In anticipation of National Letter of Intent Signing Day, I visited the Syracuse football Web site Tuesday evening. To my delight, I found the university to be as excited as I was.

A headline read: ‘Football Family Will Expand on Wednesday — Stay Tuned!’ The next day would be very, very exciting — it sounded a bit like the day my younger sister was born — and I wanted to do it right. Thankfully, the university would be posting recruits’ biographies ‘as they submit their National Letters of Intent to attend Syracuse University and wear the Orange on the gridiron.’

I tingled. And I set my alarm clock for 7 a.m. and reset my homepage to www.suathletics.com.

7 a.m. — No snooze button this day. I rose dutifully, firing up my computer. No commitments yet, but it was still early.

8:17 a.m. — Waited as long as possible for the first posting before leaving for anthropology. The nerve to hold class on such a day.

9:38 a.m. — Back from anthropology discussion group. Site proclaiming: ‘First five National Letters of Intent for the Orange football.’ The signees are DB Lenny Carter (Media, Pa.), FB Breyone Evans (Bristol, Conn.), DT Tony Jenkins (Springfield, Va.), PK Ricky Krautman (Wyckoff, N.J.) and DL Lee Williams (Webster).

Unlike the football-haters on campus, I’m excited that SU now has four scholarships committed to kickers. Should make for great competition in camp. Stay tuned!

9:56 a.m. — Caught drooling over Krautman (42 of 44 PATs) and missed the second posting. Site trumpeting: ‘Second Wave of Signatures is in for Orange Football Class of 2003.’ The committed: LB Vincenzo Giruzzi (Utica), DB Tanard Jackson (Germantown, Md.) and DL Kevin Osifchin (Phillipsburg, N.J.).

Excited about the breadth of the Orangemen’s recruiting — eight players from six states. The critics want to make it out like coach Paul Pasqualoni is losing his local grasp. They point to OL Ryan Poles, the top prospect in New York, who signed with Boston College. I wonder if they realize that his dad, Junior, played at BC. I wonder, too, if those people know that Miami failed to snag the best player in Florida. Ditto for Ohio State in Ohio. I presume Larry Coker and Jim Tressel should be on the hot seat, too.

12:58 p.m. — Back from lunch. I missed the noon wave. Site promulgating: ‘Four more football student-athletes have signed.” The latest lucky ones: WR Kyle Bell (Philadelphia), QB Matt Hale (Windsor, Ontario), OL Carroll Madison (Houston) and LB Jameel McClain (Philadelphia).

Twelve of 18 inked, including the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Hale. I keep telling my friends that he played three-down football in high school. Obviously, the extra down here in the States will make him a far better player.

1:18 p.m. — Three more players added: DTs Eric Ball (Hamden, Conn.) and Cornelius Campbell, Jr. (Ft. Washington, Md.) and DB Reggie McCoy (Silver Spring, Md.).

2:03 p.m. — Off to the intrusion in football Signing Day that is SU men’s lacrosse media day.

4:11 p.m. — Evidently, I missed the grand finale. The last posting awaited me: ‘The Orange 2003 recruiting class is now 18 strong.’ SU’s final three: WR Landel Bembo (Tallahassee, Fla.), CB Marcus Clayton (Tallahassee, Fla.) and OL Marvin McCall (St. Augustine, Fla.). The Orangemen outdid themselves here by going into bountiful Florida and pilfering some talent.

5:45 p.m. — Dressed anxiously and headed to Coach P’s celebratory press conference.

6:15 p.m. — Arrived at Manley Field House. I was excited because Coach P was excited. In fact, ‘excited’ was the word of the day, and he made sure it got double-digit use.

Still, ever the realist, Coach P took his media critics by their pencils.

‘I think we may have gotten more done than on the surface it may look,’ he said. ‘We’re excited about the guys on offense and the guys on defense.’

Of course, the critics wanted to know about Joe Dailey, the stud quarterback who gave Coach P his word during the summer only to renege in favor of Nebraska. That left P scrambling.

‘The way things worked out,’ Pasqualoni said, ‘we’re very excited about the way Matt Hale worked out. Sometimes, things work out for the best.’

Someone else bugged Coach P about having only two recruits from New York.

‘I’m not sure there were a lot of prospects in the state of New York,’ he said. ‘We recruit it hard and will recruit it hard.’

Still, another reporter suggested that Syracuse’s recruiting class does not measure up, what with no top-100 players and everything.

‘No. 1,’ Coach P said, ‘we go by our evaluation. There are probably a few super-duper prospects out there, but a lot are in the second category. I don’t know who is out there to make these evaluations, so we are far better hanging our hat on our system.’

Right on.

Coach P defended his assertion with a case in point.

Take Ball, the 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive lineman from Connecticut. Rivals.com rated Ball the 83rd-best prospect in the East. Pity the information the Rivals folks are getting.

‘I don’t know who you are going to sign who is a better prospect,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘You tell me.’

A half hour of this ended with the request for a last question. A reporter suggested to Pasqualoni that, despite his explanations, his claims still rung a bit hollow. How, he was asked, could he prove that he was truly as excited as he sounded?

Coach P nodded in agreement. He mentioned Donovan McNabb, Keith Bulluck and Dave Wohlabaugh. He explained that only Nebraska and Syracuse pursued McNabb, that Bulluck flew under many a recruiting radar, that Wohlabaugh, a future NFL Pro Bowl center, did, too.

‘Whether you’re going to be excited or not,’ he said, staring me in the face, ‘I don’t know. But as long as we’re confident with what’s going on, then that’s what matters.’

Evidently, that’s all that matters.

Chris Snow is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears on Thursdays. E-mail him at [email protected].

Published on February 5, 2003 at 12:00 pm