Rochester’s Jarron Jones Chooses Notre Dame, Syracuse Left Frustrated Again
D.A. | Aug 30, 2011 | Comments 20
Multiple sources have confirmed Rochester’s Jarron Jones, a 5-star Syracuse target, has committed to Notre Dame. Most recently the Chicago Sun-Times reported the Monster from Rochester is headed to South Bend. Doug Marrone has to be sick of Brian Kelly by now, since this is the third potential game-changing recruit the Orange has lost to the Irish in the last two seasons. Earlier this summer, Jones’ coach told The Fizz Jarron “loved Syracuse.”
“He really likes Syracuse. He really likes Coach Wheatley and the d-line coach there. He thinks Coach Marrone is a really great guy and one thing he thinks is that if he goes there he can play early and that might have a big influence on him.”
Ishaq Williams memorably spurned the Carrier Dome for Touchdown Jesus at the last minute last year, and 4-star running back David Perkins chose being a Golden Domer over an Orange earlier this summer, after declaring SU his favorite barely a week earlier (although The Fizz is not convinced that race is over).
It’s hard to fault Marrone for losing top recruits to the most storied program in the country, but this is a story Syracuse fans have heard before. Notre Dame has the best tradition and best television exposure of any program in the country, and unfortunately Syracuse is not even near that landscape. But Jones adds to another growing trend that Syracuse is dying to break – star players leaving the New York State borders and choosing a high profile BCS school over SU.
After Ishaq headed to Indiana and Chad Kelly chose Clemson as his preferred shade of orange earlier this summer, Jones was Syracuse’s last chance to buck the trend, as The Fizz wrote back in June:
“The kid is a difference maker and if SU lands him it fills the void Chad Kelly and Ishaq Williams left. A New York kid who stayed in-state and has the chance to be be the focal point of the Orange. He would be a trend setter in SU recruiting. I know, I know. You’ve heard this one before Syracuse fans. But the buzz is Jones just might be different.”
As it turns out, Jones was not different at all, opting for the glimmer of Notre Dame over the nearby Dome. Orange fans are starting to tire of this trend as evidenced by message boards, talk radio and always lively Fizz commenters.
Notre Dame has obvious advantages over Syracuse when it comes to recruiting, but in these cases SU hopes that a hometown discount could be the equalizer. The Orange would have almost no chance at out-recruiting the Irish for a five-star lineman out of Chicago, but an upstate New York product gives SU a much better shot. With The Dougie’s current class recently ranked last in the Big East by CBS Sports, Jones would have been the type of star to change that perception.
The reason star recruits keep crossing the borders of New York is twofold. The truth is, right now, Syracuse is still a couple steps away from being an ideal destination for five-star recruits. But we may also overvalue the pull of staying close to home. With today’s technology the world is a much smaller place, and communication between say, South Bend and Rochester is much easier than it used to be. Maybe the appeal of being closer to home for a generation weened on Facebook, iPhones and FaceTime loses some of its luster. Given the recent exodus of top SU targets out of state, it’s clear a shorter commute does not trump nicer facilities, greater exposure, and a chance to compete for BCS games and national titles.
The problem Syracuse faces is a chicken-egg type of dilemma. While Orange Nation waits for that first high profile recruit to propel its program to the next level, the truth may be that the program needs to reach the next level so that it can start landing top recruits.
As Marrone told The Fizz last month:
“In my studies, there’s always 12-14 players (in New York) that can play D1 football. We have to get them first from our state, before we can go outside our state to get those 5-star kids. Someone is going to have to make that commitment. People are going to hit him with ‘how can you go to the Big East?’ Hopefully one of these days, one of these young men will step up and say, ‘we’re going to Syracuse University because I want a great education, I want to stay in-state, I want to play and I want to win a championship’. Easy said, hard to do publicly for these kids nowadays because there’s so much pressure on them to go visit the top 5 schools in the country.”
Add Jones to that list of kids.
Posted: Steve Niekam
Filed Under: FB Recruiting • Featured
Big time players want to go to big time schools. After all the hard work and earning all the attention that 5 stars get, recruits view syracuse as a step down, a program that they are above. According to kevin Bacon, in the film A few Good Men, “these are the facts, and they are not in dispute.” Until Syracuse presents all of the amenities of a big time program, we will never be attractive to “Big Time Recruits”………….. but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a winning program, we will just have to win with diamond in the rough types. Go Cuse.
I’ll be the first to go on record and call Brian Kelly out. There is no way he is doing this legally. It’s a little easier for him now being at ND but I still call him shady. That program has been in the dump for 20 years and all of a sudden the savior walks in and starts plucking 5 star recruits like he’s shopping for groceries. Secondly I’ll use a line from our notorious alumni Al Davis “Just Win Baby” and the recruits will start coming….1 year won’t do it. put together a string like at VaTech. If VT can recruit studs to Blacksburg then anything is possible. Wake Forest is a statement game, we need to win this going away to set the tone for the rest of the season! Go Orange!!
HCDM lost another one!!! And the trolls out there keep screaming that the ranking system is bull-bleep!! BS to that. Yeah on a rare occasion yes(overrated talent) but not on talent the stands out. Jones might not play in the best HS league of the NE so there might be some questions about his abilities. But this kid is one you build a program around. For the last couple of years the media/fans have let HCDM fly free from any criticism dealing with easily losing our best HS players to other programs. And you wonder why the Dome is never full?? Local talent would help that situation also.
From a ‘Cuse fans perspective, your initially mad at Jones decision. But these are 17-18 year old kids making decisions they feel is right to them. Bottomline is that ‘Cuse does not have certain things at this time that ND has. Whether it be facilities, hotter co-eds, or going far as saying improper benefits. These kids want to be “Golden Domers” not “Carrier Domers”
This isn’t Marrone and his coaching staffs fault. I think they did what they could to get Williams, Perkins and Jones to the hill. I think Jones has the best chance to do something at ND.
But what will always frustrate me is that these kids don’t want to make a name for themselves. They want to be another stat, to continue on with the cliche of going to power BCS teams. Build something for a change
“And you wonder why the Dome is never full?? Local talent would help that situation…”
Gotta agree with Terry on this statement. For any old timers out there, how many people from Liverpool showed up to watch Tim Green play? Answer: a lot.
Until we do start landing “program changers”, the Orange will have to win it on solid execution of fundamentals, desire and guts. Let’s see if our diamonds in the rough have what it takes. I hope they do. Go ‘Cuse!
WF is proably gonna beat SU. Mark it down. Its gonna be a rough yr.
Saltine44-How is kelly shady? bc SU football been awful and the facilities suck? Worry about SU not other programs. Your also wrong charlie weis had top 10 recruiting classes every yr he was at ND.
Orangecrush22-Williams was the bigger loss. He will play alot this yr for ND and proably have a big yr along side lynch. I can see jones never playing 1 down at ND an transferring to a place like akron.
one last thing SU football has a ton of NFL stars y isnt the university hitting ppl up like marvin harris,dwight freeney,D-nabb, keith bulluck for donations to build state of the art practice facilities/new stadium? Melo did it. Do none of these guys care about their alma mater?
The Dome is never full because you are a shitty fan.
Sob. I was at least hoping he’d watch SU have a good-to-great season before deciding, with an outside chance of a 9-3 season making it hard for him to say no.
But, maybe Crume turns out to be great, and maybe Brantley or Coleman turn out to be great. Who knows.
I do believe SU has to have more than one season of winning, and not just a string of 7-5 years. A recruit will find it easier to come to Syracuse if it doesn’t take more than one season to total nine wins.
Kev
Saltine 44 and Terry: You guys just don’t get it. First Saltine, have you ever been to Blacksburg? They pack the house every home game, the atmosphere in the town, parking lot before the game and during the game rivals any SEC big time program. We have a long way to go before we can compare ourselves to VT. It is not so simple. And Terry, stop blaming HCDM. It is not his fault that we can’t recruit 5 star talent, local or out of state. The fan support is low, the facilities need upgrading, and we are not on national TV like the big boys. How is that Marrone’s fault. What can he sell but the academics, the family atmosphere, etc. The school and the community (Fans filling the dome) are going to have to do more to help the coach and the program before the big boys will want to come here and play.
Come out and see the Cuse play, fill the Dome regardless of the opponent or the teams record, support your team. That is a place that 5 star recruits will want to play. Check out attendance at Texas last year… the team sucked, but the fans still came out, had tail gate parties, spent money on football Saturday like they have always done. You would have never known that the team was loosing on the field and had a worse record than SU. That is the kind of fan base we need to develop. With that kind of support, any coach can recruit and sell a program to an 18 year old kid. That is part of the reason for the success of the Basketball team, when recruits at home(TV schedule) or at the Dome get a taste of the atmosphere, what could be more Big time than that… they are sold.
To Bill and his brothers: Jones was not coming to the CUSE period!!! That’s the point. No interest in the CUSE is worry-some don’t you agree. Plus all the top talent we lost in the last couple of years too. Yes HCDM is the main stay of this program. Who else is it Dr Gross or Nancy LOL!!! Come on HCDM sells the program and you know what happens if selling drops don’t you. I liked the hire of HCDM. But he has some issues and he’s good of hiding them behind the SU’s invisible curtain. And for you fans out there that think HCDM walks on water and that if “all” you fans think that a competitive team in every game is what you look for then we’ll see if we are 0-12 this year. Ask Coach P if winning is important no matter what the games where like.
Wait………Just Wait!
It has nothing to do with the state of the Syracuse program. This has everything to do with what these kids can get from boosters. Go to Notre Dame and you can get money in your pocket, have girls delivered to your room and have boosters shower you with gifts. I find it funny that people are naive enough to think that these types of gifts are the real driving force behind college football these days.
Sorry, meant to say naive enough to not think that this is the driving force behind these commitments.
Why does everyone think that if you recruit well, you must be cheating? Are you trying to tell me that you can’t win in college athletics without Cash from boosters, gifts, cars, strippers, call girls, drugs, sex, free tattoos, did I leave anything out!
What about:Winning Program,top notch facilities, National TV schedule, top national level schedule, warm weather, great education,loyal fan base. Aren’t kids still interested in these things?
Carlton, you have ex-NFL coaches and players on the SU staff. People that know what it takes to get to the next level. You have a top rate academic school that is in your back yard where you can be with friends and family every weekend. You can play and go home on the weekends for a home cooked meal and getting starting time vs. watching from the bench the first two years and not to mention most of these kids probably grew up idolizing Bullock, Freeney, McNabb, Harrison, etc….you are darn right I’m calling BS on Brian Kelly.
Dr. Bill, I’m a big fan of your comments but VT is the only thing in Blacksburg and yes I have been. The reason they pack the stadium is because that’s the only thing to do on Saturday other than herd sheep. I live 45min. from Gainesville, FL and 2 hrs. from Tallahassee and with all do respect to the Orange nothing compares to being in the South on a Football Saturday. I love the Orange and will be watching with Great Anticipation tomorrow night. Let’s roll Boys and wipe the turf with WF!
This one is definitely frustrating. It’s understandable that a kid would choose ND – the problem is the Cuse needs one kid to go against the grain – and how many 5-star kids are being developed in upstate NY every year? And this season two of them (Kelly and Jones) chose to go elsewhere.
In past 5* guys ignored SU. Now HCDM gets a foot or even a leg in the door. No one can deny that. Kelly going to Clemson was wierd. Two big time NY defensive recruits going to ND also seems a bit unusual. Perhaps increased exposure to ND through other BE sports elevated their awareness to these area recruits. As fortunes a nd facilities of program improve, local studs will end up here. Only year 3. Patience.
I think WFU game will be a big statement on the program. We have an experienced QB -a HUGE plus. HCDM has shown ability to maximize talent. I think WFU will be caught off guard by physical nature of SU and team speed on D. People then really start to believe.
5 star recruits arent going to want to play for a program that has fans leave with 7 minutes left in the 3rd Quarter when you only down 2 scores, Last night and tonight in the baylor vs. TCU game are prime examples as to why you stay the entire game
OK Fizz man ,who is next for the Dougster?Morris is huge and done. Who is the next player to announce Orange?We have maybe two or three slots left for the year so lets get writing with some insight. Thats is what you here so far. Do what you do best to continue success.