be intense but yet he was always respectful and a gentleman.''

Since Sanu turned 19 a week before the 2008 season, he wasn't eligible to play his senior campaign at South Brunswick. Still, Mantz said Sanu practiced with the team as the scout-team quarterback and was an influential part of the Vikings' 9-2 campaign.

"We thought about trying to get him to play somewhere as a senior, but to do that he'd have to transfer out of school and wherever he went as a senior he would've had to spend the entire year for him to graduate,'' Mantz said. "(Former Rutgers coach) Greg (Schiano) was excited about Mo coming in early. We knew immediately based on his age that he wasn't going to be able to play as a senior.So we put a plan together, and started to speed up his academics so he could enroll at Rutgers (in January 2008).''

Following his junior year, Sanu played quarterback and threw a 55-yard touchdown to lead the New Jersey squad to a victory in the Nike New York vs. New Jersey All-Star Classic.

"Phil Simms was the honorary coach of the New Jersey team,'' Mantz said, referring to the former Giants quarterback who now serves as lead analyst on CBS football broadcasts. "We did a promotional thing up in North Jersey and Phil was there watching Mohamed work out. Mo's throwing balls all over the place, running around, and I said he's going to go to Rutgers and they're not sure what they're going to do with him yet. He