We'll keep fighting the good fight (endeavoring to recruit at a sustained higher level) while our coaches piece together an increasingly formidable team thru:
1. Plucking a few blue chips
2. Expert evaluation at camps (yeah the venerable "under the radar" thing)
3. That old chestnut of developing the talent available
4. Scoring a few stout grad transfers/traditional transfers/JUCOs
5. Scheme and S&C
Sure all programs follow this recipe to some extent. But this is our team and we appreciate them on their own merit. We don't have some of the natural advantages others programs do (location, recent winning tradition, dazzling facilities, massive fan base). When we win it's pretty sweet knowing how we got there.
I remember after the Clemson victory in '17, HCDB first stop was Trill Williams house in White Plains. Dino knew. He knew. However, the fact that we usually lose these higher caliber recruits to the seduction of other schools (usually football factories) galls me because I know what they're missing out on (and what we're missing out on too).
That a small-ish, private school in upstate NY is in the ACC is such a bonus to our fandom and a significant challenge to our players. And that we're even in the conversation for national attention speaks volumes on how far HCDB, his staff and players have come. My hope is 2-3 years from now when the staff is settled in and winning regularly (no small feat), that the recruiting network becomes a more powerfully connected grid. And that we see measurable improvement in the objective side (more stars, higher-rated players, better offer sheets) of recruiting. As to the subjective side of recruiting (finding the less heralded recruits and developing them) I think we're doing very well. One of the bottom lines is, that you can only recruit young men that want to be here. So positioning SU as an attractive destination is key. Nothing new there except to say we're doing just about all we can to achieve that right now - at least as I perceive it.
Meanwhile, with the highest of hopes for unimaginable success, I both marvel and sometimes despair at the state of my beloved SU Football teams. Could it be any other way? I think I must've gotten in line twice when they passed out the SU Football fan gene. Well, there are worse situations - I could've been born in New Brunswick.
