Insights from the Shore's top 3 football recruits on their college picks
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With the football season ramping up, the Shore stars are aligning on the gridiron.
This year's edition of the APP's Shore 75 – the top rising recruits among rising seniors – is led by three rare talents with unique stories as football players. Their unique journeys through the sport and identities on the football field are in addition to their pedigree as the top three players in their class.
Part of what makes these three special is not just the physical talent on the field, but their demeanor and leadership off of it. It's not a coincidence that three players with outstanding character and uncommon approaches to their sport have emerged as stars. In interviews at Shore Conference media day Tuesday, the three provided insights on their college choices and the way they think about the game that they've come to dominate on Friday nights.
North Star: Jack Baker is a generational talent even for the Mariners
Jack Baker isn't just the latest elite player to come out of Toms River North but he might turn out to be one of the best college football recruits the program's ever produced.
That might be an audacious declaration, particularly after recent highly touted recruits like Ja'Elyne Matthews at Mississippi State and current Stanford starting running back Micah Ford went to market. But Baker's ability is rare, and he's found an ideal landing spot with Duke where linebacker guru Manny Diaz will be his head coach.
"It was a fun process. Eventually it came down to a couple schools and I thought Duke was the best fit obviously," Baker said. "Solid culture, and I knew I wanted to be part of that. Great education. Won the ACC this year, so I thought that it'd be a pretty good fit for me."
Diaz developed Giants standout Abdul Carter during his first two seasons at Penn State before taking over at Duke in 2024. He's led the Blue Devils to back-to-back nine-win seasons, highlighted by the team's conference title in 2025 after upsetting Virginia in the ACC championship. As his future college is in the midst of a resurgence, he hopes to lead a similarly resurgent campaign as a senior with Toms River North after winning state titles in his first two seasons.
Even as he's a special talent, he's nurturing the program's foundation with other young players that might equal or one day even surpass his astounding career on the field.
"I had great players in front of me. Blaise Boland, Eddie Slosky, they taught me the way," Baker said. "I plan on teaching the guys under me. Finn Boland, Kam Morse, I want to help them out. Drop whatever knowledge I have and just watch their careers progress."
An elite defensive end chooses patriotism over prestige
If the Naval Academy gets an elite recruit, it is often the result of a longterm connection or military family lineage. But Red Bank Catholic's Lorenzo Tartamella will admit that it wasn't something he envisioned growing up.
"I'm not going to lie, I never saw myself as a military kid ever in my life," Tartamella said. "Going there on a visit, it's just a totally different environment from every other place and it really hit me. When I was there, I knew it was home."
Tartamella had received offers from the highest echelons of college football, as he had the option to play with schools in any of the Power 4 conferences. While not entirely unprecedented, the Midshipmen landing a recruit with Tartamella's pedigree makes him one of the gems of this class. And it's exciting to consider what the program can do with his talent, given that Navy is coming off an 11-2 season in the American Conference and was in the running for the College Football Playoff last year.
"It's pretty rare for them to get a recruit with all the options I had. They did not think they were going to land me," Tartamella said. "I told them straight up, it was the way they showed off their school and how they described it to me. It meant everything to me. They told me they're going to use me as a pretty valuable option in their defense, and I'm excited to be there."
It's the second straight year that Red Bank Catholic's top senior football player has chosen a military academy. Daniel Zabora chose Air Force last season, and has spoken with Tartamella about what to expect. But both players organically came to the decision to serve their country while advancing their football careers.
"I'm really close with Zabora, he actually just got out of boot camp and he texted me all about it," Tartamella said. "He says it's tough and he loves it. But it was really just a coincidence (that both chose military academies)."
After being a key freshman on Red Bank Catholic's 2023 state championship squad, Tartamella is aiming to bookend his career with titles as a senior. The Caseys certainly have the talent and the experience to reclaim the Non-Public B crown this fall.
"We have four kids playing right now that played in that state championship," Tartamella said. "We know the feeling of how it is to win, and we're ready to win it again."
The track star who loves special teams
At Shore Conference football media day, Jael Hester approached this reporter asking if there was a video of one of his highlights from last season. One might think the track star was requesting an electric tackle or an interception or maybe a big play with the ball in his hands. It was none of those—he wanted to know if there was good clip of a tackle he made on the opening kickoff.
It's that mentality, rooted in the grit and grind of football, that makes Hester an exciting prospect for the next level. Most record-breaking track stars relish in showing off their speed with the ball in their hands, but Hester's passion for special teams plays is a consistent theme in his career. One of his favorite things to do is block a kick, something he did twice last season at Donovan Catholic. It's rare to have that level of pure athleticism with that level of passion for the unsung details on the gridiron. East Carolina is the lucky program that landed him.
"I would say from the first conversation that I had with Coach Maggs (ECU safeties coach Damon Magazu), he gave me a real family vibe to him. I almost looked at him like an uncle, and that's how I kind of look at him now," Hester said. "Once I got to campus, it was all love from the coaching staff and the community. The team just made me feel at home. I had a feeling I was going to end up landing there, but the second I stepped on the campus, I knew that was where I wanted to be."
It seems like an inevitability that Hester will make an early impact as a special teamer with the Pirates and can then develop into a rangy safety. There's still room for him to fill out his frame, but he has incredible toughness as a physical pass defender that can cover tight ends as well as receivers. And there might be a possibility that he could even be the rare multi-sport athlete in college, given that MileSplit rates Hester's 7.32 second mark in the 55 meter hurdles as the 21st best time nationally.
"I don't know if they would let me do it, but it's definitely something I would be open to," Hester said. "Track is still that I have a lot of love for and that I would pursue in the future, but right now I'm focused on football."
It's safe to say he might be more focused than most as he'll be a weapon in all three phases for Donovan Catholic this fall. There are high hopes for the Griffins this year, but Hester is excited by the possibility of leaving the program even better than it was when he arrived.
"I see all the talent on the team and being able to see the kids who aren't getting interviewed or talked about, but seeing the progress that they're making through the summer," Hester said. "It's really like an upperclassmen feeling. I never thought I would be here almost, but it's a great feeling to just see everybody grow and be apart of an amazing team like this with so much talent."
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Insights from the Shore's top 3 football recruits on their college picks
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