Class of 2014 Grading HCSS and His Team for Recruiting Thus Far

[Van111]

There are some that seem very happy, others that seem to be worried, which really will always be the case no matter what it seems. So, as we get ready for Pre Season Practices, thought it would be nice to see where people Grade HCSS and his team at this point of the recruiting year. To be totally fair, I think we should look back at where we were last year prior to the close of the month of August. We had 6 recruits, 2 of which would de-committ to the program. (Zach Allen & Gus Edwards) We were Ranked anywhere from #84 to #98 depending on what site you were looking at. (ESpn-Scout-Rival-247sport). So Today, prior to close of the month, we stand at 10 recruits, although 3 of the major raters still do not have Corey listed in the class. We rank anywhere from #56 to #64. In a nut shell, we are clearly in much better shape this year moving up the ladder by almost 30 or better in the rating scheme across the board.

Lost by some of us is the amount of work HCSS and his team have done in building up the class of 2013 as well, bringing in 6 additional young man post signing day last February.

So, as for grading myself, I admit at first I had Visions of Granduier knocking on the door of a top 30 recruiting class, and would that reall be fair? I give these guys an "A" just the same and I believe we will end up with a class in the mid 40's when all is said and done. And at least to me, that would be a great year for HCSS and his team, with nothing but better things to come down the road.

 

[CaliCuse]

There are some that seem very happy, others that seem to be worried, which really will always be the case no matter what it seems. So, as we get ready for Pre Season Practices, thought it would be nice to see where people Grade HCSS and his team at this point of the recruiting year. To be totally fair, I think we should look back at where we were last year prior to the close of the month of August. We had 6 recruits, 2 of which would de-committ to the program. (Zach Allen & Gus Edwards) We were Ranked anywhere from #84 to #98 depending on what site you were looking at. (ESpn-Scout-Rival-247sport). So Today, prior to close of the month, we stand at 10 recruits, although 3 of the major raters still do not have Corey listed in the class. We rank anywhere from #56 to #64. In a nut shell, we are clearly in much better shape this year moving up the ladder by almost 30 or better in the rating scheme across the board.

Lost by some of us is the amount of work HCSS and his team have done in building up the class of 2013 as well, bringing in 6 additional young man post signing day last February.

So, as for grading myself, I admit at first I had Visions of Granduier knocking on the door of a top 30 recruiting class, and would that reall be fair? I give these guys an "A" just the same and I believe we will end up with a class in the mid 40's when all is said and done. And at least to me, that would be a great year for HCSS and his team, with nothing but better things to come down the road.

I'm concerned about two instate kids that we aren't closing in on at this point according to reports everywhere else hey are Ollison and Holley. Holley would be the most important of the two but I think Ollison could be super here with us. He seems to have all the RB attributes that make a great RB.

 

[leftytg]

I voted A, but with a quibble about the wording. I think we are where any reasonable person could expect us to be, which shows great improvement. I don't think this is where we should expect to be in the years to come.

This staff had to 1) be assembled quickly to salvage last year's class 2) as the original poster mentioned, scramble to add some late talent and also add talent after signing day 3) forge ahead with this year's class without the benefit of the development of relationships in many cases. Given that they've been playing catchup in many areas, I don't think much more could be expected. As time goes on, I expect the staff to be able to start focusing on the high school juniors (which we're already seeing), which will pay dividends down the line. I think the investment in the Chicago area (and the in with Core6 in particular) has yielded surprising dividends considering it isn't an area Syracuse has paid much attention to in recent years. We're strengthening a presence in Florida, and if we can continue the fast paced high octane offense, can look forward to attracting some more Florida speed to the indoor Dome surface.

All in all there is a lot to be encouraged about and I'm satisfied that so far things appear to be on the right track.

 

[SoBristol]

B-plus for effort, for quality of the commits at LB & WR (counting Cory Cooper here), for working Chicago area into the mix. Maybe we land another RB and one OL in August, and that would be as well as we have done through summer in recent years.

Concerns: no beef, numbers are better but good enough at this stage?, lagging traditional rivals in our region (Cincy, Temple, RU, BC, Pitt, PennSt), not getting ideal traction within 3 hour radius. Shafer & his crew have made progress & the direction is good.

Still, a lot of work left for November through January.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Way too early for me to vote. I'd say that it's an improvement, but we're a long way from February.

 

[spo023]

Options B and C are the exact same thing just worded differently. And just for the sake of a poll, you should have all options like so.

A. Best case scenario. Much More than we could have hoped for at this point
B. Better than expected, could improve a bit could certainly do much worse
C. Mediocre. About what we should be considering we haven't lit the world on fire the past decade
D. Subpar. improvement needed to compare to other ACC schools
E. Disaster. No way we win with this talent.

Now obviously, D and E do not represent this class, but you've got to give the option otherwise the poll is bad and has response bias if the options aren't all-encompassing as to how someone may feel.

 

[Ottoble]

I voted B.
Everyone deserves a vacation I just feel like the way the July vacation was handled running up to the ACC media days that it really killed the momentum we had coming off the KJ Williams Commitment. If the Vacations had been staggered a little allowing recruits to make unofficials and maybe snag a commit during July that would keep big Mo moving our way and keep a couple guys in tighter contact with the 'Cuse. I know its a Quiet period and that the rules associated but I think we lost some opportunities in July. Through the end of June I would have Voted A without a doubt. If we start nailing down some of the Major guys still out there I'll be moving back towards column A.

 

[anomander]

I voted B.
Everyone deserves a vacation I just feel like the way the July vacation was handled running up to the ACC media days that it really killed the momentum we had coming off the KJ Williams Commitment. If the Vacations had been staggered a little allowing recruits to make unofficials and maybe snag a commit during July that would keep big Mo moving our way and keep a couple guys in tighter contact with the 'Cuse. I know its a Quiet period and that the rules associated but I think we lost some opportunities in July. Through the end of June I would have Voted A without a doubt. If we start nailing down some of the Major guys still out there I'll be moving back towards column A.

totally agree with this. we had some momentum going after that commitment. I don't really understand that long of an extended vacation. I know we missed out on some visits, and 1 big visit

 

[spo023]

totally agree with this. we had some momentum going after that commitment. I don't really understand that long of an extended vacation. I know we missed out on some visits, and 1 big visit

I refuse to believe that momentum is a thing that actually leads to prospects committing to any school. Fans may want a rapid fire of commits so it seems like we have "recruiting momentum", but momentum is an imaginary thing we put in our heads to explain a string of uncorrelated circumstances. It's not like Nile Sykes says to himself, "damn, Kj Williams and Paris bennett committed to Syracuse within a week of each other, now that gets me hyped and I have to commit to Syracuse before I'm ready."

 

[TheCusian]

I refuse to believe that momentum is a thing that actually leads to prospects committing to any school. Fans may want a rapid fire of commits so it seems like we have "recruiting momentum", but momentum is an imaginary thing we put in our heads to explain a string of uncorrelated circumstances. It's not like Nile Sykes says to himself, "damn, Kj Williams and Paris bennett committed to Syracuse within a week of each other, now that gets me hyped and I have to commit to Syracuse before I'm ready."

Disagree. I think perception plays big on the minds of these kids. A kid who is close, gets up here for the visit, heard about KJ, AJ, Zaire, etc - gets bombarded from the twitter army? Momentum could be the final straw.

 

[OrangeAl]

Why are we voting on something that's far from complete? Do early commits play better than middle to late commits? Would we declare a game won or lost in the first quarter?
Be patient and let the class develop.

 

[Van111]

Why are we voting on something that's far from complete? Do early commits play better than middle to late commits? Would we declare a game won or lost in the first quarter?
Be patient and let the class develop.

Just feedback is all. Ofcourse it is early, but this poll if anything should be a positive for the coaching staff I would think. Evaluation is ongoing throughout on any event. The one thing the poll showed me is many feel as I do that we aren't in speculation mode as to where we are going, but we truly feel that HCSS is on the right track. Some great points were brought up as well, such as losing a little momentum after the KJ pick up.

 

[Rocco]

Voted B for now, likely A by NLOI day.

 

[spo023]

For all you guys that talk crap when we beat out Akron for a recruit...

From Jordan Lynch, heisman contender from NIU, "They're not known for their crowd, but Akron's stadium is unreal. They just built it a few years ago, and it's top of the line. It's big time."

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9518913/can-niu-repeat-bcs-cinderellas

 

[orangepassion]

B

 

[bnoro]

For all you guys that talk crap when we beat out Akron for a recruit...

From Jordan Lynch, heisman contender from NIU, "They're not known for their crowd, but Akron's stadium is unreal. They just built it a few years ago, and it's top of the line. It's big time."

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9518913/can-niu-repeat-bcs-cinderellas

I've (and many others here) been to Akron's stadium. It's nothing special. Aluminum benches, dump of a campus, ty area. Nice for a D-1 Mid Major. Nothing to write home about.