Donnie, You're In Your Element

by Sean Keeley on Jun 29, 2010 8:00 AM EDT

Archbishop Stepinac High School DE Donnie Simmons has given his verbal commitment to play football for Syracuse in 2011. For his sake, I hope he never hears Doug Marrone go on a tirade like this...

Donnie received an offer from SU back in May, as did Akron (why do I feel like we're always battling Akron for recruits?). The 6'3", 230-lb DE/LB is now the fourth commitment to the 2011 class. While Scout hasn't ranked Simmons, Rivals gives him two-stars.

Simmons was considered a sleeper at the Penn State Nike Training Football Camp in May and the SU offer came on the heels of that.

Check out some highlights of Simmons and welcome our latest New York talent...

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NY Talent

I know some people are going to bitch and moan that the only BCS school to offer this kid was Syracuse, but this program is going to return to prominence by finding the raw talent NY kids and getting them in the program to grow. This kid is obviously a good athlete, he impressed at the combine, and we scooped him up before he got on Rutger’s radar. That’s how this program will return to credibility. Me and my Orange colored glasses like it.

by jimmiejones on Jun 29, 2010 10:52 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Its only June

So don’t be surprised if Schiano and other BE coaches come prowling on SU’s recruits later . The bottom line is former 2-star recruits w/offers from mostly non-BCS schools make up the largest percentage of SU’s roster, and that trend is going to continue for awhile. The goal is to hand select the few that are actually great players flying under the radar, along with the few that SU manages to steal away from other BCS schools. SU’s depth chart shows plenty of 2-star guys higher than the 3/4 star guys in the same class. Not saying the star system is totally bunk, just that a good recruiter/coach will find the right players and get the most out of them.

At any rate I’m glad to see Marrone & Co are on top of recruiting. We had about this many guys by this time last year and we added what, like 30 guys in last years class? Jarrod West was a nice late addition too.

"I'm going through a rough patch in my life right now. Syracuse is 0 and 3" - Adam Sandler

by bloodyyank44 on Jun 29, 2010 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions

this is not college bball

and freshmen dont necessarily contribute right away. In college football you have to develop guys. You take ability over skills because skills can be taught. A lot of the 5 star guys coming out of HS in football never develop because they had good coaching in HS and peaked. We want the untapped potential guys who HCDM can coach up his way. Plus the under the radar guys generally have a chip on their shoulder and much less ego.

or thats how I sleep at night with us not getting the top guys in the country – which I have to live with until we get good again… and get good facilities…. and good weather.

by ryanwk628 on Jun 29, 2010 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions