College Football(NCAA)

[swanlinbar]

4 Star picks RU over Florida,USCOklahoma& Miami ,Rutgers receives verbal commitment from DT Antwan Lowery
by Tom Luicci/The Star-Ledger Thursday December 18, 2008, 8:09 PM
Rutgers added another four-star player to its 2009 recruiting class when defensive tackle Antwan Lowery of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami confirmed Thursday night that he gave Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano a verbal commitment.

Lowery, whose brother Antonio is a backup linebacker for Rutgers, is ranked the No. 34 defensive tackle in the country by Rivals.com and No. 8 at the position by ESPN.com. The 6-3, 335-pounder had his pick of schools, including Florida, Florida State, Miami, USC, and Oklahoma. His commitment keeps Rutgers' pipeline to South Florida flowing, since he is the only Florida recruit in the incoming class, which now numbers 22.

"Yes, I committed to (Rutgers)," Lowery said by phone while attending a basketball game at his high school.

Lowery said that while he originally wanted to stay close to home to attend college "Rutgers was like home to me."

"I just felt real comfortable every time I was there," he said late Thursday night.

Columbus High School head coach Chris Merritt said Rutgers and No. 2-ranked Florida (which is playing in the national championship game against Oklahoma) were Lowery's final two choices. It was Merritt, according to Lowery, who called Schiano with the news of the commitment -- after Schiano visited Lowery at his home on Wednesday night.

"He (Lowery) knows Coach Schiano and what he's going to get because his brother is there. There are no doubts or questions," Merritt said. "He knows how he's going to be treated, and he felt real comfortable.

"To be honest, I've seen a lot of big bodies here in South Florida, and with the way he moves, I can tell you Rutgers is getting one heck of a football player."

Mike Farrell of Rivals.com called it "a great get for Rutgers."

"It's a comeback victory in recruiting for them with Lowery," he said. "Early on they were strongly involved with him, then they got off to that horrible (1-5) start and with Antwan having so many big-time programs after him, I think he was leaning toward staying down south. Then the season turned around and the coaching staff never stopped working on him."

Though Lowery originally planned to make a decision in August, he said he held off because "I didn't know enough about all of the colleges that were interested in me. I needed to take some visits and see some schools."

He said he was also waiting to see if Rutgers would pull out of its 1-5 start.

"That was big for me," he said. "I liked the way they were able to turn the season around. They never quit. That meant a lot to me."