Syracuse Football: Dino Babers recruiting better than recent predecessors
By Neil Adler
Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers is doing a solid job on the recruiting trail.
Recruiting efforts under Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers could certainly improve, but they’re not nearly as bad as some Orange fanatics proffer.
It’s absolutely fair to say that Babers’ record, save for a stellar 10-3 mark in the 2018 campaign, has proven at least a slight disappointment.
Let’s see how the ‘Cuse fares in 2020, a season where a whole host of question marks swirl around Syracuse, yet the team does simultaneously have a variety of reasons to feel optimistic about the upcoming term.
Turning to recruiting, though, I’ve noticed lately that when my colleagues and I at Inside The Loud House have written about high-school players committing to the Orange, a lot of fans on social media have absolutely raked Babers over the coals in this arena.
Some of this criticism is a tad misguided. If you want to make the argument that ‘Cuse recruiting isn’t at the level of previous decades, that’s fine.
But, as far as more recent terms go, Babers is outperforming predecessors Doug Marrone and Scott Shafer, according to a well-done article by CuseNation.com’s Mike McAllister.
McAllister concludes, with supporting data, that Syracuse’s highest-rated class over the past dozen recruiting cycles was Babers’ 2018 class, when the Orange checked in at No. 51. Plus, over this span of time, the top-five classes, as it pertains to average player ranking, are all classes brought in by Babers.
Now, for those ‘Cuse fans out there who lament that Syracuse is “only” securing classes which arrive in the 50s nationally, that is a legitimate criticism. However, we also need to have some sort of realistic expectations, considering where Orange recruiting has landed in recent stanzas.
Per McAllister, related to both overall class and average player ratings, Babers is on a positive trajectory as compared to Shafer and Marrone. In addition, as McAllister points out, Babers has gotten four 4-star prospects. The other two head coaches each got one in their tenures on the Hill.
Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers possesses strong momentum in his 2021 recruiting class.
On Saturday, 2021 three-star offensive tackle Austyn Kauhi committed to the ‘Cuse. That propelled Syracuse to 11 pledges in the squad’s 2021 recruiting cycle, with present class rankings of No. 58 on the 247Sports Web site, as well as No. 58 on Rivals.com.
With Babers and his assistants continuing to target a handful of high-quality 2021 players, it’s feasible that this recruiting cycle could ultimately transform into the best one yet for Babers. Should he guide the Orange to a bowl game in 2020, that could further bolster Babers’ recruiting success and quiet down the naysayers.