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Are we wasting our time recruiting NYC football kids?

It's obviously not a good idea to shut down the recruiting of an area, but I think that the first post was probably just an overreaction. OP is right that the state of NY, NYC especially, doesn't produce a tremendous amount of talent, and in terms of major recruits it's only 1-2 per year. It's largely due to the NYC's passion for basketball, kids that are the elite athletes focus there because it's the easiest and cheapest to play, both as a kid in the city and when you get to HS age. Rutgers always pulls those mid tier NY guys and some really hit big (Rice/McCourty brothers), it's nothing compared to NJ or PA, and not even on the same planet as FL.

I will say though that the advantage for Miami with NY is that there isn't really a bias for kids growing up because there is no dominant team. Miami actually has one of the biggest fan bases in the city according to a poll that the NY Times did a couple years back, so pulling kids from there won't be as hard as getting a kid from northern Florida, Ohio, Texas, etc. because there is no hometown bias to fight.
 
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ny is a basketball city. nj has legit football talent and we do well there. holley like domique easley are recruited by everyone. for years it felt that syracuse is where all the nyc stars wanted to play football. i think go get holley because in nyc he probably has crappy facilities and coaching, he could probably grow big time in miami.
 
RickRollU said:
The difference is the number of player, NYC don't have a lot of great football player, so of course when 1 of them fail, it's easy to see. When a kid from Florida bust, there's 100 other highly rated kids waiting their turn to take his place while there's maybe 2-3 in NYC.
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THIS. There have been countless flame-outs from big time Florida kids or Cali kids, but people still talk about Jason Gwaltney (top 15 recruit back in '05) like it was a huge tragedy that he couldn't get his head together. Ask a football fan from NY (Long Island specifically) about him and they'll tell you the whole story like it's a local legend.
 
We're not dealing with Shannon and him following Rivals and offering all of the top 150 guys. Golden and staff evaluate and evaluate. It's constant. Every day.

If they want this kid, I want this kid. With any recruit. End of story.
 
I'm from Jersey and there's not an abundance of talent in NYC like Fl, GA, NJ, n TX, but there's a couple every other year, guys recently I know are Jimmy Kennedy, Will Allen, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Ryan Grant, Mike Hart
 
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LatinCane said:
I don't know much about this kid Holley but are we wasting our time recruiting these NYC football kids? I trust the coaches on their evaluations and respect their effort, but are these NYC kids a waste of football scholarships?

Reason I ask is because these NYC guys just end up being ok in football. When was the last time a guy that played football in NYC was a dominant figure not just at UM but on any premier football team? I know UF got Easley out of Long Island and he ended up decent, but besides Testaverde (Long Island) and Stephen McGuire (Brooklyn) who was the last player out of NYC that made a significant impact on the U? Leon Williams? Williams was the best football prospect to come out of NYC in the last 25 years when he signed with UM, he just ended up being decent at best and it took him awhile to grasp football at this level. WR Boateng was suppose to be amazing before he got to UF and he ended up transferring and continued to being mediocre at Cal. Is it maybe because football is secondary to basketball in NYC and the surrounding area? I've never been able to figure it out. I know there are athletes in NYC but the football guys just never seem to pan out.

I know New Jersey is a different animal, but consider me unimpressed with NYC football guys. Upstate NY guys are even less talented. No disrespect to Jimmy Gaines, but he is serviceable at best and I don't see his game developing a tier or two better before he leaves. Maybe Gus Edwards is different, but it just seems when these guys get down here or any where big time, they just end up being ok at best. Thoughts?
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Wow. Just Testaverde, our first Heisman winner ever, and McGuire, who held all time TD record at the U until tied by none other than the Edge, and smoked FSU every game and oh, let's see, lead us to not one but TWO NCs. Don't know about the rest of you but I'd spend a couple ships every year looking for another one of either of these two guys. You act like vast majority of SoFL kids don't end up as flops. On a personal level, I don't care much for New Yorkers, except my dear Mother, but give me Heismans and NC from wherever the heck we can find them.
 
I see the OPs point but u cant just stop recruiting a city because they supposedly dont have a yearly hotbed of talent. Most of the core of our 2001 championship team on the OL was from Canada. **** Butch was raiding Canada for a minute there. You find talent whereever you can get it. **** how many cats here wouldnt mind taking that DE from Germany FSU had last year? (Bjorn Werner) Think FSU is going to get a guy from Germany again anytime soon? I get what you are trying to say. Its been more bust then boom. But those Booms have been well worth it. (Stephen McGuire singled handidly won us the "Game of the Century" in 91' against FSU)

And D Easley is a beast. Lets not downplay his talent just because we hate the Gator. Linder and Felaciano will either shoot up the draft boards or fall off after going toe to toe with him for 3.5 hours in the trenches.
 
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Serious question, with a bit of sarcasm, because I honestly cannot think of one. Where is this list of amazing Defensive Tackles out of South Florida? I really can't recall many if any. For as long as I can remember I can't ever think of South Florida producing DT's. WR, DB, LB, RB? Yes but not DT
 
The elite SoFla defensive tackle, at least for the past decade or so, consists of Wince Wilfork and Corey Liuget, who is a blown up defensive end.
 
Please, there is talent everywhere . . . obviously nothing close to South Florida or other places, but NYC-NJ put out players. Through the years, Syracuse, Penn State, Nebraska, Wisconsin among others have come in and cherry picked the better players. Nothing wrong wth grabbing a player up there once in a while.
 
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Orien Harris was from Delaware, which is up there with NYC as far as putting out premium D-1 talent. Malcolm Bunche is also from Delaware, so this small state has been good to UM. I understand and respect everyone's opinion in reference to my topic. Thanks everyone for your input. Like I said I hope Holley ends up being the real deal and if he chooses UM I hope he succeeds. I'll reserve passing judgement until his career is done.


mianjomar said:
Wasn't Orion Harris DT from New York?
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To clarify, I realize what both Testaverde and McGuire meant to this program and let's be honest, both of these guys should be, if they are not, in the NYC/LI High School Football Hall of Fame. Perhaps I perceive their success at UM as the measuring stick for all NYC players. Maybe the bar is too high, but I am looking at NYC football talent from a historical perspective and for the most part, these players that have come out of NYC and LI in the last 30 years are more often than not average college players. Maybe it's better to apply the big fish in a little pond theory to NYC, despite the population size of this area. Like Mo (is this really Maurice Sikes?) said, since they are not too many guys of elite D-1 caliber coming out of NYC, these guys get scrutinized more or maybe the best athletes in NYC/LI just concentrate on basketball and the overall talent of football up there in not on par as the rest of football hotbeds.


Gatorhater said:
LatinCane said:
I don't know much about this kid Holley but are we wasting our time recruiting these NYC football kids? I trust the coaches on their evaluations and respect their effort, but are these NYC kids a waste of football scholarships?

Reason I ask is because these NYC guys just end up being ok in football. When was the last time a guy that played football in NYC was a dominant figure not just at UM but on any premier football team? I know UF got Easley out of Long Island and he ended up decent, but besides Testaverde (Long Island) and Stephen McGuire (Brooklyn) who was the last player out of NYC that made a significant impact on the U? Leon Williams? Williams was the best football prospect to come out of NYC in the last 25 years when he signed with UM, he just ended up being decent at best and it took him awhile to grasp football at this level. WR Boateng was suppose to be amazing before he got to UF and he ended up transferring and continued to being mediocre at Cal. Is it maybe because football is secondary to basketball in NYC and the surrounding area? I've never been able to figure it out. I know there are athletes in NYC but the football guys just never seem to pan out.

I know New Jersey is a different animal, but consider me unimpressed with NYC football guys. Upstate NY guys are even less talented. No disrespect to Jimmy Gaines, but he is serviceable at best and I don't see his game developing a tier or two better before he leaves. Maybe Gus Edwards is different, but it just seems when these guys get down here or any where big time, they just end up being ok at best. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Wow. Just Testaverde, our first Heisman winner ever, and McGuire, who held all time TD record at the U until tied by none other than the Edge, and smoked FSU every game and oh, let's see, lead us to not one but TWO NCs. Don't know about the rest of you but I'd spend a couple ships every year looking for another one of either of these two guys. You act like vast majority of SoFL kids don't end up as flops. On a personal level, I don't care much for New Yorkers, except my dear Mother, but give me Heismans and NC from wherever the heck we can find them.
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Just saying if you have the right connection you may be able to land the top player in the NY...None of them stay in state they
always seem to leave just a hunch

2013 - We did recruit LB Ebenezer Ogundeko and we landed Gus
2012 - Jarron Jones (OT)
2011 - Ishaq Williams
2010 - Dominique Easley, Daquan Jones
 
cowboycane said:
The elite SoFla defensive tackle, at least for the past decade or so, consists of Wince Wilfork and Corey Liuget, who is a blown up defensive end.
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Thank you, that's what I thought and agree in Liuget. I was born and raised in Miami and have followed sports here my whole life. The common denominator in all our great teams throughout has been evaluating. Finding the guys that fit your scheme regardless of where. Is there a large athletic talent pool here in South Florida? Absolutely but go down the list of our greatest DT's and they weren't from here. In fact go down the list of all the national championship teams and their rosters will have as much "under the radar" those 3 star and less guys as they will highly rated kids. It's about evaluation first and foremost. The history of recruiting has been dirty always, the top rated kids have always been bought in general. That has not changed its not worse now than before, the recruiting game hasn't changed, yes technology has made it more accessible, but the game is still the same, in the end though to be elite you have to evaluate better than the rest and find those guys that you don't have to cheat for. And to do that you use the entire country not just your own backyard. Just my two cents based on what I have seen
 
I think if you ask Coach Golden about this topic, he will point out that he recruited quite a few players from the
NYC/LongIsland area at PennState, UVA and Temple, and he will mention in passing that he had teammates from
the same area during his playing days at PSU, including Marco Rivera, who was a pretty OLman from Testaverde's
high school, who later played quite a few years in the NFL.

NYC talent reminds me somewhat of DC talent insofar as most if not all of the public schools focus on basketball,
with not much resources available for coaching and developing talent (different story with the private schools in and
just outside DC, which are as good as anywhere in the country).
Nonetheless, lots of college coaches cover the area because there is alot of raw talent, with quite a few immigrant
kids from the islands and west Africa who have strong work ethic and decent academics.
 
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