2026 WR Elias Coke commits to Rutgers over Penn State and others

Miami, Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame and Rutgers were the five finalists for Harrisburg (Pa.) wide receiver Elias Coke, and the buzz had been around the Nittany Lions, and he was leaning that way, but Greg Schiano pushed hard late and Coke committed to the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers offered the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder almost two years ago, he has visited over half a dozen times and the consistency the coaching staff recruited with paid off.

“Their message has always been honest and consistent,” Coke told On3. “I’ve gotten a lot of mail. Probably the most mail from them. I talk to a lot of the coaches and the recruiting staff pretty often and they talk to my mom too.

“Coach Schiano, coach Dave Brock and coach John Perry have recruited me mostly from Rutgers. They stayed consistent and of course, I talked to the recruiting staff.”

Penn State was viewed as the favorite. Coke visited Happy Valley for multiple games in the fall and he has two teammates committed to James Franklin. The opportunity he sees in New Jersey pushed Rutgers to the top of his list.

“I want to play football. I’m not afraid of hard work and I know I’ll earn my opportunity to see the field early at Rutgers. You can’t develop as a player if you can’t put what you are learning off the field into real live in-game situations, so it’s important that I see the field early and often.

“I’ll learn from NFL coaches and that’s important because they’ve been there and know what I need to do to get there from the developmental side.

“The coaches have always been upfront, open and honest with me about where they are as a program and where they want to be too. And from year to year, I have seen them improve and I know I can help them improve even more.”

Coke did not attend a game at Rutgers this past season, but he plans to return to campus soon. His last visit was for the picnic last summer. He will get back soon, and this time, as a commitment.

“Rutgers was my top choice for a long time,” Coke said. “I started to go to Penn State a lot more recently and got to know their coaches more and more, so that started to make this decision harder. In the end, I just had to make a decision and I just feel like Rutgers is the right choice.”