HCSS on New York State Recruits

[Orangeyes]

I transcribed his answer to this question:

Reporter:

Scott, I think you mentioned this at your introductory press conference, can you speak on the New York City, New York State, the Tri-State area, kind of what your approach is going to be?

HCSS

You always want to take care of your homegrown kids.

We all know that we have had quite a few kids from New York come in here.

We're always going to look at the productivity that they put on the field and try to analyze the best players to try to get them to come here.

We've lost some battles with a lot of the teams around the country with the top tier kids in state and we've won a few.

You're never going to win them all and you're never going to have enough room to fit them all in but the approach will be we try to take care of the kids at home first.

We had some early commitments out of the young men who decided to change their minds late, that's a shame.

You wonder if they know you too well or if you know them too well?

It's like the last girl in the bar get's looked at, you know what I mean?

You've got a relationship with a kid for 2 1/2 years and then all of a sudden he has a relationship with a school for 10 days and you say what happened?

Then you say, they're 17 & 18 years old. I know when I was that age I made some major mistakes.

Best thing to happen to me was that I didn't meet my wife until my senior year in college and we got a great relationship, right Missy?

I think it goes both ways, if you over analyze it you'll drive yourself insane. We want to do a great job.

If we have great football players in New York, we want them to play at Syracuse. We'll try to keep them at home the best we can.

If they don't want to play for us we'll go find the next best one,wherever they are.

 

[OrangeMojo]

That's a great response to that question.

 

[OrangeAl]

Coach Mac used to talk about the heart of SU's recruiting area as being the I-90 corrider, from Boston to Buffalo.

 

[Symphony Steve]

I hope that SS doesn't censor himself too much. He's got a sly sense of humor and a nice turn of phrase. Then again, I've always been a sucker for phrases with 'last girl in the bar' in them.

 

[baggerbob]

To me one major difference between Scott and Doug is Scott has been a "College Coach" for 20 years, Doug wandered between the Pro's and college. Another difference is Scott wants to be the person to help these kids grow, this he brings from his father who coached, then had a heart attack but still came back to help the kids.

 

[qdawgg]

Coach Mac used to talk about the heart of SU's recruiting area as being the I-90 corrider, from Boston to Buffalo.

Thank god that's not the focus today, we'd have a team of mostly NR and 1 star kids.

 

[Orangeyes]

So we ended up batting 200 on the ten New York State kids we offered, would have batted 500 if we retained Edwards, Carter and if silent verbal Laray Smith came here.
I guess there was debate also on Officer whether or not we pulled his offer.

Ebenezer Ogundeko-Clemson
Augustus Edwards-Miami-Decomitted from Syracuse
Laray Smith-Illinios-Silent verbal to Syracuse since summer
Devan Carter-Rutgers-Decomitted from Syracuse
Alex Officer-Pitt
Chauncey Scissum Syracuse
Wyatt Shallman-Michigan
Cameron Stapleton-UConn
Mark Thomas-Kansas
Wayne Williams Syracuse

Other NYS who got DI Scholarships

Jordan Fuchs - Christ the King - UCONN
Folorunso Futakasi - Beach Channel - UConn

 

[qdawgg]

Here is the thing for me and I'm willing to change my opinion based on responses. I was all for making the NYC connection and bringing downstate kids up here who had swagger for being overlooked, etc etc. Also realizing those kids were going to take longer to develop, maybe 2 - 3 years before they really started to percolate (thanks Clyde).

But here's the thing. A lot of universities have "ins" with certain schools that always have D1 talent, the HS and college have a great relationship and a lot of times but not always, players from those schools end up signing with the college. Other colleges come in and they kind of get the 2nd rate players at the HS because the HS coaches are pushing their best players towards Alabama, for example.

Here's my issue and it's not entirely the NYC coaches fault, we're not getting enough of the top level talent. The top level talent is still picking other schools despite the manpower and other resources we've spent to build the relationships. Not even to mention the focus/exposure that we've brought to some of these players who might otherwise be fishing for offers from UConn. In a way, what's the point? We can always get 2 star players from anywhere around the country, there's no reason they have to come from downstate. With the effort SU is putting in, to miss out year after year on the top flight players, I just don't see that we're getting much out of it.

 

[retro44]

if you are HCSS and the tottenville school's phone number comes up on your cell phone in the future,what would you do?

I would not answer it

 

[GoSU96]

if you are HCSS and the tottenville school's phone number comes up on your cell phone in the future,what would you do?

I would not answer it

Why's that?

 

[Whitey23]

if you are HCSS and the tottenville school's phone number comes up on your cell phone in the future,what would you do?

I would not answer it

We still have Cornelius and their coach said nice things about us when Gus verballed.

 

[bnoro]

if you are HCSS and the tottenville school's phone number comes up on your cell phone in the future,what would you do?

I would not answer it

Their coach wanted Gus to come here badly.

 

[anomander]

Here is the thing for me and I'm willing to change my opinion based on responses. I was all for making the NYC connection and bringing downstate kids up here who had swagger for being overlooked, etc etc. Also realizing those kids were going to take longer to develop, maybe 2 - 3 years before they really started to percolate (thanks Clyde).

But here's the thing. A lot of universities have "ins" with certain schools that always have D1 talent, the HS and college have a great relationship and a lot of times but not always, players from those schools end up signing with the college. Other colleges come in and they kind of get the 2nd rate players at the HS because the HS coaches are pushing their best players towards Alabama, for example.

Here's my issue and it's not entirely the NYC coaches fault, we're not getting enough of the top level talent. The top level talent is still picking other schools despite the manpower and other resources we've spent to build the relationships. Not even to mention the focus/exposure that we've brought to some of these players who might otherwise be fishing for offers from UConn. In a way, what's the point? We can always get 2 star players from anywhere around the country, there's no reason they have to come from downstate. With the effort SU is putting in, to miss out year after year on the top flight players, I just don't see that we're getting much out of it.

i am basing every the Post Grob since we basically were left for dead. You can't assume we were just going to pick right up when DM took over as if nothing happened. We have just been a re-emphasis on NYC for what the last 4 years? You can't expect the top kids just to start coming here all over again. We need to lay the down work, and I think we did. This year we basically had 5 of the top guys from the state, except Ebo. With the amount of contributing talent on our current roster from NYC it was starting to become expectant. many didn't think we had a shot at ebo, but according to most we made it a very difficult decision. now with the manley renovations, and breaking ground on a new IPF we are that close to putting a strange hold back on the state. We have to get it to a point where it is expected of them. Sure you may lose a few here and there, but we are one of the few games in town. The ground work has been laid, we just have to have some patience. 4 years really isn't that long. I personally love hearing Shafer that we will continue to emphasize NY as there is some very under rated talent that doesn't have as many eyes on them so a lot of kids slip through the cracks, or don't get the recognition they should.

 

[anomander]

Their coach wanted Gus to come here badly.

he's smart. he knows Miami won't be there year in and year out mining talent, but we will.

 

[qdawgg]

i am basing every the Post Grob since we basically were left for dead. You can't assume we were just going to pick right up when DM took over as if nothing happened. We have just been a re-emphasis on NYC for what the last 4 years? You can't expect the top kids just to start coming here all over again. We need to lay the down work, and I think we did. This year we basically had 5 of the top guys from the state, except Ebo. With the amount of contributing talent on our current roster from NYC it was starting to become expectant. many didn't think we had a shot at ebo, but according to most we made it a very difficult decision. now with the manley renovations, and breaking ground on a new IPF we are that close to putting a strange hold back on the state. We have to get it to a point where it is expected of them. Sure you may lose a few here and there, but we are one of the few games in town. The ground work has been laid, we just have to have some patience. 4 years really isn't that long. I personally love hearing Shafer that we will continue to emphasize NY as there is some very under rated talent that doesn't have as many eyes on them so a lot of kids slip through the cracks, or don't get the recognition they should.

I think you missed a majority of my point. I never insinuated that I thought we were going to bring top kids in in 4 years. I've posted a great deal on this board over the last few years about how we couldn't just expect things to turn around overnight. But NYC kids in general aren't highly sought after. DM placed an emphasis on them and showed them a lot of attention that they had never gotten before. Of course some kids here and there got attention but the whole NYC FB program has never, ever gotten any attention from anyone in the country worth discussing. SU did give them attention and for an area that is looked down upon in the rest of the country, as NYC is, 4 years to me is a long time to be getting attention.

 

[anomander]

I think you missed a majority of my point. I never insinuated that I thought we were going to bring top kids in in 4 years. I've posted a great deal on this board over the last few years about how we couldn't just expect things to turn around overnight. But NYC kids in general aren't highly sought after. DM placed an emphasis on them and showed them a lot of attention that they had never gotten before. Of course some kids here and there got attention but the whole NYC FB program has never, ever gotten any attention from anyone in the country worth discussing. SU did give them attention and for an area that is looked down upon in the rest of the country, as NYC is, 4 years to me is a long time to be getting attention.

personally i am very happy with the current nyc kids we have on our roster. there is a good amount of them, and a bunch of them are significant contributors. and these are kids that were basically ignored by the rest of the country. whats your feelings about the kids we have now? i made a list last night (i included the entire state, but most were from the NYC area), and i actually surprised myself how many there were.

 

[qdawgg]

personally i am very happy with the current nyc kids we have on our roster. there is a good amount of them, and a bunch of them are significant contributors. and these are kids that were basically ignored by the rest of the country. whats your feelings about the kids we have now? i made a list last night (i included the entire state, but most were from the NYC area), and i actually surprised myself how many there were.

I'm very happy with the NYC kids we have and I love the swagger they are bringing with them. I'm in no way saying we shouldn't recruit them, I think at this point we don't need to devote a huge amount of time down there. Like Shafer said, we spent 2.5 years building a relationship with a kid downstate and Tenn pops up out of nowhere 10 days before signing day and boom he is gone. I realize this can happen anywhere and with any program but the last 3 years it's happening with most of the highly recruited downstate players. If the coaches are unable to help us sign them, then what is the point of devoting time, money, and other resources down there? We'll be able to sign the same types of kids from downstate that we already are with a lot less effort, IMO.

 

[anomander]

I'm very happy with the NYC kids we have and I love the swagger they are bringing with them. I'm in no way saying we shouldn't recruit them, I think at this point we don't need to devote a huge amount of time down there. Like Shafer said, we spent 2.5 years building a relationship with a kid downstate and Tenn pops up out of nowhere 10 days before signing day and boom he is gone. I realize this can happen anywhere and with any program but the last 3 years it's happening with most of the highly recruited downstate players. If the coaches are unable to help us sign them, then what is the point of devoting time, money, and other resources down there? We'll be able to sign the same types of kids from downstate that we already are with a lot less effort, IMO.

I guess I just feel like we will just start to see the real fruition going further . Especially now that we are in the acc, improved facilities and a winning program . We offer a chance for these kids to stay home and still play at a good football program . And even though we have lost out on some of the top players i still feel we have a better chance at top local players then we do at out of state top players .