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Message: [QUOTE="qdawgg, post: 4059891, member: 52"] It’s a multi faceted problem which makes the probability of success much lower. Even if there could be potential success it wouldn’t be realized for at least years from now with significant effort that couldn’t be accomplished by SU’s effort alone. The biggest issue IMO that prevents success right now is accumulative advantage. The HS players in hotbed states around the country have 2 advantages compared to many NYS kids. First are the NYS rules regulating the amount of practice time and games HS FB players can play (someone correct me any information that’s changed recently. Haven’t coached in a few years so haven’t followed rules for anything that well). Every year that goes by, players in other states accumulate more practice time and game reps compared to NY kids so by the time they head to college they have thousands of hours more football specific weight room training, practice time, and game experience. Even with 4 years at SU that can’t be just made up b/c the same kids that go in to college with an advantage continue to build their advantage (to varying degrees based on talent, physiology, and dedication) as the NY kids are trying to catch up. Partially as a result of the above and multiple other factors. NYS students in my opinion are more likely to focus on at least one other sport if they’re an athlete. The RB in Texas who wants to go D1 and beyond is “doing” FB 12 months out of the year in some capacity. Devito is actually a good example of this, he played and practiced FB year round. There’s less athletes in NY doing that, in football. So the first roadblock is state laws and regulations. The second issue is the sports culture isn’t geared to FB in the same way it is in other states. Are NY athletes capable of playing D1 FB, absolutely. That’s kind of your argument and that’s not wrong. But that’s not the question to ask. The question is, whether the athletes want to dedicate themselves to play FB at a higher level, year round in a way they largely are not doing now. The answer to that right now is no, IMO. Of course there are kids doing that but not at the % of student athlete population necessary to make the impact you are thinking of. The other issue is, to turn that around would require massive resources if SU was going to lead the charge in this. The state regulations aren’t going to change. So is it worth it to SU when those resources can be used in other ways in recruiting. Probably not. [/QUOTE]

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