As Syracuse football’s recruiting coordinator, Chris White should have the resources to build the Orange into a top program. Syracuse represents the lone BCS school in the nation’s third most populated state. Buffalo-a struggling team in the Mid-American Conference-and Army are the only other D-I programs in New York.

With a large pool of high school football players to choose from and little local competition, Syracuse has an advantage in the Northeast’s largest state. Still, White can barely find enough talented homegrown prospects for the Orange.

‘I’ve been here for 10 seasons, and I don’t remember ever recruiting more than five or six guys in the state,’ White said. ‘I don’t think it’s ever been better. I really don’t.’

New York produced about one D-I player per every 654,000 residents this year, giving the Empire State the worst percentage of recruits of the 46 states with at least one recruit. Across the Hudson River, New Jersey (66 recruits) produced 37 more players than New York (29) despite having more than 10 million fewer people.

The limited facilities downstate and expansive landscape upstate make New York difficult to scout. Poor high school coaching seals what coaches and players alike already acknowledge: Football recruiting in New York is a major problem.

‘Why would a recruiter spend his time driving around New York?’ Joe Casamento, head coach at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, said. ‘You can drive in a 10 mile circle around Pittsburgh and find more guys than you could from Albany to Buffalo. Upstate New York is just too big for these guys to get everywhere.’

So a basic recruiting strategy is to start in the most densely populated areas. In New York State, that would be New York City. With more than eight million residents, the five boroughs pack in almost three times more people than Los Angeles, the second-biggest city in the United States.

But the Big Apple generated only 10 recruits, for a percentage of about one per every 821,000 residents. It’s an especially miniscule number considering Pittsburgh, the 57th largest city in the country, produced 15 recruits for a percentage of about one per 21,000 residents.

One of the biggest challenges facing New York City is the cost and accessibility of basketball. Anybody in the inner city can find a basketball hoop within a few blocks. It takes a large group willing to seek out a rare patch of grass to practice football, and that’s without the added expense of pads and equipment. Most high schools do not have the space or facilities for a football field.

Since New York City is considered the Mecca of Division I basketball recruits, the top players are constantly on display. Madison Square Garden hosts the Public School Athletic League basketball championship for a large crowd every year.

The PSAL football championship is at the Midwood Athletic Complex-a rundown artificial surface field in Manhattan with no space for fans or media.

Alex Vega, head football coach at Kennedy High School in the Bronx, believes the hype surrounding basketball keeps the talented football players buried. Two recruits came from Kennedy this season.

‘Football, we’re the stepchild,’ Vega said. ‘We don’t get anything. Basketball gets all those programs for their kids to get tutoring and coaching. In football, we don’t get anything.’

Extra academic support could help the state foster more recruits, especially in the city. Bob Lichtenfels, the East region recruiting editor for Scout.com, called New York ‘ridiculously bad academically’ and ‘one of the worst academic states in the north’ laden with talented but risky prospects.

Prospects academically unable to secure a scholarship often play for prep schools and junior colleges, hoping to latch on with a major program later. One of the best prep teams in the nation, Milford Academy, is in New Berlin, N.Y.

Seventeen players from Milford earned scholarships this season. Only one-Jake Vermiglio of New Berlin-hails from New York. Though the other 16 played prep ball in the state, they are considered recruits from their hometowns across the country.

Milford coach Bill Chaplick recruits the home state every year, but said the Division I talent is elsewhere because New York school districts do not emphasize football. In New York, most teams play a schedule of no more than 10 games. Around the country, 12 or 13 game schedules are commonplace.

‘In other states you have an offseason program and spring football, which makes a big difference,’ Chaplick said. ‘When you play 10 games in upstate New York, and then go home for Thanksgiving turkey, and then don’t work out until the following summer, who will be a better athlete?’

Academics aside, football is not a priority for New York school districts, especially compared to basketball downstate and lacrosse upstate. In New York City, coaches may hire one assistant and one junior varsity coach. Compared to other states where high schools have teams of specialized coaches, two is insufficient.

The upstate region faces similar problems. High schools across New York struggle to hire qualified coaches because of the football budgets passed by the individual school districts.

The allure of high salaries and huge crowds each week draws the experienced coaches to out-of-state high schools. Until New York districts place emphasis on football, finding coaches will remain an issue.

At Christian Brothers Academy, football does matter. Casamento’s squad is routinely one of the best teams in the state. Yet not even CBA can match what other states offer.

‘A friend of mine in Tennessee is the offensive line coach at his (high) school, makes $60,000 and doesn’t teach,’ Casamento said. ‘You’ll get better people there because it’s a living and it’s more serious. We can’t be like Pennsylvania and Ohio here because the same guys coaching are coaching girls’ softball.’

Because coaches are not fully committed to football, they are often instructing other teams during the recruiting season. With their attention elsewhere, New York high school coaches often do not have connections with college programs and know little about the recruiting process.

College recruiters always find the nation’s top prospects, but many small-town players remain unnoticed. Experienced high school coaches advertise their players to colleges by sending highlight tapes to colleges and online scouting services like Scout and Rivals.

Lichtenfels requests a certain number of videos from the highly touted recruits. Every year, he receives more than 100 from Pennsylvania alone showcasing players he did not request, some of whom he has never heard of. From New York, Lichtenfels said he is lucky to receive 10 unsolicited packages.

With little hype surrounding New York players, they are often bypassed, much like Syracuse freshman quarterback David Legree and sophomore wide receiver Mike Williams were. Despite impressive high school rsums, they received relatively few scholarship offers because of New York’s reputation.

‘If I were from any other state with the same talent I would’ve been considered a better quarterback from the colleges and gotten tons more offers,’ said Legree, who played at South Shore in Brooklyn. ‘I would’ve been better, anyway, because I would have had a quarterback coach working with me. I never had that playing in the city.’

Legree and Williams earned scholarships, but not everyone in New York is so lucky. Every year, local prospects are overlooked. College recruiters cannot spend the time or money to adequately scout upstate, an expansive region with hundreds of high schools.

Recruiters could theoretically find players dotted around the upstate cities, but it’s easier to spend the time in traditional powerhouses like Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Only if a particular New York player sparks interest will the recruiter come look.

For dozens of reasons, almost nobody denies New York is struggling to keep up with the rest of the country in football recruiting. And almost nobody knows why, but many have a theory.

Because different problems affect different areas of the state, there is no magic touch that can make New York a pigskin powerhouse. Finding an answer could unlock an untapped source of talent.

And it would make Chris White’s job a lot easier.

‘If anyone finds out that answer, let me know,’ White said. ‘That’s the million dollar question that nobody really knows the answer to.’

Published on August 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm