2019 Syracuse Football Replay: Finishing off the preseason for the Orange

Since we don’t have any current sports on the docket, and we don’t have any current iterations of NCAA Football, we’ll be continuing to play through the Syracuse Orange football season on NCAA Football 13 for the PlayStation 3.

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So if you missed the first part of the series, we’re recreating the 2019 Syracuse Orange football season using NCAA Football 13 on PlayStation 3. We were able to get through most of the parts of the preseason, but left the big one open. We’re on to recruiting, which is probably the most fun in the entire game. I spent a ton of time playing through seasons, while simming the games and diving hard into the recruiting and coaching. It’s probably why I love the Football Manager games on the soccer side as well. I also apparently wasn’t the only one —

So on to the main event. In NCAA you had the main recruiting screen that allowed you to grab quick information on you recruits, targets, searches and needs. As it progresses you can track promises you’ve made to recruits, where your recruits are coming from as pipeline states and top rated classes.

As noted below, the Orange are considered in a few players, specifically the following:

• Cornerbacks (2)
• Outside Linebackers (2)
• Punter (1)
• Middle Linebacker (1)
• Defensive Tackle (1)
• Quarterback (1)
• Fullback (1)
• Center (1)

This seems to jive with reality, and either way it’s what I’m going to have to look for moving forward. We start off with no open commitments and the pipeline states are all based on who the most prevalent players are on the current roster. We get a recruiting bonus in those states... which is nice.

As you can see, there’s not a whole lot of good things coming out of the current roster. We’re ok at a few positions, graded at C+ in positions not noted above, though we’re set at kicker for a while (thanks Andre!). It seems the grades and needs are based off the overall classes, so Center, we have a B- grade, but still desperately need one, as it’s just Servais or Andrejas Deurig on the roster.

So now that we know what we need, the recruiting is all based on how you can connect with the new recruits. Below it shows what the strengths and weaknesses are for the Orange on the year. Playing Style, Playing Time and Proximity to Home are all variable player to player, and will populate as we get into the season and actually talk to people.

That said, Academic Prestige and Conference Prestige are where we’re hanging our hat. It makes for solid recruiting bait if we find the right people. The game doesn’t seem to think too highly of Dino and his staff though, as Coach Prestige is a D- at present. We’ll need to work on that.

I started off by checking the pipeline states, and filtered by interested targets, then found anyone remotely interested in the Orange. It was mostly 3-star kids, some 2-star and a bunch of 1-star. I happened to toss a flyer on a few of the 2-star kids, scouting the hell out of them, which resulted in finding a few “Gems,” players that have talent above the recruiting ranking.

Biggest find was Joshua Poe, a 2-star tackle, who scouted out at “+11” from where he started in the 50s. I also grabbed a bunch of northeast targets and of course had to try for one from Canada. The only Canadian recruit that I had any position of need for was A.J. Rodriguez who consequently dropped me like a bad habit after I targeted him.

After filling up the board, there were a few prospects that caught my eye, including the following: TJ Smith, a 4-star wideout from PA that had the Orange at the top of the list; Tony Koch, a 3-star Scrambler QB from Vermont, Tyler Seward, a 3-star punter from New Jersey, Trey Schroeder, a 3-star MLB from New York and Steven Johnson, a 3-star corner from Ithaca, because I might as well keep people from the backyard, if they deserve it.

We’ll see how it goes, going into week one on the recruiting front, but up next, the season opener at Maryland. More to come and more to see when we actually get to a game!