Class of 2026 OL Steven Pickard (FL) COMMITTED TO SYRACUSE (1/25/25)

[SuFTW]

Reminds me of the St Aquinas OL that had measurable’s but were mostly DII recruits that never ended playing.

There is a big difference between being a junior on IMG’s A squad and B squad. Could have got him whenever we wanted imo.

You don’t know that the kid wouldn’t move on himself if we don’t offer or accept his commit.

 

[sutomcat]

Reminds me of the St Aquinas OL that had measurable’s but were mostly DII recruits that never ended playing.

There is a big difference between being a junior on IMG’s A squad and B squad. Could have got him whenever we wanted imo.

The IMG national roster OL for 2024 was pretty good. I am not sure him not making that team means he is a bad player.


If you know Fran Brown and how he does things at all, you know he has immense confidence in his ability to assess talent. He doesn’t care about recruiting services or offers from other schools.

I am sure he will screw up on some of his offers. Everyone does. Trying to project how young men are going to develop years into the future is hard and mistakes will be made.

I will take my chances with what Fran thinks.

 

[richmondcuse03]

The IMG national roster OL for 2024 was pretty good. I am not sure him not making that team means he is a bad player.


If you know Fran Brown and how he does things at all, you know he has immense confidence in his ability to assess talent. He doesn’t care about recruiting services or offers from other schools.

I am sure he will screw up on some of his offers. Everyone does. Trying to project how young men are going to develop years into the future is hard and mistakes will be made.

I will take my chances with what Fran thinks.

Precisely. You also want guys who can peak in college and beyond. It's not an exact science -- it's a numbers game. And developmental spots are perfect for kids with measurables who want to be at Syracuse. Originally local kid, Syracuse fan, etc. He's less likely to transfer, too.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[GoSU96]

Reminds me of the St Aquinas OL that had measurable’s but were mostly DII recruits that never ended playing.

There is a big difference between being a junior on IMG’s A squad and B squad. Could have got him whenever we wanted imo.

If they wanted the kid what difference does it make?

 

[buffalorange]

What the heck uniform is Jake Pickard wearing in that syracuse.com article?

 

[orange126]

What the heck uniform is Jake Pickard wearing in that syracuse.com article?

Probably a pee wee or pop warner uni.

 

[upperdeck]

They just didn't pick him out of thin air. They must have seen film and talked with people. You don't get a on a kid early and offer without something they like.

 

[Noexcuse]

What the heck uniform is Jake Pickard wearing in that syracuse.com article?

FM colors and partial “Hornets” (RNE) visible

 

[richmondcuse03]

They just didn't pick him out of thin air. They must have seen film and talked with people. You don't get a on a kid early and offer without something they like.

also story says he is playing on the IMG national team this coming year, which means he was going to pick up more offers. with larger roster limits, this seems like a guy you get early based on his measurements. And he wants to be here.

 

[upperdeck]

IMG has tons of talent.. You could be really good and be better off playing on the B team than sitting on the national team

 

[Roger N]

The IMG national roster OL for 2024 was pretty good. I am not sure him not making that team means he is a bad player.


If you know Fran Brown and how he does things at all, you know he has immense confidence in his ability to assess talent. He doesn’t care about recruiting services or offers from other schools.

I am sure he will screw up on some of his offers. Everyone does. Trying to project how young men are going to develop years into the future is hard and mistakes will be made.

I will take my chances with what Fran thinks.

It appears to me that young Mr. Pickard had to wait his turn before making the "A" team. I'm no coach but, I can see from looking at his highlights that he can block and run and do offensive line stuff quite well.

I used to work in the office next door to Gary Pickard, who was a big SU sports fan. I don't think they are related though.

 

[buffalorange]

FM colors and partial “Hornets” (RNE) visible

Sorry. I wasn't clear. There's a photo in the Syracuse.com article about Steven Pickard. The photo is of Steve Pickard (our new recruit) and an SU player, Jake Pickard. The picture, taken in the dome, shows Jake Pickard in his SU uniform. It's probably before the 2016 Colgate game.

The uniform is pretty hellacious for an SU home uni. Gray jersey and blue pants. No helmet in sight.

 

[Noexcuse]

FM colors and partial “Hornets”

Sorry. I wasn't clear. There's a photo in the Syracuse.com article about Steven Pickard. The photo is of Steve Pickard (our new recruit) and an SU player, Jake Pickard. The picture, taken in the dome, shows Jake Pickard in his SU uniform. It's probably before the 2016 Colgate game.

The uniform is pretty hellacious for an SU home uni. Gray jersey and blue pants. No helmet in sight.

Ah. Now I see. That’s the traditional gray uni that Nike designed for SU. You have to go back to never to find pics of SU teams wearing them. Unless you are looking at old black and white newspaper photos.

 

[Toga]

Does anybody where exactly that 34" arm length is measuring from?

It definitely isn't dress shirt size, which is from center of your back, to shoulder to wrist... A 34" shirt size would be tiny for a 6'5" guy, and his wingspan of 6'8 implies longer arms.

I've read that many NFL teams strongly prefer 34" arms or greater, and some won't even evaluate offensive tackles with shorter than 33" arms.

So? What is that measurement actually measuring?

I was told size doesn't matter

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[GoSU96]

Hey he might be a 3 star, he might be a 6-5 315 rising senior, he might really want to be here, but he shouldn’t be a take.

Did I read this right?

 

[sutomcat]

Hey he might be a 3 star, he might be a 6-5 315 rising senior, he might really want to be here, but he shouldn’t be a take.

Did I read this right?

I think people are unhappy we are his first offer. And that he couldn’t beat out the 5 guys on the national IMG OL that all have 30+ offers for a starting position.

Not sure people understand how good the competition is for starting positions at IMG right now.

The big test regarding how good he is for me is whether he can win a starting position on the national team next season. We already know he is moving to that team and I am pretty sure he is being counted on to be one of their starters. If he does that, he is going to get a lot more offers.

From his film, I expect him to have a really good senior season. This guy can play.

 

[anomander]

I think people are unhappy we are his first offer. And that he couldn’t beat out the 5 guys on the national IMG OL that all have 30+ offers for a starting position.

Not sure people understand how good the competition is for starting positions at IMG right now.

The big test regarding how good he is for me is whether he can win a starting position on the national team next season. We already know he is moving to that team and I am pretty sure he is being counted on to be one of their starters. If he does that, he is going to get a lot more offers.

From his film, I expect him to have a really good senior season. This guy can play.

I wasn’t going to respond to this thread anymore but that’s the thing. We are well aware of how good IMG is. It’s easily the most recruited and visited feeder program in the country. That’s why no matter how much i like Fran Brown, i just don’t think he’s so much better at evaluating talent that coaches who have been highly successful for decades aren’t able to identify someone even though he’s on their B team.

People have pumped up similar kids for the last 20 years and where has that got us. Our overall class rank for 2025 is 59th. That’s barely better than previously classes and a big drop from Fran’s great 2024 class that was 36th.

 

[sutomcat]

I wasn’t going to respond to this thread anymore but that’s the thing. We are well aware of how good IMG is. It’s easily the most recruited and visited feeder program in the country. That’s why no matter how much i like Fran Brown, i just don’t think he’s so much better at evaluating talent that coaches who have been highly successful for decades aren’t able to identify someone even though he’s on their B team.

People have pumped up similar kids for the last 20 years and where has that got us. Our overall class rank for 2025 is 59th. That’s barely better than previously classes and a big drop from Fran’s great 2024 class that was 36th.

You are entitled to your opinion and perhaps you will be right on this.

No offense to you but I think Coach Brown is more credible when he takes a flyer on a player than Coach Babers.

And I think your data is troubled too. Where are you getting that the 2025 Syracuse class was ranked 59th?

247 says 42nd.

https://247sports.com/season/2025-football/compositeteamrankings/

RIvals says 38th.

https://n./team_rankings/2025/all-teams/football/recruiting

I think you have to copy the rIvals link to a browser for it to work.

These are significant improvements in what we have done historically.

If you thought we were going to get top 10 classes immediately, you thought wrong. That isn't going to happen.

It takes years to build bonds and trust with top recruits. A bunch are going to priortize the schools that pay the most and Syracuse will never be one of those.

But if you are paying attention, you will see the extra time the staff has had with the 2026 class is making an impact.

 

[GoSU96]

You are entitled to your opinion and perhaps you will be right on this.

No offense to you but I think Coach Brown is more credible when he takes a flyer on a player than Coach Babers.

And I think your data is troubled too. Where are you getting that the 2025 Syracuse class was ranked 59th?

247 says 42nd.

https://247sports.com/season/2025-football/compositeteamrankings/

RIvals says 38th.

https://n./team_rankings/2025/all-teams/football/recruiting

I think you have to copy the rIvals link to a browser for it to work.

These are significant improvements in what we have done historically.

If you thought we were going to get top 10 classes immediately, you thought wrong. That isn't going to happen.

It takes years to build bonds and trust with top recruits. A bunch are going to priortize the schools that pay the most and Syracuse will never be one of those.

But if you are paying attention, you will see the extra time the staff has had with the 2026 class is making an impact.

HS rankings SU is about 40th on average. The transfer rankings drove down the overall a lot, which is weird because the small group includes three SEC guys. The inclusion of the kicker and Fran’s son crushed the average.

 

[bnoro]

I wasn’t going to respond to this thread anymore but that’s the thing. We are well aware of how good IMG is. It’s easily the most recruited and visited feeder program in the country. That’s why no matter how much i like Fran Brown, i just don’t think he’s so much better at evaluating talent that coaches who have been highly successful for decades aren’t able to identify someone even though he’s on their B team.

People have pumped up similar kids for the last 20 years and where has that got us. Our overall class rank for 2025 is 59th. That’s barely better than previously classes and a big drop from Fran’s great 2024 class that was 36th.

Maybe if he has a bad senior year we'll cut him loose.

But if he camped here and has a connection here then we clearly have a leg up on the evaluation process, and again, who cares what one site says our overall class rank is.