DailyHerald.com
As the weather gets hotter so does the recruiting season. Big weekend for Syracuse, as Colton Moskal became the 4th¬†commit in the ’14 class. Moskal is a hard-hitting, 6‚Äô1‚Äù, 215-pound linebacker who attends Lake Zurich High in Illinois. Moskal is part of the group A.J. Long and George McDonald have been¬†trying to attract via social media. Moskal chose Syracuse after visiting the Hill along with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Cincinnati.
Moskal‚Äôs commitment shows a continued effort from the SU coaches to recruit¬†the state of Illinois. Mitch Kimble and Kendall Moore were both reeled into February’s class from the Land of Linvcoln, and recruit Matt Domer is also considering SU. The pipeline to Illinois is forming because of the new staff, many who have ties to the area, Scott Shafer (Northern Illinois), Chuck Bullough (Western Michigan), Tim Lester (WMU), George McDonald (NIU, WMU, Minnesota) and others have worked an area of the Midwest that used to be a dead zone for the Orange. The state offers more raw talent than the northeast, and SU is building a pipeline that is destined to grow with more commitments each class.
One of the Moskal’s most impressive traits is his balanced attack on both sides of the line. He accumulated 98 tackles last season, with 8.5 sacks. The versatility Moskal brings to the table can be a useful asset to Bullough when figuring out where to place him. Likely he’ll be an outside linebacker to begin, but many believe he has the skills to take the middle linebacker position at some point. Moskal and¬†Zaire Franklin have the potential¬†to create a strong linebacking corps once they hit the field.
For another summer chemistry is building before Orange players even meet each other. Last year, former SU commit Zach Allen tried his best to get top talent to look at SU, and now the power of social media on recruiting has been showcased by Long and Franklin. One of the major factors that led Moskal to SU was the relationships with the other three commits. SU sometimes has to find unorthodox ways of reeling in big recruits and with commits like K.J. Williams and Chad Maverty still deciding their college fate, winning another important recruit is a great way.
Posted: Zephan Mayell
