Chris Battaglia has the good fortune to have at his disposal something every high school coach would love – blue-chip Syracuse recruit Jarron Jones. He’s one of the top 3 DT’s in the country and the head man of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rochester talked with The Fizz about his star lineman and what kind of prospect he is.
“He’s 6-7, 300 lbs and runs really well. He’s a really good basketball player. I think what really helped him this year is he picked up his level of being physical. He has great potential, great upside. He works really hard at it and I think he could be a really good college player.”
If you‚Äôre face didn‚Äôt just light up than you don‚Äôt have a pulse. These are obviously the qualities SU, or any other college program, is looking for in a player. After watching Ishaq and Chad Kelly leave the state, Orange Nation is anxiously awaiting Jones’ decision.
- Listen to the FizzCast: Jarron Jones’ coach Chris Battaglia
He has given a soft verbal to Penn State, but there’s good reason to believe he hasn’t made his mind up. What does Jones want in a program?
“The first thing he’s looking for is a place that academically suits him. He’s looking for a program that graduates their players. He’s also looking for a place where he can play defense, which he really wants to do. I can imagine people moving him to left tackle once they get him, but he wants to play defense. And he’s looking for a program where the coach is going to be there or the staff is going to be there for 4 years.”
As far as we know, SU is 3 for 3 there. Penn State certainly can‚Äôt say their coach will be there beyond next season, but that could be why Battaglia added ‚Äúthe staff,‚Äù since Joe Pa‚Äôs succession plan seems to be in place. As for Penn State…
“The soft verbal was given because he was getting nine thousand calls from different websites, different programs and he was just getting nervous about that. He loved Penn State when he visited, but he also loved Syracuse and a couple of other schools when he went. In the end he’s going to take about 5 visits, and whichever school he likes and has all the things he wants he’ll choose.”
What about SU?
“He really likes Syracuse. He really likes Coach Wheatley and the d-line coach there. He thinks Coach Marrone is a really great guy and one thing he thinks is that if he goes there he can play early and that might have a big influence on him.”
As for Jones’ timetable, Battaglia the goal is to narrow it down to 5 schools after he comes back from Notre Dame. The final decision will be made before he plays in the Army All-American game in San Antonio in January (the site of Ishaq Week last winter). The other schools in the mix? Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, UNC (who received its letter from the NCAA Tuesday regarding violations), Louisville and (‚Äúalong with Rutgers still somewhere in there.‚Äù)
The Fizz will be keeping tabs on Jones throughout football season leading up to his decision. For now Orange fans can take solace knowing the next big enormous gargantuan item on Syracuse’s wish list also has SU high on his.
Posted: Craig Hoffman
7 responses to “Coach of Blue Chip Recruit Jarron Jones Tells Fizz He “Loves” Syracuse”
It will be a long wait until January as the Cuse holds it’s breath for JJ’s decision. His brother committed to the Cuse 4 years ago,but never attended due to grades. He is the type player, an UPstate NY kid, that Syracuse needs to turn this program around. There is NO other program that he is considering, that can provide him with the opportunity to establish a Carmello Anothony type legacy than Syracuse. If he comes to the Cuse, he will be the face of program not only for the years he is on campus, but for years to follow in the NFL and he would be an inspiration for young men in UPstate long after his playing days at the Cuse have ended. Go Cuse- Jarron- Go Cuse
Scout.com has him as having High Interest in us and North Carolina as well as his soft verbal to Penn State obviously. If he’s probably not going to Penn State and with the mess at UNC, one has to love our chances.
On another note, I’ve been thinking about the following question for a while now and wanted some other thoughts:
Who has the best college sports program of all time?
I’m thinking that the logical way to approach this argument is 45% football, 45% basketball, 10% for the school’s best other program.
I’ve done some research and I think that Syracuse has a great claim for #1. Who else can compete with us? Others look like UCLA, Notre Dame, Ohio St, Michigan St, Michigan. But I believe we can make the cogent argument to beat them. Thoughts?
SU has one national championship in Football, one in basketball, and Ten in Lacrosse: UCLA is the only other program I can think of that has 10 or more NCAA Division I championships in one sport and that is in basketball, I think they have one in football. Ohio State has 3 0r 4 in football, one in basketball, and I think they have one or two in Golf……..based on your criteria, you may be right, SU is a good candidate thanks to Lacrosse. Go Cuse
Dr Bill,
Nice Post and excellent way to start this off! However, lacrosse would only have 10% of the equation. So I’m not talking about taking on the “big-time” public schools with our lacrosse program (even though it’s the best ever)!
I know we can make a cogent argument that we are better than anyone when you combine basketball and football all time. Go back and look at all-time wins in both sports and winning %. Also, by the way, I’d like to make a small, little point here:
Never, ever, forget that Syracuse is the only private school to ever win a National Championship in both Football and Basketball (even though supposedly Stanford can lay claim to a disputed one). There are hardly any public schools that can make that claim.
ORANGE PRIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I finished reading an article posted on ESPN about a big time recriut being unhappy with his choice of schools and the lack of playing time made me wonder if these kids coming out of high school really think through the decision they have made on where to play football for the next 4 years of their life. His comment that he made was “a school can promise you anything and everything, but once you’re there things can change quickly.
Does any 4 or 5 star athlete really believe that they can come out of high school and replace a player that has been at any program 3,4,5 years?
I would have enjoyed watching David Perkins,Chad Kelly,and Ishaq Williams play football at Syracuse.
I think they would have been put under a microscope and would have trouble handling the attention that they would have recieved from the fans and the media.
Why don’t we keep an eye on those three to see how well they do at their schools?
I hope Jarron Jones comes to Syracuse to play football. Think about how intense the recruitment of Donavan McNabb, Tim Green,Chris Gedney,and Dan Connely were.
It’s only been three years, I ask everyone to be patient,Syracuse will survive the recruiting battles and before long will start reeling in some of the good players.
Big upset of the year is going to be Syracuse over USC.
GO CUSE.
What is going on with Syracuse and DB recruit Wayne morgan from Brooklyn? This is a 4 star NY kid who played POP Warner ball with B. Reddish…… We have offered, but I don’t here him talking about the Cuse. Was passed over by Michigan, now favors Rutgers..and Uconn?
Come on Cuse, why are we not on this kid more? He runs a 4.3 forty… He and Reddish in the same secondary…… we are going to need speed to combat all of the new high tech passing attacts entering the Big East. Anyone have any insight on this situation?
Wayne Morgan cut us from his list