Laray Smith, should we be recruiting him harder

[bnoro]

Whe exactly is JR day? March 3? Do we know if he will be coming? Should be a wild game.

April 21st for our spring game.

 

[sutomcat]

Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey are very fast. This kid has above average speed for a running back, he's only running away from NY competition that will only play on the DIII level. He turns around and runs backwards on a lot of his plays, that will get you killed in DI. This kid is not even close to as good as everyone is making him out to be.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/EjzdHNnwUBU
This kid is very fast

He may or may not prove to be a great football player but I think you are gravely mistaken questioning his speed.

He finished 6th in NYS in the 200m as a sophomore. So far this indoor track season he has run the 2nd fastest 200m and the 3rd fastest 300m in the state. His best times for those races are 23rd and 11th fastest times for the US this season. He has run under 22 seconds for 200m and under 11 seconds for 100m.

Laray Smith Track Profile

I couldn't find times for Demps out of HS but for comparison purposes, Smith's PR so far for 100m as a junior in HS is 10.82. Rainey's best as a sophomore in college was 11.30. He lowered that to 10.76 as a junior and as a senior got his time down to 10.60.

Chris Rainey Track Profile

 

[Orangeyes]

He may or may not prove to be a great football player but I think you are gravely mistaken questioning his speed.

He finished 6th in NYS in the 200m as a sophomore. So far this indoor track season he has run the 2nd fastest 200m and the 3rd fastest 300m in the state. His best times for those races are 23rd and 11th fastest times for the US this season. He has run under 22 seconds for 200m and under 11 seconds for 100m.

Laray Smith Track Profile

I couldn't find times for Demps out of HS but for comparison purposes, Smith's PR so far for 100m as a junior in HS is 10.82. Rainey's best as a HS junior was 10.76.

Chris Rainey Track Profile

This is why the Tomcat has syracusefan.com street cred

 

[007]

This is why the Tomcat has syracusefan.com street cred

You just don't mess with the Cat. He uses this stuff called "data."

In any case, would love to get Smith, for the speed factor alone. I'm not convinced by that one tape how good of a D1 RB he could be - he looks likes he "gallops" when he runs and cuts rather than gliding and exploding into cuts. He lacks that "effortless" look to his running.

I am not sure ultimately how significant that is, if at all; just an observation.

 

[Orangetradition44]

Basically, your saying if a kid likes some other school a year before signing day, good riddance. That seems shortsighted to me.

How so? Genuine question, not sure what your reasoning is.

 

[Orangetradition44]

When phat said "slow out of the gate", I assumed we hadn't offered. Knowing that we've offered but haven't stayed in contact is actually more concerning to me.

But as you stated... Who really knows. It's all conjecture.

My concern would be based on the handful of similar statements by recruits last year, early in the year. Sometimes, it just seems as if our whole staff is not living/breathing recruiting the way it is required nowadays.

According to our recruiting database on this site, we have offered him.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

Marrone better get this kid.

 

[CIL]

We are...relax everyone. Kid knows what he has to do.

 

[Orangeyes]

We are...relax everyone. Kid knows what he has to do.

EF Hutton

 

[orangepassion]

EF Hutton

Do you know when he'll be on campus?

 

[javadoc]

Basically, your saying if a kid likes some other school a year before signing day, good riddance. That seems shortsighted to me.

Let me clarify then. Keep recruiting him, see if you can turn his interest, but if he eventually chooses Rutgers or UConn over Syracuse (not "any" school, those two) then I am not going to lose sleep over it.

 

[CIL]

I just realized where the post came from OE...remember, that article was written by a RU homer and alum. Also keep in mind that Smith was a FR when Tull was a Sr in HS. It's doubtful the two are that close. We're recruiting the kid and have a good of a shot as any. Grades are something to keep in mind here.

 

[sutomcat]

I just realized where the post came from OE...remember, that article was written by a RU homer and alum. Also keep in mind that Smith was a FR when Tull was a Sr in HS. It's doubtful the two are that close. We're recruiting the kid and have a good of a shot as any. Grades are something to keep in mind here.

That brings up an interesting question. With Syracuse and Pitt leaving the Big East, being replaced by a bunch of low brow academic schools, will the Big East drop its no partial qualifers rule? Can these schools be competitive against BCS level programs without taking partial qualifers? Partial qualifiers have been big keeping the better CUSA programs somewhat competitive. It might be RU and UConn against the world (eventually Navy too).

 

[cusestudent]

He may or may not prove to be a great football player but I think you are gravely mistaken questioning his speed.

He finished 6th in NYS in the 200m as a sophomore. So far this indoor track season he has run the 2nd fastest 200m and the 3rd fastest 300m in the state. His best times for those races are 23rd and 11th fastest times for the US this season. He has run under 22 seconds for 200m and under 11 seconds for 100m.

Laray Smith Track Profile

I couldn't find times for Demps out of HS but for comparison purposes, Smith's PR so far for 100m as a junior in HS is 10.82. Rainey's best as a sophomore in college was 11.30. He lowered that to 10.76 as a junior and as a senior got his time down to 10.60.

Chris Rainey Track Profile

Track speed and field speed are pretty different. Track is just straight-line, and the kid is fast when it comes to running straight, but his cuts and acceleration are both pretty slow. He's a decent back that looks extremely undersized to me, and any kid that is a D I talent can easily make kids from New York look bad. He does not look to have elite speed like everyone seems to be making him out to sound like, and that was my point. I didn't even bother looking up any other kids because he proved my point, and Keith Marshall would have served just as well. We keep getting ridiculously excited over talent that is only getting looked at seriously by UConn and Rutgers...aren't those the two schools everyone makes fun of? Then why does it seem like life or death for the program when we battle them for a recruit? Smith is a little fish regionally, let alone nationally and people make him out to be a must get recruit? It's ridiculous how far the standards have sank within the fan base.

 

[Orangeyes]

Track speed and field speed are pretty different. Track is just straight-line, and the kid is fast when it comes to running straight, but his cuts and acceleration are both pretty slow. He's a decent back that looks extremely undersized to me, and any kid that is a D I talent can easily make kids from New York look bad. He does not look to have elite speed like everyone seems to be making him out to sound like, and that was my point. I didn't even bother looking up any other kids because he proved my point, and Keith Marshall would have served just as well. We keep getting ridiculously excited over talent that is only getting looked at seriously by UConn and Rutgers...aren't those the two schools everyone makes fun of? Then why does it seem like life or death for the program when we battle them for a recruit? Smith is a little fish regionally, let alone nationally and people make him out to be a must get recruit? It's ridiculous how far the standards have sank within the fan base.

They've also put backs in the NFL

 

[CIL]

Track speed and field speed are pretty different. Track is just straight-line, and the kid is fast when it comes to running straight, but his cuts and acceleration are both pretty slow. He's a decent back that looks extremely undersized to me, and any kid that is a D I talent can easily make kids from New York look bad. He does not look to have elite speed like everyone seems to be making him out to sound like, and that was my point. I didn't even bother looking up any other kids because he proved my point, and Keith Marshall would have served just as well. We keep getting ridiculously excited over talent that is only getting looked at seriously by UConn and Rutgers...aren't those the two schools everyone makes fun of? Then why does it seem like life or death for the program when we battle them for a recruit? Smith is a little fish regionally, let alone nationally and people make him out to be a must get recruit? It's ridiculous how far the standards have sank within the fan base.

You're the one that used the Rainey and Demps comparison, not Tomcat buddy. Secondly, I don't see anyone getting "ridiculously excited" in the post other than you, to be honest. If Smith had better grades, he's more likely hold more offers at this point. I am not sure how long you have been following Syracuse football, but judging by your handle it's been a couple of semesters and maybe a hobby of yours when the LARPing club is taking a break. Syracuse rarely reels in national level recruits. The last truly national level recruit we landed was Johnny Morant about 11 years ago or so. Syracuse has historically competed with BC, MD, Pitt, and PSU (rarely winning those) for recruits. Over the last ten years or so, RU and UCONN have come into play as UConn has bumped up to d1 with excellent facilties, and RU has largely done the same. Throw in a few kids from FL without the big 3 offers and this is our recruiting in a nutshell.

 

[GoSU96]

Track speed and field speed are pretty different. Track is just straight-line, and the kid is fast when it comes to running straight, but his cuts and acceleration are both pretty slow. He's a decent back that looks extremely undersized to me, and any kid that is a D I talent can easily make kids from New York look bad. He does not look to have elite speed like everyone seems to be making him out to sound like, and that was my point. I didn't even bother looking up any other kids because he proved my point, and Keith Marshall would have served just as well. We keep getting ridiculously excited over talent that is only getting looked at seriously by UConn and Rutgers...aren't those the two schools everyone makes fun of? Then why does it seem like life or death for the program when we battle them for a recruit? Smith is a little fish regionally, let alone nationally and people make him out to be a must get recruit? It's ridiculous how far the standards have sank within the fan base.

What makes you qualified to judge this fan base? My guess you're another video game dynasty hero.

 

[chriscory101]

From reading things on this kid I do get the feelings that he is now where close to signing so the Cuse has plenty of time to get on this kid. I also think I saw somewhere where some other east coast schools are starting to look at the kid out side of RU, Conn, and the Cuse. It seems teams are just getting into this guy and we will see what happens.

 

[Rocco]

EF Hutton

"We make money the old-fashioned way... We earn it."

 

[cusestudent]

You're the one that used the Rainey and Demps comparison, not Tomcat buddy. Secondly, I don't see anyone getting "ridiculously excited" in the post other than you, to be honest. If Smith had better grades, he's more likely hold more offers at this point. I am not sure how long you have been following Syracuse football, but judging by your handle it's been a couple of semesters and maybe a hobby of yours when the LARPing club is taking a break. Syracuse rarely reels in national level recruits. The last truly national level recruit we landed was Johnny Morant about 11 years ago or so. Syracuse has historically competed with BC, MD, Pitt, and PSU (rarely winning those) for recruits. Over the last ten years or so, RU and UCONN have come into play as UConn has bumped up to d1 with excellent facilties, and RU has largely done the same. Throw in a few kids from FL without the big 3 offers and this is our recruiting in a nutshell.

And you completely missed my point. I know SU hasn't gotten any national recruits lately, not even out of our own backyard, but to hit the next level you have to sign at least one or two big name recruits a year that pan out. You simply cannot win conference championships with a bunch of leftovers, not in the top five conferences at least. We haven't even brought in the local "can't miss" kids in the past ten years outside of the ones coming out of CBA (yeah, they turned out great right?). NY high school football sucks, end of discussion. It's better than the New England region, but it's still worse than any state South of the Mason-Dixon, and it is worse than the Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, etc. that make up the regional area.

People may not be "ridiculously excited" about him, but people have been calling him a "must get" recruit based on the film. The film only shows his best plays against NY competition. Look at the size of the kid's arms in the interview, he'd get killed in the ACC unless he put on at least twenty pounds of muscle, and what happens when a back starts putting on muscle weight? They start losing speed, so now his speed comes into maybe an above average or average level. There are other backs that are much more physically mature and have accomplished more against better competition. They kid looks like a project based on the gallop, slow cuts, the way he reverses on nearly every play, and now add in his size. I honestly don't think the kid is a priority for DM, but I could be wrong.

I'm sorry I don't spend all my time looking up facts about kids, but I don't have much free time. I go to school full time, I'm in ROTC plus an infantry unit, and I intern for a Congressman 35 hours a week. SU recruiting isn't at the top of my priority list. I simply made an observation, agree or disagree and move on.