Doug Marrone has publicly made it a priority to use his New York City roots,¬†buddy up with the high school coaches within the Empire State, and keep the best talent within these borders.¬†Unfortunately, we have yet to see the big pay off. His most touted recruit from last year was Brandon Reddish, who barely saw the field as a freshman despite a brutal secondary begging for someone to step up. It doesn’t necessarily mean Reddish was overrated, but we haven‚Äôt see enough of Reddish to judge him yet.
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The other major New York recruit was the state’s best high school player in ’10, Ashton Broyld. But he never even made it to campus, nevertheless on the field. We can only hope Broyld is headed for SU this spring. Tyree Smallwood was supposed to be a gamebreaking running back from Cornwall, NY. But his murky ’11 recently left him de-committing from SU.
What about this recruiting class? ESPN’s rankings have Chad Kelly, Jarron Jones and Wayne Morgan as the top 3 players in the state. The Orange were in Kelly’s final group of schools before he ultimately chose Clemson, but some think SU was only in the race as a favor to Nathaniel Hackett. Jones, the Monster from Rochester, eliminated the Orange before making visits and eventually chose Notre Dame. Sound familiar? That was the same decision of last year’s #1 player from NY, Ishaq Williams. Ishaq had SU in his final three, but many believed it was merely a courtesy to his parents alum. Morgan appears to be leaning strongly towards the Orange, but has an official to UConn later this month.
In ESPN’s top players from New York, the first SU commit is 10th on that list – Poncho Barnwell. This is not entirely negative. The Empire State is not known to produce high end football talent, so plucking players from Florida, New Jersey and other states might equate to better athletes. But you certainly want to own your state, especially if Syracuse is “New York’s College Team.” 9th on ESPN’s list is August Wolf, who committed to Duke. Yikes.
We know rankings can be misleading.¬†Chandler Jones was the best player in the program, is a projected 3rd round NFL pick, and was only a 2-star recruit. ESPN is also only one set of rankings. But there is some value you can usually take from these numbers. SU prides itself on recruiting New York State (and specifically the Big Apple), but has only 1 of the top 10 players in the state (2 in the top 11). Marrone must know that’s not good enough.
New Jersey’s prep field are filled with much higher profile recruits, unfortunately SU is nowhere to be found on that list either. Syracuse used to grab terrific talent from the Garden State as recently as 10 years ago. But Rutgers ascension has changed that. The highest rated Orange recruit from Jersey, according to ESPN, is #39, DT Marcus Coleman. Crazy Eyes Schiano has 3 of the top 10, and usually has a roster dominated by in-state kids.
We have to remember, this is still all a process. The program is still moving in the right direction, even if this season was a step back. Last year wasn‚Äôt supposed to happen. Marrone turned a dumpster fire into a bowl win by Year 2. Morgan is a bonafide 4-star prospect who‚Äôs scouting report reads like Phillip Thomas’. He‚Äôs a ball-hawking safety who‚Äôs a great open-field tackler, and can provide support in the run game. Pair him with Ritchy Desir and the Orange all of a sudden has tandem standout safeties.
Morgan is the must-get guy for Marrone right now. Because SU has lost so much in-state talent, the pressure to land NY‚Äôs best remaining prospect is growing by the day. Morgan won‚Äôt likely commit until Signing Day. The holidays may be over, but let’s hope The Dougie gets a 4-star safety for Fizz-mas.
Posted: Craig Hoffman
51 responses to “Wayne Morgan Holds the Key to Syracuse Keeping its Footprint in New York”
wow you guys really are on DM’s case
Sometimes we need to admit when we’re making ourselves look bad. Using the “Dougie” makes you sound like a 7th-grade girl talking about Justin Beiber. We’re all trying to help you get past this unprofessional, annoying coinage. Please stop.
Agree with bgogo. Stop with the “Dougie”. Its unprofessional and you guys are the only one who calls him that. Nothing wrong with calling him by his real name.
DA has never even implied that this is either a professional or serious blog.
this is a website focused on gossip, facebook, twitter and on on occasion a random thought/topic that is way off.
First wayne morgan isn’t the key to anything.
How do offers from uconn/syracuse make you elite talent? regardless of what some guy who saw 50 seconds of highlights thinks about you your offers tell you a lot.
Kids choices are uconn/syracuse. He loves to tell stories about michigan and south carolina but that was him dreaming.
Also the top talent didnt stay in NY again. jones and Kelly are both gone and they were the top talent. Morgan wouldn’t even be the top DB of the class if he ends up at su. Look at Reddish who was very similar to morgan and claimed offers from big schools. Came to SU and was put on a USC highlight tape other then that not really a wimper of noise.
First, we need to all acknowledge this fact…it is very hard for any freshman to come into a BCS program..and start….We need depth…and be able to redshirt all freshmen except…really exceptional players….we don’t have any of these type recruits yet…..these 2- 3 star types…need a year at least to grow and mature physically….This program needs some game changer….big time play makers….already big strong and fast..as HS seniors….this is a key year for HCDM….We need to start winning on the field, and going to bowl games…..I think, we need a new QB..one, who can make plays with his legs…Look what the Freshman GB, Teddy Bridgewater at Louisville..look what he did as a freshman…looked better than Nassib, a player in our system for 4 years…..he is not the answer…..someone needs to challenge him as the starting QB…or else..we will struggle like this year….Go Cuse…
Again Morgan is not the top player from NYS!!! PERIOD!!! We lost to many others since your man HCDM was hired. Not all of these players pan out from NYS. But if they stand out on the NYS field of play they might make it. Morgan is no 4 star talent. God you guys are making this kid look like Jim Brown!!!
@bgogo @chad We are just secretly mind-controlling everyone to buy our “Teach Me How To Dougie” t-shirts? Wanna buy one? @TimTebow – Always appreciate you pointing out my lack of professional cred. Please don’t tell anyone. I need to keep that on the DL. @Dr Bill – I def. would love to see SU land someone as talented as Teddy. I watched him in FL. Amazing athleticism. @Terry – We’re just saying Morgan is the best player still uncommitted in NYS, not best overall. Thanks everyone – the emotions are hot with just 3 weeks to go before NSD!
@TimTebow & Terry – UConn & Cuse are the schools he currently has the most interest in. He also did get offers from Alabama, Michigan, Miami & Penn St. If these programs, whom all have pretty darn good defenses every year, offered him I’d say its more than fair to say he is an elite talent. You both comment as if you would rather not see this kid in an Orange jersey next season. Reality is the Orange can use all the help they can get in the secondary and Morgan would be a key piece to the defense moving forward.
DearCoachDuff,,Wayne may have had numerous”soft offers”as is the custom for all the big schools…however rarely accepted untill sure the recruit “is qualified”..undersized,untested+overhyped Rutgers,SC,Miami and all the bigger schools stopped recruiting him leaving him with little options except the most desperate.Ill just leave it at that since hes really still “just a kid”best of luck DM….NY Rutgers fan..!
@Mr.MacEachern – Yes, the top tier programs do have the luxury of moving on to the next highly graded recruit if the recruit does not commit with them early. I will give you untested in that NYS football is not the most competitive. However, 5’11’ is by no means undersized for a defensive back, and he runs very well in comparison to other defensive backs in his class. Now lets not get ahead of yourself here, Rutgers is by no means even close or comparable to those “bigger schools”. Southern Cal and Miami are far more prestigious. So I think you need to hop of that high horse of yours, because Rutgers is by no means to good to have stopped recruiting Wayne Morgan. I seriously doubt Rutgers pulled their offer to him, and wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up committing to Rutgers. Granted this is true if he decides to stay home close to his mother. However, the Cuse does have one of Morgan’s best friends in Brandon Reddish on the team. So I do like the odds in landing him.
DA/Coachduff I meant to say that Morgan should come here. But he’s not what everyone thought he would be. Not instead help!! Rutgirls has 2 solid 4 star verbals as well. We have a 4/3 star coming. Rutgirls program is climbing again. I thought with HCDM coming in we would slow that down. But its the opposite Rutgirls is growing because of HCDM!!!
Morgan’s only committable offers are UConn and SU. Rutgers stopped recruiting him a while ago. If this is the footprint SU wants in NY, they’re in trouble.
Holy moly you guys are going off. I love it. My point is that SU needs to own the little talent does come out of this state and then extend into New Jersey where there is consistently great talent. Is Morgan great? No. He’s very good though and to let him get away (especially to Coach P and UConn) would be a major blow. When your resources are limited, you have to make the most of them. SU needs to be getting every top guy out of NYS and really needs to get going in Jersey too. Morgan is just a step along the way.
Well when it comes to recruiting, you guys can’t see us. Our assistance coaches are the truth and with the pending coaching move for a coach from Don Bosco, it’s only gonna get better. Wayne Morgan has now became an RU proirity because of Elijah Shumate’s commitment to the Irish. Syracuse is really his last option and him being elite, I don’t think so. He went to the sparq camp in Oregon and couldn’t keep up with the other elites. He also has verbal offers and no written offers from those programs. Ask me I think he would prefer to go to RU than Syracuse lol
It will be sad not to play Rutgers every year 😉
@Mademan – Yes, he did attend the Nike SPARQ Combine in Oregon where he posting a SPARQ rating of 120.99. 16th best in the camp out of 146 participants. Good enough to get an invite and a spot on a team in the Nike 7ON Tourney. Team Vapor Carbon, who was undefeated until losing in the tourney finals. But hey! I guess our ideas of “keeping up” differ. It seems yall are writing him off before he has even played a college game, when he runs exceptionally well and has very good coverage skills.
Does it really matter where the talent comes from? I like Morgan, but what’s the difference if we recruit in state or out of state? I mean, it’s nice to own your state, but if we can keep hauling in kids from GA, FL and MI (which is new) build rapport with coaches in places where some of the best talent is, why worry about NY?
I don’t think we should stop recruiting NY or anything. It’s just not the end all be all that everyone seems to think it is.
You other commenters- complete bandwagon marrone fans, one minute he’s the greatest, the next minute he’s helping routers build a dynasty
Morgan- Regardless if Alabama and Michigan (who both have full recruiting classes of db’s) backed off of him, he’s got avg height, great speed and playmaking capability
writers- it is a cliche to mention ‘cure not getting the best recruits, we understand, we just need to get a coach who can recruit the Chad kelly’s, whether that be marrone or a current high profile assistant, we just need to get the (recruiting) job done
question, what recruiting guru wants to take over Syracuse? I’m not saying that you have to be content with mediocrity. But you definitely should have reasonable expectations. There is no way in hell that any elite level talent(without any connections to the school) would want to choose the Cuse over some of the bigger programs. Strip away my fan allegiances and take me back a few years in time and I’d be looking at other programs. And I am a native NYer. My point is this, the Cuse should definitely try to go after talent no matter in their backyard. Especially the cream of its backyard. They must also try to make in roads in areas that are not traditionally considered pipelines for them. However because of Cuse’s current status in the sport, they will have to go after under the radar talent until their rebuild their cache. Then they will possibly get the 4 and 5 star guys.
Coach up the 2 and 3 star guys and make them play to their max potential. Everyone likes highly decorated prospects. But the pro draft and recruiting ranks are littered with guys who never panned out. Conversely, schools have been able to find diamonds in the rough over the years.
anyone remember Malcolm Cater..?wanted to go to Rutgers and parents steered him to the Orange as they were Alums…is he in another school or did he give up football?…just curious!
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