Top football players hailing from the Garden State (New Jersey) in the Class of 2025

By Kerry E Porter

Modified Oct 17, 2024 00:09 GMT

When it comes to college sports, several states have been proven recruiting grounds for certain team sports. California, Texas, Florida, Alabama and Georgia are consistently in the top five for football and basketball. There are a few states that have produced all-around athletes in just about every team sport in the United States.

New Jersey is one of those states that has birthed Olympic champions, Super Bowl winners, Little League World Series champions, NBA champions, Heisman Trophy finalists, Hall of Fame enshrinees and college champions in football, basketball, baseball and softball.

Couple that with the fact the birthplace of college football took place on the banks of the Raritan River in New Brunswick, between Princeton and Rutgers on a balmy fall morning in 1869.

New Jersey's current crop of top high school football players will say the same about their home state, "You can say that you have the best, but we started it first."

A state with just 21 counties has the largest high school football conference in the nation, the Super Football Conference, where some of the oldest high school football rivalries in the state and the nation roost.

New Jersey's top 2 recruits are heading to Ohio State and Bama

New Jersey's two top recruits, both wide receivers, have made their commitments known before the start of the 2024 football season. Lotzier Brooks, from Millville High School, and Quincy Porter, from Bergen Catholic in Oradell, have been in the spotlight since they stepped onto football fields as youth football players.

Each is on opposite ends of the state. Porter is from the northern part of the state and just a stone's throw from New York. Brooks, on the other hand, is on the southern tip of New Jersey, roughly 25 minutes from the Walt Wittman Bridge and downtown Philadelphia and the Delaware Memorial Bridge towards Wilmington, Delaware.

Lotzier Brooks, wide receiver

Brooks, an Alabama commitment, took the state by storm as a freshman, helping his Millville ThunderBolts to three consecutive New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association playoff berths. He's been leaving opposing defenses in his wake, racking up receiving yards while hedging up the state record book.

Brooks has over 4,200 yards and 60 touchdowns on 194 receptions.

With the group playoffs fast approaching, Brooks is only getting started. He's looking forward to making it back to the state's biggest game in late November.

He and his Millville ThunderBolts will be back in action at 6 p.m. on Friday on the road at the archrival Cherokee (Marlton) Chiefs.

Quincy Porter, wide receiver

Quincy Porter has lit up the national stage with his unique style and presence on the field. He's an all-around four-star wide receiver who is not afraid of the spotlight. From the time he stepped on the field as a freshman for his Bergen Catholic Crusaders, he has built a reputation for being a dominant receiver.

Standing a solid 6-foot-4 and weighing 205 pounds gives him the height, size and length over defenders who try to lock him down. Few are anywhere near successful in that feat. He's gone up against premier talent from Ohio, California, Georgia and Florida and has won the individual matchups each time, averaging at least a touchdown during those games.

Porter committed to Ohio State over the summer and has been productive since. In Bergen Catholic's first game of the season against IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida), he hauled in six catches for 132 yards, with one of those receptions being a 90-yard bomb for a touchdown in a 27-14 loss.

Porter has amassed 35 catches for 662 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. For his career, he is 213 yards shy of the 2,500-yard club with 113 catches and 36 touchdowns. With all this, he has been a quiet force that makes him a hot recruit in the 2025 class.

New Jersey is more than a pit stop for the ACC, SEC and Big 10

Darren Ikinnagbon, defensive end

Hillside's Darren Ikinnagbon (No. 11) sheds a blocker while Snyder (Jersey City) quarterback Shymeir Hargrove (No. 7) watches his running back tote the ball upfield for a short gain earlier this season.

A force by nature like Darren Ikinnagbon, who can set the edge while bearing down on opposing offensive linemen and quarterbacks, is bound to get the attention of an elite Southeastern Conference school like Georgia.

"I felt this was the best school to give me the challenge I needed," Ikinnagbon, who plans on being a mechanical engineering major, said.

Ikinnagbon, a 6-5 defensive lineman, has a high motor. His stats are loaded: three sacks, 10 tackles for loss, 25 solo tackles, 30 assisted tackles, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery on the season.

His Hillside Comets are 4-3 with two games left in the regular season. Ikinnagbon's last two games of the regular season will be against visiting Voorhees at 1 p.m. on Saturday and then at nearby Cranford on Oct. 25.

DJ McClary, athlete

DJ McClary watches from the sidelines as his Snyder High (Jersey City) Tigers take on Darren Ikinnagbon and the Hillside High Comets during the first game of the season. Snyder lost the season opener 42-20. (Photo Credit: DJ McClary via x.com)

When it comes to generational athletes, you rarely see one on the football field coming from a public high school in Jersey City. Known for its basketball prowess in both public and nonpublic schools, football in Jersey City has largely been dominated by its nonpublic schools, Hudson Catholic and Saint Peter's Prep. But even St. Peter's national reputation couldn't attract McClary.

McClary is the kind of player you can plug and play anywhere on the field. He was highly sought after as a youth player but decided to play for his local high school, Henry Snyder High School in the heart of Jersey City. Snyder, along with a few other area schools, are enjoying a resurgence as their programs were at one point nearly folded due to low participation.

McClary has been the centerpiece of Snyder's resurgence as it made its first playoff appearance in 2021 after not making it to the big dance since 2016. Snyder has since made four playoff appearances, although winning only one game. McClary is looking to change that by helping his team to its first state championship.

McClary originally committed to Penn State but flipped his commitment to Rutgers just before the start of this season.

"I felt like that was the best situation for me. I was comfortable with the environment," he said. "And it helped that I knew some of the players already that are on the team. It's home, and I look forward to having everyone there to watch me play."

He plays quarterback, throwing for 1,500 yards while completing 96 passes on 265 attempts for 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. This season, he has completed 11 of 37 passes for 201 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions.

As a rusher, he's rushed 428 times throughout his high school career, gaining 4,789 yards with 59 touchdowns. His longest was for 90 yards during his sophomore campaign, when he had a breakout season with 168 carries for 2,107 yards and 25 TDs. As a receiver, he has collected 11 targets for 99 yards, of which he has three for 32 yards this season.

On defense, he leads his team with 6.5 sacks and 61.5 tackles for losses. McClary is a dominant tackling machine with a nose for the ballcarrier. He has 382 career tackles, of which 275 of them are solo. He's looking to eclipse the 300 solo tackles and 100 assisted tackles before the season ends. But that's just the half of it.

McClary is so dominant on defense that he's been effective in the takeaway department as well. For his high school career, he has four forced fumbles, of which he's recovered three. He's also snagged three interceptions, returning two for house calls. On special teams, he has one extra point attempt and one two-point attempt, making both.

At 6-1 and weighing a solid 210 pounds, there is a strong argument for DJ McClary being a generational player hailing from "Chilltown" Jersey City.

McClary will be in action for the next two home games against Weequahic (Newark) at 6 p.m. on Thursday and the following week at 1 p.m. against crosstown rival Lincoln (Jersey City) at Jersey City's Caven Point.

Jahmir Joseph, cornerback

Jahmir Joseph (right) from St. Joseph's Regional (Montvale, NJ) prepares to defend the goal line in last season's NJSIAA Non Public A first-round playoff game against Seton Hall Prep's (West Orange) Julius Vicari.

When it comes to proven recruiting grounds, you will have to look at the long history of New Jersey players crossing the Delaware River to play for some of Pennsylvania's top colleges and universities, namely Penn State in Happy Valley, and Pitt in the Steel City. Couple that with Villanova, Syracuse and FCS-level schools Delaware and Delaware State, you have an all-out recruiting war.

Rutgers has had a long ongoing feud with Penn State for the top players in New Jersey. It all started with legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

This year is no different as Jahmir Joseph from St. Joseph's Regional High School out of Montvale will become a member of a potentially highly ranked Nittany Lions' recruiting class next season.

As a cornerback, they are getting a great player with a keen sense for the ball and the receiver.

Joseph has made defending the boundary look small with very wiggle room for opposing wide receivers and running backs to get past him on the pass or the run. He has mostly specialized in passing defense where he is matched up with the top receivers week in and week out.

Joseph has four tackles for loss in his high school career, with 48 solo tackles and 21 assisted as well. He has accounted for 21 tackles this season (13 solo, eight assisted) with three for loss, and one interception. He is averaging 2.0 interceptions per season and managed to return one for a touchdown.

On special teams, he's blocked three kicks while scoring six out of nine times for extra points.

With other major schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, Boston College and Auburn making offers, Penn State stayed at the top of the list, continuing the recruiting war that started all those generations ago.

New Jersey is the best-kept open secret

With scores of young athletes hailing from the Garden State, major colleges are now following what is already known about the state. It's a small state, but it is the most densely populated state per capita. With its most populated areas within an hour from Midtown Manhattan, Friday Night Lights has now taken on new meaning.

The support of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets has raised the awareness of top talent in the Metropolitan area. For the past decade-and-a-half, the former Giants Stadium and now MetLife Stadium has been home to the NJSIAA state championships, joining the likes of Texas, Florida, Georgia and California to host state championships at professional and college Stadiums.

The Princeton Tigers and Rutgers Scarlett Knights don't play each other anymore, but they managed to start a phenomenon that is today's college football. When mentioning the top states to produce football players and other athletes in other sports, just remember the Garden State.