Last Friday in the Carrier Dome, 40,329 people watched Syracuse lose to Washington by 30 points, and most, if not all, hung their heads after the game envisioning another struggling season. It’s a guarantee, though, there was at least one person in attendance with hope for the future.

Matt Jones, a defensive end for Aquinas Institute in Rochester, was on hand for the game against Washington. Jones verbally committed to Syracuse exactly one month ago, and it was an easy decision.

‘I felt like it was the best choice for me at the time,’ Jones said. ‘All I heard when I was growing up was Syracuse.’

Jones verbally committed to Syracuse on Aug. 6, and the season-opening blowout hasn’t changed his mind one bit.

Jones grew up only a short distance away, so he and his family are no strangers to Syracuse athletics. As a kid, Jones said he and his family would always watch SU on TV or at least pay attention to how Syracuse was doing.

The last couple years have been no different. Jones realizes that the Orange has its troubles, but it’s nothing they can’t turn around, he said.

‘I think they played hard to the end,’ Jones said. ‘You have to play hard to the end and never give up, and they did that.’

Aquinas’ head football coach, Chris Battaglia, also advised Jones to forget about records; at this point, they don’t matter to Jones because he won’t be playing with the current players.

‘I told him to throw out Rutgers because those players won’t be there when you’re playing,’ Battaglia said.

Other schools that lobbied for Jones’ services were Boston College, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Temple and Buffalo. Even after Jones made the verbal commitment to Syracuse, Buffalo has still shown interest.

But after SU’s loss to Washington in the Dome, Jones said he couldn’t get that disappointed because he isn’t on the team yet and has to worry more about his own team first. Come next year, however, he hopes to help to turn the team around.

Jones might not get that opportunity until his second year. At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, Jones might redshirt his first year to bulk up. If he were to join the team today he would be the second smallest defensive end behind freshman Zary Stewart, who is listed as 6-foot-4, 220 pounds.

‘It gives me a challenge,’ Jones said. ‘I can make it better. I feel like it’s my job to make the team better.’

Battaglia said putting on the weight shouldn’t be an issue. Jones is active all year because he also plays basketball, so he really hasn’t had time to bulk up.

‘It won’t be a problem,’ Battaglia said. ‘He’s thin right now, but he can put on a lot of weight.’

Jones has already started with a weight program and is excelling at it, Battaglia said. On his first day of weight training, Battaglia said Jones benched 175 pounds, but now he’s up to 240 pounds.

When he does get on the field, Jones is poised to play defensive end but has also played quarterback, wide receiver, as well as kick returner before moving permanently to the defense.

The move was an easy one. He asked Battaglia if he could play some defense because it was struggling. Three days later, Jones replaced the starter in a sectional quarterfinals game.

‘I thought he might play (defensive end) this year,’ said Battaglia. ‘But we couldn’t freaking block him, and I was like, ‘This is going to be easy.”

Commits not stacking up

With some schools like UCLA and Nebraska already receiving more than 20 verbal commitments from high school prospects, Syracuse looks to be behind in this department.

The Orange has only eight verbal commitments. Cincinnati ranks first in the Big East with 16 prospects verbally committing. Pittsburgh, Connecticut and South Florida only had seven prospects give them their word, but according to Scout.com, the three classes are already better than the one making the trip up to the Hill.

All seven recruits are currently rated as two-star talents, tying Syracuse for 75th out of 106 schools with at least one commitment. No school after Syracuse has more than six recruits, leaving SU tied with Wyoming, Rice and Colorado State for the worst class ranking with at least seven verbal commitments.

Washington loss affecting other recruits

A.J. Pickens, a three-star wide receiver from Don Antonio Lugo High School in Chino, Calif., is not on the Orange’s radar, but Syracuse may have something to do with his decision making.

According to Scout.com, Pickens was leaning toward Oregon State but admitted he was impressed with Ty Willingham and his Huskies’ dominance over Syracuse.

Published on September 5, 2007 at 12:00 pm