Interesting recruiting question/answer within Athletic mailbag article

[Chip]

Isn’t Corvallis about 45 miles from Eugene? And more northern? I.e closer to Portland, Seattle.

I know Oregon recruits as a national brand, but that wasn’t the point of the question posed and answer given.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Isn’t Corvallis about 45 miles from Eugene? And more northern? I.e closer to Portland, Seattle.

I know Oregon recruits as a national brand, but that wasn’t the point of the question posed and answer given.

yes it is and I would bet they have 25-30 kids from Oregon on their team 10-12 from the state of WA. 35-40 kids from California and then a mix to fill the roster out.

Most those Oregon kids are probably from the Portland area and about 45-50 miles from home

 

[orange79]

To EVERYONE in this thread who feels that bringing politics into this discussion is a good idea:

First and last warning.

 

[Cusefan95]

I think sometimes we view geographical hotbeds for recruiting like they are set in stone - that’s not reality. A decade ago I remember reading about struggles of Indiana Hoosier basketball. One thing the article talked about was that Indiana basketball hit a dip right after the 2002 championship game loss. Unfortunately for them, that coincided roughly with Payton Manning turning the Colts into a perennial contender, and the Malice in the Palace in 2004 dampening interest in hoops. The result was high school football grew in popularity in the state while basketball dipped - not enough to turn Indiana or Purdue into football powers but enough of a shift to hurt basketball recruiting.

Syracuse being mostly awful for two decades has probably contributed to the drop off in high school football (at least in upstate NY). The Bills being a dumpster fire for most of that stretch probably didn’t help either. I don’t know that the local recruiting area will ever be as “good” as it was 30 years ago (demographic shifts are not in favor of that) - but a string of 8 win plus seasons along with the Bills being good might move the needle enough that it’s not the utter wasteland we have right now.

As with everything, winning can conceal and sometimes help correct a lot of issues.

 

[OttoMets]

...

Syracuse being mostly awful for two decades has probably contributed to the drop off in high school football (at least in upstate NY). The Bills being a dumpster fire for most of that stretch probably didn’t help either. I don’t know that the local recruiting area will ever be as “good” as it was 30 years ago (demographic shifts are not in favor of that) - but a string of 8 win plus seasons along with the Bills being good might move the needle enough that it’s not the utter wasteland we have right now.

As with everything, winning can conceal and sometimes help correct a lot of issues.

Great post.

It also seems that two factors conspired to dampen interest in high-school football in New York. *This is a socio-economic point, not a political one.* First, as you note, the downturn of the two major football institutions in Upstate can't have helped. Second, this happened to coincide (or come on the tail end of) both BRAC and deindustrialization in the area. Who played high school football at a high level in the '80s and '90s? Where'd they go after that? I bet close study would show that the Rome Free Academy type programs got crushed by those shifts. Without that foundation of high school talent, coaching, and fan interest, it became that much more difficult to sustain high-level college footbal in CNY.

 

[Bayside44]

Great post.

It also seems that two factors conspired to dampen interest in high-school football in New York. *This is a socio-economic point, not a political one.* First, as you note, the downturn of the two major football institutions in Upstate can't have helped. Second, this happened to coincide (or come on the tail end of) both BRAC and deindustrialization in the area. Who played high school football at a high level in the '80s and '90s? Where'd they go after that? I bet close study would show that the Rome Free Academy type programs got crushed by those shifts. Without that foundation of high school talent, coaching, and fan interest, it became that much more difficult to sustain high-level college footbal in CNY.

This too is a great great post.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Who played high school football at a high level in the '80s and '90s? Where'd they go after that?

Aaron Murray’s dad is from CNY. (ESM? JD? Can’t remember.) He can’t be the only one.

 

[Cusefan95]

Great post.

It also seems that two factors conspired to dampen interest in high-school football in New York. *This is a socio-economic point, not a political one.* First, as you note, the downturn of the two major football institutions in Upstate can't have helped. Second, this happened to coincide (or come on the tail end of) both BRAC and deindustrialization in the area. Who played high school football at a high level in the '80s and '90s? Where'd they go after that? I bet close study would show that the Rome Free Academy type programs got crushed by those shifts. Without that foundation of high school talent, coaching, and fan interest, it became that much more difficult to sustain high-level college footbal in CNY.

This is also a great post. I didn’t even think about how changes in the state impacted Rome Free Academy - I remember them having games at/with Union-Endicott which were #1 vs #2 in the state; at one I had to sit on temporary bleachers at Ty Cobb Stadium because the game drew something like 18,000 fans. Programs like that don’t exist now, so games and crowds like that don’t exist anymore.

 

[SU68]

This is also a great post. I didn’t even think about how changes in the state impacted Rome Free Academy - I remember them having games at/with Union-Endicott which were #1 vs #2 in the state; at one I had to sit on temporary bleachers at Ty Cobb Stadium because the game drew something like 18,000 fans. Programs like that don’t exist now, so games and crowds like that don’t exist anymore.

RFA lost its mojo when the air base closed and the military families were reassigned.

 

[MadNY3]

I think this is just wrong.

States like Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah, Kansas have worse setups geographically that we do.

We are right next to Pennsylvania and NJ. NYC has some talent. The Connecticut prep schools have a bunch of D1 players each year. And Canada is becoming a major source of D1 talent each year and we are better located to take advantage of it than any other P5 school.

And Ohio is only a short drive away.

And we have not pulled great talent from Ohio, PA and within NYS on wide enough level to prove that false.

 

[BKCuse]

It is misleading but we have plenty of people on this board who think it is imperative to own NY. I don't think we should waste any resources here, but some people believe it.

“Owning NY” is a fallacy.
No one owns anyplace especially in this era.
You take what you can get from wherever you can get it.
So long as we keep pulling talent from NJ, FLA, PA and sprinkle some NY kids in that’s all we can ask for.

 

[rrlbees]

Aaron Murray’s dad is from CNY. (ESM? JD? Can’t remember.) He can’t be the only one.

ESM

 

[wiCuse]

“Owning NY” is a fallacy.
No one owns anyplace especially in this era.
You take what you can get from wherever you can get it.
So long as we keep pulling talent from NJ, FLA, PA and sprinkle some NY kids in that’s all we can ask for.

I disagree with this thought. I live and coach football in WI. I understand we're not going to compare the Badgers to SU, but WI high school football isn't terrible (actually pretty underrated) and the Badgers do a great job keeping in state talent home. Everyone is WI wants to be a Badger. The Badgers staff puts in the necessary work around the state. SU seems to really struggle in the area. Winning would help SU, but the top talent in New York doesn't seem to consider SU for football. Iowa, Minnesota, etc all do a pretty good job protecting their in state talent. It's not like Minnesota has some rich tradition.

I wanted to give a perspective from another state that isn't stocked with blue chip recruits. At times, SU has recruited WI as many of you know. You're able to get verbals before the Badgers as they assume all kids will flip if they really want them.