Rivals Camp Series New Jersey: Five teams that should be pleased

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas was in the backyard of Rutgers University, and it is no surprise the Scarlet Knights were one of the schools that was the most talked about and relevant with the prospects in attendance. Several other schools from within and outside the region join Rutgers on this list, though.

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Notre Dame’s big day boiled down to quarterback Drew Pyne, so while the Irish didn’t have much else going on at the event, the performance of their future quarterback was enough to land the school on this list.

Pyne, limited in size as he may be, has the best and most consistent day at a camp absolutely littered with quarterback talent. The Notre Dame commit managed to easily stand out from a pack that included passers headed to Clemson, Florida, Penn State and Boston College. Pyne was accurate and effortlessly tossed deep balls despite battling windy conditions. Pyne’s Sunday performance was one of the best of the entire camp series thus far.

The Nittany Lions are coming off a big official visit/spring game weekend that drew prospects from across the country, but also heavily from the Northeast. Two of those official visitors took part in Sunday’s camp and they were five-star running back Devyn Ford and four-star cornerback Tyler Rudolph.

Ford would go onto win Running Back MVP honors at Sunday’s event and has the Nittany Lions in a top two with Virginia Tech. His decision is expected May 18. Penn State was also oft-mentioned when his fellow prospects were asked to predict where four-star offensive tackle Xavier Truss would eventually end up, and was also a team of interest for four-star defensive end Adisa Isaac, linebacker MVP Brandon Smith and three-star wide receiver Cornelius Johnson.

When Sunday’s competitors are all signed to college programs, Virginia Tech has a chance to be the program with the most MVP commitments from the event.

They already have Defensive Back MVP Nyquee Hawkins locked up. The four-star bested a deep group of prospects at his position to earn his award just two weeks after committing to the Hokies. Virginia Tech is also in the top two along with Penn State for Running Back MVP Devyn Ford after hosting him for an official visit in Blacksburg back on April 11.

Although not an MVP winner, freshman defensive back Tony Grimes accounted for himself very well among the upperclassmen. He already holds a Virginia Tech offer and the Hokies are expected to be a strong contender for the in-state prospect.

Scarlet Knights fans have a lot to be excited about coming out of Sunday’s Rivals Camp. Rivals250 defensive end Adisa Isaac had plenty of good things to say about Rutgers and listed them among his favorites. David Ojabo remains very interested in Rutgers and expects to visit again at some point. Defensive back Donovan Bunch played with a lot of energy and defensive back Zukudo Igwenagu showed he knows how to use his size and length to his advantage. Defensive lineman Joe Rondi had a lot of success and remains very interested in Rutgers. It wouldn’t be surprising to see at least a couple of these players end up signing with the Scarlet Knights.

A South Carolina-based school being one of the most relevant for a camp in New Jersey may look strange on the surface, but the Tigers had a commitment and top targets participating in Sunday’s event and several did very well.

Four-star quarterback Taisun Phommachanh was the prospect representing Clemson’s commitments, and while he did not win MVP honors at the position, he accounted for himself well and proved worthy of his four-star status.

Among Clemson’s top targets at the event was four-star defensive end/linebacker Brandon Smith, who won MVP honors at the linebacker position. The Tigers offered Smith last summer and defensive coordinator Brent Venables was in his school just days before Sunday’s camp. Other top prospects mentioning Clemson included four-star cornerback Tyler Rudolph and offensive tackle Jake Hornibrook, the latter of whom plans to visit the Tigers soon.