Like a Boaz: Hard Hitting Florida Corner Boaz Joseph Nets Syracuse Offer
D.A. | Aug 22, 2012 | Comments 8
Class of ’13 corner Boaz Joseph is impressive because he’s a born pass defender who plays with intelligence. Watch his highlights and you’ll see that he understands the goal of the secondary as a unit on every play, never losing sight of the ball and delivering helmet-jarring hits.
After a breakout junior season at Cypress Bay HS (Weston, FL) with 5 interceptions, Joseph went from an under-the-radar corner with a single offer from Wisconsin to a highly sought after player.He started getting looks from Florida State and Miami and collected offers from Syracuse, Kentucky, Indiana, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Pitt, Rutgers, Marshall, Memphis, Minnesota, and Tulane.
Joseph packs a serious punch for a guy who stands just 6’1” and weighs 190 lbs. With a 4.5 40-yard dash, he’s got speed as well and it’s no surprise he’s had a successful track career for Cypress Bay as well. On the gridiron, the combination of speed and power make him invaluable because he’s able to move between corner and safety depending on the play called and the defensive formation.
A versatile, hard-hitting, 3-star corner who also happens to be naturally good at both man and zone coverage? It’s no wonder his stock has risen so much over the summer. SU’s pass defense finds itself a little light on depth entering the season as we discussed on Fizz Radio this past week.
With the Orange heading to the ACC, impact players like Joseph would be huge in matching up against more powerful passing attacks in ’13.
But latest indications point to Joseph in a very cozy bed with UK. After the Cats offered two of Joseph’s teammates (both of which did not choose UK), Kentucky may be looking to cash in on Joseph. He has played the process very close to the vest, but he makes it no secret that Kentucky has been after him relentlessly. He’s responding to the love by taking his first unofficial visit there.
“I enjoyed the time I spent at UK with Joker Phillips.”
SU may not be the front-runner to land Joseph, but he may still be a long way from making a decision. The Fizz’s attempts to get in touch with his coach were left unanswered. For now, no news is good news; the Orange definitely has some time left to bargain.
The advertisements are there: SU will play road games regularly in Joseph’s home state starting next year, and with current members of the Syracuse secondary dropping from the program mysteriously, there is plenty of open competition for playing time.
You can hear Marrone on the phone with Joseph now. Hey, Boaz. How would you like major playing time immediately and to compete against your buddies from FSU and Miami on national TV?
With a shaky pass defense from ’11, Orange Nation would hope his answer is: Sounds good to me.
Posted: Jake Moskowitz
Filed Under: FB Recruiting • Featured
This would be a great great catch! Coach Henderson call him daily or within NCAA recruiting limits!
I’m sure his offer/interest list speaks more for his talents than his film, but I didn’t love what I saw on his highlights besides holding the edge well in run defense. As for hard hitting, he didn’t land one decent hit. And when he tried to light up the runner multiple times, he continually missed and was lucky he had teammates there to gang tackle. His size is ideal and so is his speed, but I just thought his film wasn’t great, especially worthy enough to get looks from Wisconsin and FSU. Anyway, thats my take, but these college scouts know more than me (arguably).
Im no expert but either he take’s bad angles or has an aversion to making the bone-jaring hits I like in a DB,maybe its not great film?Otherwise he seems to position himself alright,maybe im missing something here!Chad seems to feel a little like I do,are we missing something?I watched it three times!!
Hey gents,
Thanks for reading. I probably overstated his prowess a little in hindsight. The main point I wanted to convey was that something really caught the eye of a lot of schools very quickly over the past year. The most interesting thing about Joseph’s recruitment I think is the relative noninterest from top schools and then a sudden flood of offers of which Syracuse was a part. Joseph’s junior year was pretty special, outside of that in my view he’s your prototypical man coverage oriented corner who shows flashes of really intelligent on ball play. He sees the ball really well, or at least he did his Junior year which the numbers back up.
A guy like this would fit really nicely into a secondary like SU’s where there is more than a little uncertainty and what I think is a pretty shallow depth chart (at least in terms of guys being unproven.)
@Mosk,sorry,I forget sometimes these kids like to see themselves on these sites!We got to remember b4 were too critical of these kids…again fella’s sorry!!Heck Im no expert!!
No need for apologies Russ. Thanks anyway, I appreciate the read.
Yeah,he shows obvious positional skill’s with some intellient awareness,he could make up for hitting deficencies with interceptions and deflections!
it seems he’d be a good pickup for the 13 class no doubt. i hope he commits to the orange.