Of the eleven 2016 recruits who committed to Scott Shafer’s SU team and then decommitted following the coaching change, just one player ended up signing with a Power Five school. Seeing how other colleges value the Shafer decommits is eye opening.
It’s one thing to take a chance on a player here or there, but Shafer accepted too many commitments from fringe players.
Now with National Signing Day 2016 in the books it’s fair to make the judgment that the majority of the eleven Shafer decommits weren’t good enough for ACC football. To put it differently, it’s understandable why Dino Babers’ staff moved away from those eleven players.
According to Rivals, more than half of the decommits had only received one Power Five offer during their recruitments, all from Syracuse.
These players were not as highly regarded as the recruits Babers managed to bring in. Of the 16 Babers’ commits, only four had Syracuse as the lone Power Five offer, per Rivals. SU’s new staff had significantly less time to complete their 2016 class but still came away with value.
Shafer absolutely deserves to be praised for reeling in the four players that stayed committed to SU after the coaching change though. Syracuse’s old staff worked hard to secure the commitments of Moe Neal, Rex Culpepper, Scoop Bradshaw and Sam Heckel. This group was highly sought after.
Discovering Lindsey Scott was also an achievement for Shafer’s staff. The Orange would have had a much better chance to keep Scott if Shafer had not been fired. Instead, the Louisiana quarterback chose to sign with LSU over SU.
If Shafer had been brought back SU’s 2016 class would have been top heavy with some legitimate talent, but after those four mentioned above the majority of the remaining players would have had a tough time transitioning to this level of football.
Where the Shafer decommits landed is telling.
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Posted: Connor Morrissette
