Commitment analysis: Aaron Young to Rutgers

Aaron Young pulled off a surprise flip on the first day of the Early Signing Period by signing with Rutgers but this isn’t the first surprise in his recruitment. Young’s commitment to Michigan State in late October was a bit of a surprise as well. The Spartans, along with Northwestern, and Arkansas, has hosted Young for official visits in June. Penn State and Rutgers were also very much in the picture. The Nittany Lions hosted Young for a game this season and had set him up with a December official visit. Young’s older brother, Avery Young, is a freshman at Rutgers so they had hosted the 2019 prospect on multiple unofficial visits. In the end, it seems the familiarity with Rutgers won out and Young signed with the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers getting a flip from one of the Big Ten blue bloods is a big deal and the fact that Young could be an instant contributor is something Rutgers fans should be excited about. Young is a hard-nosed between the tackles runner with good vision and the ability to grind out the tough yards. He will be a nice change of pace back to pair with Isaac Pacheco next season.

Michigan State was hoping to build more depth at running back with this recruiting class. The Spartans had Brandon Wright, Anthony Williams Jr., and Young all committed for the last two months but now Michigan State will have to look elsewhere. Young was their highest rated running back commit so look for the Spartans to try to add another back before the recruiting cycle is over.