I’m sure Rutgers fans are taking it all in stride with Pitt doing what it can to poach some of their verbals after a change in head coaches. I mean, it’s not like they can’t claim the high ground after Wannstedt was fired in 2009.

As Rutgers moves forward with a new coaching staff, they finally realized they may have missed on a couple guys in their own state. As such, they began a late run at Pitt verbal Maurice Ffrench.

Pitt countered. Hard.

About 48 hours after Rutgers University offered Pittsburgh commit Maurice Ffrench a scholarship, two Pittsburgh assistant coaches showed up to the Home News Tribune’s 2015 All-Area football photo shoot at East Brunswick High School.

With New Brunswick’s Ffrench and four Rutgers commits scheduled to be in attendance … the event provided one-stop shopping for tight ends coach Tim Salem and cornerbacks coach Renaldo Hill of Pittsburgh…

Pitt coaches not only aggressively made sure Ffrench knew how important he still was to Pitt, they were able to make an added impression on some top players and their high school coaches in New Jersey.

It was brazen, open and I love it.

Sporting khaki pants and navy jackets with the Pitt logo on the left breast, Salem and Hill worked a hallway filled with 30 of Central Jersey’s top players, taking pictures as the stars posed for group photos and interacting with some players.

A seventh All-Area player at the photo shoot, Carteret defensive end Sam Kamara, is scheduled to make an official visit to Pittsburgh next month.

The presence of Salem and Hill provided a walking billboard in Rutgers’ own backyard for the Panthers (8-4), who are preparing to face No. 21 Navy in the Military Bowl later this month.

“We’re here in the area recruiting,” Salem said. “You kind of show up and there’s a number of kids in one (room) and you can talk to a bunch of kids at one time. Why would you not make use of events like this?”

It does make you wonder why this doesn’t happen more often at other photo shoots like this.

“I’m sure Maurice mentioned (to the Pitt staff), ‘I have this photo shoot with lots of other good players from the area,’ and they decided, ‘That sounds like it would be fun to go to a photo shoot and go look at some players,’ ” Dohn said of Salem and Hill. “Pitt’s recruiting Phil Campbell. He’s supposed to visit there this weekend, so (in addition to Ffrench), there’s plenty of reasons for them to be doing their due diligence. Pitt’s doing what they should do. I’m sure they want to check and make sure (Rutgers commit) Nick Krimin (of St. Joseph) was good with Rutgers, and (ask the same question) if they had any interest in Solomon Manning. Pitt was there because Pitt’s smart.”

South Plainfield head coach Gary Cassio, whose team was represented at the shoot, said he was “very impressed” with the presence of Pittsburgh’s coaches in East Brunswick within days after three members of Rutgers’ 2016 recruiting class decommitted.

“Some of those kids are in limbo right now,” Cassio said of those players who have committed to the Scarlet Knights. “Rutgers is in a transition period right now. Some kids are questioning their commitment. I think it’s a great move, an aggressive move for Pitt. You’ve got to love that these guys are showing up and basically telling you they want you for their program.”

I’m not saying that this move made the difference, but over the weekend Phil Campbell did change his verbal to Pitt.

Home News Tribune 2015 Defensive Player of the Year Phil Campbell of South Brunswick, who has de-committed from Rutgers, will join 2015 Home News Tribune Offensive Player of the Year Maurice Ffrench of New Brunswick at the University of Pittsburgh.

South Brunswick head football coach Joe Goerge said he received a phone call earlier today from Campbell — whose parents met while students at Rutgers and whose family held Rutgers football season tickets for years — informing him of the news.

“He called me from Pittsburgh (where Campbell was on an official visit) and said, ‘Coach, I had a great visit here. Everything went really well. I liked everything. I’m going to commit to Pittsburgh.’ I could hear it in his voice. He sounded very happy. Obviously, the change in staff at Rutgers (with Chris Ash replacing former head coach Kyle Flood) impacted his decision. Listen, it’s the nature of the game. It just happens. The kid and his family make the decision. That’s where I divorce myself from that process.”

Campbell is an athletic player, who will likely redshirt unless he shines on special teams in training camp. He likely will be groomed to be a safety, though he also played running back in high school. A solid 3-star recruit.

Another verbal over the weekend was from Zack Williams from Florida.

Williams, 6-6, 270, transferred from Vanguard (Fla.) High School and changed positions from tight end to offensive tackle.

Because of his inexperience at tackle, Williams is raw, but he has offers from West Virginia, Oregon State, North Carolina State, Louisville and Georgia Southern. Miami had interest before former coach Al Golden was fired.

“He’s going to be a good one once he gets in the weight room and puts on more weight and gets a lot stronger,” North Marion coach Stephen Field said.

As only Pitt’s second offensive line verbal for this class, he fills a need. Even his high school coach sees that he will need time to develop. But as the offer list indicated, there is potential in him that the Pitt coaches and other staffs recognized.

Williams is still scheduled to take a trip to Morgantown this weekend, but now he isn’t so sure.

Last week he scheduled an official visit to West Virginia after an in-home visit with the Mountaineers’ coaches, but he said on Sunday that those plans are tentative.

“I don’t know. Possibly. I’m going back and forth on that,” Williams said about taking more visits following his commitment to Pitt. “I don’t know, though. I found what I was looking for.”

With Williams on board, Pitt now has 14 commitments in the class of 2016. He and Ford represent the current haul on the offensive line, and Williams is the first recruit from Florida to pick the Panthers in the class.

Another OL that might verbal to Pitt is another present Rutgers verbal, Justin Morgan. He was also among the players at Pitt over the weekend. Reportedly, he is torn on the choice.

Finally, one other project that has Pitt’s interest from New Jersey. Sam Kamara, a defensive end, hasn’t received a lot of interest from D-1 schools.

A Home News Tribune first-team All-Area selection, Kamara, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 255 pounds, currently holds offers from FCS schools including Maine, Monmouth and Stony Brook.

The Panthers staff identified Kamara while scouting him in a game earlier this year against current Pittsburgh commit Maurice Ffrench, the Home News Tribune’s 2015 Offensive Player of the Year from New Brunswick.

Kamara does not have an offer from Pitt, yet. He will be coming out for an official visit. If you read the article, it is kind of humorous to hear his high school coach talking him up.

“I don’t want to say Sam is as good as Jason (Worilds), because Jason obviously went on to have a tremendous career,” said Yascko, whose team has won two state titles in the last eight years.

“But Sam is a little bit bigger than Jason was (in high school). Jason might have been a step quicker (in high school). The big thing with Sam, though, is he hasn’t even started growing yet. His lower half is big. Once his upper half catches up, he could be a 275-pound kid (in college).”

Now that’s some fine selling of your guy.