The Rutgers University Men’s Basketball program, under the leadership of second-year head coach Fred Hill, today announced that Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J./St. Anthony’s), Christian Morris (Bronx, N.Y./South Kent School) and Patrick Jackson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Boys & Girls) have signed National Letters of Intent to compete for the Scarlet Knights. All three signees are rated among the top 25 prospects at their respective positions nationally, including Rosario, who was cited as the country’s 19th overall player by both ESPN and Hoop Scoop.
“We are very excited about this year’s recruiting class,” said Hill. “To sign three young men of this caliber out of strong, national programs in the region, goes directly to our philosophy of bringing in the best student-athletes in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia to build the Rutgers program. We are extremely pleased to welcome them into the Rutgers basketball family.
The signings complement Hill’s first recruiting class at Rutgers in 2007, which also had a regional flavor and an abundance of national accolades. Newark native Corey Chandler was rated nation’s 10th-best guard prospect by Rivals, Mount Vernon (N.Y.) High School alum Mike Coburn was cited as the country’s No. 12 point guard recruit by Scout.com, Philadelphia native Earl Pettis was the 37th-ranked small forward nationally by Scout.com and West Milford product Justin Sofman was rated as the nation’s 21st best fifth-year player by Hoop Scoop. Chandler scored 16 points in the season opener versus Tennessee Tech, the most by a Rutgers freshman in a season opener since 1993, and enters Saturday’s game at Florida as the first Scarlet Knight rookie since 1996-97 to score in double-figures in his first three career games.
The Scarlet Knight have a 3-1 record after defeating Tennessee Tech (70-64), North Dakota State (79-67) and North Carolina Central (73-48) before losing to Florida over the weekend. The team’s most recent game was against Dartmouth last night.