Recruits are like crushes. Some play hard-to-get. Others show interest, but you don’t reciprocate. There are those you stand no shot with. And then there are the ones that got away.

Syracuse football has experienced plenty of those that got away.

The Central New York region is often criticized for its lack of quality football recruits. However, many of the top players the area produces spurn Syracuse for more prestigious programs, leaving SU with only excuses.

Since 1985, only two of New York’s Gatorade High School Player of the Year winners attended Syracuse. Four of the honorees – Greg Paulus in 2004, Mike Hart in 2003, Marquise Walker in 1997 and Dorsey Levens in 1988 – all came directly from the Syracuse area.

But first-year Orange head coach Greg Robinson emphasizes locking up local talent. The biggest headlines of last year’s recruiting season came from SU’s late push for receivers Lavar Lobdell and Bruce Williams from nearby Christian Brothers Academy.

‘I think it’s real important,’ Robinson said. ‘We’re working hard in that area. Lavar and Bruce are going to be helpful. They already have (helped). That’s what it’s all about. To win, you must have talent. Our intent is to get the best talent you can get.’

Williams said he and Lobdell are making a strong push with local athletes to try and enhance Syracuse football’s image. They have connections and they’re hoping the local pipeline continues.

‘We know a lot of athletes here,’ Williams said. ‘We go down to the city and go to the schools and they call us and we tell the truth: This is a great program. We have a new look, a new coaching staff and a new sense here.

‘They all call us and ask, ‘What’s good about Syracuse?’ and we’ll tell them. The school is great, the coaching staff is great and it’s a family. There’s no outcast on the team. And we want to bring them and encourage them to be part of a family.’

Syracuse’s 2006 recruiting class, Robinson’s first complete one, already features five New Yorkers out of 11 recruits, according to Rivals.com. This compares to the 2004 recruiting class, the last of entirely Pasqualoni recruits, when the Orange only kept eight New Yorkers in a 32-man class.

The big name missing from the 2004 class was Hart, a five-star running back who elected to go to Michigan – the same program that dragged Walker out of Central New York.

But Williams said it’s often tough to keep top players local because their options are vast.

‘Great athletes who were Gatorade Player of the Year (winners) probably had other options, go somewhere else and leave Syracuse and explore. Live a good life and see what’s out there,’ Williams said. ‘When you’re stuck in Central New York, you probably don’t get that. … Those four Gatorade players, they went somewhere else and left a mark there, too.’

The name that one might think is missing from last year’s class is Paulus, high school teammate to Lobdell and Williams and owner of almost every passing record in New York. But no football program could sway Paulus, who elected to play basketball at Duke. Paulus is Williams’ best friend, and Williams insists the CBA product never wanted to play football and merely played as a ‘hobby’ because ‘he needed something to do with his time.’

But besides the best New Yorkers, one might wonder why the Orange would focus so much on the Empire State, which features a recruiting pool that’s seldom exciting.

‘New York has been considered a basketball state for so long, it’s hard to get rid of that tag,’ said Mike Farrell of Rivals.com. ‘There’s more and more talent coming out, though. There’s more depth of talent. It’s been spot recruited by a few schools, but it’s a big state. There’s not a lot of kids in the western portion of New York that some schools feel they don’t want to make an effort.’

Williams insists the image is wrong.

‘We’re underdogs, but if you look at the past and at our history; Marquise Walker, Dorsey Levens, they came out of Syracuse alone,’ Williams said. ‘We have athletes in New York state, but we’re underrated. Look at Damien (Rhodes), Mike Hart. So (critics) are undermining New York state football, but we’re slowly on the rise.’

Rivals.com said the Orange is still pursuing two of the state’s top players for next year – defensive end Maurice Evans from Middle Village and defensive end McKenzie Matthews, who’s from Syracuse and attends CBA.

Signing Day isn’t until February and Robinson wants to ensure that SU is the school for the state’s top prospects. He’s coached in recruiting hotbeds California and Texas, where teams can fill national championship-caliber rosters with local players. Robinson’s seeking to bring the Orange to that level, and if he does it, he’ll do it by securing the region.

‘Our intent isn’t to go far and wide across America,’ Robinson said. ‘If we have a connection, then we’ll do it. But our intent is to get the kids out of the Northeast.’

Published on November 1, 2005 at 12:00 pm