I did an analysis of Syracuse football recruiting that I wanted to share. Historically, Syracuse heavily recruited New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. These were the Core recruiting states for Syracuse and the vast majority of Syracuse football greats have come from these states including:
CT: Floyd Little, Dwight Freeney, Craig Bingham, Terrence Wooden, Kyle McIntosh, Tebucky Jones
MA: Joe Morris, Rob Konrad, Diamond Ferri, Ryan LaCasse
PA: Marvin Harrison, Jim Nance, Justin Pugh, Gary Anderson, Curtis Brinkley, Kevin Mitchell, Dan Conley, John Flannery, Ryan Nassib
NJ: Jim Ringo, Billy Hunter, Donovan Darius, Kevin Johnson
NY: Will Allen, Daryl Johnston, Tim Green, Rob Burnett, Art Monk, John Mackey, Jim Brown, Don McPherson, Chandler Jones, Arthur Jones, Ernie Davis, Keith Bullock, Ted Gregory, Chris Gedney, Paul Frase
Unfortunately, Syracuse has not been a strong recruiter in these Core states over the past 15 years. They have lost the Core. According to 24/7 Sports player ratings, Syracuse has signed the following number of top players from the core states:
CT Top 10 since 2002: 4/150 (note: not every year had 10 recruits)
MA Top 6 since 2002: 2/90
PA Top 30 since 2002: 13/450
NJ Top 25 since 2002: 6/375
NY Top 15 since 2002: 40/225
In the past 15 recruiting classes, Syracuse has brought in 65 players that were among the top in the Core states! Or, Syracuse brought in 65/top 1,290 recruits in the Core recruiting states or 5% of the recruits! The 2016 recruiting class only contained 2 recruits from the Core, both from Pennsylvania.
Before people say the level of high school football has declined over the past 15+ years and Syracuse needs to look elsewhere for players, the top players from the Core states are going to top football programs. There are a large number of good football players in the Core states which are all within driving distance of Syracuse.
In my opinion, the key to turning around Syracuse football is to reconnect to the Core recruiting states, especially NY, NJ, and PA. This has to be Babers' key recruiting focus.
CT: Floyd Little, Dwight Freeney, Craig Bingham, Terrence Wooden, Kyle McIntosh, Tebucky Jones
MA: Joe Morris, Rob Konrad, Diamond Ferri, Ryan LaCasse
PA: Marvin Harrison, Jim Nance, Justin Pugh, Gary Anderson, Curtis Brinkley, Kevin Mitchell, Dan Conley, John Flannery, Ryan Nassib
NJ: Jim Ringo, Billy Hunter, Donovan Darius, Kevin Johnson
NY: Will Allen, Daryl Johnston, Tim Green, Rob Burnett, Art Monk, John Mackey, Jim Brown, Don McPherson, Chandler Jones, Arthur Jones, Ernie Davis, Keith Bullock, Ted Gregory, Chris Gedney, Paul Frase
Unfortunately, Syracuse has not been a strong recruiter in these Core states over the past 15 years. They have lost the Core. According to 24/7 Sports player ratings, Syracuse has signed the following number of top players from the core states:
CT Top 10 since 2002: 4/150 (note: not every year had 10 recruits)
MA Top 6 since 2002: 2/90
PA Top 30 since 2002: 13/450
NJ Top 25 since 2002: 6/375
NY Top 15 since 2002: 40/225
In the past 15 recruiting classes, Syracuse has brought in 65 players that were among the top in the Core states! Or, Syracuse brought in 65/top 1,290 recruits in the Core recruiting states or 5% of the recruits! The 2016 recruiting class only contained 2 recruits from the Core, both from Pennsylvania.
Before people say the level of high school football has declined over the past 15+ years and Syracuse needs to look elsewhere for players, the top players from the Core states are going to top football programs. There are a large number of good football players in the Core states which are all within driving distance of Syracuse.
In my opinion, the key to turning around Syracuse football is to reconnect to the Core recruiting states, especially NY, NJ, and PA. This has to be Babers' key recruiting focus.