New Director of HS Relations: Dennis Thomas

[LeMoyneCuse]

Yup and Penn st, ND have first dibs.

Just as significantly, the last three top recruits from the state are at TAMU, Ole Miss, and Ole Miss.

 

[kcsu]

I love the emphasis on the east. Texas Hawaii etc. are fine for the one off but SU is never going to make a living recruiting those areas. Same with the Midwest.
Focus on NJ NY PA Canada Florida as primary zone. Mid Atlantic SC and GA as secondary and fill from wherever else you can. Bread and butter need to be in the primary zone and I'm glad Dino is finally making an effort.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

I love the emphasis on the east. Texas Hawaii etc. are fine for the one off but SU is never going to make a living recruiting those areas. Same with the Midwest.
Focus on NJ NY PA Canada Florida as primary zone. Mid Atlantic SC and GA as secondary and fill from wherever else you can. Bread and butter need to be in the primary zone and I'm glad Dino is finally making an effort.

Everyone recruits Florida. Georgia and NC are booming and are less traditional hotbeds than Florida. The staff needs to think differently, not traditionally.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Everyone recruits Florida. Georgia and NC are booming and are less traditional hotbeds than Florida. The staff needs to think differently, not traditionally.

With the competition from the transfer portal I think you are going to see HS prospects rethinking their recruitment. More HS kids are going to be recruited by and commit to schools farther from home as football programs go outside their "normal" recruiting footprint to get the best HS talent available.

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[MadNY3]

Coach Babers take the opportunity to make an upgrade when filling a vacancy once again. I think this is a great hire.

But we will have to see what happens down the road to know for sure.

You nailed it.

I wish Babers had figured out that he should divest from his band of assistants he brought in to invest in coaches that could recruit in the NE. He’s done a phenomenal job in the offseason getting guys with ties to NJ and CT/MA.

Took six+ years to figure this out. Autry, on the hoops side, figured this out in six days with his outside hire.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Looking at Twitter Thomas seems to be handling invitations to prospect camp at SU and the invitations aren't only to kids in the NE...and they shouldn't be.

 

[zjscuse]

If this is actually the approach, I think this is a terrible idea. EVERYBODY recruits New Jersey.

The Top 25 players in NJ in 2023 committed to 20 different schools. In 2022, the Top 25 committed to 15 different schools. It's a small state, and while it's talent rich, you're not going to snag 5 or 6 guys who are ACC quality but are also the type of recruit Syracuse can land when EVERYONE is putting an emphasis on New Jersey.

So we should just ignore it and that then years later scream why didn’t we put more resources into recruiting New Jersey we were to scared ?!?!?!

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

So we should just ignore it and that then years later scream why didn’t we put more resources into recruiting New Jersey we were to scared ?!?!?!

We don’t ignore it. There are always players on the roster from NJ.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

So we should just ignore it and that then years later scream why didn’t we put more resources into recruiting New Jersey we were to scared ?!?!?!

Also, the conversation years later is going to be "why wasn't there more talent on the roster?" Where the talent went to high school is unimportant once they've already enrolled.

 

[qdawgg]

Also, the conversation years later is going to be "why wasn't there more talent on the roster?" Where the talent went to high school is unimportant once they've already enrolled.

But the resources necessary to get 6-8 players across the country are far different than 6-8 players in the NE or on the east coast. We aren’t a school throwing $ at recruiting because we can’t. We have to maximize the $ we have and part of that equation is focusing on players closer to us.

 

[Ozone!]

You nailed it.

I wish Babers had figured out that he should divest from his band of assistants he brought in to invest in coaches that could recruit in the NE. He’s done a phenomenal job in the offseason getting guys with ties to NJ and CT/MA.

Took six+ years to figure this out. Autry, on the hoops side, figured this out in six days with his outside hire.

In fairness HCAA has had many years to figure out who he would hire as assistants at Syracuse while on Boeheim’s staff!

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

But the resources necessary to get 6-8 players across the country are far different than 6-8 players in the NE or on the east coast. We aren’t a school throwing $ at recruiting because we can’t. We have to maximize the $ we have and part of that equation is focusing on players closer to us.

HUDL, my friend. The staff is ID'ing the players that they're interested in by watching their tape and then reaching out. They're not doing the old Bud parable of scouring the countryside for talent in person.

Take Cohoon for example. A flight or two out to Wichita for a staffer or two and a couple of flights for him and his family to Syracuse isn't breaking anyone's recruiting budget.

 

[qdawgg]

HUDL, my friend. The staff is ID'ing the players that they're interested in by watching their tape and then reaching out. They're not doing the old Bud parable of scouring the countryside for talent in person.

Take Cohoon for example. A flight or two out to Wichita for a staffer or two and a couple of flights for him and his family to Syracuse isn't breaking anyone's recruiting budget.

Of course not but then multiply that over 100’s of kids getting offers each year. We aren’t the only school visiting these kids. So the chances we get starter quality players by offering b/c we watched their HUDL video, just like every other school is doing, is a little pie in the sky.

The resources necessary to fly around the country to meet kids who are being recruited heavily by schools closer to them, seems like a very low margin strategy. The type of players we’ll probably get on campus who live 1000+ miles away are players were competing with, nobody has ever heard of, D2 schools.

I think you actually made my point with Cohoon. He didn’t even have an offer from Kansas or Kansas state. His offer sheet is pretty weak. I think Ithaca Matt did a good job pointing out his potential flaws. We have no idea if he can play the position at the ACC level. At this point he’s a project with speed. We’re not going to make bowl games with a roster of projects from around the country.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Of course not but then multiply that over 100’s of kids getting offers each year. We aren’t the only school visiting these kids. So the chances we get starter quality players by offering b/c we watched their HUDL video, just like every other school is doing, is a little pie in the sky.

The resources necessary to fly around the country to meet kids who are being recruited heavily by schools closer to them, seems like a very low margin strategy. The type of players we’ll probably get on campus who live 1000+ miles away are players were competing with, nobody has ever heard of, D2 schools.

I think you actually made my point with Cohoon. He didn’t even have an offer from Kansas or Kansas state. His offer sheet is pretty weak. I think Ithaca Matt did a good job pointing out his potential flaws. We have no idea if he can play the position at the ACC level. At this point he’s a project with speed. We’re not going to make bowl games with a roster of projects from around the country.

They're not meeting everyone in person. They evaluate, offer, gauge interest, then pursue. And just because you write a player off before he sets foot on campus doesn't mean the strategy is flawed.

The spring roster has 20 players from more than 1,000 miles away from Syracuse, with 13 expected to contribute in some way, shape, or form. (Simmons is from Texas, Price is from Arizona, Stonehouse is from California, Mang is from Germany, Ellis is from Hawaii, More is from Tennessee. Also, Mason, Gadsden, Wilson, Delaine, Ingraham, Jones, Denaburg, Nolton are from Florida. Lamson is also from California, but I didn't include him in the "expected contributor" list.)

 

[kcsu]

But the resources necessary to get 6-8 players across the country are far different than 6-8 players in the NE or on the east coast. We aren’t a school throwing $ at recruiting because we can’t. We have to maximize the $ we have and part of that equation is focusing on players closer to us.

We need to build a presence in key high schools key areas. Thats the foundation of successful recruiting. SU can do that in its core areas. It will never do it states like Texas regardless of how many good players are there.

 

[money3189]

Of course not but then multiply that over 100’s of kids getting offers each year. We aren’t the only school visiting these kids. So the chances we get starter quality players by offering b/c we watched their HUDL video, just like every other school is doing, is a little pie in the sky.

The resources necessary to fly around the country to meet kids who are being recruited heavily by schools closer to them, seems like a very low margin strategy. The type of players we’ll probably get on campus who live 1000+ miles away are players were competing with, nobody has ever heard of, D2 schools.

I think you actually made my point with Cohoon. He didn’t even have an offer from Kansas or Kansas state. His offer sheet is pretty weak. I think Ithaca Matt did a good job pointing out his potential flaws. We have no idea if he can play the position at the ACC level. At this point he’s a project with speed. We’re not going to make bowl games with a roster of projects from around the country.

You recruit anyone that makes your team better. There is no guarantee that the extra amount of time recruiting northeast kids will lead to more of them choosing SU. Even if they choose Cuse there's no guarantee they pan out. Yes, you have to put the most time into your region but you also have to recruit other areas just in case. Its a mixed bag for us. Our best guys have been from states like Oregon North Carolina DMV, FL Canada and NYC/NJ. Lamson might be the heir apparent to GS and he's a Cali kid. You dont have to travel as much these days. You have satelitte camps, more quality video tools to evaluate. They have zoom, skype, face time, social media. Its not hard to recruit kids from far distance anymore. This is not exclusive to SU. Everyone does this.

 

[money3189]

They're not meeting everyone in person. They evaluate, offer, gauge interest, then pursue. And just because you write a player off before he sets foot on campus doesn't mean the strategy is flawed.

This is like saying I saw flaws in Malcolm Folk's film so we shouldnt recruit north east as hard.

 

[qdawgg]

They're not meeting everyone in person. They evaluate, offer, gauge interest, then pursue. And just because you write a player off before he sets foot on campus doesn't mean the strategy is flawed.

The spring roster has 20 players from more than 1,000 miles away from Syracuse, with 13 expected to contribute in some way, shape, or form. (Simmons is from Texas, Price is from Arizona, Stonehouse is from California, Mang is from Germany, Ellis is from Hawaii, More is from Tennessee. Also, Mason, Gadsden, Wilson, Delaine, Ingraham, Jones, Denaburg, Nolton are from Florida. Lamson is also from California, but I didn't include him in the "expected contributor" list.)

I'm not saying that strategy is flawed. I'm saying that you don't do that while forgetting some of your home areas like NJ, as it seemed like you were suggesting we shouldn't focus on as much. IMO, it doesn't make a lot of sense to focus on 10 kids in 10 different states 1000 miles away when you can spend the same amount of $ focusing on 25 kids in a closer local region.

I don't disagree with everything you're saying btw.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

I'm not saying that strategy is flawed. I'm saying that you don't do that while forgetting some of your home areas like NJ, as it seemed like you were suggesting we shouldn't focus on as much. IMO, it doesn't make a lot of sense to focus on 10 kids in 10 different states 1000 miles away when you can spend the same amount of $ focusing on 25 kids in a closer local region.

What do you have in mind when you talk about recruiting dollars? Getting people on the ground?

If you need to have someone once a week in Bergen County for four months to secure a Bosco guy, that adds up too.

 

[qdawgg]

They're not meeting everyone in person. They evaluate, offer, gauge interest, then pursue. And just because you write a player off before he sets foot on campus doesn't mean the strategy is flawed.

You're making a big leap in saying I'm writing him off. There's a ton of in between you're forgetting trying to make your point. I don't think there's anything wrong with wondering if a kid in Kansas that has VERY limited offers (we were competing with Umass and Pennsylvania) is the type of player we should focus time/$ to target.

I haven't written him off, I also see nothing wrong with questioning the direction. Let's be honest, overall our track record recruiting WR's has been really bad when you factor in amount of scholarships used on WR's and impact players that have resulted from those schollies.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

You're making a big leap in saying I'm writing him off. There's a ton of in between you're forgetting trying to make your point. I don't think there's anything wrong with wondering if a kid in Kansas that has VERY limited offers (we were competing with Umass and Pennsylvania) is the type of player we should focus time/$ to target.

I haven't written him off, I also see nothing wrong with questioning the direction. Let's be honest, overall our track record recruiting WR's has been really bad when you factor in amount of scholarships used on WR's and impact players that have resulted from those schollies.

Cohoon is just an example of process and process is the scope I want to stick with.

I interpret a guy like Cohoon as an example of fit. The staff is ultimately looking for under-the-radar guys who fit the system they want to run, regardless of who else offered them. And to my point, it's easier to find those guys if you cast a wide net.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[qdawgg]

Cohoon is just an example of process and process is the scope I want to stick with.

I interpret a guy like Cohoon as an example of fit. The staff is ultimately looking for under-the-radar guys who fit the system they want to run, regardless of who else offered them. And to my point, it's easier to find those guys if you cast a wide net.

That’s fair. Like I said, I don’t completely disagree with you.

 

[CuseLegacy]

HUDL, my friend. The staff is ID'ing the players that they're interested in by watching their tape and then reaching out. They're not doing the old Bud parable of scouring the countryside for talent in person.

Take Cohoon for example. A flight or two out to Wichita for a staffer or two and a couple of flights for him and his family to Syracuse isn't breaking anyone's recruiting budget.

Just an fyi prospects only get one expenses paid visit with two family members for an official visit. All the other times kids visit campus is on their dime. And right now there are kids flying all over the country to visit schools and in June they will do the same to attend camps.