Mark Crews doesn’t understand why Cameron Lynch wasn’t recruited by the SEC. He doesn’t get how one of the best linebackers in Georgia wasn’t able to get looks from teams in his own backyard.

Sure, Lynch is only 5-foot-11, but his numbers show he plays much bigger than that. He finished his senior year with 188 tackles, 18.5 sacks and five interceptions — along with being named the Class AAAAA Defensive Player of the Year in the state.

The SEC’s loss is Syracuse’s treasure.

‘Can’t explain why they wouldn’t want him,’ said Crews, Lynch’s high school coach at Brookwood High School. ‘He’s the best defensive player in our state in the coaches’ poll and everything else. … You don’t fit the cookie cutter, you can’t play.’

Lynch signed his National Letter of Intent to play for Syracuse on Wednesday. He is one of three linebackers in the incoming class of 27 that head coach Doug Marrone and his staff brought in. Linebacker is a position with a couple of key holes that need to be filled next season, the voids left by graduating seniors Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith. Marquis Spruill has one of the linebacker starting spots locked down, but the others remain open.

And Lynch has the potential to do more than just fill a gap. He could be the gem of the class.

‘He’s going to be a 5-foot-11, 240-pound kid by the time he’s done, who’s going to be hitting people all around,’ said Mike Farrell, recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. ‘I can see why the SEC was scared off a little bit. They like their linebackers to be big, to be tall, to be NFL size.

‘But in the Big East, I think this kid could be a star.’

Syracuse recruiting coordinator Greg Adkins and Crews go way back, Crews said. The Brookwood coach said Adkins was at Brookwood’s 1996 football banquet after Crews’ team won the Georgia state title. He was there this year, too, to congratulate Crews on another state title.

And Adkins is more than happy to take in Lynch. He, like Farrell, sees Lynch becoming a star linebacker.

‘You just have to turn the film on,’ Adkins said Wednesday. ‘Whether he’s 5-foot-10 or 6-foot-2, we offered him a scholarship because, like Coach (Marrone) said, our staff evaluated him and thought he’d help our football team.’

JUCO commits could pay dividends immediately

Four of the 27 players who signed National Letters of Intent to play for Syracuse on Wednesday came from junior colleges and prep schools. And SU head coach Doug Marrone said they will be held to a greater expectation in their first year than the incoming freshmen.

‘When we look at junior college players, we specifically look at filling a void for a starter position or creating a position of backup and fill a position that doesn’t have a lot of numbers,’ Marrone said Wednesday.

Coming in from JUCO or prep schools are wide receiver Jeremiah Kobena and defensive back Dyshawn Davis, from Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y., along with offensive lineman Lou Alexander and linebacker Siriki Diabate. The first three originally committed to SU in 2010, and Diabate comes from Nassau Community College (N.Y.), a school the Orange has looked to for players in the past.

Milford Academy has proven to produce talented football players over the years, including current NFL running backs LeSean McCoy and Shonn Greene. So there are expectations for Davis and Kobena to be contributors, especially with the raw athleticism Milford head coach Bill Chaplick says they bring to the table.

Chaplick had the highest of praise for the duo, along with linebacker Myles Davis, who will join SU in 2012 after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament this season.

‘I think the three guys — Myles Davis, Dyshawn and Kobena — are the best trio in a long time,’ Chaplick said. ‘So expect big things from them.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on February 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr