By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
It’s not a long list compared to other states with large populations, but the roster of New York players signing football scholarship papers with major-college programs on Wednesday marked a distinct improvement from recent years.
Some 23 players from four-year schools submitted letters of intent with Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams on the first day they could sign. That’s up from 18 in each of the past two years and close to the 24 who signed in 2006. The recent high-water mark for New York was 2004, when 28 seniors – led by incomparable University of Michigan running back Mike Hart from Onondaga – signed.
To put New York’s productivity into perspective, however, consider that St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had eight players sign with major-college programs and three others commit to Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) squads.
The jewels of the New York class are generally considered to be Shayne Skov, a Trinity Pawling linebacker heading to Stanford, and Curtis Dukes, an Indian River running back who selected Penn State.
Running back Jeff Tundo of Orchard Park, the New York State Sportswriters Association player of the year in Class AA, took himself out of the running late last spring by committing to play lacrosse for Ohio State. Cornwall quarterback Kevin Arduino, the Class A player of the year, is likely to attend prep school to get more experience and exposure before settling on a college.
Turner Gill’s fourth recruiting class at the University of Buffalo includes five seniors. As a bonus, the Bulls also picked up Matt Jones, an all-state linebacker in 2008 for Aquinas Institute in Rochester. Jones had signed with Syracuse a year ago but needed a year in prep school to get his transcript in order.
Speaking of the Orange, incoming coach Doug Marrone only signed two New York seniors, down sharply from the seven in Greg Robinson’s final class at Syracuse.
Here’s the list of New York seniors and their destinations next fall:
Oday Aboushi, OL, Xaverian (Virginia)
Jamie Boyle, K, Monroe-Woodbury (Central Florida)
Andrew Civil, DE, Sheepshead Bay (Rutgers)
Fernando Diaz, OG, Cardinal Hayes (Pitt)
Curtis Dukes, RB, Indian River (Penn State)
Delano Fabor, CB, St. Francis (Buffalo)
Nick Ferrara, K, St. Anthony's (Maryland)
Jimmy Gordon, TE, Patchogue-Medford (Buffalo)
Ben Jebb, DL, Cornwall (Army)
Robert Joseph, FB, Poly Prep (Rutgers)
Bunduka Kargbo, S, Bishop Maginn (Buffalo)
Rob Lombardo, FB, Somers (Navy)
Alex Neutz, WR, Grand Island (Buffalo)
Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, S, Bronx JFK (Penn State)
Andy Phillips, OL, Syracuse CBA (Syracuse)
Torian Phillips, CB, Port Richmond (Syracuse)
Dillon Quinn, DT, Trinity Pawling (Boston College)
Shayne Skov, LB, Trinity Pawling (Stanford)
Shamar Stephen, OG, Long Island Lutheran (Connecticut)
Najee Tyler, QB, Xaverian (Purdue)
John Urschel, DL, Canisius (Penn State)
Jamal Wilson, OT, South Shore (Rutgers)
Pat Wilson, OT, Canisius (Buffalo)
Though he almost certainly could have earned a ride somewhere else, lineman Tom Lindley of Long Island powerhouse William Floyd will attend Michigan as a preferred walk-on next fall and then try earn a scholarship with the Wolverines down the road.
By the way, the best-known name in the New York scholastic ranks is going the Ivy League route. Luke Tasker, son of former Buffalo Bills special teams star Steve Tasker, played wide receiver at St. Francis in the Buffalo area as a senior and will continue his education at Cornell.
Cuts are coming, and coaches aren’t pleased
Numerous coaches and administrators sounded off this week following the announcement that the Executive Committee of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association had approved cutting the maximum length of the regular season in sports across the board.
It was one of 13 measures considered in response to the realization that New York is facing an estimated $15.4 billion deficit in the upcoming budget year, which will necessitate cuts in most forms of aid to the more than 600 school districts across the state.
Though the shorter schedules – such as cutting baseball to a maximum of 20 games from 24 and basketball to 18 from 20 – will affect literally every school in the organization, decisions that have been left for the future could have a big impact. The Executive Committee considered a measure to reduce the number of state tournament classes as well as one to cut the number of competitors within the remaining classes but referred it back to the Championship Advisory Committee, meaning more trimming remains in play for a vote in May.
Some other changes that were approved – a proposal to consider central locations for early-round state tournament games, a moratorium on the expansion of existing NYSPHSAA tournaments and the decision to allow the staffing of some regional playoffs with officiating crews from the host section - aren't garnering anywhere near the attention that the cuts to regular-season schedules got.
"I really don’t know what two or four contests is going to do for anybody, Grand Island AD Jon Roth told The Niagara Gazette. “I don’t think they should penalize the kids. I know cuts have to be made somewhere, but cutting games is not the answer.”
Added Section II boys soccer chairman Jim Gillis in a Times Union story, "I'm not surprised by this, but I think it is absurd. There are other things that could have been done state-wide, section-wide and league-wise that could have avoided cutting of games. Unfortunately, we weren't given that opportunity. We had no say in these moves."
Nina Van Erk, executive director of the NYSPHSAA, knew the actions would spawn criticism, but she balanced that against the big picture.
“The rationale supporting these incremental reductions will have a significant impact for our member schools,” she said in a statement. “For example, the savings realized by schools may act to protect lower level programs such as modified from being eliminated."
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
