OT: #1 NJ to Syracuse

[Virginiarufan]

The TAMU transfer is Elijah Robinson's nephew. I never heard a peep of us ever being considered or courting Yasin Willis. So far, Fran has been a nothing burger for us.

 

[rutgersdave]

The TAMU transfer is Elijah Robinson's nephew. I never heard a peep of us ever being considered or courting Yasin Willis. So far, Fran has been a nothing burger for us.

That helps with recruiting when you’re a close relative of the recruit. 3 NJ recruits, one relative, one no ratings, and one valid recruit.

 

[BoogieKnight]

Greg has gotten smart about it...we have some kids that come out of places like BC and DBP that are national kids- they are usually going to the elites. We then pick and choose the others we want. And Greg doesn't care so much about their state rank as we are in their backyard- we can find the KM type player who was behind the national recruit (Berger). But Greg also realizes we are in the B1G and now we have a pool of players in B1G country and Florida who will be able to play at this level but may need to be coached up just a little more.
And now- we earned a legitimate bowl and able to keep a lot of our players- good shot to do it back to back and then start to look a bit mor appealing to other kids.
If we try to go back to building a fence, we would never be able to compete at this point.

Great points. This isn’t 2001, the game has changed for us. Maybe SU feels “getting Jersey kids“ will bring them back to the 1990’s and maybe Brown succeeds in doing it. I still don’t really think it effects us like their fans are hoping it will.

 

[dconifer]

That was a fair knock on Locks, given his coaching record up until the last few years. Maybe he grew and learned, or just maybe he was able to hire better coordinators. Or maybe 80% of his late success was Taulia?

Cool, that's a legitimate point. Maybe we will see one way or another, unless they somehow come up with another QB ace...

 

[RuSnp]

Great points. This isn’t 2001, the game has changed for us. Maybe SU feels “getting Jersey kids“ will bring them back to the 1990’s and maybe Brown succeeds in doing it. I still don’t really think it effects us like their fans are hoping it will. We have a lot more to sell now than we did when “Shady” first got here. I’m not saying we are or have been any good, just that we have more to offer than we did 22 years ago.

There is definitely the belief that the rise of Rutgers in securing more NJ/NY talent coincided with their descent. And if you graphed our records there does seem to be an inverse relationship. But if you think about it logically IF there is a relationship that's exactly an argument for why you need to recruit OUTSIDE that footprint as well. In other words, if those two states were sufficient talent-wise there should be more than enough to support both a winning Rutgers and Syracuse programs at the same time.

 

[Knight Shift]

Cool, that's a legitimate point. Maybe we will see one way or another, unless they somehow come up with another QB ace...

One never knows until you see sustained success. The thing about Locksley - is he has assembled a of talented players. There seems to be a lot more substance now than his previous experience (was it at New Mexico?- where it is harder to recruit). His time as Alabama was obviously good for him. I doubt he will be like Mel Tucker who had a one hit wonder year with Kenneth Walker III 90% responsible for that solid one season he had. Unless you get another ace, perhaps Maryland will take a step back, and the RU/Md game will be competitive again!

 

[yesrutgers01]

There is definitely the belief that the rise of Rutgers in securing more NJ/NY talent coincided with their descent. And if you graphed our records there does seem to be an inverse relationship. But if you think about it logically IF there is a relationship that's exactly an argument for why you need to recruit OUTSIDE that footprint as well. In other words, if those two states were sufficient talent-wise there should be more than enough to support both a winning Rutgers and Syracuse programs at the same time.

not sure if there is that belief. I think everyone believes the decent started with Flood and got crushed by Ash...

 

[RuSnp]

not sure if there is that belief. I think everyone believes the decent started with Flood and got crushed by Ash...

That's our belief. I'm talking about the belief up in Syracuse.

 

[rutgersdave]

not sure if there is that belief. I think everyone believes the decent started with Flood and got crushed by Ash...

I went back in the recruiting history and when Flood took over Rutgers pretty much stop getting Top 15 NJ recruits, they all went to national football programs especially Penn State and this continued with Ash. When Schiano came back so did some of the Top NJ 15 recruits.

I went back to 2010-2020 NJ recruits and only 1-2 top 20 NJ recruits ever choose Syracuse, maybe before Schiano, Syracuse got more recruits or they got mostly top NJ 30-50 recruits. I guess recruits didn’t go to Syracuse because of the weather.

 

[Scarlet Craig]

Al - I think you are confusing questionable game day decision makng as a very young head coach at that point in time with the ability to simply coach. He had already proven his abilty to coach while at Penn State, the Chiacgo Bears then Miami as their defensive coordinator prior to being hired as Rutgers head coach at age 34.

I attribute many (not all) of his perceived poor game day coaching issues early in his first tenure was him trying to do too much. He is better as a program builder who is more comfortable delegating which I am fine with. He’s not perfect for sure, but I think he is better this time around because of the higher quality staff.

 

[bitnez]

I don’t hate Syracuse. To hate them would mean I have to think about them. I almost never do. And FWIW I like Fran Brown a lot and honestly want him to do well. I think his success will have little effect on us if we’re winning. Top recruits want to play Michigan, OSU, USC, Wash, Oregon. Let Cuse fans enjoy their conference and whatever teams play in it.

 

[cicero grimes]

Happy to take the #1 recruit in NJ. It feels like old times.

Don't worry. Now that he is a cuse commit they will drop his ranking by 25 spots.

 

[Rokodesh]

Al, no one with any credible football knowledge ever said Greg Schiano can’t coach. Paterno promoted him to be be Penn State’s head secondary coach at age 25. An age where you were still whacking off to Marcia Brady posters.

At least they weren't Savon Huggins posters

 

[sct1111]

Don't worry. Now that he is a cuse commit they will drop his ranking by 25 spots.

Looks like he's a 3 star according to every other recruiting site. 🤷

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Happy to take the #1 recruit in NJ. It feels like old times.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Fran Brown demonstrated his ability to coach defensive backs at National Champion Georgia. Greg only had two years as a Coordinator at Miami. Mario Cristobal
Had zero years as a coordinator, yet makes twice Greg’s salary as Head Coach.

The notion that Fran Brown can’t coach lacks merit, because he’s never been given the opportunity. He’ll have the opportunity over the next 3 to 5 years to grow into the role. As long as he gets the talent and develops it, he Will be successful. He’s off to a great start, gaining commitments from the #1 WR and #1 RB from NJ.

Have you watched the development of the DBs from Fran's time to now? It's like night and day. Fran is a great recruiter but a suspect coach. Even at Georgia, he wasn't great. Talent covered him. He won't get all five stars at Syracuse like at Georgia.

 

[rutgersal]

Have you watched the development of the DBs from Fran's time to now? It's like night and day. Fran is a great recruiter but a suspect coach. Even at Georgia, he wasn't great. Talent covered him. He won't get all five stars at Syracuse like at Georgia.

Like Rutgers, Syracuse is not a 5 star place. But he will get the 3 stars and maybe occasional 4 star from South Jersey, especially Camden, which will make things more difficult for us.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

 

[yesrutgers01]

That's our belief. I'm talking about the belief up in Syracuse.

You mean that Cuse fans believe they started to fall when they started to recruit NY/NJ?

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Like Rutgers, Syracuse is not a 5 star place. But he will get the 3 stars and maybe occasional 4 star from South Jersey, especially Camden, which will make things more difficult for us.

We've expanded our recruiting base. Some of the best players are coming from non-traditional places. NJ has been overrated recruiting-wise for some time. Yes, next year may be an excellent year for NJ recruiting, but it's been more disappointing lately. More importantly, if we win, kids are likelier to pick Rutgers over Syracuse simply for location, weather, opportunity on and off the field, and other reasons.

 

[RuSnp]

You mean that Cuse fans believe they started to fall when they started to recruit NY/NJ?

No. Cuse fans (when they admit it) say that Rutgers getting 'competent to good' lines up with them getting bad. I'm too lazy to find the article but there was a good one that talked about GRob's laziness in recruiting the tri-state area contrasted with Schiano.

 

[Extra Point]

Maybe he gets to represent an exotic sports car company and he gets a couple of free cars. He is sitting on one in the video. Otherwise RU in the B1G is the best place for a RB to go. A short drive for his family to come watch him play. And he can see how well IP and KM did/does.

 

[GSGS]

Every recruit that picks a certain school believes it is in his best interest to matriculate to that institution.

You have to respect his decision and I wish him well and just move on.

If you look at Pitt recruits they come from states up and down the eastern seaboard (mostly Rival 3-stars).

Prior to Yasin leaving, Pitt had 2 recruits from NJ now we will have one.

What I ultimately look at is the ability of a coaching staff to develop recruits which are prized NFL Draft Picks.

If you look at recent NFL Draft picks for 2021,2022 and 2023, Pitt has had 14 players Drafted in the NFL, Miami has had 8 , Syracuse has had 4 and Rutgers has had 3.

Pitt suffered its worst season in 25 over years (3-9) so you would expect other schools to exploit the situation.

Yesterday Narduzzi announced the hire of Kade Bell as Pitt's new OC/QB coach which I personally like.

Will Yasin be a future NFL Draft pick, will Kade Bell be an outstanding OC/QB coach, remains to be seen.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

I guarantee you that most recruits have no idea what "matriculate" means, lol.

 

[angmo]

That’s not helping, Roy. LOL

Worst case scenario

 

[BoogieKnight]

No. Cuse fans (when they admit it) say that Rutgers getting 'competent to good' lines up with them getting bad. I'm too lazy to find the article but there was a good one that talked about GRob's laziness in recruiting the tri-state area contrasted with Schiano.

Yes. There was truth to that 20 years ago when we both played in the same regional conference. We've now been in different conferences for a decade, both of which extend into other parts of the country that have more talent than the vaunted (sarcasm) northeastern United States. It’s now a national sport where you are allowed to pay players. I’d say things have changed a bit since 2004.

 

[newell138]

I think 6-2 (220 pounds) Yasin would have been a good RB in the Pitt offense.

A couple of years ago Pitt recruited a 5-11 (216 pound) Rival 3-star RB from NY.

His name was Israel Abanikanda who went in the 5th round NFL Draft to the NY Jets.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

The whole “hail to Pitt” in every post is quite annoying.

 

[newell138]

That’s not helping, Roy. LOL

I believe it’s … we never offered

 

[newell138]

There is definitely the belief that the rise of Rutgers in securing more NJ/NY talent coincided with their descent. And if you graphed our records there does seem to be an inverse relationship. But if you think about it logically IF there is a relationship that's exactly an argument for why you need to recruit OUTSIDE that footprint as well. In other words, if those two states were sufficient talent-wise there should be more than enough to support both a winning Rutgers and Syracuse programs at the same time.

Their descent started when they joined a conference based in the south while the school was in Canada

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Memo

Mark donofiro left Greg schiano staff to go with Al Groh with Al golden at Virginia

We were just fine , thank you ….

Worry about our own business…..it’s that simple

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

The whole “hail to Pitt” in every post is quite annoying.

sPitt sux

 

[kupuna133]

Memo

Mark donofiro left Greg schiano staff to go with Al Groh with Al golden at Virginia

We were just fine , thank you ….

Worry about our own business…..it’s that simple

While actively recruiting from the Hale center for his next stop. He tried to flip some of our recruits on the way out the door. Yea D’onofrio bad guy!

 

[RUich]

Every recruit that picks a certain school believes it is in his best interest to matriculate to that institution.

Matriculate??? My guess is that any academics are pretty low on the entrance sheet if they exist at all.

 

[RU-Kidding]

Another Syracuse defensive starter has entered the transfer portal. Former 3 star defensive tackle Terry Lockett who started eight games this season, will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.

Terry Lockett

Game Film

 

[rutgersdave]

Another Syracuse defensive starter has entered the transfer portal. Former 3 star defensive tackle Terry Lockett who started eight games this season, will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.

Terry Lockett

Game Film

They lost 8 3 star to the portal since Brown was hired.

 

[RuSnp]

Their descent started when they joined a conference based in the south while the school was in Canada

I hear your point but no. They sucked well before the ACC move. The 11 years before in the Big East they went 22 and 54. That's a 29% winning percentage. They were the dregs of the league for a sustained period of time.

 

[OldManRiver]

Would be nice as "consolation" to NJ's #1

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/class-2025-running-back-jabree-053757018.html

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I hear your point but no. They sucked well before the ACC move. The 11 years before in the Big East they went 22 and 54. That's a 29% winning percentage. They were the dregs of the league for a sustained period of time.

This is where Syracuse went wrong...

New Syracuse AD Gross fires Paul Pasqualoni after 14 years...

Syracuse named a new Chancellor in 2004 who then hired a new AD who then fired their long-time head coach.

All these new hires wanting to put their stamp on Syracuse.

I thank them for firing Pasqualoni and for some of their subsequent hires. Can Fran Brown get Syracuse the same pull they had in New Jersey during the Pasqualoni years? Doubt it. Hope not.

 

[dconifer]

One never knows until you see sustained success. The thing about Locksley - is he has assembled a of talented players. There seems to be a lot more substance now than his previous experience (was it at New Mexico?- where it is harder to recruit). His time as Alabama was obviously good for him. I doubt he will be like Mel Tucker who had a one hit wonder year with Kenneth Walker III 90% responsible for that solid one season he had. Unless you get another ace, perhaps Maryland will take a step back, and the RU/Md game will be competitive again!

I was asking around; other Maryland fans are more on top of this than I am (I had said last week that they would stick with Cameron Edge and Billy Edwards), but it's now pretty definite that they will be adding a portal QB...

 

[rutgersdave]

I was asking around; other Maryland fans are more on top of this than I am (I had said last week that they would stick with Cameron Edge and Billy Edwards), but it's now pretty definite that they will be adding a portal QB...

It almost seem like any team that’s in the Top 30 is getting their QB from the portal unless they have a starter that did well for this year. The portal is the minor league for these teams taking any QB that has proven themselves the last 2-3 years, even if they are in the Big Ten or SEC, normally the lower half of the conference. If Rutgers had a QB that proven themselves the last two years, we would lose him to another team unless we pay up.

 

[yessir321]

Well the fact remains that people make decisions that they believe will be a benefit to them.

You can disagree with their decision but ultimately have to accept it.

In this era of NIL, Transfer Portal, coaching opportunities, changes are inevitable.

People will discuss if they believe the individual made the correct decision.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

Along these lines I don't like Greg Schiano and the $16 million still owed to him but I have to accept it.

On the other hand...... I can thank my lucky stars we're not Pitt who gave Narduzzi an extension until 2030 and now a year later find themselves completely screwed with a coach the fanbase hates, locker room full of primadonna's (try saying Phil wasn't a complete crybaby), and stuck with a coach that sucks because they can't afford to buy him out...