sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,268
- Like
- 109,094
Recruiting
Does Syracuse Football Own the # 30 Class in the Country or the #73? (PS; Carlson)
The Syracuse football team's current recruiting class ranks as high as No. 30 in the country on recruiting websites. It's average-per-player rank droops as low as No. 73.
One indicator says Syracuse is headed for its best recruiting class this decade and sits on the verge of joining the top half of the ACC. The other says it's maintained the relatively low level maintained during Doug Marrone's reign and remains stuck near the bottom of its new conference.
Recruiting analysts believe the truth, as it often does, falls somewhere in between.
Syracuse's Class of 2015 is an improvement over efforts of the three most recent coaching staffs, three recruiting analysts agreed, but it won't do much to make the Orange a legitimate title contender in the ACC.
...
SU News
DT Wayne Williams Posts Before and After Photos After Major Weight Loss (PS; Bailey)
There's no question that a healthy, productive Wayne Williams could provide immediate contributions to the Syracuse defensive line.
Williams, who was listed as the second-string nose tackle on SU's pre-training camp depth chart, has been working hard to get in shape.
As of three weeks ago, coaches and teammates agreed that the extra conditioning work was paying off. The same Williams who couldn't go five plays full speed at the start of spring was showing consistent improvement, but had plenty more work to do.
...
SU Football Given 66-1 Odds to Win ACC Championship by Bovada (PS; Mink)
Few people believe Syracuse will win the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. But if you're feeling lucky, a potential big payday awaits if you're looking for some action.
Bovada has listed the odds of Syracuse winning the ACC in 2014 at 66-to-1, tied with Virginia for the fourth-lowest odds in the conference.
It should be no surprise that defending national champion Florida State has the highest odds at 4-to-11.
Bovada also has set the over/under for Syracuse wins at 5.5.
...
How Will Syracuse Perform in Year 2 of ACC Play? (PS; Axe)
Admit it.
The Syracuse University football team did better in their first year in the ACC than you expected.
To predict a third-place finish in 2013 in the ACC's Atlantic Division behind college football heavyweights Florida State and Clemson would have earned you a sideways glance from even the most die-hard SU fan.
But that's just what Syracuse did.
The question is, did year one in the ACC for the Orange provide a good road map for year two?
...
Jay Bromley (96)
SU Football 14 in '14: How to Replace Bromley? Might be a Group Effort (PS; Axe)
The 2014 Syracuse University football team returns three starters to the defensive line.
But it's that fourth vacant spot that looms large for the defense, one that was left available when Jay Bromley was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the NFL Draft.
The numbers are one thing. Bromley accumulated 42 tackles (14.5 TFL) and 10 sacks in 2013 for the Orange defense.
That's not what is missing from this defensive line to begin the 2014 season. What is missing is something that is hard to put in a game plan or find in training camp.
...
Podcast: Brian Harrison Reviews Spring Football/Previews the Syracuse Football Team (beforeitsnews.com)
In this order, these are topics we covered on the podcast. It’s episode 47 on the dropdown list.
@BH_Orange44 tells us about himself.
Tell us about the Syacuse’s spring game and the turnout
Syracuse’s major strengths coming out of spring practice
Syracuse’s weaknesses coming out of spring practice
Position(s) of most concern
New recruits that have been the most impressive, and which may earn early playing time for the Orange
Will the Orange be a better team than last year?
Give us the pulse of the Syracuse football program.
@BH_Orange44 gives us his impressions of the ACC/Maryland lawsuit. (We posed this question to @BH_Orange44 because of background in law)
Final Thoughts – Where to eat around Syracuse and more.
Become a fan of the ACC on Facebook and follow the ACC on Twitter.
...
A 3-0 Start for Syracuse Would Place Them in Rarified Air (sujuiceonline.com; Cheng)
The answer to this question may surprise you.
In the last 40 seasons, how many Syracuse football teams have started the season 3-0?
I’ll allow you to flip through your media guide now.
A careful examination will show that during this time period, only the 1975, 87 and 91 teams achieved this feat. If you throw in the 1967 team, then it’s four times in 48 years.
...
ACC News
ACC Lunchtime Links; Clemson Beating Up Miami and FSU on Recruiting Trail (espn.com; Adelson)
What more can be said about the job Clemson has done recruiting for the class of 2015?
How about the addition of yet another ESPN 300 prospect? Ray-Ray McCloud III, thought to be a Florida lean, pledged to the Tigers on Monday, further bolstering one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Clemson has 21 commitments -- 12 are from ESPN 300 prospects.
Without a doubt Clemson has emerged as the big story during this recruiting period, gaining an edge on both Florida State and Miami not only in the latest class rankings but on the trail itself. The Tigers have come into Florida and wrested away big-time prospects from the state's Big Three: Florida, Florida State and Miami. Coach Dabo Swinney has gotten four ESPN 300 prospects from the state of Florida to join him in South Carolina. Three have come from the Tampa area.
...
UNC HC Larry Fedora with His Daughter
NC State HC Dave Doeren and Duke HC David Cutcliffe Respond
Triangle Football Coaches Show Off Their Six Packs (newsobserver.com; Keeley)
Steve Spurrier calls this talking season, these weeks leading up to preseason football camp.
In the Triangle, it has morphed into picture-taking season.
It all started on Monday, when UNC coach Larry Fedora traveled to Bristol, Conn., to participate in ESPN’s annual round of interviews for college coaches. While he was on Sportscenter, a picture of Fedora at the beach hit the screen and then quickly made the rounds on Twitter.
The 51-year-old has a full six-pack. According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Fedora’s recipe for success is no beer, no cardio work and weightlifting for 45 minutes four days a week.
...
Top ACC Football Players: No. 16-20; espn.com; Fortuna)
Syracuse Shunned
As we get set to open fall camps around the ACC, we're counting down the conference's top players -- five per day all this week.
20. Kelby Brown, Duke Blue Devils
Position: Linebacker
Year: Redshirt senior
Brown has been an integral piece to Duke's turnaround, bouncing back from a knee injury to record 114 tackles last season. He is one of three returning 100-tackle players on the Blue Devils' defense in 2014, and he will start for a fourth time in five years. Brown should also provide a boost to the pass rush, having made 11 stops behind the line of scrimmage in 2013.
19. Jalen Ramsey, Florida State Seminoles
Position: Defensive back
Year: Sophomore
Ramsey has already made his mark on what should be another outstanding secondary, as the former five-star recruit earned freshman All-America honors last season as a 14-game starter. He is the first FSU corner to start as a true freshman since Deion Sanders did in 1985. Ramsey thrived again this spring, as he was one of three players to earn the Seminoles' Hinesman Award (spring standout). Ramsey now steps into the role formerly held by Lamarcus Joyner, the anchor of last season's secondary, which led the nation in pass defense.
...
College Football
2014 College Football Preview/Haiku Fest: Nos. 6-10 (Spurrier Might Have His Best South Carolina Team Yet; PS; Stevens)
...
6. SOUTH CAROLINA
Not for a minute was Steve Spurrier irrelevant as a college coach --- a ball coach, if you will. Not at Duke, not at Florida, and not at South Carolina. But his early Gamecocks teams lagged far behind Florida, Georgia and Tennessee in the SEC East and were not particularly interesting for any reason other than Spurrier's quips.
South Carolina's evolution into a top-10 mainstay the last three years coincides with a reliance on a power running game and a strong defense, which was the traditional way to rule the SEC until Spurrier went to Florida and shredded opponents through the air.
It still works (just check out Alabama under Nick Saban), but Spurrier's willingness to use that approach is a reminder that he's really, really smart, and not just in a quick-witted, fire-a-barb-at-a-foe sort of way.
Now he has perhaps his best team yet at South Carolina, even without quarterback Connor Shaw and monster-when-motivated Jadeveon Clowney. His entire starting offensive line returns, as does tailback Mike Davis. Many of the major pieces on defense, a top-20 bunch last year, also remain.
The schedule doesn't offer many breathers, and having to contend with Texas A&M, East Carolina, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Missouri in the first 31 days of the season will not be a picnic. But the second half has some cushion; there is a bye before a trip to Florida, and de facto byes before traveling to Auburn and Clemson. If the Gamecocks survive September, this very well could be a playoff team.
South Carolina in haiku:
Hail the Head Ball Coach
Spurrier has owned Clemson
Is SEC next?
...
Dabo Swinney Has Led Clemson to a 32-8 Record in the Last 3 Seasons
2014 College Football Preview/Haiku Fest: Nos. 11-15 (Clemson Should't Tumble Far as it Reloads on Offense; PS; Stevens)
...
14. CLEMSON
Clemson has pretty much shaken its reputation for Clemsonliness — the act of doing well when you're supposed to do poorly and poorly when you're supposed to do well — over the last three years. It isn't high tide for the Tigers' program, since there isn't a national title to match the one claimed in 1981, but it's a strong run.
Soon enough, we'll know just how good a job coach Dabo Swinney has done in maintaining his program's talent level. With Georgia to open the season and Florida State to commence ACC play — and both games on the road — Clemson's new skill position players on offense will be tested, and quickly.
But even if the Tigers lose those games and the South Carolina game at the end of the regular season, this still has a chance to be a telling season for Clemson. Suppose the Tigers go 10-3, with three losses to possible top-10 teams in what on paper looks like a bit of a transition year. In some ways, that's more impressive as a program statement than going 11-2 was last year with a veteran offense.
The Clemson defense should provide some cover in the first half of the season as quarterback Cole Stoudt, tailback Zac Brooks and wideout Mike Williams grow into starting roles. And if Stoudt doesn't, true freshman Deshaun Watson is a promising long-term solution in coordinator Chad Morris' offense.
The Tigers earned all seven of their conference victories by double digits last year, and while they found themselves in a couple tight games against less-talented teams (Boston College and N.C. State), the gap between them and the rest of the non-Florida State ACC hasn't dissipated. Louisville could give Clemson a good run, but here's guessing the Tigers piece together an eight-game winning streak between their trip to Tallahassee and their home finale against South Carolina.
Clemson in haiku:
Beware Vic Beasley
ACC's top pass rusher
Back for senior year
...
NCAA Reaches Settlement for Head Injury Lawsuit, Mandates Preventative Safety Measures (PS; Bailey)
The NCAA reached a settlement for a class-action head-injury lawsuit on Tuesday by establishing a $70 million fund to evaluate current and former athletes in most contact sports, according to an Associated Press report.
The brain trauma diagnoses will be available to any male or female athlete who is playing or has played football, ice hockey, soccer, basketball, wrestling, field hockey or lacrosse at one of the more than 1,000 NCAA member institutions at any time.
The settlement does not provide money to compensate players for their injuries, like a proposed settlement the NFL is currently dealing with. Instead, those players found with head injuries can then sue individually for damages, according to the report.
...
Does Syracuse Football Own the # 30 Class in the Country or the #73? (PS; Carlson)
The Syracuse football team's current recruiting class ranks as high as No. 30 in the country on recruiting websites. It's average-per-player rank droops as low as No. 73.
One indicator says Syracuse is headed for its best recruiting class this decade and sits on the verge of joining the top half of the ACC. The other says it's maintained the relatively low level maintained during Doug Marrone's reign and remains stuck near the bottom of its new conference.
Recruiting analysts believe the truth, as it often does, falls somewhere in between.
Syracuse's Class of 2015 is an improvement over efforts of the three most recent coaching staffs, three recruiting analysts agreed, but it won't do much to make the Orange a legitimate title contender in the ACC.
...
SU News
DT Wayne Williams Posts Before and After Photos After Major Weight Loss (PS; Bailey)
There's no question that a healthy, productive Wayne Williams could provide immediate contributions to the Syracuse defensive line.
Williams, who was listed as the second-string nose tackle on SU's pre-training camp depth chart, has been working hard to get in shape.
As of three weeks ago, coaches and teammates agreed that the extra conditioning work was paying off. The same Williams who couldn't go five plays full speed at the start of spring was showing consistent improvement, but had plenty more work to do.
...
SU Football Given 66-1 Odds to Win ACC Championship by Bovada (PS; Mink)
Few people believe Syracuse will win the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. But if you're feeling lucky, a potential big payday awaits if you're looking for some action.
Bovada has listed the odds of Syracuse winning the ACC in 2014 at 66-to-1, tied with Virginia for the fourth-lowest odds in the conference.
It should be no surprise that defending national champion Florida State has the highest odds at 4-to-11.
Bovada also has set the over/under for Syracuse wins at 5.5.
...
How Will Syracuse Perform in Year 2 of ACC Play? (PS; Axe)
Admit it.
The Syracuse University football team did better in their first year in the ACC than you expected.
To predict a third-place finish in 2013 in the ACC's Atlantic Division behind college football heavyweights Florida State and Clemson would have earned you a sideways glance from even the most die-hard SU fan.
But that's just what Syracuse did.
The question is, did year one in the ACC for the Orange provide a good road map for year two?
...
Jay Bromley (96)
SU Football 14 in '14: How to Replace Bromley? Might be a Group Effort (PS; Axe)
The 2014 Syracuse University football team returns three starters to the defensive line.
But it's that fourth vacant spot that looms large for the defense, one that was left available when Jay Bromley was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the NFL Draft.
The numbers are one thing. Bromley accumulated 42 tackles (14.5 TFL) and 10 sacks in 2013 for the Orange defense.
That's not what is missing from this defensive line to begin the 2014 season. What is missing is something that is hard to put in a game plan or find in training camp.
...
Podcast: Brian Harrison Reviews Spring Football/Previews the Syracuse Football Team (beforeitsnews.com)
In this order, these are topics we covered on the podcast. It’s episode 47 on the dropdown list.
@BH_Orange44 tells us about himself.
Tell us about the Syacuse’s spring game and the turnout
Syracuse’s major strengths coming out of spring practice
Syracuse’s weaknesses coming out of spring practice
Position(s) of most concern
New recruits that have been the most impressive, and which may earn early playing time for the Orange
Will the Orange be a better team than last year?
Give us the pulse of the Syracuse football program.
@BH_Orange44 gives us his impressions of the ACC/Maryland lawsuit. (We posed this question to @BH_Orange44 because of background in law)
Final Thoughts – Where to eat around Syracuse and more.
Become a fan of the ACC on Facebook and follow the ACC on Twitter.
...
A 3-0 Start for Syracuse Would Place Them in Rarified Air (sujuiceonline.com; Cheng)
The answer to this question may surprise you.
In the last 40 seasons, how many Syracuse football teams have started the season 3-0?
I’ll allow you to flip through your media guide now.
A careful examination will show that during this time period, only the 1975, 87 and 91 teams achieved this feat. If you throw in the 1967 team, then it’s four times in 48 years.
...
ACC News
ACC Lunchtime Links; Clemson Beating Up Miami and FSU on Recruiting Trail (espn.com; Adelson)
What more can be said about the job Clemson has done recruiting for the class of 2015?
How about the addition of yet another ESPN 300 prospect? Ray-Ray McCloud III, thought to be a Florida lean, pledged to the Tigers on Monday, further bolstering one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Clemson has 21 commitments -- 12 are from ESPN 300 prospects.
Without a doubt Clemson has emerged as the big story during this recruiting period, gaining an edge on both Florida State and Miami not only in the latest class rankings but on the trail itself. The Tigers have come into Florida and wrested away big-time prospects from the state's Big Three: Florida, Florida State and Miami. Coach Dabo Swinney has gotten four ESPN 300 prospects from the state of Florida to join him in South Carolina. Three have come from the Tampa area.
...
UNC HC Larry Fedora with His Daughter
NC State HC Dave Doeren and Duke HC David Cutcliffe Respond
Triangle Football Coaches Show Off Their Six Packs (newsobserver.com; Keeley)
Steve Spurrier calls this talking season, these weeks leading up to preseason football camp.
In the Triangle, it has morphed into picture-taking season.
It all started on Monday, when UNC coach Larry Fedora traveled to Bristol, Conn., to participate in ESPN’s annual round of interviews for college coaches. While he was on Sportscenter, a picture of Fedora at the beach hit the screen and then quickly made the rounds on Twitter.
The 51-year-old has a full six-pack. According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Fedora’s recipe for success is no beer, no cardio work and weightlifting for 45 minutes four days a week.
...
Top ACC Football Players: No. 16-20; espn.com; Fortuna)
Syracuse Shunned
As we get set to open fall camps around the ACC, we're counting down the conference's top players -- five per day all this week.
20. Kelby Brown, Duke Blue Devils
Position: Linebacker
Year: Redshirt senior
Brown has been an integral piece to Duke's turnaround, bouncing back from a knee injury to record 114 tackles last season. He is one of three returning 100-tackle players on the Blue Devils' defense in 2014, and he will start for a fourth time in five years. Brown should also provide a boost to the pass rush, having made 11 stops behind the line of scrimmage in 2013.
19. Jalen Ramsey, Florida State Seminoles
Position: Defensive back
Year: Sophomore
Ramsey has already made his mark on what should be another outstanding secondary, as the former five-star recruit earned freshman All-America honors last season as a 14-game starter. He is the first FSU corner to start as a true freshman since Deion Sanders did in 1985. Ramsey thrived again this spring, as he was one of three players to earn the Seminoles' Hinesman Award (spring standout). Ramsey now steps into the role formerly held by Lamarcus Joyner, the anchor of last season's secondary, which led the nation in pass defense.
...
College Football
2014 College Football Preview/Haiku Fest: Nos. 6-10 (Spurrier Might Have His Best South Carolina Team Yet; PS; Stevens)
...
6. SOUTH CAROLINA
Not for a minute was Steve Spurrier irrelevant as a college coach --- a ball coach, if you will. Not at Duke, not at Florida, and not at South Carolina. But his early Gamecocks teams lagged far behind Florida, Georgia and Tennessee in the SEC East and were not particularly interesting for any reason other than Spurrier's quips.
South Carolina's evolution into a top-10 mainstay the last three years coincides with a reliance on a power running game and a strong defense, which was the traditional way to rule the SEC until Spurrier went to Florida and shredded opponents through the air.
It still works (just check out Alabama under Nick Saban), but Spurrier's willingness to use that approach is a reminder that he's really, really smart, and not just in a quick-witted, fire-a-barb-at-a-foe sort of way.
Now he has perhaps his best team yet at South Carolina, even without quarterback Connor Shaw and monster-when-motivated Jadeveon Clowney. His entire starting offensive line returns, as does tailback Mike Davis. Many of the major pieces on defense, a top-20 bunch last year, also remain.
The schedule doesn't offer many breathers, and having to contend with Texas A&M, East Carolina, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Missouri in the first 31 days of the season will not be a picnic. But the second half has some cushion; there is a bye before a trip to Florida, and de facto byes before traveling to Auburn and Clemson. If the Gamecocks survive September, this very well could be a playoff team.
South Carolina in haiku:
Hail the Head Ball Coach
Spurrier has owned Clemson
Is SEC next?
...
Dabo Swinney Has Led Clemson to a 32-8 Record in the Last 3 Seasons
2014 College Football Preview/Haiku Fest: Nos. 11-15 (Clemson Should't Tumble Far as it Reloads on Offense; PS; Stevens)
...
14. CLEMSON
Clemson has pretty much shaken its reputation for Clemsonliness — the act of doing well when you're supposed to do poorly and poorly when you're supposed to do well — over the last three years. It isn't high tide for the Tigers' program, since there isn't a national title to match the one claimed in 1981, but it's a strong run.
Soon enough, we'll know just how good a job coach Dabo Swinney has done in maintaining his program's talent level. With Georgia to open the season and Florida State to commence ACC play — and both games on the road — Clemson's new skill position players on offense will be tested, and quickly.
But even if the Tigers lose those games and the South Carolina game at the end of the regular season, this still has a chance to be a telling season for Clemson. Suppose the Tigers go 10-3, with three losses to possible top-10 teams in what on paper looks like a bit of a transition year. In some ways, that's more impressive as a program statement than going 11-2 was last year with a veteran offense.
The Clemson defense should provide some cover in the first half of the season as quarterback Cole Stoudt, tailback Zac Brooks and wideout Mike Williams grow into starting roles. And if Stoudt doesn't, true freshman Deshaun Watson is a promising long-term solution in coordinator Chad Morris' offense.
The Tigers earned all seven of their conference victories by double digits last year, and while they found themselves in a couple tight games against less-talented teams (Boston College and N.C. State), the gap between them and the rest of the non-Florida State ACC hasn't dissipated. Louisville could give Clemson a good run, but here's guessing the Tigers piece together an eight-game winning streak between their trip to Tallahassee and their home finale against South Carolina.
Clemson in haiku:
Beware Vic Beasley
ACC's top pass rusher
Back for senior year
...
NCAA Reaches Settlement for Head Injury Lawsuit, Mandates Preventative Safety Measures (PS; Bailey)
The NCAA reached a settlement for a class-action head-injury lawsuit on Tuesday by establishing a $70 million fund to evaluate current and former athletes in most contact sports, according to an Associated Press report.
The brain trauma diagnoses will be available to any male or female athlete who is playing or has played football, ice hockey, soccer, basketball, wrestling, field hockey or lacrosse at one of the more than 1,000 NCAA member institutions at any time.
The settlement does not provide money to compensate players for their injuries, like a proposed settlement the NFL is currently dealing with. Instead, those players found with head injuries can then sue individually for damages, according to the report.
...
Last edited:
Syracuse Athletics@Cuse
