Thanksgiving marks the end of high school football all around New York State for most schools, but there were still a select few that kept on playing through those turkey hangovers.
The New York State High School Football Championships took place at the Dome over the weekend and you can bet the SU football program kept a keen eye on the proceedings.
On Saturday, Southwestern beat Bronxville (for you high school football buffs), but in the loss one player found himself in the middle of a recruiting battle.
His name is John Shkreli (pictured middle), and he’s a 6’2″ senior linebacker from Bronxville High School.
Bronxville has been a successful team over the last couple seasons, albeit in one of New York’s smaller school divisions. But snagging a recruit from a winning program is what Syracuse needs.
In the state title game, Shkreli’s team lost 40-14 and yet the kid still stood out. How about being honored when your defense allows 40 points? He picked up eight tackles en route to being named the games defensive MVP. Incredible.
A couple weeks ago he picked up 12 tackles as the defense’s middle linebacker.
The eyes he’s got on him according to his head coach Jeff Napolitano? Syracuse, Rutgers, Notre Dame and Purdue.
Greg Schiano? Meet Doug Marrone. And for that matter, maybe Big East rival Brian Kelly too if he ends up in South Bend.
Bronxville is in Westchester County, just north of New York City, and although the area is known much more for its basketball, it’s produced some recent football studs as well.
Doug Hogue, arguably the best healthy linebacker on the SU roster is from Roosevelt High in Yonkers.
Ray Rice came from the eponymous New Rochelle High School.
And back in the day, Syracuse great and NFL Hall of Famer Art Monk graduated from my alma mater, White Plains High School.
You can make a sure bet that somebody from the SU football staff got left behind on the UConn trip and was sitting in the stands at the Dome potentially watching the next generation shine.
Keep an eye on John Shkreli.
