The Rutgers football team added one member of its 2009 recruiting class yesterday and could add another today.

Yesterday, the Scarlet Knights got a verbal commitment from Andre Civil, a 6-foot-3, 238-pound defensive end from Brooklyn.

Today, they’re in the running for Neshaminy High School tight end Paul Carrezola, who is scheduled to hold a 2:30 p.m. press conference to announce his college decision.

Rutgers, Pittsburgh, North Carolina State and Iowa are all said to be in the running.

Civil, a standout at Sheepshead Bay High School, is rated the No. 38 defensive end in the country by Scout.com. He chose Rutgers over Georgia Tech, Clemson, UConn and Syracuse.

“To me, I know where my heart is,” he told Rivals.com. “There’s no need to go around the country wasting money on things like unofficial visits when I know where I want to be.”

He joins Jamal Wilson, an offensive tackle from Brooklyn, Mohamed Sanu, a safety from South Brunswick, and Tom Savage, a highly-touted quarterback from Springfield, Pa., as high school juniors who have committed to Rutgers.

Carrezola, rated the No. 16 tight end in the country by Scout.com, caught 18 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns last year for Neshaminy.

      Rutgers free safety Courtney Greene was named to watch list for the Bronco Nagurski trophy, awarded by the Football Writers Association to the nation’s best defensive player.

       Greene is the third Rutgers player named to national watch lists, joining sophomore offensive tackle Anthony Davis (Outland Trophy) and junior center Ryan Blaszczyk (Rimington Award).

        Greene, the Scarlet Knights’ leader last year in tackles with 101, considered entering the NFL draft after his junior season, but opted to return for his senior season.

        The Nagursi Trophy will be awarded at a banquet on Dec. 7, and will be chosen from among the 11 defensive players named FWAA first-team All-Americans. 

 In the world of annual preview publications, it’s never too early to release preseason rankings.

  Or at least partial preseason rankings.

   Athlon Sports is releasing its preseason top 25 one team at a time, and today it unveiled Rutgers as its No. 22 team in the country.

   Athlon named Tiquan Underwood and Courtney Greene to its first-team All-Big East squad. It named Kenny Britt, Kevin Brock, Anthony Davis and Jamaal Westerman second-team All-Big East and Ryan Blaszczyk, Jason McCourty and Dennis Campbell third-team All Big East.

     If I decided that instead of watching a three-way TV rotation tonight of the Celtics, Red Sox and North Carolina and Indiana primary results, I was going to rank all 119 Division I-A teams, then post the rankings on this blog, those rankings would mean as much as the Athlon rankings, Sports Illustrated’s preseason rankings, and the preseason AP, Coaches’ and Harris polls, which is to say, they’d mean absolutely nothing. 

    Remember when Rutgers was ranked 16^th in the country prior to last season? And remember how beating Buffalo, Navy and Norfolk State elevated them to 10^th

     Remember how the rest of the season went?

      By the same token, remember how Rutgers wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen prior to the 2006 season, then came within two points in triple overtime of going to the Orange Bowl?

      Having said that, it’s interesting to see where the various pundits rank Rutgers. And if I were going to take a stab at filling out an ultra-early poll ballot, I’d probably have Rutgers somewhere in the 20s.

     From an expectations standpoint, I think it’s a good place to be. It’s not high enough that anyone’s really gunning for you, but it’s high enough that if you win your first five or six games, you’re going to be in the top 10 and in good BCS position.

             

Former Rutgers safety Ron Girault was among 17 rookie free agents who agreed to terms with the Kansas City Chiefs, the team announced.
Girault joins Ray Rice (second round pick by the Baltimore Ravens), Jeremy Zuttah (third round pick by the Tampe Bay Buccaneers) and Eric Foster (free agent signee with the Indianapolis Colts) as members of the 2007 Scarlet Knights who will be in NFL camps this spring and summer.
Girault totaled 271 tackles in 45 games at Rutgers, and is ninth on the Knights' career interceptions list with 10. He had 17 pass breakups, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and two blocked kicks.