With a little less than three months until national signing day for college football, the Syracuse football team has 12 high school prospects that have made verbal promises to play for the Orange next year.

In the Big East, 12 commitments rank ahead of Louisville, Rutgers, Connecticut and Pittsburgh. All four schools have 11 verbals or fewer so far.

The size may stack up in a conference that has had six teams that were ranked in the top 25 at some point during the season; however, in terms of talent, experts don’t rank SU’s class all that favorably.

Of the 12 verbal agreements Syracuse has received, 11 of them are either two-star or one-star talents, according to Scout.com.

‘There might be a two-star that turns into super star,’ Scout.com East and Midwest recruiting analyst Bob Lichtenfels said. ‘But I mean, some of these kids they’re taking, I’ll be shocked if they ever turn out to be great college football players at Syracuse.’

The Orange has one four-star prospect, Romale Tucker, who has committed. Tucker signed a letter of intent to attend Syracuse last year – after verbally committing to Virginia – but is now attending Milford (N.Y.) Academy to improve his high school grades. Since attending Milford, he now has a verbal commitment to the Orange, which he said is very solid.

SU has zero three-star verbal promises and is the only school in the Big East without one. Cincinnati and UConn do not have a four-star prospect coming their way yet. The Bearcats have received promises from three three-star high school players, and the Huskies are planning on two three-star athletes coming their way.

As for the rest of the Big East, West Virginia, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and South Florida all have at least one four-star prospect and four three-star athletes that have given them a verbal commitment.

‘When you look at the Big East as a whole, you have Rutgers, Pittsburgh, those guys are recruiting really well, South Florida now, even Cincinnati,’ Lichtenfels said. ‘So I think the overall scope of things, it makes it a lot tougher to make it look like you have a better class because everyone in (their) conference is recruiting better, and it’s a lot stronger than it used to be.’

A route the Big East and Syracuse have gone in the past is through junior college transfers. One of the Orange’s most productive wideouts, Taj Smith, came from a junior college in California, but SU head coach Greg Robinson said earlier this year he’d like to avoid depending on recruiting juco players.

Lichtenfels disagrees with Robinson’s view and points to UConn’s Tyler Lorenzen, a juco transfer. The Huskies quarterback has led UConn from a Big East bottom feeder to a No. 13 ranking in the BCS poll and No. 16 in The AP poll. Lichtenfels said without Lorenzen, the Huskies might still be at the bottom of the conference.

Cincinnati also turned to juco players to help turn around the program. Two of its starters on the offensive line came from junior colleges. As long as coaches don’t go to the junior college well too many times, the players can be extremely valuable, Lichtenfels said.

‘You look at Southern California, Miami (Fla.), all the schools that are powerhouses all have some juco kids somewhere,’ Lichtenfels said. ‘If you look at a program like Syracuse right now, they could use a JC quarterback, they could use a JC running back, you know, someone who can come in and make an impact right now.’

The high school players who have made verbal commitments to Syracuse disagree with Lichtenfels’ assessment of SU’s recruiting class. Grant Mayes, a cornerback from Seton Hall Prep (N.J.), gave his verbal agreement to SU over the summer. He doesn’t care about how many stars he or his future teammates have.

‘To me, rankings don’t mean anything. I’ve seen a lot of five-stars that went to college and become flops,’ Mayes said. ‘And then I heard of two-stars that went to college that are starting and doing good things. So to me, rankings are nothing but a number; you still have to come and play every Saturday.’

Mayes brought up three-star talent Ray Rice, who is seventh in the nation in rushing yards. It has been publicized especially lately about how Ray Rice had a verbal commitment to Syracuse then changed his mind to attend Rutgers. Lichtenfels was not surprised and sees a trend.

‘I don’t know if Robinson’s classes so far are as good as (former SU head coach Paul) Pasqualoni’s used to be,’ Lichtenfels said.

Lichtenfels couldn’t come up with any specifics for why Syracuse isn’t doing as well as it used to in the past. Some people say it’s because Robinson is hesitant to make early offers, and recruits are making earlier decisions. Others have said it’s a stronger possibility that the reason for the drop-off is because (defensive line coach) Tim Cross left Syracuse for Minnesota.

Lichtenfels and his colleague Matt Alkire said Cross’ name was always the first thing recruits would say after a visit. Now, there isn’t much that prospects see atop the Hill.

‘I’m sure they’re out there recruiting the kids like everybody else is,’ Lichtenfels said. ‘For whatever reason it is right now, Syracuse just isn’t one of those sexy teams.’

Two more recruits

Syracuse got two more verbal commitments over the past week. Both are one-star prospects, according to Scout.com. Antwon Bailey, a safety for St. John’s College (D.C.) High School, gave his verbal promise Oct. 30. Dorian Graham, a running back for St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) High School, gave his verbal commitment on Halloween.

Both players could not be reached comment.

‘Tae Train’ to Central Florida

Latavius Murray committed to Central Florida Wednesday. The running back for Onondaga (N.Y.) High School was considering Central Florida and Boston College. Syracuse was also low on the back’s list.

When Murray spoke to The Daily Orange a few weeks ago, he said he was leaning toward the Black Knights because of head coach George O’Leary. He said he would have liked to consider Syracuse more, but with the team’s current situation, he thought it wasn’t the best place for him.

Published on November 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm