Syracuse head football coach Paul Pasqualoni was well prepared for the possibility of recruits backing out of their oral commitments, as nine potential Orangemen did.

‘There was a new twist to recruiting this year,’ Pasqualoni said last night in his first comments regarding SU’s 25-player class of 2002. ‘The events of September put a little different twist on recruiting this year, from a travel standpoint.’

Five of the nine players who pulled out hail from outside the Northeast, and five of them, including those from the Northeast, chose schools closer to home.

‘We had a pretty good feel for what was going on too,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘I was born at night but not last night.’

Along with Eric Buchanan and Terrance Holmes, who rescinded their commitments Tuesday, linebacker Stephen Nicholas of Jacksonville, Fla., also pulled out at the last minute. However, Chris Thorner, an offensive lineman, signed on late to fill the spot vacated by Brian Cavanaugh, who went home after enrolling in January.

The reasoning behind players abandoning SU commitments is that some schools continue to chip away at kids even after they’ve verbally committed. SU doesn’t.

‘We say, ‘good luck,’ and we let them go,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘We don’t keep hammering away at it. I know other people, in the case of the kids this year, kept recruiting. That’s just not our practice to do that.’

The exodus of players left Syracuse without a fullback, but Pasqualoni figures the Orangemen will be able to make ends meet there and elsewhere because of the multi-position potential of Darryl Kennedy and Tim Washington (his position is ‘athlete’ on the current roster).

‘Darryl Kennedy is probably as fine an athlete as we’re going to sign,’ Pasqualoni said.

Syracuse coaches will look at Kennedy as a fullback candidate, but he could also play safety, as he did in high school, Pasqualoni said. Kennedy, a transfer from Nassau Community College, will have two years of eligibility when he comes to SU in the fall. He’s still finishing up classes at Nassau and won’t participate in spring practice.

Kennedy marks the only New Jersey player that SU signed. Defensive end Tamba Hali, from Teaneck, N.J., opted for Penn State, a loss Pasqualoni cited as this year’s most disappointing.

‘We really thought he was our kind of guy,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘He would’ve been a nice kid to have in the program. He agonized. It was such a hard decision for him. He knows how we feel about him.’

Aside from the ones that got away, Pasqualoni seemed pleased with the job his staff did in filling needs at positions such as tight end and offensive line. Those two spots present the biggest potential for early contribution from freshmen (Brandon Darlington, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound castle of a tight end could offer a large presence).

‘We have got to get some offensive linemen ready,’ he said. ‘If a player shows emotional stability, a physical maturity and has the ability to learn, they’re going to be evaluated based on performance. It doesn’t matter if they’re a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. This is not intramurals.’

To compensate for the anticipated departures of players from far away, the Syracuse coaches paid special attention to the five-hour driving radius surrounding SU. The Orangemen picked up three of the 12 New York players expected to sign with Division I teams. They also nabbed six players from Pennsylvania and three from Connecticut.

SU’s two top recruits, Damien Rhodes, a running back from Manlius, and Perry Patterson, a quarterback from Lancaster, Pa., fall within the coveted five-hour radius. The Orangemen had fixed their eyes on this pair for a long time. Rhodes and Patterson were the only two players SU brought in at the running back and quarterback spots, respectively.

And judging by the way Pasqualoni talked about Rhodes, expect the kid to be tutoring you in chemistry by the time he arrives on the Hill. In other words, the coach sees Rhodes as a jack-of-all-trades.

Pasqualoni touted Rhodes’ acceleration (a must for tailbacks), his peripheral vision (useful for catching passes in the open field) and potential to bulk up (heck, throw him in on third down too).

‘Damien can develop into being an every-down back,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘He’s a guy who, in his career, is going to run through a lot of tackles. He’s going to be a difficult guy to arm tackle, as he gets older.’

The SU coaches won’t put any undue pressure on Rhodes to step in and play, but instead they will foster a competitive atmosphere in preseason camp, Pasqualoni said.

As for Patterson, look for the 6-foot-4, 230-pound signal caller to run through the same procedure as last year’s QB stud, Cecil Howard. That is, the coaching staff will monitor Patterson’s progress and evaluate his development after April’s scrimmages.

Still, of all the recruits in the Northeast, Pasqualoni cited Patterson as having ‘the best chance of fitting in to what the Syracuse offense is about.’

On the defensive side, Syracuse brought in a plethora of linebackers (three) and defensive backs (six). Pasqualoni hopes each group can grow up as a unit, learning from the older linebackers (Clifton Smith) and defensive backs (Keeon Walker and Will Hunter).

Moe Sidibe, a defensive back who enrolled in January, has already spoken at length with the vocal Hunter.

‘He’s basically going to be looking after me during spring ball, seeing how I’m going picking up on the plays,’ Sidibe said. ‘That was one of my reasons for coming in in January — being able to play in spring ball, maybe get a head start and basically being to adjust to the school and the environment before I get into football.’

Brendan Carney enters next year as Mike Shafer’s replacement-in-waiting. Pasqualoni inked Carney a year before Shafer graduates so ‘next year we’re not fooling around with a first-year guy.’

Overall, Pasqualoni was pleased with a class that — while not ranking among the nation’s best (Miami and Boston College placed in ESPN.com expert Tom Lemming’s top 20) — certainly entertains the possibility of contributing immediately and impacting the program in the long run.

‘I think it’s a group that’s excited about coming here and doing this our way of being Syracuse program players,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘I hope that in their character, their work ethic and their commitment to school, they can be like the group that just walked out the door.’

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Published on February 6, 2002 at 12:00 pm