NJ boys lacrosse recruiting note

[Mr_Twister]

More than a few months ago someone passed on the name of Westfield, NJ athletes headed to Villanova for lacrosse. They are legacy recruits. But today, following up on the information, I stumbled on this site.

http://westfieldlacrosse.com/Page.asp?n=112301&org=westfieldlacrosse.com

Is is possible that a NJ public school, from a single graduating class, has boys lacrosse players committed to Georgetown, Villanova (2), national champion Denver (3), Johns Hopkins, and St. Joe's? Amazing.

 

[Caliknight]

More than a few months ago someone passed on the name of Westfield, NJ athletes headed to Villanova for lacrosse. They are legacy recruits. But today, following up on the information, I stumbled on this site.

http://westfieldlacrosse.com/Page.asp?n=112301&org=westfieldlacrosse.com

Is is possible that a NJ public school, from a single graduating class, has boys lacrosse players committed to Georgetown, Villanova (2), national champion Denver (3), Johns Hopkins, and St. Joe's? Amazing.

That isn't the norm for an public school, particularly in NJ, but Westfield has produced a lot of talent over the years so it wouldn't be that shocking.

Crazy thing is to compare that to the private schools of Baltimore. That would be considered a bad year. Famed Boy's Latin often has 8-12 kids going to D1 schools on their varsity team, with a few more already committed on their jv team. A few years ago they had more than that, which is just crazy for a high school team. Their back up goalie went D1 and he barely ever even played.

 

[rufeelinit]

Didn't realize Westfield was still that strong. Years ago they had a very dominating period under a coach named Cherewich.

 

[rufamily]

They are not all in the same grad class. A couple of those kids have done a PG year. Luke P is a PG , Simcox graduated last year, as did Aslianian, Owen P is a junior, The Mcilroys are 2016 and 2018, Dombroski is 2017. So they are not all in the same class. But, yes it is possible. BR had 11 seniors go D1 in 2012. It is amazing that with all of that talent they still got worked by BR in the group finals. And Cali is absolutely right that that number would be the norm in the MIAA or on some of those great LI teams. Last year Smithtown East had 3 D1 faceoff kids.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Appreciate the clarification. The site is misleading when it uses the word "current". I guess "current" means they are teammates who have made commitments. Could have tagged the names with graduation year to be clearer.

 

[rufamily]

No worries. There is no doubt that Westfield is very talented but so is Summit, Central Lakes and BR.

 

[fbc1866]

It appears that the lacrosse program has the same issue that the football team has. Need to fense in the garden.

 

[e5fdny]

It appears that the lacrosse program has the same issue that the football team has. Need to fense in the garden.

That's because certain kids (and their parents) in certain schools in certain towns don't think highly of RU overall to begin with.

 

[Caliknight]

It appears that the lacrosse program has the same issue that the football team has. Need to fense in the garden.

Not really. It won't be as easy, but you don't need a roster full of kids from NJ to win. Can we do better? Sure. But we are getting some, and I don't care what anyone says. I look at some of these kids from out of state and I have a very hard time believing we are settling on them in leiu of Jersey kids.

Maryland produces more talent than NJ. Last time I counted, Maryland had less Maryland kids on their roster than we have from NJ. Would it be great to have a few more Jersey kids I see dot other teams rosters? Yes. But we have a usual amount of kids from our home state.

And btw, there were a lot of Jersey kids making plays today too. It's what a mature roster looks like at this level. Well rounded.

 

[rufamily]

Actually Cali NJ is one of the top producers of lacrosse talent period and the last couple of years only NY has produced more division 1 kids

 

[Caliknight]

That may be true, but even when it wasn't, Maryland never loaded their team with Maryland kids and still isn't. As I said, we have more kids from NJ (14) on our roster than they do from Maryland (10). I bet 14 stacks up very well against every state school with a lax team. With the advent of lacrosse being played at a high level virtually everywhere, it is obvious there is high level talent to be had from a number of areas. I see some of the talent from other states on our squad, and those kids can be from Maryland, NJ, or NY or Alaska, and they would still be studs. It wouldn't matter. Rutgers is a national university. It's well represented by NJ, but it should have a national roster too. There is way too much talent out there to not consider it. I look at successful teams and they all share well rounded rosters.

To me, this NJ discussion is silly for two reasons.

1) We have plenty of kids from NJ. Comprable data proves that.
2) We are getting talent. Kids who can ball. Someone would need to show me the kids we turned away that wanted to come to RU from NJ as compared to the kids we took instead from out of state, and we could compare them, to make this discussion valid.

But really, this should be beneath us. We have kids on that field playing their hearts out for Rutgers that chose to come here. That's really what matters along with 3.0. It's the name on the front of the jersey, not where they played their high school ball.

I'm sure when Virginia or Duke are hoisting those trophies, they weren't begrudging the fact that they they didn't have enough kids from Virginia or North Carolina respectively.

Rutgers, Rutgers, Rutgers. That's all that matters to this alum.

 

[rufamily]

You are absolutely correct and when they start winning the kids from NJ may want to come back but, watching them first hand yesterday they play fast man very fast and they play a lot of kids, I saw 8 poles, 4 d-mids 8 0-mids and 3 FO kids as well as 2 goalies. thats 28 kids which is unheard of in college lacrosse. Only 2 of the top ten scorers are seniors and Trasolini has yet to get on track.

 

[Caliknight]

No doubt you better be ready to play if you are on that bench. Love it. Reminds me of our era :)

Refreshing to see a team attack the goal. I can't believe how many teams I watch pull the ball out to settle it down when they have an advantage. Horrible lacrosse in theory, practice, and to watch. Just awful.

We keep winning and kids will take notice. This is fun to watch and play. The best part is there aren't a ton of teams that play like this.

Navy played Delaware to a 5-1 game. That type of thing sets the game back.

 

[e5fdny]

You are absolutely correct and when they start winning the kids from NJ may want to come back but, watching them first hand yesterday they play fast man very fast and they play a lot of kids, I saw 8 poles, 4 d-mids 8 0-mids and 3 FO kids as well as 2 goalies. thats 28 kids which is unheard of in college lacrosse. Only 2 of the top ten scorers are seniors and Trasolini has yet to get on track.

But will there be room, rufamily? ;)

 

[rufamily]

That's the real question, there 2017 midfield class from NJ is very athletic so we will see

 

[Caliknight]

Who are those middies besides Atanasio, who looks like a major player?

 

[Mr_Twister]

Has the NCAA cost-of-attendance stipend made it easier for Coach Brecht to attract athletes from other parts of the country? Or does the cost-of-attendance stipend have no effect for non-revenue sports? The NCAA at one time was talking about distributing something close to like $20M among 350 schools ($50,000 roughly per school).

 

[rbled]

The whole thing is to win and they will want to come here. I really think LI can and will be a gold mine for RU. There is a subset of kids that want to go away and have a real college experience but still want to be close enough for friends / family to watch them play and to be able to go home for the occasional weekend and RU provides that. Hofstra, Stony Brook & St. John's are commuter schools. RU is the only major D1 lax program within a 2 hr drive of most of LI (other than Army which is obviously recruits a unique type of athlete). LI kids don't have the same negative perception of RU that many NJ kids do. The only thing working against us is that we have not been very good. However kids have a short memory. A couple of strong seasons will change everything and a lot of the top LI kids will be begging to come here.

 

[Caliknight]

Agreed. We keep winning, and doing it like we are, kids from LI (and NJ) are going to want to go there in droves. The key is winning, and along the way, keep investing in the program.

Comparatively speaking, it wouldn't take a massive investment to make it a sexy landing spot. Top LI talent would be really nice to have.

 

[rbled]

Agreed. We keep winning, and doing it like we are, kids from LI (and NJ) are going to want to go there in droves. The key is winning, and along the way, keep investing in the program.

Comparatively speaking, it wouldn't take a massive investment to make it a sexy landing spot. Top LI talent would be really nice to have.

It's crazy. As much as talent has developed all across the country, LI is on another level. Lax has obviously always been big there but today it is insane. There are games, clinics, camps, tournaments every weekend on every field indoor and out year round. Even the average schools have tryouts and cut with most kids having played together for years. Personally I think it is completely over the top and unhealthy but there is no question lax remains king on LI.

 

[e5fdny]

Agreed. We keep winning, and doing it like we are, kids from LI (and NJ) are going to want to go there in droves. The key is winning, and along the way, keep investing in the program.

Comparatively speaking, it wouldn't take a massive investment to make it a sexy landing spot. Top LI talent would be really nice to have.

Exactly.

It can happen in increments.

I do think though to really get the top NJ dogs we will have to WIN in LAX as opposed to just WINning. They (and their parents) will need to see that more so than in other sports.

Football IMO will only have to get to the WIN stage to help propel the program to the WINning stage.

But I will love to be totally wrong on both accounts. ;)

 

[Caliknight]

It's crazy. As much as talent has developed all across the country, LI is on another level. Lax has obviously always been big there but today it is insane. There are games, clinics, camps, tournaments every weekend on every field indoor and out year round. Even the average schools have tryouts and cut with most kids having played together for years. Personally I think it is completely over the top and unhealthy but there is no question lax remains king on LI.

I'd say the same is happening in Baltimore. I was on a trip with some of the guys who run things there and was more appalled and shocked than impressed with is going on with kids there. The club system there all the way down to 10 year olds is out of control. I imagine it is pretty similar in a number of areas, including NJ.

It's really why you are seeing so much parity in lacrosse. The amount of talent available has never been higher. Take our kids from Utah. That Rose kid is a beast on the midfield. You can clearly see he was a kid who didn't just pick up a stick his senior year of high school. I am guessing he started playing lacrosse early in his life like an east coast kid. I am also guessing he was coached by someone who is from the east coast.

You want to see what type of athlete he is, watch that kids skiing highlights. Utterly ridiculous.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...CAE7A2BB92F3881472E5CAE7A&FORM=VDQVAP&fsscr=0

 

[rufamily]

Casey Played for the West Coast Starz. The club scene is crazy in NJ, there are something like 20 different club teams to play for just in NJ and alot of them are run by people who are looking to make money and have little to no lacrosse coaching background.

 

[e5fdny]

Casey Played for the West Coast Starz. The club scene is crazy in NJ, there are something like 20 different club teams to play for just in NJ and alot of them are run by people who are looking to make money and have little to no lacrosse coaching background.

That shows at tournaments.

 

[NJ_CO_RU]

That shows at tournaments.

The tournament scene is insane. I coach a U9 team in Colorado. Last fall, I entered my spring team (coming off their U8 season) in a U9/U10 Fall tournament and they held their own (some really advanced athletes are on the team). Within a week, I had 3-4 very well known people in Lax circles reaching out to me trying to get my entire team to join their club team for the next summer. The cost of these teams is well over $1,000 per player. I try to explain to the parents that this is all for fun and skill development, and there is no expectation that the boys have to play summer club/traveling lacrosse in 3rd grade. I also shut people down when they start talking about scholarships because its pure lunacy at this age, but the parents are all in. It gets a bit tricky because this is where youth sports becomes a business for a lot of people.

My kids are 8 & 9 and they have already tried out and made their summer teams. This comes after a full season of box lacrosse which started after fall lacrosse. By the way, it's February and my spring team has about 10 practices in already. Growing up in NJ, we couldn't start practice until March 1st. Times have changed. I realize I sound pretty insane about lacrosse myself.

Last point, the only thing holding back kids outside of the Northeast, generally speaking, is coaching at the youth levels. There are Dads which have never played but are thrust into a coaching role because nobody else will. BTW, the Colorado state champion last year, Cherry Creek, is coming out to NJ to play Summit and Mtn Lakes in a few weeks. I'm very curious of the result.

 

[njdirt]

The tournament scene is insane. The cost of these teams is well over $1,000 per player.
Last point, the only thing holding back kids outside of the Northeast, generally speaking, is coaching at the youth levels. There are Dads which have never played but are thrust into a coaching role because nobody else will. .

Agree with your Statements about the cost of some of these club teams (cost here in NJ is well over $2000 for some) Our Rec team started one last year for 7/8th grade for less than $700 and did well in the 4 tournrys they entered ending with a winning record in
the 4 they were in.
Also to your point to coaching when my grandsons signed up to play 3 years ago as 3rd & 5th graders I got asked to help coach after my son mentioned that I played years ago @ Loyola Baltimore. At that time the only other person that had any college experience was the head of the program who was an All American Midfielder at Hopkins. Now we have a few more with some HS or college playing time but again the rest have never played and have no clue

 

[Caliknight]

When were you at Loyola?