Rutgers Football: Prize Recruit OT Josue Matias De-Commits

Hold on Rutgers Nation, that "iron-clad" fence that Greg Schiano built around New Jersey may have some cracks! 

Saturday, Jan 29, the Star Ledger's Tom Luicci reported that four star OT Josue Matias has de-comitted from Rutgers.

The 6'6", 300-pound Matias is considered the No. 1 lineman in the state by many of the recruiting gurus.

Matias announced he will be playing football at Florida State.

As good as the week seemed to be going on Friday, when DE Max Issaka of Woodbridge and the coveted RB Savon Huggins told Rutgers they were on board, the news of Matias' mind change has to put a damper on things.

It was also a week when Rutgers lost two other recruits: Bound Brook's Andrew Campollatano, a 3-star linebacker told Shiano he was de-commiting to continue a wrestling career on the college level and offensive lineman Marcus Lucas from Miami told Schiano he had changed his plans.

The Matias announcement really hurts.  Matias played his high school ball at the same Union City school as former Rutgers all Big East OT Pedro Sosa and current Rutgers linebacker Manny Abreu.

It's also been reported that 4-star cornerback Lafayette Pitts, rated the No. 12 CB in the country, has only given Rutgers a "soft verbal" commitment.  On some recruiting services he's actually been taken off the Rutgers list of committed players.

If the fence isn't breaking down, it's definitely showing some cracks!

Was it all the snow that Jersey has received this winter that made Matias re-think his decision?  Was it the rough winter that has made him decide to take his talents to Tallahassee or was it the way Rutgers' head coach Greg Schiano has been handling the Tom Savage transfer case?

Schiano has made it clear that he will not allow Savage to transfer to seven or eight schools including Miami, Michigan, Florida and Florida State.

Marquise Wright, a 4-star DT from  Paramus Catholic, is still undecided. If Rutgers can get a verbal from Wright, it might soften the blow of losing Matias at such a late time.