2027 Recruiting

[DoctahLexus]

Overall it seems like there are a decent amount of guys they rank high that end up being misses, but a guy totally off the radar or barely ranked making an AA team or close to it is fairly rare.

 

[LaxAddict38]

There seems to be a fairly large group in the lacrosse section that seems like we’re overreacting and that this class isn’t that bad. It’s like sure it isn’t “bad”. But if our #1 class can’t get it done and has only made 1 final four. What makes any of you think #5-11 class rankings will get it done or maintain similar success as 2023/2024-2024/2025. It just seems like cope to me. I want us to be great just as much as everyone else in here but I’m not gonna be delusional.

You are assuming that class rankings, evaluators, and stars are as accurate (or even close) in lacrosse as they are in football or basketball. They're not. Apples to oranges.

IL has like 4 bros they send out on the recruiting trail to evaluate some events. Then their "journalists" ask the coaches, who will actually talk to them, who they like the best. They put together rankings from there.

Compare that to football and basketball where hundreds of scouts aggregate rankings by region over hundreds of evaluations at multiple camps.

Not a perfect science either way, but I think one would be fooling themselves to look at lacrosse recruiting class ranking sites and give them the same value as they would a "24/7" from football.

Call it "Cope" all you want. Virginia was 7-9 this year with multiple top ranked recruiting classes. Cornell won the natty with recruiting classes ranked in the 5-20 range. Player development? Maybe. Rankings just aren't as iron clad as the major sports? In my opinion, more likely.

 

[Cuse On 3]

You are assuming that class rankings, evaluators, and stars are as accurate (or even close) in lacrosse as they are in football or basketball. They're not. Apples to oranges.

IL has like 4 bros they send out on the recruiting trail to evaluate some events. Then their "journalists" ask the coaches, who will actually talk to them, who they like the best. They put together rankings from there.

Compare that to football and basketball where hundreds of scouts aggregate rankings by region over hundreds of evaluations at multiple camps.

Not a perfect science either way, but I think one would be fooling themselves to look at lacrosse recruiting class ranking sites and give them the same value as they would a "24/7" from football.

Call it "Cope" all you want. Virginia was 7-9 this year with multiple top ranked recruiting classes. Cornell won the natty with recruiting classes ranked in the 5-20 range. Player development? Maybe. Rankings just aren't as iron clad as the major sports? In my opinion, more likely.

Thank you for your analysis and opinion. I think this is very insightful.

 

[Hawknate144]

Overall it seems like there are a decent amount of guys they rank high that end up being misses, but a guy totally off the radar or barely ranked making an AA team or close to it is fairly rare.

Yeah, that was my read as well.

For the rest of the 2025 1st team All Americans

M- Sam English #10 5 Star
M- Hugh Kelleher #51 4 Star
M- Andrew McAdorey #2 5 Star
FO- Brady Wambach #15 5 Star
SSDM- Aiden McGuire #53 4 Star
SSDM- Ben Ramsey #87 4 Star
LSM Will Donovan #22 4 Star
D Shawn Lyght #26 4 Star
D AJ Pilate Unranked
D Will Schaller #8 5 Star
D Bobby Van Buren #7 5 Star
G Caleb Fyock #14 5 Star

 

[Lax Mouse]

For what it's worth, I don't think Cuse was even in on him.

To echo a point I made at the beginning of all of this and a few points made today, it was really important for Cuse to have some backup plans and depth to who they were looking at if they whiffed on the top top guys (this is still a top player in my opinion). They did whiff and at the moment, no backup plan has materialized.

Kruger is still a great get, but attack depth is going to be an issue barring flips/transfers.

 

[ColdAnger]

The inside Lacrosse guys are in the business of selling content not in the business of creating an independent, valid statistically reliable rating system. So they spend as much time talking to coaches and getting their view on who they like and who they are looking at. They talk to all the club coaches. They run events to facilitate those conversations. If you talk to enough people and triangulate your info, you can get a fairly solid view of the Top 100-150 (basically the four and five stars).

In the 2025 class, there were 34 four and five star attackman. 27 of the 34 verbally committed to ACC, B1G or Ivy. Of the six who didn’t, 3 verbally committed to Georgetown, one to Navy, one to Lafayette, one to Delaware, and one to Hofstra.

The rankings and star system does correlate but it is a reflection of “industry” sentiment more than an independent rating system. It also correlates because they constantly update the rankings to reflect commitments and signings. Hence the unranked guy that suddenly is a three or four star after the ACC commitment announcement.

 

[nocohalo]

Rankings get you on the doorstep, coaching gets you through the door. I think that much has been established given the trends of the past several years. The teams with the best combo of talent/coaching wins. I've beat the UNC horse to death (though I enjoy giving it as many whacks as I can) but that's like the ultimate example. I do think there have been valid criticisms of Gait, but every year has gotten better with the inaugural class. Can he take that next step next year? Remains to be seen, but for the program's long term prospects he's going to have to. Coaching matters more than ever at a program like Cuse given the aforementioned recruiting disadvantages.

Lax has the worst transfer landscape compared to the rest of the NCAA, but that's going to have to be where the program fills the gap in certain areas. It can be unreliable, but that's just the cards dealt for Gait right now. Hopefully the Ivies keep stashing players so the grad transfer pool remains fruitful.

 

[relaxer]

Uhhh no? They aren't very spread out. At all. Notre Dame just grabbed three five star attackmen when they pulled three five star attackmen in the previous two classes (and three ranked four stars). UNC just pulled four five star attackmen in the same class. That is the opposite of looking for playing time. Princeton makes sense giving what they lose for the '27 class, but for the other classes not so much. 60% of the five stars went to just three schools (ND, Princeton and UNC).

I think whoever said, "kids will go where they want to go" had it pretty much right. I don't get the sense kids are looking at a depth chart all that much. Plus I do wonder if there is some "following the leader" behavior going on. Once a school gained some momentum they really grabbed it. UNC grabbed four five star players over the course of three days. Notre Dame had three over the span of three days. I think some kids just like being part of a star studded class and don't want to get left behind, so to speak.

Honestly I think it's very healthy that these kids aren't over indexing on playing time. The broken leg test exists for a reason. This isn't a breadwinner sport; the top priority is to go to the school that you think is a great fit for you overall factoring in academics, social life, and athletics. Let the playing time figure itself out -- and if it's a challenge to get on the field, all the better to push you to be as good of a player as you can be.

 

[ForCuseSake]

Not sure who the high 4 star mids were in 23 besides maybe Hottle. And then in 24 when we improved but did not make the playoffs he brings in another solid but not mind blowing group. If he was so great for us then why was this not a major recruiting class now that he got settled and we had a solid year? Shouldn't things have been clearly trending up? Then it is just a fact that our defensive recruits and recruits as a whole under Odierna have been just as good if not better. James is our first 5 star longpole in any class since 22. Sobel is our first 5 star goalie since then. Kittelberger is our first defensive minded middie to make the AA game. He came in and matched the type of guys we were getting under Petro right off the jump. I am still 100% happy with us having Odierna instead of Petro, and that isn't even touching how the actual defense looks.

This. When UNC doesn’t show the same confusion and idiotic slide packages Petro had here, I’ll be impressed.

Until then, he’s an ace recruiter but the game’s past him by philosophically. He and Breschi are either going to win a Natty in spite of their coaching (sheer talent advantage) or break Danoswki’s record of doing less with more.

 

[nyclax]

in 18 seasons at duke danowski has won 3 titles, was the runnerup 3 times, and made 6 other final fours (so a total of 12 final fours in 18 seasons)...he has only missed the tourney once and that was controversial. ..they were in the finals just two years ago...he's getting old and should probably retire but its tough to argue hes the record holder for doing less with more...breschi has accomplished significantly less and has had much lower lows than danowski. its breschi's record easily regardless of what happens this year

 

[ForCuseSake]

in 18 seasons at duke danowski has won 3 titles, was the runnerup 3 times, and made 6 other final fours (so a total of 12 final fours in 18 seasons)...he has only missed the tourney once and that was controversial. ..they were in the finals just two years ago...he's getting old and should probably retire but its tough to argue hes the record holder for doing less with more...breschi has accomplished significantly less and has had much lower lows than danowski. its breschi's record easily regardless of what happens this year

Not winning a title with McAdorey and Brennan O’Neill on the same team is why I think that way about Danowski.

He’s had the pick of the litter on LI (except for the Kavanagh family) for almost his entire Duke career. He’s an excellent coach (HOFer) but has fallen off (or given Jr too much control).

 

[APsFinest]

I agree with the idea that stars do matter to a certain extent, but the individual evaluations for each staff affects who they pursue and how much (as well as the financial aspects of course). Also agree with the opinion that there doesn't seem to be a "plan b" at the moment and that needs to be a part of the strategy when you pursue top targets who all have obvious connections to their other top schools for varying reasons. 80k/year for tuition compared to some of the main OOS schools being over 30k less has to have had a detrimental affect on recruits, no way it wouldn't. Combine that with the seeming drip at the NIL/funding faucets for the program and the misperceptions of us academically vs some of our rivals can only be rectified to a certain extent with on field success and coaching. They've been on an upward trajectory the last 3 seasons, but we've seen some of the same mistakes in execution or shortcomings in strategy hamper them. Without overstating the obvious, regardless of who they may add to this class now in "make up mode", their success next spring is the most critical aspect of how future recruiting will go. If the '22 class can get over the hump, even make Memorial Day if not win it all, then that message Gait is telling kids and their families about the program getting back to the best version of itself will have proof of concept. If they fall short for whatever reason(s), then I think it will be fair to ask serious questions of the staff, Gary most of all. Just my two cents, theres no better discussion around the sport, never mind about SU lax specifically than right here, lurked for years, respect the opinions of so many people on here, im desperate as the son of a former player (played with Ron Doctor and for the old man in the late 60's) to see them have that success again, and shut up so many of the arrogant voices in the sport who have bathed in our misery the last 15 years. Cheers everyone!

 

[Powellfan]

Bummer.

 

[nyclax]

Bummer.

good player but wetherup and kruger have overlapping skill sets (not that thats stopped UNC this year...) so once cuse got kruger i thought it was unlikely they'd get wetherup too.

 

[4evaOrange]

good player but wetherup and kruger have overlapping skill sets (not that thats stopped UNC this year...) so once cuse got kruger i thought it was unlikely they'd get wetherup too.

U see any other realistic targets that we are after?

 

[Zack80]

good player but wetherup and kruger have overlapping skill sets (not that thats stopped UNC this year...) so once cuse got kruger i thought it was unlikely they'd get wetherup too.

You play one at attack and the other at midfield.
Redundancy is not a bad thing, especially when you are dealing with recruits outside the top 10.

 

[RoofBeam]

Is this kid a D1 recruit? Small and slight but might be a match-up problem against some teams- SU would appear to have attack openings for the 27 class.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/bronx-lacrosse-s-wall-ball-wonder-jordany-rosario-s-remarkable-rise-to-4-star-recruit/65815

 

[nyclax]

You play one at attack and the other at midfield.
Redundancy is not a bad thing, especially when you are dealing with recruits outside the top 10.

are you new to this...redundancy is bad if you are a recruit who wants to play attack and a school already has signed a kid with the same skill set and dominant hand..

maryland did not have anyone like that in their class already. schwarz is a lefty. wetherup wanted to go there....this is not rocket science

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Is this kid a D1 recruit? Small and slight but might be a match-up problem against some teams- SU would appear to have attack openings for the 27 class.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/bronx-lacrosse-s-wall-ball-wonder-jordany-rosario-s-remarkable-rise-to-4-star-recruit/65815

 

[Powellfan]

 

[Zack80]

are you new to this...redundancy is bad if you are a recruit who wants to play attack and a school already has signed a kid with the same skill set and dominant hand..

maryland did not have anyone like that in their class already. schwarz is a lefty. wetherup wanted to go there...this is not rocket science

Grady Goodberlet is a righty.