Did SU Recruit THE ROCK? | Syracusefan.com

Did SU Recruit THE ROCK?

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On the NBC Show "YOUNG ROCK" they were going through the time The Rock was getting all of his scholarships offers from colleges when he was in high school. And his mom was hanging them on the fridge, and right in the middle was one from SU.

While a TV show they have been pretty close to accurate with his life story and background (taking liberties on some of the wrestling stuff, but nothing too outrageous). I was wondering did we recruit The Rock back in the late 80's/early '90s? Does anyone know?

He was living in Bethlehem, PA so odds are we probably would have. Just curious if anyone knows.
 

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Not sure if we recruited him, but I read his first book a while ago. There was a section about 1993 when he said how sick the Canes players were of hearing about Syracuse and Marvin Graves being a threat to overtake them, and they wanted to send a message in that game.

We weren't very good that year, couldn't run, couldn't stop it. They didn't feel sorry for us. 49-0 beatdown.
 
Not sure if we recruited him, but I read his first book a while ago. There was a section about 1993 when he said how sick the Canes players were of hearing about Syracuse and Marvin Graves being a threat to overtake them, and they wanted to send a message in that game.

We weren't very good that year, couldn't run, couldn't stop it. They didn't feel sorry for us. 49-0 beatdown.
Going into that year I believe we were preseason Top 10 after a very good 92 season, 10-2, Fiesta Bowl champs. The team didn’t live up to expectations and got blown out by not only Miami but wvu in the dome.
Edit: just looked it up. #6/7 preseason. Rose to #4 in the coaches poll week 3. Finished 6-4-1...disappointing that season but I think we would all take that record in 2021!
 
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Going into that year I believe we were preseason Top 10 after a very good 92 season, 10-2, Fiesta Bowl champs. The team didn’t live up to expectations and got blown out by not only Miami but wvu in the dome.

It's the same kind of hype that happens today. We lost way too much at linebacker, and then Dan Conley's early season ending injury was the final nail in the coffin.

On offense, just couldn't replace the production of David Walker, Chris Gedney, Qadry Ismail.

I think Miami and WVU were back to back. WVU kneeled at our 1 yard line. If they decided to score it would have been 99-0 back to back weeks. Had to settle for 92-0.
 
He mentioned in an interview he had a lot of scholarship offers back then, SU prolly tried to recruit him.
 
Not sure if we recruited him, but I read his first book a while ago. There was a section about 1993 when he said how sick the Canes players were of hearing about Syracuse and Marvin Graves being a threat to overtake them, and they wanted to send a message in that game.

We weren't very good that year, couldn't run, couldn't stop it. They didn't feel sorry for us. 49-0 beatdown.
We should’ve beat them in ‘92. Three yards short.

Crazy to think that SU-Miami was a budding rivalry in the 90s. I remember back in the late 90s the old CNNSI.com site ran a poll about best conference rivalries, and SU-Miami was the Big East’s representative (and finished in the top half of choices if I recall correctly).
 
We should’ve beat them in ‘92. Three yards short.

Crazy to think that SU-Miami was a budding rivalry in the 90s. I remember back in the late 90s the old CNNSI.com site ran a poll about best conference rivalries, and SU-Miami was the Big East’s representative (and finished in the top half of choices if I recall correctly).

The Dome was a madhouse for those games.

We were good at being people's 2nd rival (Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech).

Those first 7 years of Big East football were a lot of fun. 5 competitive teams that really looked forward to playing each other (Miami, SU, VT, WVU, BC). And then 3 sh!tbirds who just cashed checks and barely tried (Pitt, RU, Temple).
 
The Dome was a madhouse for those games.

We were good at being people's 2nd rival (Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech).

Those first 7 years of Big East football were a lot of fun. 5 competitive teams that really looked forward to playing each other (Miami, SU, VT, WVU, BC). And then 3 sh!tbirds who just cashed checks and barely tried (Pitt, RU, Temple).
Totally agree. 90s Big East football was wildly underrated, and a lot of fun to follow.
 
Going into that year I believe we were preseason Top 10 after a very good 92 season, 10-2, Fiesta Bowl champs. The team didn’t live up to expectations and got blown out by not only Miami but wvu in the dome.
Edit: just looked it up. #6/7 preseason. Rose to #4 in the coaches poll week 3. Finished 6-4-1...disappointing that season but I think we would all take that record in 2021!
We had 2 first place votes in the preseason AP poll too. Amazing
 
Going into that year I believe we were preseason Top 10 after a very good 92 season, 10-2, Fiesta Bowl champs. The team didn’t live up to expectations and got blown out by not only Miami but wvu in the dome.
Edit: just looked it up. #6/7 preseason. Rose to #4 in the coaches poll week 3. Finished 6-4-1...disappointing that season but I think we would all take that record in 2021!
We were preseason #1 in Sports Illustrated going into the ‘93 season.
 
Going into that year I believe we were preseason Top 10 after a very good 92 season, 10-2, Fiesta Bowl champs. The team didn’t live up to expectations and got blown out by not only Miami but wvu in the dome.
Edit: just looked it up. #6/7 preseason. Rose to #4 in the coaches poll week 3. Finished 6-4-1...disappointing that season but I think we would all take that record in 2021!
Ugh. My freshman year. I was ready for glory! 6-4 didn’t even get you a gasparilla or motor city bowl back then.
 
We should’ve beat them in ‘92. Three yards short.

Crazy to think that SU-Miami was a budding rivalry in the 90s. I remember back in the late 90s the old CNNSI.com site ran a poll about best conference rivalries, and SU-Miami was the Big East’s representative (and finished in the top half of choices if I recall correctly).
The atmosphere for that game was absolutely amazing. Could be what made me a diehard fan for life.
 
We were 7th…FSU was number 1 Scott Bentley was on the cover

SI History
Hmmm, there was definitely a publication that had us pre-season #1 in 1993. I could've sworn it was SI. Must've been something else.
 
I missed the recruiting letter on the fridge during the show, but I did catch a glimpse of an SU mug in the cabinet.
Just went back to that scene and there are actually 2 SU mugs.
And, they have the correct 90's SU logo.

TheRock_su_mugs.jpg


I tried to screen cap the letter to see what it said, but the resolution is not good enough, at least not streaming from Hulu on my PC.

TheRockSULetter.jpg
 
Hmmm, there was definitely a publication that had us pre-season #1 in 1993. I could've sworn it was SI. Must've been something else.
I think I recall that as well. Sporting News?
 
I think I recall that as well. Sporting News?
I thought maybe Game Plan.

Back in the day, there was one preview mag for college football that was based in CNY.

I think it was Game Plan. And I think they were the ones that went all in for us. Oops.
 
Gameplan...Rock...my kid loved that movie. I can't count how many times it was watched in my house 10-15 years ago.
 
I do know that Brian Gerwitz who is the executive producer on this show (and he wrote for WWE during their big days in the '90s and was the personal writer for The Rock during his WWE days and also works for the Rock now and leads up his production company) is a Syracuse University graduate.

That may have played into the SU placement in last night's show. Or maybe we really did recruit him back in the day.

Here is one of his quotes about SU and the YOUNG ROCK Show..."
Of course, the show isn’t all about wrestling, and there is one sore spot that comes up as the conversation turns to Johnson’s football days. “You know, it’s unnatural for me as a Syracuse fan to revel in the University of Miami’s success on the football field as much as we did on the show,” Gewirtz sighs, with the slightest trace of built-in homerism in his voice. “I don’t remember (Johnson) specifically but I remember vociferously booing Miami and their players when they came into the Carrier Dome and beat us. We really should have won that game in my sophomore year, when Chris Gedney was stopped on the three-yard line.”

“Not that I remember it.” (You can read about that game here, if you care to find out what has been stuck in Gewirtz’s craw for nearly 30 years.)"
 
Aw, see now after reading that quote from Gewirtz, I'm doubting whether SU ever actually did recruit The Rock. With the 2 SU mugs in the cabinet and the SU letter right in the middle of the fridge, I'm thinking Gerwitz may have had something to do with that in response to all the Miami dynasty stuff in the show.
Read the article about the game too - I remembered McNabb puking during the winning drive of the VT game in '98, forgot about Graves doing it during the final drive of the Miami game in '92.
Boy, do I miss those years of SU Football - it's never been the same since they fired coach P.
 
Aw, see now after reading that quote from Gewirtz, I'm doubting whether SU ever actually did recruit The Rock. With the 2 SU mugs in the cabinet and the SU letter right in the middle of the fridge, I'm thinking Gerwitz may have had something to do with that in response to all the Miami dynasty stuff in the show.
Read the article about the game too - I remembered McNabb puking during the winning drive of the VT game in '98, forgot about Graves doing it during the final drive of the Miami game in '92.
Boy, do I miss those years of SU Football - it's never been the same since they fired coach P.
Or for years before
 
I thought maybe Game Plan.

Back in the day, there was one preview mag for college football that was based in CNY.

I think it was Game Plan. And I think they were the ones that went all in for us. Oops.
I loved gameplan and that stupid scoring system they had based on wins and losses. I had a bunch of those magazines wish I had kept them.
 

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