Recruiting is a fickle game. Major universities across the country reap millions of dollars from the success of their sports programs. And the foundation of it all rests on the ability of grown men to attract 17-year old kids to campus. Fans too love to chart their team’s progress, especially when it comes to recruiting rankings. But those rankings, to an extent, have to be taken with a grain of salt.
According to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings, Syracuse is currently bringing up the rear in the ACC recruiting rankings. Dead last out of 14 teams. But take a closer look. The Orange has an average recruit ranking of 84.28; good for tenth place. That outpaces, in order, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Wake Forest, and Virginia while trailing NC State (84.29) by a mere one hundredth of a point.
Syracuse is tied with Clemson (3) and North Carolina (5) for least number of commits; all three schools having received 11 pledges. Yet, Clemson’s high ranking is partially due to having the only two 5-star recruits committed to the league to date. Both Clemson and North Carolina have five 4-star verbals.
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Now examine the four schools that Syracuse has a higher average recruit ranking than. The Orange is the only squad of the five to have landed a 4-star recruit, OL Tyrone Sampson. Neither Pitt nor Louisville has secured a 4-star either. Virginia and Boston College, at 82.99 and 83.48, have two of the three lowest average recruit rankings in the league, respectively. But with 19 commits each in tow, both schools are tied with Miami and Virginia Tech for most verbals in the ACC. Of the combined 38 pledges for BC and UVA, 37 of them are ranked as 3-star recruits whereas the Orange only has half that many, nine, in both cases.
Saturday marks the next opportunity for Syracuse to climb the recruiting rankings and it will turn to a Peach Tree player to do so as 3-star Athlete Hassan Hall will announce his choice. So far, all four 247 Crystal Ball predictions favor Louisville.
Regardless of Hall’s choice and no matter how many stars Babers’ recruits accumulate, wins matter most. The more wins Dino Ball produces, the easier it will be to attract talent. And the true recruiting rankings will play out on the field, not on websites.
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