Fitzgerald: Michigan or Rutgers?

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Michigan and Rich Rodriguez are waiting on West Windsor-Plainsboro South's J.B. Fitzgerald. But, so are Rutgers and Greg Schiano.

Unless Fitzgerald chooses to extend the deadline to make his much-anticipated decision, both programs will have the answer to whether they are adding a four-star recruit (according to Rivals.com) to their recruiting class at a 3 p.m. press conference today.

According to a source close to the situation, Michigan fully ex pects the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year to sign his binding letter of intent to become a Wolverine.

But with Rodriguez taking over the reigns in Ann Arbor and with controversy on his coattails following his abrupt resignation at West Virginia, there has been rampant speculation that the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Fitzgerald may opt to stay in state and become a Scarlet Knight.

Schiano, known as one of the best recruiters in the country, never quit courting Fitzgerald, and even went as far as to fly in on a helicopter for the first half of West Windsor-Plainsboro South's opening game of the season against Trenton -- which was one week after the standout linebacker made his verbal commitment to attend Michigan.

Another former Colonial Valley Conference standout, Steve Shimko, who graduated from Ewing on Jan. 15 and enrolled at Rutgers on January 22, had a message for Fitzgerald.

"If he doesn't come here, we're going to play Michigan and we're going to beat them," the 6-foot-5 signal caller said jokingly. "I just want him to come here and play with him again like we did when we were younger."

Both Shimko and Fitzgerald played Pee Wee football together for the West Windsor Wildcats, and if Fitzgerald chooses the Scarlet and White, their careers will have come full circle.

"My dad and his dad talked and his dad doesn't know what he's going to do yet," Stephen Shimko said yesterday via a phone interview. "I wish him the best regardless of where he goes."

Shimko enrolled early at Rutgers to get acclimated to college life, and if the dorm mates -- left tackle Art Forst (Manasquan) and wide receiver Keith Stroud (Fork Union Military Academy, Va.) --they set him up with are any indi cation of how the coaching staff feels about him, he very well could be the heir apparent to last year's quarterback, Mike Teel, or dual- threat Jabu Lovelace.

"I wanted to get used to their program and their offense," Shimko said. "I wanted to learn the playbook. Now, once the season starts, I have all of that out of the way."

On top of learning the playbook and adapting to life after high school, Stephen Shimko has been studying film with Teel, hitting the weight room and trying to nail down the play-calling verbiage.

Asked why he chose Rutgers -- was it was the proximity to his home, the fact that Rutgers is a program on the rise or because Schiano and his staff had targeted him at such an early stage of the recruiting process -- Shimko said all three factors played an equally important role.

"They are an up-and-coming program and they are close to home, but they also put the faith in me to offer me and accept me coming here early," he said. "Not many schools would do that for kids, but they did that for me. It was a perfect fit."

Hamilton standout linebacker Jayson Dimanche was all set to head to Division II University of Minnesota-Duluth next year. Then, something interesting happened.

The majority of the staff transferred to Southern Illinois after last season ended. Upon looking at the highlight tapes of the Salu ki's recruits, they still felt that Di manche was the best outside linebacker they had seen.

Dimanche visited the campus last weekend and gave the coach ing staff his verbal commitment.

Until August, Dimanche just wants to savor his final few months as a teenager.

"Right now, I want to be a senior in high school," he said. "I want to see how far this basketball season can go and then go to track season. Hopefully I'll get a few records, a few medals. At the end of track season, I'm going to get a workout program from them. I'm going to get stronger; not so much mass, but get stronger and retain that speed I have."

The following players will sign or finalize their commitments today:

Florence: Tyler Foehr (TE/DE), Sacred Heart.

Hun: Scott Demler (K), Virginia Tech; Kenny Howard (RB), New Hampshire; Mike Salazar (OT), William and Mary; Jury Johnson (WR/LB), University of Connecticut. Matt Furstenberg (TE), Maryland; Drew Felker (SS), Trinity. Hunterdon Central: Dan Fitz simmons (WR), Princeton; Gar rett Williamson (OT), Maine; Derek Goreczny (CB), TCNJ.

Montgomery: Kevin Watson (QB), Holy Cross; Chris Garcia (FB), Monmouth.

Pennington: Omar Francis (RB/DB), William and Mary; Tre vor Walker (RB/DB), Towson University.

Princeton: Doug Borchert, La fayette.

WW-P South: Ian Simon, Howard.

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