Last week, Syracuse added 22 new players to its football program on National Signing Day, and as is par for the course, the Orange have rave reviews for the new class. Doug Marrone feels like he’s brought in a group that can be a part of a bright future for his program.
‚ÄúWe’re excited, just like most people around the country, about this class for a couple reasons. This being our fourth class, this is the tallest class that we’ve had, and I think that this is the first class where we’ve done a good job addressing the needs for this football team, obviously with the defensive line.‚Äù
According to Scout.com, SU reeled in two 4-star recruits and 11 rated as 3-stars, so there are definitely some difference makers. That puts Marrone’s class at 54th in the country, and 7th out of eight teams in the Big East (as ranked by Scout). Rivals did not place the Orange in its top 50, and left both Sugar Bear Thompson and Wayne Morgan off its 4-star list (it also rated the Orange 7th in the conference). 247Sports.com placed SU at 52nd nationally, and 10th of 14 teams in the new ACC.
So while Marrone and his staff are excited about bringing in 22 players they‚Äôve been chasing for months, should Syracuse fans be as excited about a class the “experts” rate as pedestrian?
A national ranking in the 50’s is about what fans should expect from Syracuse this year. Think of it this way: has SU been a top 50 program in college football for the past few years? Absolutely not. So bringing in a recruiting class that rates higher than its place in the national picture indicates Marrone is taking steps forward.
But few BCS programs strive for 3-star recruits and being a top 50 program. Many Syracuse fans won’t be satisfied with that standing, and Marrone probably isn’t either.  In reality though, DM can’t be expected to make a quantum leap in recruiting, especially after a down season. This is a process. The Orange needs to crack the top 50 before it can crack the top 25.
Fans don’t have to be satisfied with a recruiting class just outside the top 50. Expectations are a good thing. But Orange Nation should be pleased with the progress Marrone is making. This appears to be his most talented class so far, and it addresses most of the teams biggest needs. With Chandler Jones‚Äô departure, a couple of JUCO transfers will go a long way to sure up the D-Line.
“It’s very difficult for us to bring in people with size. We’ve had issues with that trying to find enough players in this area with size. For us to have to go to junior college to get a player like Zian Jones or Markus Pierce-Brewster, people who have been established that have done a very good job is going to help our football team.”
And while the true value of this recruiting class won’t be determined for several years, Marrone expects it to pay dividends much sooner.
“Competition is important. If you said, ‘Which player do you think will come in here and have an immediate impact?’ I would say Ryan Norton, the kicker. That was a major decision that we had to make going through this process. Everyone else, we’re excited to bring them in and we’re expecting them to compete.”
Did Syracuse get everything it wanted out of this year‚Äôs class? Of course not. But landing the best player in NYC, a huge impact TE, a game-breaking RB, and a slew of additions to the front 7 is definitely worth getting excited about. It’s still about steady progress and not just the immediate big splash in Year 4 of the Marrone Era. If this class isn‚Äôt a leap forward for Syracuse, it’s least a step in the right direction.
Posted: Steve Neikam
9 responses to “One Week Later: Dust Settles on SU’s 2012 Class, How Should Fans Feel?”
couldnt agree more
I’m 100% on board with everything that you said. The biggest takeway should be that ‘Cuse is finally starting to factor into the decision with NY kids. Wayne Morgan proves that the Syracuse presence has really amped up since the Marrone era. We might not have won the battle for kids like Dominique Easley, Ishaq Williams, Jarron Jones, and Chad Kelly but this will be a process which happens gradually. It is important to start winning the NY recruiting battles in the future and Marrone is finally making inroads in that area. Not letting other programs come in and poach that talent like Rutgers did with Ray Rice is key. And it is clear that NY is producing more and more quality high school players which is huge for Syracuse.
I ,like most that follow recruiting don’t require “what we should think about this class. Yes it addressed some serious needs for the team and we also were able to bring in two 4 star players. One of them could have been rated even higher. I won’t suggest who that player is but it might not be the most obvious.Some of these kids are going to hear their name by the television analysts and color commentators.
This program has had the crap beat out of it for 8 years. Be satisfied with this class and HCDM did a fine job. All he has to do now is change the offense and get us a mobile quarterback to run this team .,.. GO SU
HCDM’s work on the NYS talent got him 2 out of the top ten(Poncho not qualified). WOW!! 6 BE programs cleaned our clock and are in the top 50(Rutgirls way up there). Come on DA your a homer here. Yes its a better class but by how much. Yes the talent level is better, but by how much. I’ll tell you!! This years class is top heavy. 5 or 6 players of great quality for our program. With 16 or 17 players that we hope make it. That’s not great for building up a collapsed program. We are still far behind in development of this program and either HCDM doesn’t get it or does not know how to improve it. But the statement from HCDM that NORTON will have an immediate impact on this team is scary. Wouldn’t you feel that he’d say that about some other skilled player. LOOK OUT!!!!
If you look at the class rankings on Scout, we supposedly did better than Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, UConn, South Florida, Boston College, Wake Forest and Illinois.
In my mind, all of those programs are better than SU and should recruit better than SU. Given the relative success of these programs and outright success of a couple of them, this either means that class rankings don’t matter or you can still have success and recruit poorly. I’m okay with either conclusion.
Having followed this class for awhile, I’m satisfied with how it shook out. I wish we could’ve held on to Brantley though. He would’ve been a beast.
Wait… S. Florida isn’t better than SU. I’ll concede UConn though given that they won the past couple of meetings.
Terry, you think consistent kickoff’s into the endzone for touchbacks won’t have an impact? Most Freshman do not make immediate impacts at any school.
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