for loss and five sacks while forcing a handful of Rutgers mistakes, the kind of opening-week mess that leaves a coaching staff with plenty to clean up before the schedule gets any deeper. [Read more 🡒]