Scott Shafer asked his director of recruiting operations, Eric White, to compile the GPA of the 25 newly signed players on Wednesday morning. He came back with an average GPA of over 3.0, a number that Shafer proudly boasted.

“We wanted to find kids of intelligence,” Shafer, the Syracuse head coach, said. “We really scrutinized the transcripts and the test scores.”

But when the topic shifted to the players that weren’t there — those that had decommitted or left the class — academics was once again at the forefront during his National Signing Day press conference at the Iocolano-Petty Football Wing on Wednesday.

Shafer was asked about the two players, Gerald Robinson and West Lindor, who decommitted from the class because they claimed that the coaches didn’t reach out to them or call them back for months at a time.

Shafer became defensive with the question, saying he was there to talk about the committed players only, and that the media often doesn’t hear the coaches’ side of those stories.

“Our side of the story will be we’ll try to recruit the kids that best fit and reach the standards and expectations that we put out there for them,” Shafer said. “And if those standards fall short, when bars are set, when kids are committed early to you, and say A, B and C need to be met by fall semester. And when A, B and C aren’t met you have to move in another direction.”

When the reporter followed up asking for an example other than academics, Shafer didn’t give one.

Lindor defended his academic standing in a series of text messages after the press conference.

“I’m almost positive he’s known I’m a smart kid,” Lindor said in the text, noting his 3.9 GPA and 24 on his ACT. “I would assume that getting offers from an Ivy League school would make them understand.”

Lindor signed his letter of intent on Wednesday to play for Brown University.

When asked if there is an urge to take on kids that are in poor academic standing to further the benefit of the SU football product, Shafer said he never wants to lower the academic bar. He also noted that there are two or three players in the Class of 2015 that will have to work hard to make sure they’re qualified.

In the instance of Alin Edouard, a Class of 2014 commit who delayed his enrollment a semester, the academics weren’t good enough for him to come to the school, Shafer said. Edouard’s currently enrolled at Garden City Community College in Kansas.

“We’ll never lower the bar where we’re striking out too much,” Shafer said. “… I think any time you get past that number, then you’re in a situation where you’re vulnerable to letting your teammates down and your coaches down.”

Published on February 4, 2015 at 5:19 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3