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Scott Vallone heard the noise immediately but pretended not to notice, doing his best to pay rapt attention as Boston College football coach Jeff Jagodzinksi and assistant Bill McGovern, his recruiting ace, made their pitch.

But if the sounds were possible to ignore, the sight was not. A helicopter had just landed on the practice field at St. Anthony High School in South Huntington, N.Y., and moments after it did, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano and assistant Kyle Flood emerged from it.

Vallone and the two Boston College coaches only had to glance outside of the room they were meeting in at the time to notice the splashy entrance.

"I just looked at the two of them and said 'sorry,'" said Vallone, the top-rated defensive tackle in New York state. "They just kind of looked at each other and tried to smile.

"I was a little embarrassed. It was awkward at first. But I have to admit: It was pretty impressive."

"I was pretty much down to Rutgers and Boston College at the time," Vallone said. "I don't know if the helicopter trip made a difference. In fact, I had to hear about it the next few days in school. Guys would pass me by with their arms out pretending to be airplanes.

"It was more that coach Schiano showed so much personal interest in me and we hit it off. He's a coach I am going to enjoy playing for."

Vallone, who also considered Maryland and Virginia, is exactly the type of Long Island star that Boston College and Syracuse seemed to have exclusive rights to the previous decade. That was before Schiano extended "the state of Rutgers" in his recruiting -- in part because of increasing reliance on a helicopter that enables him to make several stops in a day.

"If Scott Vallone is playing in North Jersey, Michigan, Notre Dame and all the big schools are all over him," MSG high school guru Mike Quick said. "Long Island doesn't have that reputation. But I'm telling you, he has a chance to be special."

Quick was sold during a game in Vallone's junior year against Iona Prep in New Rochelle, N.Y.

"As good a series as I've ever seen a defensive player have," he said. "On the first play they run a sweep away from him and he does a swim move on the offensive lineman and it's like he's shot out of a cannon. He gets the running back for a four-yard loss. That's when I knew he was a difference maker."

St. Anthony coach Rich Reichert picks up the series from there.

"The next play he gets a sack, then they run a trap and he blows up the fullback, and then on fourth down he blocks the punt," Reichert said. "It was pretty impressive."

Reichert gave Vallone the ultimate compliment by starting him as a sophomore for the Long Island football powerhouse.

"He was a three-year starter for us and we don't have sophomores start very often," said Reichert, "and he's the only guy we ever allowed to be a captain as a junior."

Because of his build, and affinity for the weight room, the long-term goal is to get Vallone to 285 pounds so he can be a dominant force in the middle.