sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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SU News
Feature on SU Target Jack Coan, Class of 2017 QB From Sayville Who Recently Gave Up a Scholarship for Lacrosse to Notre Dame to Focus on Football (freep.com; Sullivan)
With early scholarship offers from Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Michigan and Syracuse, it may come as something of a surprise that, until recently, Sayville (N.Y.) 2017 quarterback Jack Coan wasn't sure if he'd even be playing college football. That's not because he was unaware of his talent, but rather that he's talented in multiple sports.
The 6-3, 183-pounder made an early commitment to play lacrosse at Notre Dame, and despite the attention he was receiving on the football field, remained steadfast in his Irish pledge. As the football attention increased, however, he finally made the choice to switch sports.
"I want to thank the Notre Dame lacrosse staff for everything they've done for me," he said, "but I have decided I'm going to play football in college."
That decision puts Michigan squarely in the mix for his services. The decision to decommit from Notre Dame came shortly after the Wolverines offered.
"My coach was on the phone with Coach Harbaugh, and he came into my study hall in school," Coan described of receiving the offer. "He gave me the phone and told me it was Coach Harbaugh. He told me that they were going to offer me."
Coan led Sayville to the Long Island Championship game in the playoffs as a junior, while setting school records for touchdown passes (40) and passing yards (3,431) in a single season. Since he's long considered himself a lacrosse player at the next level, he's only scratching the surface of his football potential as well.
Coan is very intrigued by what Jim Harbaugh's program will become. He has the physical tools to be an exceptional passer at the next level, and is looking for the place to help him get the most out of his natural ability.
...
Does 'Plaza 44' Ceremony Mean Restore 44 is a Go? (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
The number 44 has been on Syracuse's fans minds a whole lot lately. Whether with regard to DOCTOR Gross's legacy or Robert Washington's hopeful arrival on campus with the recruiting class of 2016, Orange fans want to know if/when we finally #Restore44.
Could that day possibly be tomorrow?
Nothing's confirmed, but Syracuse football media received the following from the Orange athletic department this afternoon:
Syracuse University Athletics will hold a Plaza 44 Groundbreaking Ceremony on Tuesday, May 19 at 3 pm outside of the Ensley Athletic Center. Plaza 44 will honor the great tradition of Syracuse football running backs to wear the #44 – the three who defined the number –Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little.
It's vague, but there's something encouraging in there too, no? We've always honored those running backs and all who've worn the number 44 before. What makes tomorrow's groundbreaking so... groundbreaking?
Either a) it's not, other than a cool way to pay tribute to three great players and important people in the history of Syracuse athletics. OR b) they're totally un-retiring 44 tomorrow.
Given the state of things with the athletic department right now (no permanent AD, its worst overall academic year in quite some time, and those sanctions...), it would be fitting to have a subtle ceremony to both honor Brown, Davis and Little, as well as un-retire the number they made it famous. The fanfare and circus atmosphere of the DOC Gross era is very much gone, otherwise this would've been planned weeks ago and no expense would've been spared to celebrate its return. The timing makes sense now that we're closing in on college sports' offseason, and it would please both sides of the 44 crowd to bring it out of retirement and THEN give it to Washington.
...
SU Football Betting Odds: Early Predictions Project 4.5 Wins (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
Though not official odds from Las Vegas just yet, it looks like the over/under wins expectation will be set at 4.5 for Syracuse football this fall. The prediction, which comes from 30-year veteran Chris Andrews's Against the Numbers site, is not ironclad -- though is a pretty good indicator of where things will be next month when Vegas officially opens betting for the 2015 college football season.
As you'll remember last year, we scoffed at Orange odds being set at 5.5 wins. Welp... we were very, VERY wrong then, as Syracuse fell flat on its face with a 3-9 record. So this year, can we expect the team to surpass expectations, or once again finish short of what is an admittedly low bar for the program?
Back when the 2015 schedule first came out, we arrived at 5.43 wins -- impossible to accomplish in reality, but a good gauge of a team that has a manageable list of opponents, yet a brutal October-November stretch and a lot of holes to fill on both sides of the ball. I think most would be thrilled at six wins, mixed at five depending on how it occurs, and absolutely downtrodden by anything less than that. As a reminder, the games should break out like so:
Should Win: Rhode Island, Wake Forest, Central Michigan, USF
Toss-Up: Virginia, Pittsburgh, NC State, Boston College
Should Lose: LSU, Florida State, Louisville, Clemson
Beating any one of the toss-ups gets us above the over/under. Beating two of them gets us to bowl eligibility. As you should probably be accustomed to by now, we probably have four wins and four losses already penciled in to most schedules (or should, at least). And then the four toss-ups ultimately decide whether we're bowling or not.
...
Other
In Downtown Syracuse, A Mysterious Name Revealed: Who was Easton C. Jones? (PS; Kirst)
Bonnie Crowe didn't think she had any photographs of her grandfather, at least not any that portray him on the job. She spoke to me by telephone Sunday from her West Monroe home, and she told me if she found something, she'd call me back.
Less than an hour later, she did. She'd discovered a black-and-white image, very fragile, that she'd once kept in a wallet. Crowe works in the jewelry department at the Walmart in Central Square, and I went there Monday to meet her and to borrow the photo. It shows a man with a serious expression, in his working clothes, near a sign offering a discount for anyone with Green Stamps:
Easton C. Jones.
That name, long buried under paint and wood and the layers of multiple renovations, is abruptly prominent again, in block letters in downtown Syracuse. Like a sudden mystery, it has been uncovered above the entrance of Jones' old gasoline station at 260 W. Genesee St., a place many of us associate with coffee and halfmoon cookies.
From the late 1980s until last summer, the building was home to Mimi's Bakery & Café. While few remember it as a gas station, Gary Nigolian, operator of Mimi's, said he once found the image of a flying horse — symbol of Mobil — on a wall there during an expansion.
...
Feature on SU Target Jack Coan, Class of 2017 QB From Sayville Who Recently Gave Up a Scholarship for Lacrosse to Notre Dame to Focus on Football (freep.com; Sullivan)
With early scholarship offers from Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Michigan and Syracuse, it may come as something of a surprise that, until recently, Sayville (N.Y.) 2017 quarterback Jack Coan wasn't sure if he'd even be playing college football. That's not because he was unaware of his talent, but rather that he's talented in multiple sports.
The 6-3, 183-pounder made an early commitment to play lacrosse at Notre Dame, and despite the attention he was receiving on the football field, remained steadfast in his Irish pledge. As the football attention increased, however, he finally made the choice to switch sports.
"I want to thank the Notre Dame lacrosse staff for everything they've done for me," he said, "but I have decided I'm going to play football in college."
That decision puts Michigan squarely in the mix for his services. The decision to decommit from Notre Dame came shortly after the Wolverines offered.
"My coach was on the phone with Coach Harbaugh, and he came into my study hall in school," Coan described of receiving the offer. "He gave me the phone and told me it was Coach Harbaugh. He told me that they were going to offer me."
Coan led Sayville to the Long Island Championship game in the playoffs as a junior, while setting school records for touchdown passes (40) and passing yards (3,431) in a single season. Since he's long considered himself a lacrosse player at the next level, he's only scratching the surface of his football potential as well.
Coan is very intrigued by what Jim Harbaugh's program will become. He has the physical tools to be an exceptional passer at the next level, and is looking for the place to help him get the most out of his natural ability.
...
Does 'Plaza 44' Ceremony Mean Restore 44 is a Go? (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
The number 44 has been on Syracuse's fans minds a whole lot lately. Whether with regard to DOCTOR Gross's legacy or Robert Washington's hopeful arrival on campus with the recruiting class of 2016, Orange fans want to know if/when we finally #Restore44.
Could that day possibly be tomorrow?
Nothing's confirmed, but Syracuse football media received the following from the Orange athletic department this afternoon:
Syracuse University Athletics will hold a Plaza 44 Groundbreaking Ceremony on Tuesday, May 19 at 3 pm outside of the Ensley Athletic Center. Plaza 44 will honor the great tradition of Syracuse football running backs to wear the #44 – the three who defined the number –Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little.
It's vague, but there's something encouraging in there too, no? We've always honored those running backs and all who've worn the number 44 before. What makes tomorrow's groundbreaking so... groundbreaking?
Either a) it's not, other than a cool way to pay tribute to three great players and important people in the history of Syracuse athletics. OR b) they're totally un-retiring 44 tomorrow.
Given the state of things with the athletic department right now (no permanent AD, its worst overall academic year in quite some time, and those sanctions...), it would be fitting to have a subtle ceremony to both honor Brown, Davis and Little, as well as un-retire the number they made it famous. The fanfare and circus atmosphere of the DOC Gross era is very much gone, otherwise this would've been planned weeks ago and no expense would've been spared to celebrate its return. The timing makes sense now that we're closing in on college sports' offseason, and it would please both sides of the 44 crowd to bring it out of retirement and THEN give it to Washington.
...
SU Football Betting Odds: Early Predictions Project 4.5 Wins (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
Though not official odds from Las Vegas just yet, it looks like the over/under wins expectation will be set at 4.5 for Syracuse football this fall. The prediction, which comes from 30-year veteran Chris Andrews's Against the Numbers site, is not ironclad -- though is a pretty good indicator of where things will be next month when Vegas officially opens betting for the 2015 college football season.
As you'll remember last year, we scoffed at Orange odds being set at 5.5 wins. Welp... we were very, VERY wrong then, as Syracuse fell flat on its face with a 3-9 record. So this year, can we expect the team to surpass expectations, or once again finish short of what is an admittedly low bar for the program?
Back when the 2015 schedule first came out, we arrived at 5.43 wins -- impossible to accomplish in reality, but a good gauge of a team that has a manageable list of opponents, yet a brutal October-November stretch and a lot of holes to fill on both sides of the ball. I think most would be thrilled at six wins, mixed at five depending on how it occurs, and absolutely downtrodden by anything less than that. As a reminder, the games should break out like so:
Should Win: Rhode Island, Wake Forest, Central Michigan, USF
Toss-Up: Virginia, Pittsburgh, NC State, Boston College
Should Lose: LSU, Florida State, Louisville, Clemson
Beating any one of the toss-ups gets us above the over/under. Beating two of them gets us to bowl eligibility. As you should probably be accustomed to by now, we probably have four wins and four losses already penciled in to most schedules (or should, at least). And then the four toss-ups ultimately decide whether we're bowling or not.
...
Other
In Downtown Syracuse, A Mysterious Name Revealed: Who was Easton C. Jones? (PS; Kirst)
Bonnie Crowe didn't think she had any photographs of her grandfather, at least not any that portray him on the job. She spoke to me by telephone Sunday from her West Monroe home, and she told me if she found something, she'd call me back.
Less than an hour later, she did. She'd discovered a black-and-white image, very fragile, that she'd once kept in a wallet. Crowe works in the jewelry department at the Walmart in Central Square, and I went there Monday to meet her and to borrow the photo. It shows a man with a serious expression, in his working clothes, near a sign offering a discount for anyone with Green Stamps:
Easton C. Jones.
That name, long buried under paint and wood and the layers of multiple renovations, is abruptly prominent again, in block letters in downtown Syracuse. Like a sudden mystery, it has been uncovered above the entrance of Jones' old gasoline station at 260 W. Genesee St., a place many of us associate with coffee and halfmoon cookies.
From the late 1980s until last summer, the building was home to Mimi's Bakery & Café. While few remember it as a gas station, Gary Nigolian, operator of Mimi's, said he once found the image of a flying horse — symbol of Mobil — on a wall there during an expansion.
...
