This is the happiest I've been about Cuse football since...

[Trueblue25]

We absolutely humiliated the Mountaineers in the Pinstripe bowl.

Grabbing Neal to be paired with RW and the other weapons we accumulated is huge and I gotta give kudos to the staff. Recruiting wise we are getting closer and closer to where we want to be. Nice seeing continual progress and keeping the fans etc. in this despite the lack of recent success on the field.

Go Orange.

 

[StanCuse44]

We absolutely humiliated the Mountaineers in the Pinstripe bowl.

Grabbing Neal to be paired with RW and the other weapons we accumulated is huge and I gotta give kudos to the staff. Recruiting wise we are getting closer and closer to where we want to be. Nice seeing continual progress and keeping the fans etc. in this despite the lack of recent success on the field.

Go Orange.

Spanking No. 9 Louisville at the Dome earlier in the season was pretty sweet too. Ahhh, fond memories. Looking forward to - and praying for - more in the near future.

 

[007]

We absolutely humiliated the Mountaineers in the Pinstripe bowl.

Grabbing Neal to be paired with RW and the other weapons we accumulated is huge and I gotta give kudos to the staff. Recruiting wise we are getting closer and closer to where we want to be. Nice seeing continual progress and keeping the fans etc. in this despite the lack of recent success on the field.

Go Orange.

Gotta tell you TB, when I first read the title of your thread, I thought for sure when I opened the post it would say..... "yesterday."

 

[jekelish]

I know a lot of folks don't venture to the recruiting board. But I'm telling you, watch:


This is the talent, speed, and quickness we just landed today. Unbelievable.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

Been a good week on the recruiting trail. I agree that the staff is doing a good job in this regard. Now if they can coach the guys up and improve game day performance perhaps HCSS and Company will be around for a few more years, maybe longer.

 

[CuseOnly]

I know a lot of folks don't venture to the recruiting board. But I'm telling you, watch:


This is the talent, speed, and quickness we just landed today. Unbelievable.

His tape is just silly...I think he gets tackled before the end zone maybe 3 times in his whole highlight reel.

 

[CanadianSU]

I know a lot of folks don't venture to the recruiting board. But I'm telling you, watch:


This is the talent, speed, and quickness we just landed today. Unbelievable.

 

[skytop44]

I'm excited too but we still need to win games for Shafer to be around next year. Hoping we can!

 

[CTMick]

I know a lot of folks don't venture to the recruiting board. But I'm telling you, watch:


This is the talent, speed, and quickness we just landed today. Unbelievable.

I made a comment on the recruiting board for Moe. When you watch the tape, EVERY play is for a touchdown! From what i'm told, he gets three stars because of the competition he plays against. I watched Erv 6 times total in his Jr year for comparison , and he was the best player on the field... by far. Moe is a superstar, so impressed, so excited he is playing for Syracuse.

 

[RF2044]

It is AAAAAALLLLLLLLL going to come down to Lester, and whether or not he has the chops to be an OC. If he does, I expect this year to be much better than most prognosticators think. And we're recruiting like gangbusters coming off of a 3-9 year, so I'd love to see what the staff can do after a bowl season.

If not, well...

 

[SoBristol]

It is AAAAAALLLLLLLLL going to come down to Lester, and whether or not he has the chops to be an OC. If he does, I expect this year to be much better than most prognosticators think. And we're recruiting like gangbusters coming off of a 3-9 year, so I'd love to see what the staff can do after a bowl season.

If not, well...

Yes, we can build upon a bowl season.

Does it really all come down to Lester? The defense has to make a transition with 8 new starters -- a lot of underclassmen have to grow up quickly, before the October games. The secondary looks shaky and small --- can they play? We need McFarlane to provide a running game. We need Foy & Palmer to run block & protect, because OTs are a big factor in any offense. We need our key guys (Hunt, Thompson, Franklin, Ishmael) to stay healthy.

Lester's schemes and play-calling will be fine. You might as easily say it ALL comes down to Hunt, the OL, McFarlane ...

 

[TheCusian]

Yes, we can build upon a bowl season. Does it really all come down to Lester? The defense has to make a transition with 8 new starters -- a lot of underclassmen have to grow up quickly, before the October games. The secondary looks shaky and small --- can they play? We need McFarlane to provide a running game. We need Foy & Palmer to run block & protect, because OTs are a big factor in any offense. We need our key guys (Hunt, Thompson, Franklin, Ishmael) to stay healthy. Lester's schemes and play-calling will be fine. You might as easily say it ALL comes down to Hunt, the OL, McFarlane ...

Yeah - but if the offense takes off and the defense is mediocre? I'd be fine. I'm confident in our D coaches and scheme. The bigger question mark is offense, IMO.

 

[cuse309]

I look back on Hunts sophomore year, and remember how he and the offense were able to move the ball and score a bit with inferior talent. We were all expecting more of the same, or even an improvement his jr year. Yes he and the offense struggled from the get-go, but there were reasons. Some call them excuses, I call them reasons. The offensive line was compromised from day 1. The play calling was just ridiculous. We now find out that they used 1 cadence the whole year. It was a new offensive scheme.
Fast forward to this year, and we hopefully have a healthy line, better, more experienced talent at wr, hopefully a more effective offensive scheme with better play calling, a healthy and more mature, more seasoned Hunt, more home games, perhaps momentum (3-0) heading into LSU, and I have hope for this offense. Hell, maybe they'll go nuts and use 2 cadences this year. I'm optimistic that this offense can score enough points to help out this young, but talented defense enough to win 6 games.

 

[Scooch]

Yeah - but if the offense takes off and the defense is mediocre? I'd be fine. I'm confident in our D coaches and scheme. The bigger question mark is offense, IMO.

Yep, in the grand scheme of things, given me a potent offense and a mediocre D. At least then as a fan you always feel like you have a shot. I get that having a stout D leads to a greater likelihood for a championship...but I don't care about championships. It's not an expectation I have for SU. I just want to be entertained and win more than we lose.

If a few years from now were complaining about having an 8-9 win team that can't get "over the hump" because our D doesn't match our O, well then that'd be a fantastic problem to have.

 

[FrancoPizza]

I know a lot of folks don't venture to the recruiting board. But I'm telling you, watch:


This is the talent, speed, and quickness we just landed today. Unbelievable.

I don't understand why I'm the only one offering this counterpoint, but his speed and acceleration in these clips are good -but not what I consider elite. Also consider - when everyone else on the field runs a 5.5 you're going to look that much better.

That said - this is a good get. It will help us be competitive. But if we want to raise the 7-win ceiling to a 9 or 10, we still need to land 2 or 3 RW-types in every class going forward... in addition to the core of 3-stars that we have been building.

 

[jekelish]

I don't understand why I'm the only one offering this counterpoint, but his speed and acceleration in these clips are good -but not what I consider elite. Also consider - when everyone else on the field runs a 5.5 you're going to look that much better.

That said - this is a good get. It will help us be competitive. But if we want to raise the 7-win ceiling to a 9 or 10, we still need to land 2 or 3 RW-types in every class going forward... in addition to the core of 3-stars that we have been building.

4.39 is a 4.39 - I'm not sure what your argument about other guys being slower than Moe really means. There's really no arguing with his speed. It's a confirmed sub-4.4, which is outstanding for a 16 year old kid.

 

[Finwad32]

I don't understand why I'm the only one offering this counterpoint, but his speed and acceleration in these clips are good -but not what I consider elite. Also consider - when everyone else on the field runs a 5.5 you're going to look that much better.

That said - this is a good get. It will help us be competitive. But if we want to raise the 7-win ceiling to a 9 or 10, we still need to land 2 or 3 RW-types in every class going forward... in addition to the core of 3-stars that we have been building.

5.5 is a bit on an exaggeration. 3A ball in NC would at the very least be extremely competitive with AA ball in Section III. Honestly, I think the coaching and the athletes down there are significantly better on the whole. I'd be shocked if Forestview didn't mow through our AA teams here. With that, Moe clearly stands out at that level.

 

[TheCusian]

I don't understand why I'm the only one offering this counterpoint, but his speed and acceleration in these clips are good -but not what I consider elite. Also consider - when everyone else on the field runs a 5.5 you're going to look that much better. That said - this is a good get. It will help us be competitive. But if we want to raise the 7-win ceiling to a 9 or 10, we still need to land 2 or 3 RW-types in every class going forward... in addition to the core of 3-stars that we have been building.

Of course. But that's hardly something we can address this class. And momentum is a funny thing.

 

[JackBauer44]

5.5 is a bit on an exaggeration. 3A ball in NC would at the very least be extremely competitive with AA ball in Section III. Honestly, I think the coaching and the athletes down there are significantly better on the whole. I'd be shocked if Forestview didn't mow through our AA teams here. With that, Moe clearly stands out at that level.

As someone who coached in 3A ball in North Carolina - you are extremely right. I played against AA teams in Section III. I game-planed against 3A schools here in NC. There are studs here - and people don't realize, many players in North Carolina may not be ranked in Scout/Rivals, but many go on to play Divsion II ball, as there are so many D2 schools in the southern area. He isn't playing against total slouches.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Yeah - but if the offense takes off and the defense is mediocre? I'd be fine. I'm confident in our D coaches and scheme. The bigger question mark is offense, IMO.

That sums it up ever since Shafer arrived here, really. We absolutely have the right system and scheme defensively, so if it dips at some point chances are it'll pick back up. Offensively? Fingers crossed.

 

[dasher]

I'm excited too but we still need to win games for Shafer to be around next year. Hoping we can!

SS will be the coach next year.

 

[Libero2]

SS will be the coach next year.

Barring a meltdown season I agree. The question is whether he is a lame duck coach next year or if he gets an extension. That depends on this season. 4-5 wins I'd say he is a lame duck prove that you deserve to stay, 6+ extension and 2-3 he might well be fired.

 

[skytop44]

Barring a meltdown season I agree. The question is whether he is a lame duck coach next year or if he gets an extension. That depends on this season. 4-5 wins I'd say he is a lame duck prove that you deserve to stay, 6+ extension and 2-3 he might well be fired.

This is my concern. IMO, Shafer has to win and go to a bowl game for a new AD that didn't hire him to give him an extension as the long term answer. I wouldn't think Coyle would keep Shafer around as a lame duck coach because he'll want to bring in his own guy and keeping a lame duck coach around will only make things worse for recruiting. Just win baby!

 

[Libero2]

This is my concern. IMO, Shafer has to win and go to a bowl game for a new AD that didn't hire him to give him an extension as the long term answer. I wouldn't think Coyle would keep Shafer around as a lame duck coach because he'll want to bring in his own guy and keeping a lame duck coach around will only make things worse for recruiting. Just win baby!

Normally id agree, but Coyle will easily see this is our best class in a long time. Shafer can clearly do that well. Why breakup that class instead of letting him play out his deal if there is progress?

 

[rrlbees]

Normally id agree, but Coyle will easily see this is our best class in a long time. Shafer can clearly do that well. Why breakup that class instead of letting him play out his deal if there is progress?

I don't believe you should ever make coaching decisions based on recruits. It's a crap shoot and has been proven year after year.