A hallmark of the earliest days of the Scott Shafer era and the beginning of Syracuse’s time in the Atlantic Coast Conference is the Orange’s growing presence in Florida.

Offensive coordinator, and often lead recruiter, George McDonald coached at Miami (Fla.) and has helped bring Floridian after Floridian to Central New York. Shafer owes much of his early success to the state, but said that Saturday’s meeting with Florida State at 3:30 p.m. in Tallahassee, Fla., doesn’t have his Florida players any more fired up than usual.

“It’s been my experience over the years that the Florida kids, they’re not as latched into the three big schools in Florida as you would imagine,” Shafer said. “They just want to play.”

Shafer said that at every stop he’s been at — whether it was Northern Illinois, Stanford or Western Michigan — he’s been able to recruit Florida kids because “they travel well.”

“We owe a lot to our success in the profession to players and coaches from that part of the country,” Shafer said.

So it will be a chance for Shafer to coach in the state he owes so much, and a chance for his players to go up against some familiar faces, even if Doak Campbell Stadium won’t get them more excited than the Carrier Dome.

“I think they will be amped up to play against some of the kids they knew growing up,” Shafer said. “But it’s funny — the thing that I’ve always been intrigued about with the Florida kids, especially the South Florida kids, is they just want to play.”