Recruiters flock to South Florida

[JohnDeere 0]

MiamiHerald

Recruiters flock to South Florida

In the past three seasons, Rutgers has won 26 games thanks to the 44 players it has recruited from South Florida.

BY JEFF SHAIN

jshain@MiamiHerald.com

First in a 14-part series

Like any new coach, Rutgers' Greg Schiano quickly set about to establish his recruiting base upon taking over the downtrodden program in 2001.

And so came about the ''State of Rutgers'' -- defined as the school's New Jersey home and bordering states. Plus one fertile far-flung outpost.

South Florida.

''Those South Florida kids are really what got our program going,'' said Schiano, whose reward has come by way of 26 wins and three bowl trips in the past three seasons.

In a region that attracts recruiters from far and wide to cherry-pick football talent, Rutgers stands as the decade's biggest importer of South Florida goods. And perhaps its biggest beneficiary.

No fewer than 44 players from South Florida have signed national letters of intent with Rutgers since 2000, according to The Miami Herald's survey of recent recruiting classes.

North Carolina State was second with 31 South Florida imports, with Western Michigan (29) a surprising third. Connecticut, Auburn and Pittsburgh also have taken at least 20 South Floridians.

A LOT OF TALENT

''It just shows the unbelievable amount of kids that can play Division I,'' said Larry Blustein, a recruiting analyst who has chronicled Florida prospects for more than two decades.

All told, 310 South Florida players began the 2007 season on rosters of the 112 Division I-FBS programs outside the state.

And come national signing day on Feb. 6, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties alone might supply out-of-state schools with as many as 100 signees.

''It's a numbers game. Florida, Florida State and Miami can't take them all,'' said Bobby Burton, Rivals.com general manager.

Even when you factor in FIU, FAU, USF and UCF, there's still plenty of talent for other schools.

''For us it's always been a great area,'' said Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit, who picked up nine South Florida players last year.

Tapping the South Florida pipeline to improve fortunes is nothing new. Lorenzo White (Dillard) and Sedrick Irvin (Southridge) kept Michigan State's running game humming in the 1990s. Troy Davis (Southridge) put Iowa State briefly in the spotlight. Frank Sanders and James Bostic ignited a Dillard-to-Auburn link that continues more than a decade later.

But perhaps no place has rolled out a broader welcome mat for South Florida kids than Rutgers under Schiano, previously UM's defensive coordinator for Butch Davis.

In 2000, the Knights' final recruiting class under Terry Shea had no South Florida presence. When Schiano took the reins, six South Floridians dotted his initial roster. Ten more followed a year later.

''The neat thing about those kids is they're willing to try something if they think it's a good opportunity,'' said Schiano, who brought Mario Cristobal -- now FIU's coach -- with him from UM to lay the recruiting foundation.

Such trailblazers as wideouts Tres Moses (Delray Beach Atlantic) and Alfred Peterson (Carol City) were followed by quarterback Ryan Hart (Cardinal Gibbons). Schiano acknowledged that before coming to UM, he had little interaction with South Florida.

''But in the two years I was with the Hurricanes,'' he added, ``I just fell in love with the passion these kids displayed.''

It's a chemistry others have noticed as well.

''You see the way guys kind of gravitate toward the Miami kids a little bit,'' said North Miami Beach coach Jeff Bertani, who watched Max Jean-Gilles become an All-SEC guard at Georgia and now has five Chargers at Western Michigan. ``Kids hang out with them and start to develop that kind of attitude, that confidence.''

N.C. State had that air in seven years under Chuck Amato, who mined South Florida for FSU and continued to tap those connections as the Wolfpack's head coach.

Stephen Tulloch (Killian) was an All-ACC linebacker, and receiver Tramain Hall provided a key target for Philip Rivers.

SUPPLY LINE CUT

When Amato was fired after the 2006 season, though, it cut the South Florida supply line. The Wolfpack signed no one from the region last year under Tom O'Brien, and has just one commitment this year.

Though Western Michigan might come as a surprise to the casual observer, the Broncos aren't the only Mid-American Conference team making hay from the area.

Central Michigan had 12 South Floridians help win a MAC title this past season -- and with former NMB and Booker T. assistant Paul Volero mining the area, could add eight more this year.

Akron boasts 11 South Florida players. In all, the region supplied 74 players to MAC schools last season. ''That's not surprising,'' Burton said. ``Those schools go south for speed -- whether it's an offensive skill position or defensive players in general.''

Cubit has recruited the area for 25 years, including stops at UF and UCF. His defensive coordinator is Bill Miller, who preceded Schiano in the same job at UM. ''Kids are more independent now,'' he said. ``They're looking for playing time, looking for somebody they can trust.''

And with the seemingly endless parade of games on cable TV, Cubit said, any stigma of playing in a lower conference has been diminished.

''With ESPN, we're on TV a lot. Nobody looks at it like that anymore,'' he said. ``I think kids down here are a little bit more open, and take a serious look at what we're about.''

CROSSING BORDERS

Schools that have taken the most South Florida recruits out of the state from 2000 to 2007 (total of eight recruiting classes):

Rutgers 44 players

Of note: DT Eric Foster, QB Ryan Hart

North Carolina State 31

Of note: LB Stephen Tulloch, WR Tramain Hall

Western Michigan 29

Of note: FS Louis Delmas, CB E.J. Biggers

Connecticut 26

Of note: CB Darius Butler, DE Cody Brown

Auburn 25

Of note: WR Devin Aromashodu, DE Stanley McClover

Pittsburgh 22

Of note: LB H.B. Blades, LB Clint Session

-- JEFF SHAIN

[Tigermike 3,041]

Frank Sanders and James Bostic ignited a Dillard-to-Auburn link that continues more than a decade later.

Actually they followed in the footsteps of Otis Mounds who was the first young man from Dillard to sign at AU.