Savon Huggins Commits To Rutgers, Looks To Build a Program In New Jersey

Savon Huggins, one of the top recruits in the 2011 class, did what most people believed by committing to the home state Rutgers Scarlet Knights over North Carolina and Notre Dame.

For almost two years Huggins has been one of the top recruited players in the country out of the class of 2011. This past year Huggins visited football powerhouses such as Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia and many others.

In the fall of this past year, the new-look Notre Dame program seemed to be the fit for Huggins. With the strong academics and the history of the program, it seemed perfect for the star running back from Jackson, New Jersey.

North Carolina heated up their recruitment in the final two months, showing Savon the starting job on the team if he were to become a Tar Heel.

However, most recruiting experts looked over the one program that was on Savon's mind since his freshman year in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

On Friday night Huggins made his anticipated decision at his high school Saint Peter's Prep in Jersey City, NJ.

He is staying home by verbally committing to Rutgers and looking to put this program on the map.

I was lucky enough to attend a packed library, where Huggins held his press conference. Originally putting on a North Carolina hat, Huggins then took it off and had a Scarlet Knight hat on instead.

“There’s nothing like staying home,” said Huggins, who rushed for 1,891 yards and 35 touchdowns last season.

“Marcus Lattimore did it. Reggie Bush did it at USC. If you stay home and bring the program to different heights, it will be better than if you do it out of state. Yes, it would be nice. But if you do it in your own state, it has a lot more meaning.”

Huggins said, “I just felt in my heart this is what I want to be: a Scarlet Knight". And there is plenty of good reasoning in his decision to stay home.

Savon admitted the addition of Frank Cignetti was a key factor in heading to Rutgers. Cignetti played a huge role when Huggins was being recruited at Pitt before leaving to Rutgers for the same position.

Certainly there is more to this story, however. Rutgers finally started keeping the top in-state talent to stay in Jersey.

Receiver Miles Shuler, quarterback Gary Nova, and offensive tackle Keith Lumpkin (Savon's teammate) are among the 20+ recruits Rutgers has brought in this season.

More importantly, this may not be the end. The Scarlet Knights are already targeting the top recruits from two New Jersey powerhouses: Don Bosco and Savon's school St. Peter's.

For Savon and this program, this could be the start of great things. Huggins is the most highly touted recruit to ever come to Rutgers, and his decision to lead the charge for many top players to play in-state.

“I know they wanted me bad, and I wanted them bad,” said Huggins, who lives in Jackson. “They’re brothers now. It’s why I feel at home at Rutgers. I actually want to go there right now and practice.”

Savon now enters a program that will only look to go up. Huggins has the talent to be better than a Ray Rice, and hopefully make a bigger impact than Rice did during his time there.

Huggins has set huge goals for himself. With the recruiting process over, Huggins will look to prove the doubters wrong by helping to bring this team to the top of the Big East conference and begin helping get this program national exposure over the next few seasons.

I am a Featured Columnist for BleacherReport.com. Follow me on twitter: twitter.com/MattMiselis