How excited should we be about the recent slew of Syracuse commits? On the one hand, it’s always nice to see recruiting victories and the news seems to be flooding in at a quick pace. In fact, just this month SU has picked up six verbal commits. On the other hand, hardly any of the newest Orange are highly-sought after athletes that fans would consider “big wins.”
Take DeVante McFarlane who chose Syracuse Friday. He’s a three-star Long Island running back who is choosing to stay in state, something Doug Marrone has made a priority for this program.
“I’m definitely excited to be one of New York guys going there to do big things. I talked to Coach (Doug) Marrone and Coach (John) Anselmo, and they want to win with homegrown talent.”
But McFarlane had only two other official offers – from football schools Syracuse does not want to be associated with: Vanderbilt and Kent State. The urban legend is other programs were poised to pounce on McFarlane once summer camp opened and as the P-S put it, a “feeding frenzy was about to commence.” But is that true? McFarlane is listed as a three-star recruit, certainly worthy of a scholarship offer, but rarely the type of kid that creates chaos for big time schools.
Jason Emerich chose Syracuse yesterday, over UConn, Akron, Temple and Buffalo. The offensive lineman is spoken highly of by his coaches and SU could absolutely use new blood being filtered through the offensive line. But ultimately, these are the recruiting wars the Orange should win (outside of the Huskies) 100 times out of 100. And reports were UConn jumped in on Emerich late.
Last week DE James Washington was touted as “the most sought-after player the Orange has landed since Doug Marrone became head coach in December 2008.‚Äù But The Fizz asked last week whether that was a fair assessment. Just two months earlier, only Duke and Cincinnati had offered Washington a scholarship. Officially, the Orange beat out¬†South Carolina, Boston College, Purdue, Illinois, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. But many believed it merely became a follow-the-leader after FIU offered him.
By losing out on David Perkins, Chad Kelly and other elite recruits, Syracuse still has to prove it can land the elite prospects. The recent commits of this past week has pumped optimism into Orange Nation. But we’re all still waiting for the big fish to be reeled in by The Dougie.
Posted: D.A.
17 responses to “Should DeVante McFarlane’s Commitment Get Syracuse Fans Excited?”
uh…….
you keep writing the same article over and over. kid commits and it comes back to but this isn’t perkins/kelly/ishaq……yes we know.
those kids chose other schools.
instead of talking about not getting those kids, what you think su needs to do to get those kids, try writing about something else.
so save your time if lynch decides on going elsewhere, we know and have red in six different articles in the last month that su has lost out on high profile recruits and that su ‘needs’ to do that to get better.
of course you did say that almost getting those guys is like almost beating the eagles…which is something syracuse would never come close to doing so saying the program is hinging on something that vegas would give 10000-1 odds on is ridiculouse.
Since many are so obsessed over the star ratings I’d be curious to see how many 4 and 5 star guys we got during our “glory days”. I’d guess it was 2 or 3 a class and that was it. As long as we keep recruiting solid under-the-radar guys with good upside and good character we’ll be fine.
Take a pill mdb80!!! HCDM recruiting has not been up to his walking on water status most CUSE fans see of him. In his 2 1/2 years of recruiting no real 4 star talent here. I hate to say it but GROB got 4 star talent here. HCDM is a control freak from what I understand. Great talented kids have ego’s and we see what happens when HCDM does not agree with a player-their gone. Not all high talented kids have issues. Rutgirls, U Conn, BC, NC St, Pitt,WV and Purdue gets them, then why not us. The above mentioned programs are not top 10 teams let alone top 35 teams. Finishing 2 or 3rd for a kid blows up in our face. Verbals only win for this program. HCDM so far this year is not improving our talent with his walking on water attitude from the fans. We only need a couple of “high” quality of kids a year. But we lost 4 league home games last year that is unacceptable. So coaching up lower quality kids just does not work here either. We need quality now. Not hope in the future we will get it. Winning only will get it. We haven’t proved that as of yet!!!
Stop this madness now. Stop the criticism of Marrone’s recruiting.
Stop these type of articles now. As true Cuse fans, we need to be happy when any recruits commits to the Cuse and we certainly are not above a 3 star commitment. Marrone proved with his first class that he knows how to recruit period end of story. Look at the number of quality players from that first class.
All this talk about big recruits and when are we going to land the big fish is counter productive. We can win the Big East and win big with “right” 2 and 3 star recruits. Coaching staff, finding players who have athletic ability, can be coached, and fit the schemes we want to run, are all essential to developing talent who can win for you on the field. That is the recipe that Boise State, Texas Tech, and TCU have used to gain national recognition recently and it is a formula that SU cam emulate.
We will NEVER be USC, Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida,
florida St., Texas, Michigan, Tennesse, LSU, as it relates to pulling in 4 and 5 star talent, but, could we not be like Stanford, Virginia Tech, Boston College with the talent that we currently get?
Go Cuse
Yes he should get fans excited. SU’s recruiting is at a higher level now than it was. Previously recruiting against schools like UNH for talent, now recruiting against teams like FSU, Penn State, and UND. That’s how you go from 1-11/2-10 to 8-5.
Kev
I would like to see how many 4/5 star athletes are on Wisconsin Football Team!
Terry at the end of the year make another post here and let us know how you feel about the 2/3 star athletes that are on Syracuse after they win their bowl game and end the year with either a 9-4 or 10-3 overall record.
Coach Marrone and staff is doing just fine, please stop putting the program down.
GO CUSE
Yeah enough of these articles “downplaying” or taking the role of a “devil’s advocate” Fizz. The Star system is a flawed evaluation, for kids who go to these showcases and camps to get rated. Maybe Washington and MacFarlane are not 4-5 star recruits, but they are what ‘Cuse can get right now, the coaching staff see’s talent, and these 2 kids (along with Emerich) seem to be late bloomers for recruitment. They are also very well spoken of. IN2-3 years we’ll see how well Marrone did with these recruits.
Also i agree with mdb80, enough of bringing up Ishaq/Kelly/Perkins etc. in every other article. We know who they are and the decision they made in spurning many ‘Cuse fans, to go to another school.
Go ‘Cuse!!!
please stop calling him “the dougie.” ridiculous.
Delone Carter- ***
Ryan Bartholomew-***
Derrell Smith- **
Mike Williams- **
Arthur Jones- **
Doug Hogue-***
Chandler Jones-**
Shamarko Thomas- **
these are just some of the two and 3 star recruits sryacuse has signed who have gone on to be very good players for this team
Have to say I’m a little disappointed there’s this little critical thought being invested in SU football anymore. When I was in school 97-01 every recruiting class was analyzed meticulously and Coach P was under the gun to deliver 4-star kids. Now it’s almost sacrilege to question Marrone in any way. I guess we have turned into a fan base of pom pom wavers. No one wants to hear that we are beating Akron and Temple and Vandy to kids. Just that everything is great. Strange culture shift. -DA
I think it’s partly because of how far down GRob dragged us and partly because, since the ACC raid, the Big East sort of feels like a football mid-major. When we can’t even get a blue chipper like Ishaq – whose parents are both alums – it just underscores how we’ll almost never beat out the big boys for a big fish.
DA is right the truth is everyone is aggitated when Dougie gets questioned. I think the reason is that coming off of the Robinson era fans remember how horrible it was so anything postive Marrone does we consider Magic. I agree these are battles we should win 100 times out of 100 but the point is we haven’t been. Coach P used to be able to walk into New Jersey with a Syracuse shirt on and the 4 star athletes flocked to upstate New York. That just isnt the case anymore. You have to have a foundation of winning all 2 and 3 star athletes in New York state before you can build to the caliber of competing on a consistent basis for 4 star kids. We just won the Pinstripe Bowl not the Sugar Bowl. Playing in Yankee Stadium for football isn’t as glorious as baseball. I think it’s unrealistic to think Marrone is going to just be in every 4 star recruit race. So any recruiting battle he wins we glorify and right now I’m ok with that. We may never get 4 or 5 star kids but if we start pumping out 9 or 10 win seasons we shouldn’t care. Cincy went to back to back BCS games with recruiting classes ranked in the 60s.
DA,
You are totally missing the point here. Fans are not saying that we should not be critical of Doug Marrone and his recruiting classes, what many of us are trying to point out is that it is not all gloom and doom every time we loose out on some ” Big Time” recruit. You are criticizing 3 star guys and asking if we should be excited about them…… yes we should. The key is not what we think about these guys, the key is whether or not the Cuse staff thinks they can win with these guys and they must because they are offering them.
Let’s be real here, given the state of the program for the last 7 to 8 years, current 4 and 5 star guys are not going to jump at a chance to play at SU because they are too young to remember when SU was great. They can remember when Rutgers was going to bowl games and winning more games than they lost.
There is still a long way to go, but Marrone and staff appear to be making GREAT strides in terms of recruiting and the product on the field relative the recent past. Look at the current 2012 commits: Florida, Michigan,Georgia, Pennsylvania and New York.
Beating Penn State, Rutgers, Pitt, Purdue, and South Florida for some recruits. We are making progress, and if this continues, we keep winning on the field, and we can get some booster/ rich Alums to donate the funds we need to upgrade our facilities, then and only then, will we start to attract the sexy 4 and 5 star prospects that everyone is craving. I really think we are in line to get at least one this year….. wait and see…… Go Cuse
totally agree with Dr, Bill…couldn’t have said it any better. Nice post..
Dr. Bill-
You know I love you and your passion here at the Fizz, but these are the words you wrote in the first comment: “Stop this madness now. Stop the criticism of Marrone‚Äôs recruiting. Stop these type of articles now. As true Cuse fans, we need to be happy when any recruits commits to the Cuse.”
We should be happy with ANY recruits? Stop “these types of articles”? This article merely stated that while these recruits have created optimism, it’s not really the next level of recruits that Orange Nation is waiting for.
If you’re happy with ANY recruits, than we’ve basically become the MAC or the Sun Belt. Syracuse SHOULD beat FIU and Akron and Buffalo to kids. That’s like saying SU hoops SHOULD beat Albany. But we don’t get excited when they do.
If you’re a regular reader of the Fizz you know my support of Marrone. And ironically I was the one who got creamed for suggesting even being in on Chad Kelly was a win for SU. But I remember a time when I was at SU when ANY recruits was not good enough. And that’s what I said – the bar has been changed for SU football fans and it’s way lower.
Thanks as always for the feedback, good stuff-
DA
DA i see your point 100%, but disagree with your view totally on this. This isn’t 1997, this is 2011 and ‘Cuse is trying to rise from the grave that GROB dug for them. These NR, 2 and 3 star football recruits WANT TO PLAY FOR ‘CUSE. They buy into what Marrone is preaching. Plus taking a 2 star recruit from a small town in PA continues to build a pipeline for future recruits to come to ‘Cuse.
Plus this coaching staff would not offer a scholarship to this kids would not seeing some potential. I feel we may still get 1, maybe 2, 4-5 star athletes this year, def more next year with another solid season.
I just feel that instead of writing articles regarding who we should be getting, we as fans want to read about the potential that a recruit who commits here because he buys into our program.
DA,
When I said we as true Orange fans should be happy when any recruit commits to the Cuse… I stand behind it 100%. Think about it: We as fans can’t offer prospects. Only the football staff can offer.
Their” _ _ _ ” (JOB) is on the line if they don’t win so if they offer a kid, then they must feel he can help them win and when this kid commits, be he a 1 star 2 star or 3 star, we should welcome him aboard, yes we should. Why? .. Because he has committed to our program. He has not even played a game yet, there will be plenty of time for criticism or praise.. and he will get his share, no doubt.
These scouting services have created a feeding frenzy with this star system. Coaching staffs make their own evaluations of players and they may be different from the services. Everyone can all agree on the top of the hoof talent, your 5 star talent, after that, from 4 star to 3 star to 2 star to 1 star talent, opinions differ. Some guys don’t get rated high because the services have not evaluated their tape. Some guys don’t go, by choice, to these camps to get evaluated early, etc., etc. At the end of the day I will put my money on the guy who’s income and reputation rises and falls on his ability to evaluate players over some service, that employs some competent folks, but who are not going to miss a meal if their evaluation of a player is off. Go Cuse.