On paper, Syracuse had a horrible recruiting class. They're ranked 116th overall, worst in the Big East and one of the lowest-rated in Division 1-A. Possibly THE lowest depending where you look.
But you don't recruit college football players on paper. That would be silly. And they would be very flimsy and tear easily. So that's why Dougie Howser is so jacked up about his new guys:
"I was telling our coaches," Marrone said at his press conference Wednesday. "This is great, this is what you want. You want people to come back in on some of your recruits. It makes you feel better about your recruits and that you've gotten the right players."
Doug had all good things to say about his recruits. Including, some rather notable comments, including:
[Rishard Anderson] didn't play much his senior year, but we took him off what he did his junior year . . . and he was a tremendous player.
Let the record show I was an AMAZING first baseman in Little League in 1991. I keep waiting for the Mets to call. Not sure what the hold-up is.
[Zach Chibane's] got leadership ability and he's an ex-wrestler. We all know what type of football players these ex-wrestlers are.
We do? I have no idea what that means. Unless you mean he's liable to tear off his Syracuse jersey at any given moment to reveal a Rutgers one and then join Greg Schiano in stomping on Doug Hogue's leg while screaming something about SummerSlam. Cause if that's the case, I don't like it. Not one bit.
When you're looking for a wide receiver, what are you looking for? I'm looking for someone who caught the football.
Uh-oh. That was Gregism-esque, Doug. Let's not start down that road...
"Charley [Loeb] is someone who is 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds. He's one of the first people you want to get off the bus when the other team is looking across the field."
I assume he's wearing a prison jump-suit and snarling whilst doing this.
"I'm from New York City."
And I drive a Dodge Stratus!
What singled [Philip Thomas] out is that he can intercept the football and create turnovers. That's what we're looking to do on defense."
Are we sure someone didn't just re-write a Greggers transcript from last year?
"If you're a big guy and you've had trouble staying in shape over the years, [Andrew Tiller] is the guy you want to stand next to when he walks off the bus. You'll feel pretty good about yourself if you put on those extra pounds during the holidays."
Clearly, Doug Marrone and Mitch Browning have different views on the "big is beautiful" stance.