Paramus Catholic football coach Greg Russo waits for his next day in court | Cooper

PARAMUS − Greg Russo’s laughter echoes across the Paramus Catholic football field.

It’s the first day of the Paramus Catholic football camp starring current New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers, who is running a bit late, but Russo isn’t concerned.

“He’s a Paladin. He has been here a lot. He has run the camp the last two years since I have been here,” Russo said of Peppers. “He’s a great kid. He likes to give back to his community.”

Right now, the biggest story in the North Jersey football community is Russo's status. He is currently locked in a battle with the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association over recruiting allegations and is suspended for the first four games of the season.

Russo politely but firmly declined to talk about the case at Wednesday's camp. He also instructed his fellow assistants not to speak on his behalf. There is another court hearing scheduled for July 31.

Russo has been in the spotlight since October, when the NJSIAA convened a controversies committee hearing about Russo and assistant coach Christian Maldonado for contacting a player at Belleville High School to get him to come play at Paramus Catholic.

The controversies committee put the Paladins on probation for two years and banned them from the 2022 playoffs.

Then the story veered off into weird territory.

The Belleville school district appealed the decision, saying it was too lenient. An executive committee hearing was held at NJSIAA headquarters and Russo was suspended for four games. He wasn’t present for the hearing, just a lawyer from Paramus Catholic.

Russo and his attorney, Patrick J. Jennings, went to New Jersey Superior Court in April, saying it wasn’t fair for the NJSIAA to punish Russo without hearing his testimony and questioning the evidence in the case. The court kicked the case back to the NJSIAA, which reopened the matter in May. This time, Jennings spoke on behalf of Russo, but the executive committee upheld the punishment.

And so we go back to court on July 31.

All along, the punishment has seemed a bit harsh. Recruiting is such a nebulous, undefined thing in high school athletics today. Kids train all year round, play on club teams, go to gyms together, and make friends at camps just like Wednesday's.

Maybe a few years later, one is at DePaul and one is at Don Bosco and they text each other and one decides to transfer so they can play together.

In that case, who recruited who? And at what time during a kids decision-making process can a head football coach like Russo be present. Never? From the start? Does this mean every eighth grader interested in playing sports at a North Jersey non-public school can’t meet the coach beforehand? If that’s the case, then every school is in big trouble.

Of course, what hurts Paramus Catholic is the reputation it acquired, justly or unjustly, during its rise a decade ago. Peppers himself was a transfer from Don Bosco. Current Packers defensive end Rashan Gary came from Scotch Plains-Fanwood.

At the time, they were Big (capital B) stories. These days, meh, there’s a transfer portal. Talent dictates where the talent plays. And coaches, for the most part, have come to grips with the fact that if a kid doesn’t want to play for them, they’re better off.

The NJSIAA is coming off a similar case involving the Camden High School basketball program. An NJ Advance Media report last June exposed the program for allegedly bringing in kids from outside of the geographic location to play hoops.

Last week, a deal was struck that Camden must install a compliance officer to oversee NJSIAA-sanctioned activities, but Camden wasn’t stripped of its 2022 sectional title. No coach was suspended.

You’d be right to wonder if the application of the rules here is a bit strange. Why can’t Paramus Catholic install a compliance monitor? At its core, aren’t both alleged cases the same? Bringing in kids to play?

But public schools are tired of seeing their best athletes get enticed to go to a non-public (or really any other) school. They have a right to be angry.

Even with all this uncertainty, Russo seemed in his environment at the Paladins' home stadium on Wednesday.

There were more than 90 kids running through drills. Parents sat in chairs on the track and watched. Paramus Catholic football assistants helped run the stations. Russo chided some of his players for playing around and not tending drills. He got hugs from other alumni. Meanwhile, he waits to have his say and just keeps on coaching.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paramus Catholic NJ football: Coach Greg Russo set for court date