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

[Ozone!]

Steven, welcome to​

 

[CuseLegacy]

Gentlemen, Steven Pickard please.

 

[anomander]

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.

Cherry picking? Maybe you haven’t been paying attention but most schools have 15-20+ transfers per class these last 2 years. Minimum 10 - 15. So why wouldn’t you factor transfer rankings into the overall class ranking considering those now include 1/3 - 1/2 transfers? Nobody said anything in 2024 when our transfer haul helped us to an overall 36 ranking. I was celebrating along with everyone else.

The ironic thing is when everyone was all about pounding the portal 2-3 years ago i also had a very unpopular take saying we will always have a hard time being successful in the portal because we can’t compete financially. No matter what Fran said about recruiting high schoolers don’t you think he factored that into the equation? We’re basically doing what we have to, which runs a risk of losing the HS kids that we do develop because you’re going to be recruiting them for 3 years. I like Fran as much as anyone but it’s going to be a risk long-term. That’s not even to mention, even Clemson, who routinely had high school recruiting classes jam packed with some of best prospects in the country suddenly begin to struggle because peer schools and below started to utilize plug and play transfers. One of the best coaches and recruiters in the country for well over a decade started to get heat using that same strategy and their program is a level above ours.

Other than that it’s almost like people have amnesia or maybe selective amnesia. We’ve had our George McDonald “super” recruiters (yea i’m being sarcastic) come and go. Sure i like Fran a ton more than him but at the time everyone was beating the same exact drum on trust the staff. I hope i’m wrong more than anyone, and it will come down to player development, but even if we fully develop half our class and then hang onto them for 3-4 years, i’ll still trade you these classes full of 3 stars and i’ll go ahead and take the programs that consistently finish inside the top 25-30 with a classes close to half full of 4stars. Like everyone says, it’s easy to identify the kids who have the height, weight, speed, etc. You develop them and you have a handful or more of future pro’s.

And for the record, my 2 favorite recruits in the 2025 class are our 0 star Canadians.

 

[SuFTW]

What is your reference to state that most teams are brining in 15-20 transfers per year? The teams at the top of the portal rankings generally are, but I did not see a list of numbers for all teams.
Are you weighting losses to the portal against the number of players bright in?

George McDonald? Seriously?

 

[bnoro]

Cherry picking? Maybe you haven’t been paying attention but most schools have 15-20+ transfers per class these last 2 years. Minimum 10 - 15. So why wouldn’t you factor transfer rankings into the overall class ranking considering those now include 1/3 - 1/2 transfers? Nobody said anything in 2024 when our transfer haul helped us to an overall 36 ranking. I was celebrating along with everyone else.

The ironic thing is when everyone was all about pounding the portal 2-3 years ago i also had a very unpopular take saying we will always have a hard time being successful in the portal because we can’t compete financially. No matter what Fran said about recruiting high schoolers don’t you think he factored that into the equation? We’re basically doing what we have to, which runs a risk of losing the HS kids that we do develop because you’re going to be recruiting them for 3 years. I like Fran as much as anyone but it’s going to be a risk long-term. That’s not even to mention, even Clemson, who routinely had high school recruiting classes jam packed with some of best prospects in the country suddenly begin to struggle because peer schools and below started to utilize plug and play transfers. One of the best coaches and recruiters in the country for well over a decade started to get heat using that same strategy and their program is a level above ours.

Other than that it’s almost like people have amnesia or maybe selective amnesia. We’ve had our George McDonald super recruiters come and go. Sure i like Fran a ton more than him but at the time everyone was beating the same exact drum on trust the staff. I hope i’m wrong more than anyone, and it will come down to player development, but even if we fully develop half our class and then hang onto them for 3-4 years, i’ll still trade you these classes full of 3 stars and i’ll go ahead and take the programs that consistently finish inside the top 25-30 with a classes close to half full of 4stars. Like everyone says, it’s easy to identify the kids who have the height, weight, speed, etc. You develop them and you have a handful or more of future pro’s.

And for the record, my 2 favorite recruits in the 2025 class are our 0 star Canadians.

"George McDonald super recruiter"

 

[anomander]

"George McDonald super recruiter"

Never my label. I always said he was overrated …., shockingly to negative comments saying otherwise

 

[anomander]

What is your reference to state that most teams are brining in 15-20 transfers per year? The teams at the top of the portal rankings generally are, but I did not see a list of numbers for all teams.
Are you weighting losses to the portal against the number of players bright in?

George McDonald? Seriously?

it’s not hard to search . take a look