The course of Rutgers football's 2026 recruiting cycle is starting to take shape with over ten players scheduling official visits for late may and early June, according to the Knight Report. The weekend of May 30th, the last weekend in may, was the first large group of official visits to come to rutgers last year and it looks to be more of the same this year.

Of the ten visiting Rutgers in the early summer, two of them are offensive lineman with four star Offensive Tackle Tyler Duell and four star interior offensive lineman Jared Smith announcing their intentions to make the trip to Piscataway. Both intend to make the trip for May 30 and neither appear to have warmed up to any school in particular yet. Rutgers will hope that they can use their early official visit as an advantage and land their commitment before other schools start to gain signifigant traction.

This is not the only progress that Rutgers has been making, as three star tight end DJ Howerton from Greensboro, SC, is now listed as warm on Rutgers according to 247 sports. He also will be making an official visit the weekend of May 30. The Knights have continued to find success recruiting in the Carolina's and they hope that can lead to a commitment here.

Rutgers is still not out of the mud yet with interior offensive lineman Kai Pritchard and offensive Tackle Tavian Branch. Both have had close relationships with Rutgers but neither have made a commitment, as both are receiving a lot of attention from reputable programs such as Penn State, who is making a significant push to land both prospects. Both have already taken unofficial visits to Rutgers with Branch confirming he will return to Rutgers for the official visit weekend on May 30.

Rutgers has been able to hold onto wide receiver commit Dyzier Carter for now, despite him attracting major attention from Georgia.

Rutgers lost out on three star interior offensive line prospect Anthony Hall, who was high on the Knights but ultimately decided to commit to North Carolina.

Just like the last update, it is still very early in the 2026 recruitment cycle. Since official visits don't start until late May, the bulk of commits are a few months off. Rutgers is still in good contention for many of their defensive prospects as ma ny have not warmed up to any school in particular. It is also very likely that a majority of players interested in Rutgers will schedule their official visit in the coming month.