He's from Western Maryland, so both Pitt and Virginia are closer than Rutgers according to my eyeballing it. But even Ohio State is closer than Syracuse.
Yea, being a geography crazed person, I couldn't resist checking further:
Big Ten (by car)
Illinois 10 hrs
Ohio State 5:45
Rutgers 3:45
Penn State 2:20
Maryland 1:40
ACC (by car)
Syracuse 5 hrs
Virginia 2:45 hrs
Pitt 3 hrs
VT 3:45