National Signing Day 2012: Rutgers Football Builds Momentum For Wednesday As Darius Hamilton Stays Home

The Rutgers football program got a commitment from five-star defensive end Darius Hamilton, the No. 11-ranked recruit by Rivals, Tuesday night, making the 2012 Rutger Football Recruiting class possibly its best ever. Hamilton, who played at New Jersey's Don Bosco Prep, made his announcement just a few hours before the official start of National Signing Day 2012 and helped build a lot of momentum for the Scarlet Knights program, which has been through a whirlwind of drama the past six days, heading into college football's biggest day of the year.

SB Nation New York: Hamilton Commits To Rutgers Over Florida, Miami

The addition of Hamilton gives the Rutgers football recruiting class 17 commits and a No. 34-overall ranking heading into Wednesday, which should also feature four-star wide receiver Leonte Carroo (Boscoe Prep, NJ), four-star offensive linemen Chris Muller (Boyertown, PA) and J.J. Deman (Pairless Hills, PA) and four-star linebacker Quanzell Lambert (Sicklerville, NJ) also signing national letters of intent in less than 24 hours.

According to Rivals.com as of Tuesday night, the Scarlet Knights are looking to sign 12 more three-star recruits.

So far, here's the list of verbal commits via Rivals (note: list could change drastically in next 24 hours):

For more on Darius Hamilton and Rutgers football recruiting, check out this SB Nation New York StoryStream and the SB Nation blog On The Banks. Click the link for more on National Signing Day 2012.