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

[baggerbob]

The fact that he cherry picks transfer rankings says it all. He just wants to be negative. It’s not even being contrarian at this point.

If he paid attention, he’d see we are many recruits first D 1 offer. the kid just happened to jump on it because he wants to be here. Most don’t.

And the recruiting for the high school players is almost the same. We didn't bring in a lot of good transfers this year. That's the difference in the rankings.
We had to replace a lot of players who didn't fit the program last year.
Fran had a chance this year to evaluate the current players and didn't feel he needed as many transfers.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I have no idea if this kid will pan out or not. That said

Call me crazy, but I never buy the "our staff is better at evaluating talent" than yours. Fran is a great recruiter no doubt but those putting all their cards in the " the measurables are all better" and that Fran is some type of savant when it comes to evaluating talent, I am sorry I just don't buy it. He may be very good at it but so are many others on different staffs. What he is doing is hitting the right areas and offering a lot more Northeast kids and just like any other coach at Syracuse how well will he develops these kids is where the rubber will meet the road. He also took what 35 kids in this class he can afford a few more misses here

On paper anyone singing who is ecstatic with the 2025 recruiting class is just glazing Fran as my kids would say. I thought Fran would do better, I thought there would be more pop and sizzle. Sorry but the limitations at Syracuse are still there even with arguably the best recruiter in college football. The nice thing is Fran doesn't ever use it as an excuse

 

[richmondcuse03]

And the recruiting for the high school players is almost the same. We didn't bring in a lot of good transfers this year. That's the difference in the rankings.
We had to replace a lot of players who didn't fit the program last year.
Fran had a chance this year to evaluate the current players and didn't feel he needed as many transfers.

Yup. I fully expect a bump in 2026 rankings. If we don’t see it I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong. But recruiting HS takes a few years to show big results in terms of the top ranked guys. We got a top 200 guy already. We’re in the mix for some very highly rated guys.

 

[richmondcuse03]

Call me crazy, but I never buy the "our staff is better at evaluating talent" than yours. Fran is a great recruiter no doubt but those putting all their cards in the " the measurables are all better" and that Fran is some type of savant when it comes to evaluating talent, I am sorry I just don't buy it. What he is doing is hitting the right areas and offering a lot more Northeast kids and just like any other coach at Syracuse how well will he develop these kids and that is where the rubber will meet the road.

Agree on long term development. He said as much on day one. It’s how you succeed here.

Plus It’s a numbers game yes. But most kids are 3 stars. Once you get past the top 500 recruits it’s a bit of a crap shoot. You want guys that fit your system and have the intangibles you like. You won’t hit on all. But you want to hit on more than you lose. It’s hard to argue we haven’t raised the floor of who we’re recruiting. As I said above, we’re starting to land a lot more of the top 500 types than we ever have.

 

[oldpinepoint]

2024 was good because of existing connections, he was behind on 2025 and he acknowledged that and expect a ranking drop off, 2026 was where the fun was going start as it takes 2-3 years to build relationships. Some of you just don’t want to be excited, I get it you have been burned by the last few staffs. It’s a defense mechanism. Do I think Fran and crew are better talent evaluators, TBD. what I think they do exceptionally well is build relationships, that helps find kids who were under recruited.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Agree on long term development. He said as much on day one. It’s how you succeed here.

Plus It’s a numbers game yes. But most kids are 3 stars. Once you get past the top 500 recruits it’s a bit of a crap shoot. You want guys that fit your system and have the intangibles you like. You won’t hit on all. But you want to hit on more than you lose. It’s hard to argue we haven’t raised the floor of who we’re recruiting. As I said above, we’re starting to land a lot more of the top 500 types than we ever have.

I agree. Floor raised but not a ton of pop and sizzle in this 25 class but we said the same with Dino's kids. The success of it will be seen a few years down the road.

I have zero issue with the approach, as you said it's the right path at Syracuse and that will never change. As in all of recruiting and stars aside, some kids will hit, some will miss.

 

[bnoro]

I have no idea if this kid will pan out or not. That said

Call me crazy, but I never buy the "our staff is better at evaluating talent" than yours. Fran is a great recruiter no doubt but those putting all their cards in the " the measurables are all better" and that Fran is some type of savant when it comes to evaluating talent, I am sorry I just don't buy it. He may be very good at it but so are many others on different staffs. What he is doing is hitting the right areas and offering a lot more Northeast kids and just like any other coach at Syracuse how well will he develops these kids is where the rubber will meet the road. He also took what 35 kids in this class he can afford a few more misses here

On paper anyone singing who is ecstatic with the 2025 recruiting class is just glazing Fran as my kids would say. I thought Fran would do better, I thought there would be more pop and sizzle. Sorry but the limitations at Syracuse are still there even with arguably the best recruiter in college football. The nice thing is Fran doesn't ever use it as an excuse

Sure, this is a fair take. I don't think our 2025 class is absolutely amazing either.

But to just post "this one site has our class ranked 59" is a ridiculously negative thing to do. If we hit on 15/35 kids being contributors, it's a great class, and the rest will move elsewhere.

It's a different world now, whereas 10 years ago a class like this not panning out would completely destroy a team.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

2024 was good because of existing connections, he was behind on 2025 and he acknowledged that and expect a ranking drop off, 2026 was where the fun was going start as it takes 2-3 years to build relationships. Some of you just don’t want to be excited, I get it you have been burned by the last few staffs. It’s a defense mechanism. Do I think Fran and crew are better talent evaluators, TBD. what I think they do exceptionally well is build relationships, that helps find kids who were under recruited.

good post, Success on the field gets me excited. This year is going to be a tough one but 6-7 wins would be unreal, IMO

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Sure, this is a fair take. I don't think our 2025 class is absolutely amazing either.

But to just post "this one site has our class ranked 59" is a ridiculously negative thing to do. If we hit on 15/35 kids being contributors, it's a great class, and the rest will move elsewhere.

It's a different world now, whereas 10 years ago a class like this not panning out would completely destroy a team.

Rankings tend to get bunched together outside the real bluebloods anyway. THE NYS kids and many from the Northeast smaller programs also play football 4 months a year, they need time even from the bigger programs. It's always going to be a battle to get top end talent here but hopefully some of these kids with great measurables pan out and climb the ladder.

 

[PhatOrange]

I have no idea if this kid will pan out or not. That said

Call me crazy, but I never buy the "our staff is better at evaluating talent" than yours. Fran is a great recruiter no doubt but those putting all their cards in the " the measurables are all better" and that Fran is some type of savant when it comes to evaluating talent, I am sorry I just don't buy it. He may be very good at it but so are many others on different staffs. What he is doing is hitting the right areas and offering a lot more Northeast kids and just like any other coach at Syracuse how well will he develops these kids is where the rubber will meet the road. He also took what 35 kids in this class he can afford a few more misses here

On paper anyone singing who is ecstatic with the 2025 recruiting class is just glazing Fran as my kids would say. I thought Fran would do better, I thought there would be more pop and sizzle. Sorry but the limitations at Syracuse are still there even with arguably the best recruiter in college football. The nice thing is Fran doesn't ever use it as an excuse

Glazing as my kids would say - lol.

 

[upperdeck]

The question is that we can see from all the ranking sites is that once you go past about the first few hundred kids with all the star value the 3 star and belows get little review or none at all.

thousands and thousands of kids get lumped together . if you dont think there are tons of kids in that range that are talented thats just not true. They get missed all the time by coaches.

That is why so many go to lower level schools and get poached a yr or 2 down the road.

3-4 yrs from now we will know if Fran can recruit or if Fran can evaluate.

Just like the NFL draft and kids come from schools no one every watches and get to the Pros

You could make a Championship roster every of kids who were just low 3 star types if you were the best evaluator in the country. Those kids are out there.

Maybe Fran is good at finding the kids and getting them on the roster now instead of getting than from a G5 2 yrs from now? Who knows

But it also possible that the kids are not much better than the last 10 yrs of kids, but the culture is better, they play as a team better, that they are physically better? That DART works.

2027 when Fr are SR and the team is full of his kids, thats when we really start to see

 

[MamesJungro]

The problem a lot of folks see is that we’re taking early commitments from three-star prospects with good measurables—guys who, for the most part, are backup plans for bigger programs. That’s not to say they won’t pan out (this kid seems great!), but it’s surprising that the best recruiter in the country, fresh off a 10-win season, is playing moneyball with Western NY guys and IMG B teamers.

 

[tep624]

I see both sides of this. Fran set a high bar for the 2024 class. But, he was aided in that high bar by timing - he came in pre-loaded with a few guys from recruiting for Georgia (Edwards and Barnes). The 2025 class is largely a Syracuse class. It’s heavier on developmental prospects than I’m probably comfortable with, but Fran was pretty up front about the fact that they were going to recruit the NE hard and bring in guys with potential regardless of what the sites said. So that’s what he’s executing. And we’ll know in the next few years whether it was succesful or not.

We have been involved with a lot of high end prospects for 2025 and we haven’t had as much success with those profile recruits as we did in 2024. That’s a realistic take. 2026 does seem to be turning the corner with the early returns thus far, and I expect some portion of every class dedicated to developmental prospects like Pickard. So we’ll see what happens as the class shapes up. Remember Samuels technically would have been 2026 had he not reclassified as well.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

The problem a lot of folks see is that we’re taking early commitments from three-star prospects with good measurables—guys who, for the most part, are backup plans for bigger programs. That’s not to say they won’t pan out (this kid seems great!), but it’s surprising that the best recruiter in the country, fresh off a 10-win season, is playing moneyball with Western NY guys and IMG B teamers.

3 of the best recruiters in the country off a 10-3 season its is surprising. Mabe the limitations about recruiting at Syracuse that have been spoken about at nauseum are actually a reality. Now I love that you will never hear Fran say that though

 

[SmilinBob]

3 of the best recruiters in the country off a 10-3 season its is surprising. Mabe the limitations about recruiting at Syracuse that have been spoken about at nauseum are actually a reality. Now I love that you will never hear Fran say that though

It's also possible along with many other factors some recruits are taking a wait and see how this goes. Dino won 10 and flopped immediately after.

I think this young man will stick and work his butt of to prove the skeptics wrong and Fran right.