A pipeline from the New York and New Jersey area to Syracuse played a sizable hand in three bowl victories in four years.

But since Scott Shafer’s takeover of the program, Syracuse hasn’t followed the trend. Just one New York City product has been added to the Orange in the last two seasons — nose tackle Wayne Williams, who verbally committed during Doug Marrone’s tenure.

Yet the Orange’s incoming recruiting class is focusing on changing the trend. Syracuse has refocused its recruiting efforts in the 2015 class on more local talent, and the surrounding New York City area is at the root of it. Five of the 26 commits expected to sign with SU on Wednesday are from New Jersey, and two more are from Long Island.

The consensus is that Syracuse — with wide receivers coach Bobby Acosta making SU’s pitch to recruits in that area — is trying to recapture an area that it once owned more prominently in the recruiting realm.

“We’re going to go after the best players in our state and try to keep them at home,” Shafer said in November.

When Syracuse hoisted the 2012 New Era Pinstripe Bowl trophy in Yankee Stadium, second-leading tackler Siriki Diabate was fewer than three miles from home. Marrone’s high school was 13 minutes away.

A 2013 team captain in defensive tackle Jay Bromley, the starting quarterback at the beginning of this year in Terrel Hunt and a number of other Brooklyn and Queens natives weren’t far from home, either. It was a storybook scenario for the self-proclaimed college football team of the state.

And Dyshawn Davis, who just finished his SU career this past season, and fellow linebacker Marquis Spruill were both New Jersey talents who helped the Orange reach that postseason success.

But perhaps in an effort to keep up with the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Syracuse directed its attention away from the area.

“When they were in their prime, that’s what they would try to tap into, the New Jersey kids,” said Jake Pickard, a Millburn (New Jersey) High School defensive end who is verbally committed to SU. “So now we’re trying to roll back into that.

“They want to tap into New Jersey again like they were doing in their prime … They said in the past it was New Jersey guys, and that Syracuse was the New Jersey school as opposed to Rutgers.”

The Orange reached into New Jersey last year for safety Rodney Williams and now is projected to add five more. Two prospects from Long Island — a spot in which SU’s been active, but not overly successful with its crop — are in line to join as well.

Acosta changed his Twitter name to honor the “Savage” moniker that the rest of the New Jersey crop has adopted. And he’s connecting with the recruits in a manner that made it clear to Pickard that Syracuse was where he wanted to go after flipping his commitment from Wisconsin.

Said Ron Baskind, the head coach of SU running back commit Tyrone Perkins at Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York: “They’re trying to bring back what they used to have very prominently.”

Published on February 3, 2015 at 12:08 am