Class of 2018 New Commit: Griffin Cook (NY:Jamesville-Dewitt) Attack Signed
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OrangeXtreme
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I can find absolutely nothing out there about Magnan signing his NLI today.
Not everybody signed today. I know Baldwinsville has their event tomorrow.
W'boro'Cuse315
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So pumped about this kid. He's a faster, shiftier Kevin Rice with a harder shot. Kevin has world class vision & what he lacks in velocity, he more than makes up for with shot placement. Cook seems to have a similar work ethic to Rice, who has to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest worker in program history along with Donahue & others. As I've stated earlier in this thread, it'll be interesting to see how Cook fares as a Senior with Archer graduated. He's also the only one of JD's top 9 point producers returning this year. His vision should further develop facing a season long double team.
It's easy to draw the Evans comparison because he plays at J-D but, IMHO, Cook is the better HS player. I watched Evans 10-12 times from his Frosh-Senior years & while I was impressed & thought he'd be a star at SU, I didn't see a him do a ton of things that I thought would work against ACC comp., specifically from a speed/athleticism & shot velocity/placement standpoint. He also benefitted from playing alongside multiple D1 players & often against teams that were far overmatched & racked up a ton of assists hitting wide open cutters operating from X. I still recall him being held to a single goal & like 3 shots against a Garden City team featuring high D1 defenders in the state title game his senior year, it was eye opening (&, in hindsight, foreshadowing) how little he could do against them.
Wow, I'm rambling & in no way do I mean to slight or take anything away from Jordan...he's a great kid & I really appreciate/admire the positive attitude he maintained & what he did Senior year. It's been discussed ad nauseum but expectations were unfairly high & his injuries certainly didn't help.
Edit: I'd like to add that, while I'm not going to lie & say that I thought Rice was the better HS player (saw probably 5-6 of his games at Skan from Soph-Senior year), I can honestly say that I thought the gap between him & Evans was much smaller than their rankings & hype would indicate. I admit that I bought into the stats, hype, & #22 just like most & thought Evans would star & be a Tewaaraton candidate by his senior year but I was younger & the JD lineage & my Section 3 favoritism played a role as well.
It's easy to draw the Evans comparison because he plays at J-D but, IMHO, Cook is the better HS player. I watched Evans 10-12 times from his Frosh-Senior years & while I was impressed & thought he'd be a star at SU, I didn't see a him do a ton of things that I thought would work against ACC comp., specifically from a speed/athleticism & shot velocity/placement standpoint. He also benefitted from playing alongside multiple D1 players & often against teams that were far overmatched & racked up a ton of assists hitting wide open cutters operating from X. I still recall him being held to a single goal & like 3 shots against a Garden City team featuring high D1 defenders in the state title game his senior year, it was eye opening (&, in hindsight, foreshadowing) how little he could do against them.
Wow, I'm rambling & in no way do I mean to slight or take anything away from Jordan...he's a great kid & I really appreciate/admire the positive attitude he maintained & what he did Senior year. It's been discussed ad nauseum but expectations were unfairly high & his injuries certainly didn't help.
Edit: I'd like to add that, while I'm not going to lie & say that I thought Rice was the better HS player (saw probably 5-6 of his games at Skan from Soph-Senior year), I can honestly say that I thought the gap between him & Evans was much smaller than their rankings & hype would indicate. I admit that I bought into the stats, hype, & #22 just like most & thought Evans would star & be a Tewaaraton candidate by his senior year but I was younger & the JD lineage & my Section 3 favoritism played a role as well.
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W'boro'Cuse315
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His jersey #2 in these highlights only enhances the likeness to a young Rice. He's always so calm & under control. Love how low he gets on his dodges/cuts, defenders aren't going to want to bend down to him & will swing sticks instead of taking body. Very technically & fundamentally sound, the hours/reps put in are evident.
JeremyCuse
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Next years class has the chance to be one of the best ever at SU. Cook, Magnan, Berkman, several other high end players and fingers crossed Austin Staats.
Powellfan
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What am I missing here about next year's class? Cook is rated in the 80's by IL and it is not like he is putting up Jordan Evans like numbers at JD (Ryan Archer had more points last year) - Managan is ranked highly but fell by 20 some spots in Xander's rankings ... Berkman looks like he has promise but I don't think is a top 10 type recruit. IL did a recruiting podcast recently and ranked the two analysts had SU class 15th and 10th ... I'm excited for those top level guys, but best ever seems like a stretch. I am legitimately asking what I am missing because I am curious why so many SU fans are so high.
ohmilax34
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I think I'm with you on this one. Cook is exciting. I think he'll score a lot of points this season. But he's really small. He seems tough though. Has SU had someone as small as him really contribute? Is he Sankey size?
Hot take: Peter Fiorini will be a better college middie than Magnan. Magnan dropped a lot and I don't think Xanders or IL likes dropping guys so much, because it looks bad.
It's hard to tell who is a top 10 recruit these days. See Dylan Molloy, Ben Reeves, Connor Fields. I like Berkman, but I really have no idea if he'll be a productive college attackman or something more or less.
There aren't a lot of other guys I'm super high on. I'm excited for Owen Hull (the defenseman from Rye), Seth Thornton (the fogo from Scarsdale). But who in this class is blowing up the High School scene in their area? Not Aburn, Lawton, the Kim twins, Dieball, Tanner Wood. Jack Kennedy has been injured, so I will wait to see how he does this spring.
MaxFischer
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Neither of you are missing anything. There are a lot of bad takes on this forum.
JeremyCuse
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There are other good classes for next year ie UVA, Maryland, Albany, Duke but anyone ranking this is the 15th best class is beyond clueless. Saying best ever was probably some hyperbole but this has the chance to be a really really good class.
First off Griffin Cook is a star, he's a stone cold lock barring injury to be an UA All-American and is the equivalent of a 5 star recruit. He clearly is not built like Dan Hardy but trust me this kid is going to be a star there a reason he had offers from all the blue bloods and Archer is at Hobart. That isn't a shot against Archer who I think is a hell of a player and could have played at SU and other blue blood type of teams but Cook has a ceiling that is extremely high and who will finally be the sole guy on this year JD team.
Magnan was ranked the #2 recuit in the nation last year and took a bit of a step back in the latest rankings. That said there are quotes out there from rival coaches sayhing he could have played middie in the ACC as a sophmore. Clearly his Jr year was a step back from his huge Soph year but he still put up 29-19 and I expect him to have a bounce back Seniro season with 60+ pts.
Aburn and Berkman are both high end attack recruits. Aburn is a bit more controversial in regards to how he might pan out at the high end D1 level but Berkman is basically re-writing the record books in Florida especially when it comes to assists. IL calls him a 5 tool attackmen Mikey Berkman's Inside Lacrosse recruiting evaluation
As Ohmilax noted above Peter Fiorini maybe the best middie recruit in the class and was way under radar until he blew up in the playoffs last year. Kid is big and strong with a wicked shot and basically but Bville on his back in the last game and nearly willed them to a win. Hes on track to be an UA-All American and assuming good health is on course for a Monster Sr season.
Owen Hill has been at the Hill Academy the last few years and has been well under the radar. Native player with some tremendous stick skills he is a dark horse for this class.
The Kim twins are more project players who will definitely red-shirt but are built to be two way middies. Those two are just scratching the surface.
Thornton and Washington have both put up pretty good numbers at the X and Washington especially looks like an intriguing player coming out of MN, his athleticism is off the charts.
Owen Hull is a high end defensemen who could have a chance to get early PT, kid had a ton of offers and is an UA-All American candidate.
Shahe Katchadurian is the lone goalie recruit for a reason, do yourself a favor and check out some of his highlights.
Of course we haven't mentioned Austin Staats yet who still appears on track to play in college and if he does it will most likely be at Syracuse. Obviously he will only have 2 years but you add him to a class of Cook, Fiorini, Magnan and Berkman, that is some serious talent.
ohmilax34
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Not only are many of these guys not dominating their local HS lacrosse scene, but there aren't a lot of multi-sport athletes dominating in other sports.
From what I remember, Thomas Washington, Owen Hull, Katchadurian and Seth Thornton play football. Fiorini used to play basketball. I don't know why he stopped. Kennedy may play basketball. And that's about it.
JeremyCuse
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The days of most lax guys being multi-sports stars is dieing a slow death. More and more players are concentrating specifically on Lax or playing just one other sport. Guys like Hackler from Skaneatlas are the exeption not the norm.
ohmilax34
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Unfortunately, I think you're right.
PhatOrange
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Ranking lacrosse players at this point is impossible and a silly exercise. There are too many really good kids playing lacrosse all over the place to see them all.
Might be worse than ranking HS football players because there are no centralized regional type NIKE combines. There's a billion showcases and they don't measure anything, they just throw kids on a court and roll a ball out.
imho, ranking Syracuse's class say 10th is splitting hairs, it's like arguing between a football class ranked 10th and 5th. Too many variables and factors.
Might be worse than ranking HS football players because there are no centralized regional type NIKE combines. There's a billion showcases and they don't measure anything, they just throw kids on a court and roll a ball out.
imho, ranking Syracuse's class say 10th is splitting hairs, it's like arguing between a football class ranked 10th and 5th. Too many variables and factors.
ohmilax34
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I agree. At this moment in time they might have the 10th most talent in this class, but in a couple years things will be very different for all classes. Guys leave, transfer in, transfer out, develop fast, develop slow, get injured, etc.
CuSeLaX
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Numbers can be deceiving. A kid from Michigan can score 100 points in one season playing subpar competition. Same kid wouldn't touch the field on better teams with better competition. A kid like Magnan scores a ton of points sophomore year what changed ? Well teams know who he is. He's getting there best defender and probably getting double teamed. And as far as Archer scoring more points, clearly Archer was a talented player and a senior. Don't underestimate how much a year can change a players game for the better. My main point is ranking players for college lacrosse is impossible now that more than the east coast has talented players. The high school game isn't covered like basketball and football is. So the guys doing the rankings can't possibly have all the information that causes the numbers. Wait to see these kids at Cuse before we decide how there career will go.
Great points, would add that certain teams (like JD, Victor, WG), have the tremendous benefit of strong youth development programs and therefore seldom have to rely on a single player. Evans played with strong players who've gone on to D1, D2 & D3 programs, Burns, Archer & Cook together made it impossible for teams to shut them down (How many high school programs in the country match up well with 3 All -American's at attack?) It will be interesting to see this year how JD's talented younger classes integrate with the older players.
Don't recall seeing or hearing too much about Magnan's high school team making impact at state level, it is nearly impossible for a single player to change outcomes at the team level without strong players around them; excited to see these kids make the transition to play for SU; as pointed out by members of the forum earlier, everyone can play today, success comes down to chemistry, desire and work ethic. Looking forward to another exciting and successful season by the most accomplished program in the country. HHH - GO ORANGE!!!
While I admittedly haven't seen Magnan play much, he & Cook are #24 & 25 in Recruiting Rundown, Cook posted 120+ points last year with JD playing a powerhouse schedule that included WG, FM, Fairport, Victor, Yorktown and Cold Spring Harbor, CAZ, another year like that and he'll surpass Evans' career scoring record at JD, additional recruits like Fiorini who is a monster at 6'3'', fast, strong and positively ill-tempered between the lines; heard he's putting up 225lbs 20+ times in his workout strength testing; he's a field smart, unselfish middle who's got freakish physical skills and is son of long-time B'ville coach Pete Fiorini. love the lacrosse IQ of these players but even more have watched them play for their schools and clubs and both bringing huge hearts, intensive competitive desire and still improving stick skills to the party...while recruiting evaluations are VERY subjective this class has the opportunity to do some very special things at SU.
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W'boro'Cuse315
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Real recognizes real.
Orangtiz
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Game recognize game. Love it.
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