Piscataway's Barnwell highlights National Signing Day class

PISCATAWAY - It's been a pretty whirlwind of a week for Piscataway High School football player Elijah Barnwell. 

The Home News Tribune Defensive Player of the Year had committed to the University of Buffalo over the weekend, but Tuesday evening he received the news he had been waiting for. Rutgers University came through with an offer for the senior running back/linebacker. 

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"When coach Lester Erb and Jerry Kill came in to Rutgers, when they first got here, they immediately evaluated me and saw what I was about, and they liked what they saw, and they continued to recruit me," Barnwell said. "They knew that Rutgers had offers to other people prior to them being there, so they were patient with me, they told me the situation and told me what was going to happen.

"They told me they were interested in me and how they wanted me to be in their program, but they just had to figure everything out first and when they figured it out they gave me the offer immediately, and I felt it was a good fit for me, so I chose them."

When Barnwell accepted Buffalo's offer, he committed to play linebacker and safety, but he really wanted to play at running back, and that's exactly what the Scarlet Knights offered. 

"I don't mind playing either or, but everybody knows I'm better at running back, I'm more comfortable there, and I'm more natural, so I chose RU because of that specific reason," Barnwell said. "Rutgers is in a great conference, probably the best conference and I wanted to play and be on TV, play in the position I like. 

"Even if we're going against all of these top teams, I get to showcase what I'm about, and I was just excited for the opportunity, and definitely weather played a huge part, up there in Buffalo, on my official visit it was 10 degrees and snowing, but weather played a huge part and position also."

Barnwell played all four years of high school as a running back and linebacker, and Piscataway coach Dan Higgins said the Chiefs never have had a player accomplish something that monumental before. 

"For four straight years, both sides of the ball, played every rep, he's been probably one of the most impactful players we've ever had here for his overall contribution," Higgins said. "We've had amazing players, NFL first round picks, but we've never had anyone play both sides for four straight years.

"It's a testament to his toughness, his athleticism, his explosiveness, his family, the coaches coaching him up and him being so humble to allow us to coach him so that's why I just think that he's going to continue to get better at Rutgers."

This past season Barnwell accumulated 1,838 yards and 30 touchdowns on 242 carries and led the Chiefs to the NJSIAA Central Group V championship, the school's ninth sectional title. For his career, he amassed a school-record 5,728 yards yards rushing, 75 rushing touchdowns and 78 total. He rushed for more than 100 yards in his final 23 games, had 32 100-yard games for his career and scored a touchdown in 37 of 43 games. 

Barnwell will be joining 17 other recruits from New Jersey at Rutgers next season as the Scarlet Knights try to build off a year in which they went 2-10 and 0-9 in the Big Ten. 

"Definitely with the coaching changes and the new offensive coordinator and running backs coach, I feel more comfortable with those guys. They're one of the main reasons why I chose RU," Barnwell said. "They're going to definitely change the offense to fit my style and what's best for Rutgers to rebuild basically, because it's been a down period for Rutgers in the Big Ten but we're going to change things around. It's definitely going to be challenging coming from Piscataway, where we mostly dominate and win, but I'm happy to get acclimated and work hard to where we need to be."

Also on Wednesday, Nazir James signed his NLI to play football at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, while Brevin Donerson, Ibn Robinson and Abdel Mohamed will be continuing their careers at Lackawanna College. 

 "It feels awesome. It's like a championship feeling, a proud moment," Higgins said of his players. "Winning is great but moving these kids is about the best thing you can possibly see as a coach because it's the commitment in the classroom, out of the classroom, on the field, it's a culmination of a lot of work and as teenagers they go through a lot to get to this spot, so I'm very emotional today."

Three girls soccer players also signed their NLI. Lela Allen will be attending Wagner College, Ayana Garvin will be playing for Hampton University, and Janiah Lambert signed to play for Clark University.

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego